Ohio State Sticks to Routine – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/25/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 25, 1999
By RUSTY MILLER
%^$AP Sports Writer%^$
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.– Superstition saved Jim O’Brien’s hair -%^$sparing%^$everyone else from what could have been a scary sight.%^$
The Ohio State coach had agreed to do a Mr. Clean with the rest of the%^$team%^$if it made it to the Final Four. But sometime after the Buckeyes’ victory over%^$St. John’s in the regional final, their superstitious side took over.%^$
“They all said, ‘We don’t want to change anything. We just want to%^$keep the%^$routine, we want to keep what we’re doing. We don’t want to screw anything up.%^$Why mess with it?”‘ he said.%^$
The 48-year-old O’Brien ran his fingers through his short, graying%^$hair and%^$laughed. He has no intention of changing his team’s quirky ways.%^$
So, before Ohio State plays Connecticut on Saturday night in the national%^$semifinals at Tropicana Field, rest assured the Buckeyes will be listening to%^$Scoonie Penn’s boom box, following him on the court and letting him take the%^$first practice shot.%^$
Before that, they will sit in exactly the same order in precisely the%^$same%^$seats on the bus to the arena. And in the pregame meeting, they will sit in%^$the%^$same configuration before O’Brien – four chairs in a row at the front of the%^$room.%^$
“I find it interesting,” O’Brien said, shaking his head. “I’m not going%^$to get in the way of it.”%^$
Penn, the Buckeyes’ fire hydrant-sized point guard, argues that the%^$team is%^$not superstitious.%^$
“It’s just been our routine the whole season,” he said. “Now people are%^$looking for the answer to why we’re winning.”%^$
But senior forward Jason Singleton has no doubt a superstitious streak%^$runs%^$through the team.%^$
“Scoonie took his boom box to Puerto Rico and we won that tournament,”%^$Singleton said. “He didn’t take it to the Big Ten tournament and we lost. So%^$we put two and two together and we figure we’ve got to take it to all our NCAA%^$tournament games.”%^$
Penn is always the first in the line of Buckeyes going out on the court%^$before a game and at halftime, and center Ken Johnson is always last. Penn%^$always takes the first shot in warmups.%^$
It doesn’t end there. Penn, Singleton and Neshaun Coleman – the team’s%^$captains – are the first players in the three-man weave drill in practice.%^$Team%^$trainer Mike Bordner always tapes ankles in the same order – right ankles then%^$left, with a tap on the bottom of the foot at the end.%^$
Bordner also has worn the same suit for each NCAA tournament game,%^$with the%^$small pins given to each participant arranged in the same order on his lapel.%^$
O’Brien said many of the team’s peculiarities stem from Penn’s desire for%^$order.%^$
“He likes direction, he likes organization,” O’Brien said.%^$
Earlier in the year, to break up the monotony of another practice and%^$another repetitious drill, O’Brien decided to shake things up.%^$
“In my infinite wisdom I decided, why don’t we just have shooting games%^$instead and make it a little bit light? Guys can just choose up teams and%^$we’ll%^$have a little tournament and we’ll keep it competitive,” he said.%^$
But Penn didn’t like it.%^$
A few practices later, O’Brien asked the team what it wanted to do in%^$practice.%^$
“Scoonie said, ‘No shooting games! Let’s do our routine and do it the%^$same%^$way we always do,”‘ O’Brien said with a laugh.%^$
Penn was asked what would happen if he didn’t come out first and%^$didn’t take%^$the first shot in warmups.%^$
“Nothing,” he said. “But I’m not going to test it.”
