Boone David Shoewalter was born November 12, 2002 after a very normal pregnancy and delivery. Hiding beneath this beautiful young man's appearance was a very rare genetic condition called Urea Cycle Disorder. With no visible symptoms or signs - he was taken home.

After just a few hours in his new house, with his new family, Boone began having dangerous symptoms. A very scary five days at Children's Hospital would follow before his family would learn of his disorder. During this brief amount of time Boone would suffer through seizures, a stroke and ultimately lapsed into a temporary coma - the combination of which caused a traumatic brain injury.

In the midst of the amazing, neverending assistance from the doctors and nurses of Cincinnati Children's Hospital the family was told that Boone's only lifeline would be through a liver transplant. He was put on the donor recipient list and in September of 2003 the young fighter was given the Gift of Life.

With a few months of the Urban Meyer Era under our belt, and now spring football practices underway, the excitement has been building. Coach Meyer is having his first opportunity to evaluate his talent and to place the players into the position where they will succeed the most. This year’s spring game will be highly anticipated due to high level of curiosity.

Has Braxton Miller improved?

Who will be our starting running back?

How will Reed Fragel look at right tackle?

How improved will our LB corps be? (hello, Curtis Grant)

Most of us are still heartbroken after Saturday’s tough loss to Kansas in the Final Four. I am sure our boys are, too. But Buckeye Nation is very, very proud of the men’s basketball team! The sad part is that we will never again see each of these players, together, in Scarlet and Gray.

To ease some of that pain, and perhaps entertain our readers, Buckeye House Call has put together some awards for the men’s B1G basketball conference. These are not the Player of the Year, Sixth Man Award, or Coach of the Year awards. These are unique, individualized awards that will not appear in the official stat books. These are.....the Paper Plate Awards.

B1G Basketball Players

Luckiest Performance of the Year: Brandon Paul of Illinois on January 10, 2012, when they hosted Ohio State. Paul put up 43 points so his team could beat the Buckeyes by five. His field goal percentage during that game was 73.3%; considering the rest of his season, he shot 37.7%, I’d say he was having a decent night! Additionally, he shot 80% behind the arc, and at the charity line, he shot 86.7%. His last basket was made as he fell out-of-bounds from behind the arc with Aaron Craft’s hand in his face. Too bad he didn’t have a chance to shoot a half-court shot for $10,000 at halftime because the kid just couldn’t miss that day!

The basketball season is officially over for The Ohio State University. It was one with high expectations - plenty of ups and downs - a late surge to the Final Four - and a difficult exit at the hands of the Kansas Jayhawks after holding a 13-point lead last night. Once the in-game reaction was over, we immediately turn our focus on the plans of a few key pieces, namely Jared Sullinger and DeShaun Thomas. Will they move on to The League, or come back for another shot at a National Championship? The gut feeling is that they're both finished in Scarlet and Gray - especially as Sullinger continues to refer to next year's team as "they" - but we hold out hope for one more run.

Nobody has declared, or comitted back to Ohio State, but they've all had plenty to say in reaction to their season, last night's loss, and the how they see their futures shaping up. We've pulled together everything quotable over the last twelve hours from the basketball Buckeyes - quotes via The Columbus Dispatch, Scout, Rivals, ESPN, The Plain Dealer and the Dayton Daily News.

As Ohio State and Kansas get ready to do battle in New Orleans tonight, we're busy scouring the internet for news, notes, clips and quips. We've pulled together multiple items from multiple outlets - and left Louisville and Kentucky to themselves. We'll deal with them once we show the Jayhawks the door. First, a quick pictoral message from Buckeye Nation - followed by all the pregame news you could hope for in once place.

Kansas Basketball - Five Keys to Beating Ohio State

Ohio State's two best scorers are no doubt Jared Sullinger and DeShaun Thomas. Each has the ability to shoot the three (and deep twos) but both would prefer to make their living inside...

There are plenty of storilines attached to this 2011-12 basketball season, from the higher points - a blow-out of Duke, a shared B1G title and big tourney wins v. Gonzaga, Cincinnati and Syracuse - to the lower points revolving around tough losses and sketchy individual performances. With less than a week left in the college basketball season we're turning our direct focus on to the Final Four in New Orleans where The Ohio State University men's basketball team just happens to be in attendance.

This also marks the first on-site participation from the newest addition to our BHC team of writers, Ronnie Hamp. Welcome aboard!

Joe Dexter (tBBC)  |  Carrie Janello (BHC)  |  Eric Cooper (BHC)  |  Ronnie Hamp (BHC)

William Buford's struggles have been well documented all season, but he's somehow ramped up his ineffectiveness as of late. Are we in the Final Four without DeShaun Thomas stepping up as he has, and is there any scenario that has him back in Scarlet and Gray next season?

On Saturday night - be proud of your Ohio State men's basketball team. Each player. Each coach.

If Thad Matta doesn't give Amir Williams any run on Saturday, or leaves Sam Thompson on the bench for the entire forty minutes, be proud of Coach anyway. He is Ohio State Basketball.

If big Sully gets frustrated and doesn't perform at the All-American level he's spoiled us with, be proud of what our sophomore star has done for us during his two years on campus. Don't look down on anything he has or hasn't accomplished - instead, hope that we see year three.

If our lone senior William Buford doesn't come up big - on the biggest stage - don't tell everyone, 'you told them so.' Be proud of what Will brought to our program over the four-year span he dedicated to his numerous teammates and the university that we love. He loves it too.

If our surging sophomore fails to surge once more, realize that the basketball career of DeShaun Thomas is just getting off the ground. There is more to come out of DT than we yet realize, be it in Scarlet and Gray or the NBA on TNT.

If Aaron Craft can't find a way to lock down every man in sight on defense, or has a turnover or two in key moments down the stretch, don't hang your heads on Crafty. He's poured an awful lot of sweat through that #4 on his chest in his two seasons, and he's about to give us two more - while studying his ass off and becoming a First Team Academic All-American, just as he did this year. Be proud of that. Of him.

If we don't see Lenzelle Smith, Jr's flair for the dramatic light a fire in New Orleans, don't ask where he was v. Kansas, or v. Kentucky, or v. Louisville. Be proud of the fact that he has been the least heralded - yet at times - the most productive. Remember the 28 he put up in pay-back time against the Hoosiers, or the 17 he laid at the feet of a beaten, hated Michigan team in late January? His 18 key points last weekend against Syracuse likely got us a visit to New Orleans. Be proud of that.