Ohio State men’s basketball coach Thad Matta missed the spring meeting of Big Ten coaches and athletic directors in Chicago this week to rest his chronically ailing lower back.

Matta had an epidural last Friday to relieve pain in a herniated disk and was told not to sit in one place too long — so, no air travel or long meetings.

Among the items discussed by Matta’s colleagues was possibly moving some conference games to early or mid December to eliminate the conflict with football bowl games. Ohio State’s basketball game at Iowa on Jan. 4 started a half-hour after the Buckeyes football team kicked off in the Sugar Bowl.

Meanwhile, Matta has yet to fill the video coordinator vacancy on his staff created when Kevin Kuwik left for Dayton. But one name keeps popping up in conversations with those in the know: former Duke guard Greg Paulus, who was a first-year assistant at Navy last season. Navy coach Billy Lange resigned this month to become an assistant at Villanova.



Cover boy

The May 30 edition of ESPN The Magazine hit newsstands Friday, and Ohio State fans won’t like the cover: a scarlet sweater vest with the a gray “Busted” where the OSU logo usually is.

The cover story isn’t exclusively about Ohio State’s troubles. The headline reads: From Newton to Pearl to Tressel: The Most Scandalous Year in College Sports.

Ryan McGee’s article starts with men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl’s problems at Tennessee, but eventually gets to Ohio State, where he quotes a compliance officer from a Big East school: “The part that none of us understands is pretty simple and profoundly confusing: When (Ohio State football coach Jim) Tressel had obviously been made aware of a potentially very large mess, why didn’t he just walk down the hall and hand it off? Their compliance office is very good.”

It also offers this explanation from retired football coach Bill Dooley, whose 35-year career included stops at North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest:

“It wasn’t so long ago that you would have handled that situation exactly like (Ohio State), and it would have been no big thing at all. Call the kids in your office, chew them out, call their mamas, bench ’em for a little while and it was over. An old-school-style coach is going to think he can still do it that way. But back then, just 10 years ago, the circle of people you had to control was tiny. A few players, coaches, the athletic director, maybe a reporter. Now that circle is — well, hell, it’s the whole world.”



Home cooking

Most Big Ten athletic budgets are based on the money from seven home football games every season, so with a nine-game league schedule, schools would need three home non-conference games in the years they play only four league games at home.

That creates some problems, but based on what commissioner Jim Delany said at the league meetings this week, it’s only a matter of time before the big Ten works them out.

“Some of the coaches would like to stay at eight,” he said. “I explained that our fans would like to have nine and television would like to have nine. And it gives a truer champion.”

Because of long-term contracts, 2015 is probably the earliest that it could happen, with a more likely start in 2017.



Not so fast

Austin Kearns’ slow start (8 for 50, .160 average) for the Cleveland Indians already has led to speculation that the outfielder’s roster spot might be in jeopardy when Grady Sizemore returns from the disabled list.

But Sizemore isn’t due to come off the list until at least next Friday, and a lot can happen between now and then. Sizemore could need more time for his bruised right knee to heal, and because he has a history of trying to play through injuries, it wouldn’t be surprising if the bruise is worse than officials say.

Kearns is one of Indians manager Manny Acta’s favorites, so he could stick around even if his batting doesn’t improve. Acta likes his defense and might be willing to show patience for a player who is still adapting to his role as an off-the-bench guy.



Draft doings

Now that the Cavaliers have the first and fourth picks in the NBA draft, there is all kinds of speculation about whom they will select. The mock drafts agree that Cleveland will take Duke point guard Kyrie Irving with the first pick; he has been the consensus top pick for a while, and the Cavs need help at that position.

It’s the fourth pick that has created the speculation. SI.com and FoxSports.com have Cleveland taking 6-foot-11, 262-pound Turkish center Enes Kanter, who intended to play at Kentucky last season before the NCAA ruled him ineligible.

FoxSports.com explains: “The Turkish center is a bit of a mystery man to scouts and personnel types, at least when it comes to seeing him in person on a regular basis. But it’s not hard to see why his skills should translate, and the Cavs would be better with his gritty rebounding, scoring and defense down low.”

CBSSports.com has the Cavs taking 6-9, 240-pound Congolese forward Bismack Biyombo, whom SI.com calls “the next Ben Wallace.” InsideHoops.com says the Cavs will take Kentucky guard Brandon Knight, and Yahoo and SportingNews.com have them taking 6-11, 240-pound Lithuanian center Jonas Valanciunas.



Mo support

Former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett expressed support for Tressel on his Facebook page. He posted: “Two thumbs up for my man Jim Tressel for protecting his players. You got the respect from our community. We come from nothing and you know that and you protect us when we act on impulse. More coaches need to stand up for the players who make them who they are.”

And then this:

“I just got off the phone with Coach Tressel and his heart is in the right place. The rules that govern the athletes are not realistic. Its a new day and time and (I’m) supporting him. I love that he protected his team and he will always have respect from Youngstown. He’s our spokesperson. He came from nothing to something.”

Hunter is a columnist for the Columbus Dispatch. Reach him at bhunter@dispatch.com.