William Buford quietly leaves his mark

From the Columbus Dispatch's Bob Baptist, here is something I -- and, I'm guessing, most of you -- did not know about William Buford:

The number is 2,096, the points Dennis Hopson scored in four seasons at Ohio State. No men’s basketball player has scored more for the Buckeyes. Buford is 672 points from it.

It's a little bit like E'Twaun Moore's Big Ten-related records at the start of last season: You don't necessarily process either player as being a big-time numbers guy, but when you think about it a little bit, you realize how the trajectory of Buford's career would put him in position to possibly break the all-time scoring record at Ohio State. After all, he's been the Buckeyes' second-leading scorer every season at the school. He hasn't received as much attention because he's always been surrounded by talent, overshadowed by stars like Evan Turner and Jared Sullinger. But he's been there all the while, making plenty of shots and scoring plenty of points. It's hardly a farfetched notion, that record.

Anyway, Buford told Baptist he "doesn't think about" the record as much as he thinks about his 2-for-16 performance in Ohio State's season-ending Sweet 16 loss to Kentucky in March, a performance he characterized as "selfish." Teammate Aaron Craft disagreed, and so do I: Buford was open more often than not. Kentucky used Josh Harrelson to body with Sullinger and while overplaying the kick-out pass to Jon Diebler. Part of what made Ohio State so ruthless last season was that if you took away options one and two (Sully and Diebler) options three and four (Buford and David Lighty) could hurt you just as quickly. He just missed the shots. It happens.

In any case, Buford's performance is a hugely important factor for this year's Ohio State team. He won't have to shoulder a majority of the scoring load: Sullinger is still there, and given Deshaun Thomas's usage rate in limited minutes last season, it's fair to expect him to get plenty of looks of his own, too.

But Buford is a very, very good No. 2. At the very least, it's a role he's used to. Believe it or not, he has the numbers to back it up.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/38420/william-buford-quietly-leaves-his-mark

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