Aaron Craft: A Point Guard in the Shadows

Story posted January 24, 2013 in CommRadio, Sports by Sean Flanery

When you think of Ohio State men’s basketball in recent years, names like Evan Turner, Jared Sullinger, Deshaun Thomas, or maybe even Jon Diebler come to mind before junior point guard Aaron Craft.

The Ohio native has silently stood in the shadows of top players in the country during his time wearing the scarlet and gray. While his name may not be at the top of newspaper headlines across the country, Craft has remained a solid contributor since day one.

Out of high school, he wasn’t a highly coveted name. Instead, he was a three-star recruit ranked No. 28 at his position by Rivals.com receiving only a few scholarship offers that came mainly from local Ohio schools. 

However, one big name school did make him an offer and made him a part of one of the best recruiting classes in the country with the likes of Sullinger and Thomas.

In his freshman season, Craft came in and made an immediate impact averaging 6.9 points per game, but more importantly 4.8 assists per contest. He may not have led the team in points, or in shooting percentage, but the young guard was at the helm of the Buckeyes’ offense.

Craft has long been the center of the Buckeyes’ team at both ends of the court distributing the ball to every playmaker that has come through the program in the past three seasons and making defensive stops.

The 6-foot-2 guard can score the ball when necessary, but thrives in his main role as a set-up man and defensive juggernaut out on the court. In his three seasons at Ohio State, Craft has never averaged more than 7.5 shots per game and has contributed over two steals per game each season.

Over his three years, the point guard has maintained a significant role on the team averaging over 29 minutes per game since his freshman season.

Ohio State head coach Thad Matta has held supreme confidence in Craft since his freshman season. Craft ran the offense to perfection in his first two full seasons helping the Buckeyes to two tremendous tournament appearances including a Final Four appearance just last season.

Now in his junior year, the guard is having another Craft-like season averaging in each game 8.9 points, 4.7 assists, along with 2.1 steals. Craft has never been known to light up stat sheets, but he knows Matta’s offense and runs it to perfection distributing the ball evenly and limiting his turnovers.

Although it may not appear so when you look at the box scores, Craft is considered one of, if not, the biggest leader out on the court. He is the epitome of what people mean when they speak of vocal leaders who lead off the court even more so than they do on.

Craft holds himself to a high standard collecting various awards throughout his career such as the 2012 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, 2012 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award and the 2012 Capitol One First Team Academic All-American.

The junior may not light up the scoreboard come this Saturday when Ohio State (14-4, 4-2) comes into Happy Valley to do battle with the Nittany Lions (8-11, 0-7), but you can guarantee he will play a large part in the Buckeyes’ success at both ends of the court.

Sean Flanery is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, e-mail seanmflanery@gmail.com.