Waking up every morning before dawn, many at the Mansfield YMCA see a legend in the making. In the wee hours of the morning, before most people start their day, one man, and one dream are in the making. After graduating with the class of 2010 at Central Crossing High School, Mansfield YMCA PF/C Jason Morrow has surpassed unlikely odds to get to the position he is in now.

Being around the basketball program at CCHS until it’s eventual downfall after the 2008-09 season, Morrow took his attention elsewhere, this time Hilliard Bradley. Sitting court side for each Jaguar game, Morrow quickly became fascinated with his new team. Although he never played in any games during his high school career, his time on the bleachers is going to serve him well with his new gig. Ohio State basketball star. As the Buckeyes roll to a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the new weapon in their arsenal has yet to be released. Even with the lights out scoring of Jared Sullinger, William Buford and Jon Diebler, among others, coach Thad Matta is anticipating the 2011-12 season more than ever. When Morrow announced on March 1st that he would be heading to Main Campus for his sophomore season at Ohio State, many didn’t understand exactly what he was saying. Many followers on Facebook and Twitter believed it was a simple suggestion that “Jay Bird” as many call him, would just be going to the Oval to solely take classes and increase his wealth of knowledge. Well social networking world, you were wrong.

Let’s go back into Morrow’s basketball past and see where this beast began his tour of destruction. Playing basketball in the Grove City Parks and Rec league, Morrow was a sharpshooter from deep. Standing in the corner for the majority of the game, Morrow averaged nearly 27 points per game, solely off three point attempts. Many around the city of 30,000 began comparing Morrow to Reggie Miller, but of a different breed. With unforgettable goggles, and an electrifying stroke from deep, natives around Grove City saw a poor man’s Troy Murphy in the making. But after Murphy was cut by the Indiana Pacers prior to this season, many began calling him a poor man’s Jason Morrow. Funny how things change.

When Morrow reached high school, his dreams of taking his career to the next level were put on hold. Choosing to focus on a journalism career, Morrow put basketball to the side. But when he enrolled at Ohio State’s Mansfield campus, he picked up a basketball, and the fire was rekindled. Enlisting in an 18+ league at the local YMCA, where Mansfield legends such as Johnny Appleseed once roamed the courts, Morrow was beginning to bring a Shawshank type effect on the community.

In his first game against the Ontario YMCA, alma mater of the great Paul Morrow, the young Morrow dropped 36 pts, including a Kevin Love-esque 27 rebounds. The seven fans in attendance were amazed at what they saw from the freshman. Over the next seven games, Morrow averaged nearly 41 points per game, and in a December 6th game against the Glenville YMCA, where Ray Small and Rob Rose are the leading scorers, Morrow scored a league record 53 points. Mansfield was trailing with 7.8 seconds left, down two, with the ball, Morrow felt a great sense of urgency coming from within him. Looking to scorn the haters, and women that have burned him in the past, this fire brought out an aggression never seen before. With Donte Whitner guarding him from the top of the key, the defense figured he would attempt a three point field goal, since he had hit eight that day already. But as he moved a little to the right, Morrow executed a slick crossover that broke Whitner’s ankles, something that he has been used to every time he’s played Tom Brady. Driving down the lane, Morrow slammed home a thunderous dunk over Rob Rose, resulting in a foul. With a few tenths of a second remaining, Morrow sinked the free throw which put Mansfield in the lead. Glenville would miss on a heave at the end, and the Fighting Cows won their first game over the Tarblooders since 1922.

The Cows would roll to 18 consecutive wins behind Morrow’s play, which set them up for the YMCA National Championship on March 1st against YMCA of Queens. Led by Stephon Marbury and Sebastian Telfair, the Queens crew was something that the YMCA circuit had never seen. Behind Marbury and Telfair, the Militia set the YMCA record for 62 straight victories, dating back to 2009. But when Morrow walked into the gym, many felt as if Telfair was back in a Timberwolves jersey. The guard was unable to penetrate the lane, which wasn’t the last time he had trouble penetrating that night. When Telfair tried to kick to Marbury, the former Phoenix Suns great couldn’t hit a single shot. With the weak Eddy Curry in the post, who had been claimed off waivers on February 27th following the blockbuster deal for Carmelo Anthony, Morrow had his way on the opposing defense. Sprinting out to an early 15 point lead, the Fighting Cows never looked back. Morrow would total 47 points on the evening, setting another record, this time for points in a Championship game, and Mansfield won the title 80-63. As a crowd of 15,000 filled the DC area YMCA, what many didn’t see was the numerous NBA scouts and NCAA coaches in attendance.

At the postgame press conference, journalists from all over the country were eager to get into the mind of the Mansfield myth. As a writer from the Chicago Tribune asked, “Jason, where are you headed next fall?” Morrow responded, “Well, what should I do? Should I go where you want me to go? Should I trust my friends? They’re my friends. Well, I thought they were at first.” The puzzled reporter looked back and asked, “huh?” Morrow said, “look, I have no idea where I’m going to play next season, right now, any place is pie in the sky.” As the press conference concluded, the majority of reporters in the room were delirious over what just happened.

The next morning Morrow was featured on ESPN First Take’s “First and 10″ with Skip Bayless. Host Jay Crawford brought up the question, “Where will the country’s best player land for the 2011-12 season?” As Bayless began to voice his incredibly biased and unreliable opinion, Morrow interrupted saying, “Well this is very tough. (pause) Next fall, wow, this is tough, next fall, I’ll be taking my talents to Main Campus to join the Ohio State Buckeyes.” Crawford and Bayless were stunned. Crawford questioned Morrow, “Is that the decision you came up with this morning?” Morrow snapped back, “No sir, that has been in my mind since I was born, you reporters are on me harder than the SEC.” Bayless was adamantly upset with the turn of events, ripping Morrow live on television. “Oh here we go again, another drama queen from Northeast Ohio. You should be ashamed of yourself. You will never be anything like Michael Jordan. Gosh, I hate this show more than I dislike Woody Paige.” Morrow smirked back to Bayless and responded, “Skip, nobody has ever told you this, but how about you shut the (expletive) up.”

As the world watched Morrow commit to the Buckeyes, Ohio State freshman Jared Sullinger was ecstatic when he heard the news. Many on Twitter were witnesses to Sullinger’s tweet following the breaking news, “Welcome to Ohio State Mr Morrow. Let’s do it again next year #leggo.” As Morrow and Sullinger rejoiced, the headline at the Columbus Dispatch the following morning was, “Thad Matta does it again: Mansfield wunderkid Jason Morrow signs with the Buckeyes.” It’s crazy how sports can change someone’s life.

In my mind, I’m pretty clear when it comes to now-Kentucky coach John Calipari being slimier than I thought. Today, the NCAA Committee on Infractions ruled that Memphis will be forced to vacate its 2007-2008 games, including all records pertaining to their national championship game run, a game in which they were defeated in overtime by Kansas. This comes after the news came about that the SAT test score of one Derrick Rose was fraudulent, and his original scores do not meet standards at Memphis. “This is a situation of strict liability,” Committee Chairman Paul Dee said. “If he is ineligible and does not meet initial requirements, the penalties are related back to that time and a determination is then made: Did he play in any contests after the fact? In this case, he did.”

Memphis dodged bigger bullets, such as postseason exemption or loss of scholarships. Calipari had already stabbed the Tigers in the back earlier this year, by leaving to go to Kentucky. He would not officially comment on the situation. But Dee went on to say that even though he wasn’t mentioned, the legacy of what happened carries with him. “Whenever records are vacated, that is a strong indication that there was a problem. Because there were no allegations against the coach, we did not consider any but whenever you have a situation that affects a team’s record or an individual’s personal record, it will have an impact on that individual.”

In my book, he’s slime. I don’t know if he had anything to do with the actual fraudulent test taking directly, but it feels like he had something to do with him. Oh, also, the test was taken in Detroit, about 300 miles from Rose’s hometown of Chicago.