Seven months ago, I sat in the back row of seats in the media room at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh and watched E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham do their best to hold it together and discuss Ohio State’s second-round loss to the Villanova Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament.
Moments earlier in the locker room, they embraced their concussed teammate Kyle Young, who they both knew would never play on the same court with them again. A few months later, Young would retire from basketball. Now they had to speak up to explain what went wrong against the Wildcats, while simultaneously dodging questions about their own futures.