Loving grew into quiet leader for OSU

Showing emotion has never been Marc Loving’s specialty. Anyone who watched him blossom at Toledo St. John’s into Ohio’s Mr. Basketball and then progress to today’s senior day at Ohio State can attest to that.

Inwardly, though, Loving and those who have coached or played with him insist that there’s more than meets the eye. As proof, the lone senior on this year’s OSU team sports a significant tattoo on his left shoulder featuring an outline

of the state of Ohio with his hometown spelled out along the bottom containing a Block O below the Toledo skyline.

Loving designed it himself after taking art classes at the Toledo Museum of Art and got the tattoo during his freshman year at OSU.

“It’s a sense of pride to where when you’re younger, you really don’t expect to make it to this level,” Loving said. “Having the Block O on me I feel like represents that I actually made it to this level. I feel like I accomplished a goal in my eyes.”

With time running out, many of Loving’s other goals haven’t come to fruition. After seeing the Buckeyes make deep tournament runs since committing to the program as a high school freshman, Loving has often expressed his unrealized hope of adding at least one trophy to the program’s case. Barring a Big Ten tournament title, Ohio State seems destined to return to the NIT.

He declined to use the word “frustrating” to describe the past few years.

“You can’t just say that because we’re not in the Final Four or the Elite Eight that we had a terrible season,” he said. “I feel like we’ve had some pretty good seasons after that but just came up short. That’s all on the players we have. Each season I feel like I’ve progressed a little more as a player and as a leader on this team. If you gave it your best, you can’t be dissatisfied at all.”

Along the way, Loving endured a three-game suspension during his sophomore year that visibly

set him back. The situation strengthened his relationship with coach Thad Matta, he said, and furthered his development into a leadership role — one he’s never coveted but has grown more comfortable with.

St. John’s coach Ed Heintschel can recall a tournament game at the University of Toledo where Loving came off the court and punched the bench in a rare expression of emotion.

“He has that laid-back approach to the game,”