COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Aaron Craft spent the last week of his last summer as a college student on a mission trip in Haiti.
Because of course he did.
Ohio State's relentless, rosy-cheeked, record-setting and almost too good to be true point guard spent seven days talking with villagers, planting orange trees and counting his blessings. He returned to Columbus with a new perspective the day before fall semester classes began, and that's when it hit him.
This is it.
On Saturday, Ohio State opens its 2013-14 basketball season. Craft hasn't been Ohio State's point guard for all nine of coach Thad Matta's previous nine seasons on the job; it just kind of seems that way. Finally, really, his last season has come.
"That trip to Haiti was the perfect way to springboard into my senior year," Craft said. "It was a great experience but it was heartbreaking. There's no electricity and it's tough to come by water. I came back with my eyes wide open. For me to be able to play here at Ohio State, do the things I get to do and experience the things I get to experience, going to Haiti gave me a whole new appreciation of that.
"Thinking about my senior year, I think I come into it with a appreciation and gratitude. 'This is your last first day of practice, last summer workouts, last run through non-conference games,' all that starts hitting you. You start realizing this is really it. It's coming to an end but we still have a lot of basketball to be played. I'm excited. I think we have a great team and to be honest, we have the potential to be better than last year. So we'll see how that works out."
He's been on three really good teams, including one that spent almost the entire season at No. 1 and one that went to the Final Four. Craft has always played a key role but has never sought the spotlight; he's never been close to the leading scorer and certainly never the most talented player, but he's always been one of Ohio State's most important.
And, often, the most important.
He's already Ohio State's career steals leader, and he should break the assists record by mid-December. He's also set unofficial records for compliments from opposing coaches, insults from opposing student sections and frustrations of opposing point guards, including teammates in practice.
"When I first got here," Ohio State junior Shannon Scott said, "Aaron made it really, really rough."
Scott was a McDonald's All-American in high school. Today, he teams with Craft in a two-point guard lineup that sparked the Buckeyes to 11 straight wins on their way to the Elite Eight last season.
"It all made me better," Scott said. "When it first started, I couldn't shake him. He was in my head."
Said fellow Ohio State senior Lenzelle Smith: "I've seen Craft steal guys' souls."
Matta said Craft has been the "best defender in the country for a long time," yet still makes hustle plays that even Matta can't fathom. Opposing coaches praise him, but only after he's cost them sleep.
"The guy is the best on-the-ball defender that I've ever seen," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said in 2012. "I mean, (Mateen) Cleaves and (Travis) Walton for me were good. And I've seen some guys from a lot of schools (that are) good, but he can just maintain that. And so we're dribbling, dribbling, dribbling, thinking we're going to get away from him. You're not getting away from him."
After hitting the game-winning 3-pointer in an NCAA tournament game vs. Iowa State last March, Craft spent the bus ride home studying for an Organic Chemsitry test. Medical school remains on his list of future plans, and he's still likely to get accepted despite the one B-plus he got last school year.
Just one. The rest, of course, have been all As.
"You get opportunities in coaching to coach what you would consider a special kid," Matta said. "And not taking anything away from any of the other guys I've coached, but he's just unique because from Day One he's embraced Ohio State. He's embraced every aspect of the university from his academics to his faith and he's won at as high of a level as you possibly can. The things that he does in the offseason...we had to cut him off from speaking engagements because it was just every night and he has a hard time saying no.
"At times, I tell him to make sure he's enjoying college. And he is."
On Tuesday night, Craft visited a young boy in a Columbus hospital who recently had surgery to remove a mass of cells from a brain tumor. The boy had been through a battery of tests, surgery and multiple hospitals, and he told those he asked he had one wish.
To meet Craft.
"I've been coaching 19 years," Ohio State assistant Jeff Boals said, "and I've never cried on senior night until (this year) when it hits us that Aaron is really going to be gone."
With even just an OK year by recent Ohio State standards, Craft will leave as the second-winningest player in program history. He's not likely to catch David Lighty, a key component of the Buckeyes team Craft's freshman year, as Lighty played a portion of a fifth season before being injured and being granted a medical redshirt.
Lighty was part of a Matta-led renaissance, an Ohio State climb from competitiveness to consistent winning to college basketball's elite class. Craft has been a big part of Ohio State staying there, driving a team that's been much more hunted than hunter and has stayed not only at or near the top of a strong Big Ten but has played against the likes of Duke, Kentucky, Florida, Arizona, Syracuse and Kansas during Craft's time.
As the end of Lighty's senior year approached, Matta joked -- at least he was kind of joking -- that Ohio State should build a statue of Lighty as a reminder of his versatility, unselfish play and production. Construction has not started, maybe because that Craft statue will end up getting top billing.
"I have to do something important before that happens," Craft said. "I don't think I'd be worthy."
Humble to the end, Craft is. And the end, finally, is in sight.
Opposing Big Ten coaches can't wait.
