Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel is a reliable Christmas card sender. Every year, a card makes its way to the town of Hilliard, Ohio — and every year it's signed the same way: “Go Blue, Go Bucks.”

Its recipient? The family of Michigan women’s basketball forward Carmen Reynolds. The sophomore resides less than 20 minutes away from Brutus Buckeye’s lair in Columbus.

Jim “Jimbo” Reynolds, Carmen’s father, played college football for Miami (Ohio) and Akron. During Jimbo’s time at Miami, he made acquaintances with Tressel, who was the quarterbacks and receivers coach from 1979-80. And occasionally, Tressel reminds the Reynolds family of their bond.

But the card doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as Carmen was a die hard Ohio State fan her entire life. Christmas photos show her whole family draped in Buckeye colors before she decided to come to Michigan. In fact, right before she verbally committed to Michigan, she had her eye on an Ohio State football jersey — luckily for her, and the Wolverines, she didn’t buy it.

Carmen’s brother, Cody Reynolds, is a senior who plays lacrosse for Ohio State. On some weekends, Cody replaces his scarlet and gray to sport maize and blue from the bleachers at his sister’s games. And Carmen’s longtime friend Caitlyn Martin was recruited the same year as Carmen to play soccer for the Buckeyes.

And as they’ve learned, it’s hard for the Reynolds family to bear the block “M” in their anti-anything-that-is-Michigan neighborhood.

But the decision for Carmen to represent the University of Michigan, even after growing up in a Buckeye-crazed region, was quite easy for her.

Enter the M-Den

The M-Den is the everything-go-blue store that can arguably take credit for almost everyone’s first taste of maize and blue syndrome.

Before the start of Carmen’s senior year classes, she wanted to make a decision about which college she would attend. Besides a few mid-major schools, Michigan was the only big-time program that offered Carmen a scholarship (Ohio State did not express any interest). But she wasn’t too quick to exclude her other recruitment offers.

On their first visit to Ann Arbor: Jimbo, Mugsy (Carmen’s mom), and Carmen took a trip to the corner of State Street and North University Avenue to check out the Michigan apparel supply shop. It’s safe to say that they came out with a lot more than they expected.

Mugsy explained how Jimbo was swift to the register at the M-Den, making enough purchases that if Carmen didn’t choose to be a Wolverine, there would be far too much maize gear taking the trip back home to Hilliard.

So, while the decision to choose Michigan by the conclusion of her trip was probably not as simple as her decision to choose basketball and soccer over cheerleading early on, it was still a decision that Carmen was comfortable with. Comfortable enough that when she returned home after her visit to Ann Arbor, she called some of the other coaches that recruited her to tell them she had decided to play at Michigan.

“Since we grew up in Columbus and have been life-long Ohio State fans, it was crazy to think of the idea that Carmen would be attending that ‘School Up North,’ ” Cody said. “I think the decision for her wasn't challenging at all, she was going to a get a great education and play Big Ten Division I college basketball.

“I think it is actually pretty cool that we attend rival schools and from time to time we joke around about it,” he continued. “My family knew she was making a good decision and we were behind her 100 percent.”

And despite the family’s scarlet and gray roots, the transition was easy.

“When Carmen was a sophomore her mom and I asked her jokingly what she would do if Michigan was the only school to offer her a scholarship to play basketball,” Jimbo said. “Her response was, ‘Well, I guess I would be a Michigan Wolverine. What would you do?’ she asked us. Our response was, ‘We would be the biggest Michigan fans in the world!’ ”

So Carmen was officially a Wolverine by the start of her senior year. And while her friends, like Martin, were committing to Ohio State for other sports, Carmen was preparing her role in coach Kevin Borseth’s offense at Michigan.

Cheering to Crisler

Today, Carmen leads the team in 3-pointers made (53), good for second in the Big Ten. But choosing Michigan was not the only decision that led her to Ann Arbor.