Buckeye Basketball Still In Good Position

Posted Feb 21, 2012 Rob Kunz | 0 comments
The 2010-11 Ohio State men’s basketball team led a charmed existence. The Buckeyes won their first 24 games of the season, spent several weeks on top of the polls, and displayed great teamwork and chemistry on the way to a 34-3 record.
 
OSU was the top-overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, but got no breaks from the selection committee, being placed in the same region as North Carolina, Syracuse and Kentucky, with the latter knocking the Bucks off in the Sweet 16.
 
That level of excellence has now become the expectation for Thad Matta’s program, so when Ohio State has five losses by mid-February, there was a small uproar.
 
Does this team have concerns? Absolutely, some of them are rather glaring ones.
 
Is this year’s team as good as last year’s? No, not even close, at least to this point.
 
However, none of Ohio State’s goals have been taken away from them. The Buckeyes still control their own destiny in the Big Ten race, and as we all know, the NCAA Tournament is the luck of the draw.
 
Big Ten Regular Season
Let’s start in the conference. OSU trails Michigan State by a game, but the Buckeyes wrap up the regular season in East Lansing, Michigan, on March 4th. It’s simple…win out, and at worst, Ohio State will have a share of the Big Ten title.
 
Here are the standings (top four) heading into play on Tuesday:
 
 
Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State 11-3
2. Ohio State 10-4
    Michigan 10-4
4. Wisconsin 9-5
 
Here are the schedules for each:
 
Michigan State Schedule
2/22 at Minnesota
2/25 vs. Nebraska
2/28 at Indiana
3/4 vs. Ohio State
 
Ohio State Schedule
2/21 vs. Illinois
2/26 vs. Wisconsin
2/29 at Northwestern
3/4 at Michigan State
 
Michigan Schedule
2/21 at Northwestern
2/25 vs. Purdue
3/1 at Illinois
3/4 at Penn State
 
Wisconsin Schedule
2/23 at Iowa
2/26 at Ohio State
2/28 vs. Minnesota
3/4 vs. Illinois
 
While the Spartans are a game up in first place, they still have to go into Bloomington, where Indiana has a 15-1 mark in Assembly Hall. You would have to think that Michigan State goes into the finale, at worst, in a first place tie.
 
Ohio State should be in decent position to win its next three straight. None will be easy (I’ll get to Illinois in a minute), and the Buckeyes will have to be on their toes in Evanston.
 
Michigan has three of its final four on the road. The Wolverines, while undefeated at home this season, are just 3-6 as the visiting team. They are better than Northwestern, Illinois and Penn State, but the odds of losing one of those three are pretty good.
 
Finally, Wisconsin can’t lose any games, while needing the Spartans to lose twice, and OSU and Michigan once each. The Badgers go to Iowa City this week (they lost to the Hawkeyes in Madison earlier in the year), and the game in Columbus Sunday is huge.
 
A couple things strike me in looking at the Big Ten race. While Illinois has been left for dead, and Bruce Weber’s seat is hotter than his ubiquitous orange sports coat, the Illini are extremely dangerous. They have talent, they could potentially still make the NCAA Tournament, and they could band together and rally around their coach. With Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin still on the schedule look out.
 
Northwestern (16-10, 6-8) is another to watch. An annual storyline is can the Wildcats make their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance and it is in play again this year. Bill Carmody’s team needs an upset/marquee win, and home games with Michigan and Ohio State could serve that very purpose.
 
So, as you can see, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that on March 4th, Ohio State and Michigan State will meet for the outright Big Ten title. The much larger question is can the Buckeyes win up there, and can they win their three games before that?
 
Big Ten Tournament
Really, who cares? Ohio State is a near lock to finish in the top four, and get a first round bye. You don’t want to lose in the quarterfinals (Friday’s games), and if you make it to the conference championship, you might as well go ahead and win it. However, there is no shame in losing in the semi-finals on Saturday. You don’t have to play three games in three days, which can help with an NCAA Tournament run.
 
The only potential importance of the tournament is seeding. If the Buckeyes win out, and win the Big Ten Tournament, I could see them possibly still in the hunt for a number one seed. Barring a total collapse, OSU won’t fall lower than a four seed. I don’t see the Big Ten Tournament result causing a large swing either way.
 
NCAA Tournament
With or without a Big Ten title, or Big Ten Tournament title, the 2011-12 Buckeyes will probably be judged on one thing, and one thing only; the NCAA Tournament, and how far OSU can advance.
 
With the general hand-wringing/consternation/kvetching following two losses in the past three games, many are saying that Ohio State can’t reach the Sweet 16.
 
Remember, the NCAA Tournament is about 25% the way you are playing, and 75% about match-ups. Until the brackets are released in the 6 O’clock hour on March 11th, there’s no use discussing, debating or predicting how the Buckeyes might do in the Big Dance.
 
I’ll say this much…this year’s team will have gone through much, much more than last year’s did. One year ago, heading into the NCAA’s, the Buckeyes had lost just twice, and it took herculean efforts from Jordan Taylor and E’Twaun Moore to make that happen.
 
Last year’s team was media darlings from the senior leadership provided by David Lighty, Jon Diebler and Dallas Lauderdale, to the precocious freshmen Jared Sullinger and Aaron Craft. No one had a bad word to say about the Buckeyes. This year—at least over the past month—people have started to poke holes in Ohio State as a team, and especially in individual players. Adversity can be a great thing, though….can.
 
Of course, all of this is nothing but speculation. It’s up to Thad Matta, the coaches and players to decide what the next 4-6 weeks bring.

 

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