Scarlet and Gray versus The Orange

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Just hours away now from the Elite Eight and the Buckeyes participation against the Orangemen of Syracuse.  Truth be told, the jitters are setting in.  Ordinarily, I haven't felt this way about Ohio State basketball.  Generally, the jitters only come with the football team no matter who we play.  However, this year is different.  This is the third consecutive year that the Buckeyes have advanced to at least to the Sweet Sixteen and now are within one game of making it to New Orleans for the Final Four.

Reading the opinions online and in the papers, it is clear that many pundits, analysts and experts if you will, have picked the Buckeyes to advance over Syracuse.   Most note that Ohio State's offense will be too much for the zone of Syracuse.  They all speak of the inside game of Sullinger and the stifling defense of Aaron Craft, the Big Ten's defensive player of the year.  Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, they are not the three-point shooting team of last year.  The Buckeyes will face a Syracuse team that only knows how to play zone defense and the three-point shot can make the difference.

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Then again, it did not make a difference for Wisconsin which banged in 14 three-point shots against the Orangemen.  One has to wonder what it takes to beat Syracuse when you are able to shoot the lights out like the Badgers did but still come up short.  The difference for Ohio State in this evening's game will come down to three key factors. 

Ohio State plays great defense.  Arguably the best defense of any college team.  Especially, half-court defense.  Syracuse will face a team that is relentless on the defensive end.  Ohio State does give up some easy baskets and they often can be hurt in the transition game.  However, their aggressive and relentless style of defense, specifically from Craft will cause the Orange some serious trouble. 

Secondly, William Buford, the Buckeyes standout scorer needs to shoot and score for the Buckeyes to effectively beat Syracuse's zone defense.  Buford, who has not scored well in any of his Sweet Sixteen performances over the last two years, needs to have a big night.  He needs to hit three, four or five 3-point shots.  He needs to hit them early.  If Ohio State hits some threes early, it will relax the middle where Sullinger can do some real damage.  The Buckeyes should match up well on the boards and will have some second effort opportunities.

The third area of consideration is the foul line.  Ohio State needs to own the foul line.  They need to make their free throws and they need to keep their key players out of foul trouble.  Both Craft and Sullinger need to stay in the game and not lose valuable minutes sitting on the bench.  The Buckeyes have grown accustomed to playing long periods without Sullinger but losing minutes for Craft would be a significant blow on both ends of the court. 

Two final points that give me pause about this Buckeye team.  When this team gets comfortable, they start launching shots from all over the court without their usual discipline in finding the open man.  They need to stay disciplined in this fashion throughout the game not opening the door for Syracuse to make big runs.  Secondly, they love to relax when they get a 8-12 point lead in a game allowing their opponent to make a solid run at them.   This just happened in their most recent win against the Bearcats of U.C.

If you are anything like me, you're probably happy that the Buckeyes are playing Syracuse, the number one seed in the East.  Gonzaga, Ohio, Norfolk State and others like them have a way of ruining one's tournament.  It's time for the Buckeyes to return to the Final Four.  Tonight is the night!  Buford will light it up, the defense will be great and Sullinger will stay out of foul trouble.  Look for the Scarlet and Gray to be the first team penciled in for the Final Four.          

Sweet Sixteen - Will The Third Time Be The Charm For The Buckeyes?

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The Sweet Sixteen has become a familiar feeling for the Ohio State Buckeyes as they opened up with wins over Loyola of Maryland and Gonzaga to move on to the second weekend for the third consecutive year.  As the number two seed in the East Region, the Buckeyes handled number 15 seeded Loyola 78-59.  Deshaun Thomas had a career-high 31 points and added 12 rebounds to lead the Buckeyes to a comfortable victory. 

Most Buckeye fans had to be concerned going into the Gonzaga game as they have built a reputation for upsetting far stronger opponents in the NCAA tournament.  Gonzaga did not disappoint as they played even with the Buckeyes from beginning to end.  Fortunately, Ohio State had a great shooting performance with standout efforts by Jared Sullinger (18 Points), Deshaun Thomas (18 points) and Aaron Craft (17 point)  Craft played brilliantly on both ends of the court adding 10 assists to his 17 points. 

The Buckeyes will now travel to Boston to play a familiar opponent, the Cincinnati Bearcats.  Familiar in that both schools are in Ohio.  Not familiar in that they never play against each other.  The last game between the Buckeyes and Bearcats was in December of 2006 when the Buckeyes won handily in Indianapolis as part of the Wooden Tradition.  Prior to 2006, you have to return to the glory days of Ohio college basketball when Oscar Robertson led the Bearcats to back to back National Championships beating Ohio State both years, 1961 and 1962. 

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Amazingly, this year's Sweet Sixteen has four Ohio schools including Xavier and Ohio along with Ohio State and Cincinnati.  The Bearcats two tournament wins have been impressive against two very good opponents, Texas and Florida State.  Cincinnati had a huge lead over Texas only to hang on to win in the last few minutes.  The Florida State game was much closer throughout with the Bearcats prevailing in the last minute. 

Common opponents for the teams this year were Wright State and Miami of Ohio.  Both the Bearcats and Buckeyes won each game.  Sweet Sixteen opponents for both squads have presented challenges with the Bearcats holding a 3-4 record versus Sweet Sixteen opponents and the Buckeyes holding a 3-5 record.  The Bearcats losses were to Syracuse, Marquette, Xavier and Louisville.  Ohio State losses coming against Michigan State, Wisconsin, Kansas and Indiana.

The winner of the Ohio State-Cincinnati game will face the winner of the Syracuse-Wisconsin game.  Both teams have split games with their conference opponents Wisconsin and Syracuse.   Ohio State and Cincinnati are scheduled to tip-off at 9:45 pm on Thursday, March 22.  Sure would be nice to see the "Big O" on the sidelines along with Buckeye great, Jerry Lucas.  Go Bucks!