Turns out we were being a bit delusional thinking the Buckeyes were staring down a high two seed or even had an outside shot of snagging a one seed. Instead, the NCAA selection committee made the road back to Indy a little more difficult for Ohio State when they were awarded the last two seed in the Midwest Regional meaning any paths to a Final Four will have to go through Kansas, the tournament's top seed.
But that's not all. This Regional of Death also includes potential Sweet Sixteen opponent Georgetown1 as the three, Maryland at four, Sparty at five, Tennessee at six, a dangerous Oklahoma State team as the 7th seed and Georgia Tech as a 10. If you're keeping up, those teams represent the Big 12 regular season and tournament champs, the Big Ten regular season and tournament champs, the ACC co-champs, an ACC tournament finalist and a Big East tournament finalist. Day-umn.
Meanwhile, Duke is in a regional with Villanova, Baylor, Purdue and Texas A&M. Didn't the Big Ten defeat the ACC in the Conference Challenge for the first time this season? Shouldn't the Big Ten's regular season and tournament champion get a little bit more love than the ACC's regular season and tournament champion? (See also: The ACC's six selections compared to the five awarded to the Big Ten.)
You have to wonder if the low two seed was because of the team's terrible RPI or whether geography got the nod. The Selection Committee is supposed to seed in an "S" pattern, but it's much easier for the traveling mass of Buckeye fans to get to a game in Milwaukee than it is, say, Oklahoma City or Providence. Is this a case where our reputation for traveling came back to bite us?
Finally, why does the Big Ten have such a difficult time with scheduling? In the fall, there's the 50+ day void when teams fall off the national radar, much to Joe Paterno's chagrin. In the spring, it's the timing of the Big Ten tournament championship -- ending just a half hour before selections are revealed -- that seems to hurt the conference.
The Other Four
If you're a fan of Big Ten basketball, Friday is going to be a special day. While none of the five Big Ten selections will be in action on Thursday, all five will play Friday, kicking things off at 11:25AM when #11 Minnesota squares off with #6 Xavier in Milwaukee.
#4 Purdue tips off against #13 Siena five minutes later in Spokane (Siena is currently getting 4.5 if you're into making some easy coin), #4 Wisconsin faces #13 Wofford (+9.5) at 3:45PM in Jacksonville and #5 Michigan State takes on #12 New Mexico State (+12.5) at 4:20. Which should please members of the Spartan football team.
If you were wondering, the Buckeyes are currently 16 point favorites over the Guachos.
Your Belated Pro Day Recap
Lost in the insanity of Evan Turner draining the life out of Ann Arbor was Ohio State's annual Pro Day. Luckily for you, the first-ever 11W intern, Jared, was in attendance2 and filed the following report:
NFL coaches and scouts were out in full force at the WHAC on Friday despite the fact that this year's crop of departing Buckeyes is without a massive headliner. However, the man that most scouts came to see did not disappoint.
DE/LB Thad Gibson, always known as a workout warrior, wowed some scouts, and even Strength and Conditioning Coach Eric Lichter, by posting an (unofficial) 4.51 40-yard dash (other reports had Gibson running a 4.59). OSU is certainly known for its fast track, and the times were done by hand, but some scouts couldn't hide their astonishment/glee.
Safety Kurt Coleman clocked in with a 4.55 not entirely helping nor hurting his effort to get a look as a corner at the next level and receiver Ray Small came in with a 4.52. All times are unofficial and timed by media members. Ohio State did not announce official times.
In a sad note, DT Todd Denlinger did not finish his 40 yard dash as he pulled up shortly after starting what appeared to be a tight hamstring.
Thad is starting to generate some real draft buzz lately with most analysts pegging him as a second round selection, while a few are even saying he might get lucky and go in the late first round.
The Madness
BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock is right: The inevitable expansion of any tournament is a terrible thing. How else to you explain a selection show so captivating the nation's sports fans that national advertising campaigns are rolled out for it. I'm not saying I'm dying to move this thing to 96, but you have to admit, having 64 65 involved is a lot of fun.
- 1 We're all Bobcat fans on Thursday night.
- 2 Only the sweetest internships include trips to OSU's Pro Day, you know.
Comments
I wonder if Minnesota's and Illinois' runs hurt us in that. Technically we only beat one tournament team to win the Big Ten championship, and a bubble team at that.
I believe that quote is "That's no moon."
hahah wait a minute, thad ran a faster 40 than the ghost?!? i think all hand timed 40 numbers are BS, but the fact that they were even comparable is hilarious. ray ray aint NEVER getting drafted
I really think our RPI ending the regular season hurt us the most - though playing teams Illy/Minn instead of potentially playing Wisky/Purdue couldn't have helped as the committee was making their final placements.
I think conference RPI was also a factor. No benefit of the doubt when your conference is what, 5th I think, in RPI.
We can be upset with our draw, its ridiculously tough! But if I were a Jayhawk fan, I would be f-ing livid!!! They are clearly the #1 team in the country and they have an unbelievably difficult region.
The good news is, we have the best playing in the country and that means a lot. Here is to routing for some upsets along the way as we make a run to the Final 4.
Am I the only one that likes the way Wisky's draw plays out for them? I think they can make an elite 8 run.
Anyone think it would be more interesting if the pay in game was two bcs conference teams playing for a 8 or 9 seed?
Theses small schools win their conference tourney then have to play in a game in Dayton that no one cares about just to play a #1 seed anyway. So one of those teams really doesn't get to play in the main draw. I would rather have all the automatic bids already in the main draw, and then have a VT or Illinois team play the last at large team in, for a chance at the main draw.
I heard on ESPN this morning that the 2nd line was not seeded on an S curve. They tried to seed the #2s regionally, which is why OSU is in the Midwest.
We're not in Kansas's bracket just so we can play in Milwaukee. I am fairly certain we would be in Milwaukee no matter which region the committee put us in because of the pod system. They may have lazily put us in at the worst #2 seed because they didn't want to wait for the end of the Big Ten championship game.
You would be the expert.
You know I knew something didn't sound right about that when I went to bed last night. I shall now turn in my library card and disconnect from the internet forever.
no you are not. Who comes out of the east may be interesting. Kentucky is very good, but the rest of that region looks open to me. WVU has to be positively giddy with that set up as well, unfortunately for them Huggy Bear and the tournament don't get along so well (at least not since Van Exel was in college). New Mexico (the three) has the 87th best defense in the country according to Ken Pomeroy. I think Wisconsin has the best path to the final four out of Big Ten.
If someone other than Purdue performed well outside of the Big Ten, the Big Ten Champion would have been seeded higher.
Not a great draw for us in terms of matchups. OSU can beat any team in this bracket, maybe even Kansas, but the run would be brutal. I was always under the impression that they seeded the 2 seeds like the one seeds in that the top 2 seed would be matched against the fourth best 1 seed. WVU should be pissed as well.
Yeah, I thought the same. I have a really hard time seeing Kentucky getting very far. Texas was #1 at one point this season. They've got talent. Wisconsin's route looks pretty clear and I'd love to see them frustrate Kentucky so we don't have to hear how great Wall is for the rest of the tourney.
That's exactly how it looks. Nova and KSU appear to be a notch below OSU and WVU.
Looking at the regions as a whole is misleading. Kansas, for example, won't have to beat OSU, Georgetown, Maryland, MSU, and Tennessee all by themselves. At most, they have to beat two of those five. The same goes for OSU. If they want to win it all, they have to beat the best at some point. If it all follows according to seeds, They'll have to beat OK State, Georgetown, and Kansas in order to return to Indy. That seems logical to me.
That said, what's going on down south? Duke's bracket is ridiculously easy. Every time I fill out a sheet, there are tons of opportunities for upsets. This means it will be an easy route for an improved Duke team. Maybe they'll have to face Wisconsin again in the Final Four.
I was hoping to get into the Kentucky or Duke bracket. I would be much more confident in taking out those teams than Kansas.
Completely agree about Duke. I am not high on their team, but I really don't see any team in that bracket that beat them. Maybe Villanova, but Duke's size is such an advantage against those guys. There toughest matchup might be the Texas A&M/Purdue winner.
I know one game at time, blah, blah, blah....But how do we feel about Okie State/Ga. Tech? Anyone watched much of them? It seems Ga. Tech focuses on the inside game while Okie St. runs a 4 guard offense...Thoughts?
Definitely. Lawal (6-9) and Favors (6-10) are their two leading scorers and if OSU does face GaTech in the 2nd round, we'll find out fast how well they will do against a team with solid size.
Okie State's been really hot and cold when I've seen them play a few times this year. Favors scares the bejesus out of me, but they don't have anyone capable of getting him the rock.
If Purdue remembers they were a top-5 team again.
i believe that e.t. and the crew are looking at this as a challenge and just drive the ice cream truck covered in human skulls (sorry liked that from ourhonordefend too much not to use it...lol) and say bring it bitches. one has to look at it this way. eventually you have to play really good teams is it fair that after the gouchoes we get ok state ga tech and so on no. while duke who gets the sec football equivalent of a handjob from the tourney deff not, but eff them bring it!!!!
so if Hummel's knee -unexplodes
Maybe Hummel should've passed on that negroplasty.
the important question is who wants to be a dolphin?
According to ESPN, the women can look forward to the same service. Their Bracketology has the OSU ladies in the Dayton regional...with #1 overall, 33-0, spot-you-ten-and-we'll-still-beat-you UCONN. ;_;
Yeah, OK State seems scarier as GA Tech just turns the ball over.
I hate where the Buckeye's are seeded, too. That region is a beast and OSU is playing awesome ball right now. But, I also would like to see Ohio State play a tougher non-conference slate. They lost 2 of the 3 games against ranked teams, and although Turner was hurt during most of that, the only thing they have to hang their hat on is a win over a now-unranked Cal team.
Anyway, a horrifying region means unreal games, too. So, at least everyone will have their eyes on it.
I think whoever survives the regions takes it all.
Being the 2 seed in the Midwest with Kansas does not mean that the committee saw us as the last rated 2 seed, after the first four 1 seeds are handed out it becomes more about regional balance than merely ranking alone.
Jason, you were prophetic. Check out this story.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/ho...
Oh, wow. It's about to get hot in here.