Good morning. I hope you're recovering nicely from having to root for Michigan yesterday – and that you're ready to do it again.
Last season, Ohio State won two games in the final week of the Big Ten regular season – including a win at Michigan State on Spartan Senior Day – to capture the league championship. If Thad Matta's team hopes to win its 6th league championship in eight seasons, they'll have to pull off the same trick, which includes a visit to Bloomington Tuesday night, and hope for a little help from the Wolverines again.
If the Buckeyes can win at Indiana, hold serve against Illinois Sunday at the Schott and the Wolverines can top the Hoosiers in their season finale in Ann Arbor, the team that looked lost in Champaign and Madison will be co-champions of the Big Ten. Again.
Indiana has already clinched a share of the Big Ten championship, their first since 2002, but Michigan State's loss to the Wolverines yesterday, and Wisconsin's Senior Day loss to Purdue earlier in the afternoon leaves a four team pile-up for second place in the league. Indiana and the four teams in second place have two games remaining and the possibilities are dizzying. The Plain Dealer's Doug Lesmerises took a stab at the permutations:
Please be kind. I didn't run this by anyone at the Big Ten office, and it's as I understand the tiebreaking rules. And I'm not that smart. I already caught one mistake when checking over this.
But know this, I think. In the eight scenarios I ran, Ohio State was the No. 5 seed just once. The Buckeyes were the No. 2 seed three times, the No. 3 seed twice, and the No. 4 seed twice.
As for that No. 5 seed, four times it was Michigan, twice Michigan State, and Wisconsin and Ohio State once each.
Unfortunately, the most realistic scenario – in my eyes, at least – sees Ohio State losing to Indiana Tuesday, but beating Illinois at home Sunday, while Michigan tops the Hoosiers at home and Michigan State does the same to Wisconsin in East Lansing. The Hoosiers have already pummeled Ohio State in Columbus and winning at Assembly Hall is a tall order, so I don't know that we can realistically expect the Buckeyes to pull that game off. Wisconsin won in Bloomington earlier in the season, so who knows, but I'm not quite ready to call for an Ohio State win.
This scenario would give us the following set of standings to conclude the regular season:
| FINISH | Team | B1G Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indiana | 14-4 |
| 2 | Michigan | 13-5 |
| 3 | Michigan State | 13-5 |
| 4 | Wisconsin | 12-6 |
| 5 | Ohio State | 12-6 |
As Lesmerises points out, the league's tie-breakers would push the Buckeyes into the 5-seed for the Big Ten Tournament:
* The first tiebreaker for Michigan and Michigan State is head-to-head and they split. The next tiebreaker is record against Indiana, and Michigan State is 0-2 and Michigan would be 1-1.
* The first tiebreaker for Wisconsin-Ohio State is head-to-head and they were 1-1. Next is record against Indiana, and the Badgers are 1-0 and the Buckeyes would be 0-2.
As a 5 seed, Ohio State would draw #12 Penn State in the first round on Thursday, March 14, with a chance to play #4 Wisconsin on Friday, and should they win that game, a meeting with #1 Indiana in the tournament semifinals. The good news is that a) Penn State is pretty bad at basketball and b) Wisconsin is not exactly what you would call a good tournament team under Bo Ryan. The bad news is, of course, having to face the Hoosiers in the semis.
WOMEN DRAW A NINE SEED. The Lady Buckeyes concluded their regular season with a 66-55 win over Michigan on Senior Day at Value City Arena yesterday, sending Tayler Hill, the Big Ten's leading scorer, out a winner over the much despised Wolverines.
Though winning the finale was nice – especially given the foe – the season was a disappointment as Jim Foster's team finished 7-9 in league play. Credit should be given to the team for rebounding from a 1-7 Big Ten start, but Foster would be the first to tell you that 7-9 is not up to par for his teams.
The Buckeyes drew a nine seed for the Big Ten Tournament and will face #8 Minnesota in the first round at 7 p.m. Thursday (BTN) at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, IL. The Gophers went 2-0 against Ohio State this season, but the best thing about tournaments is the clean slate they provide.
QUITE POSSIBLY THE LAST VIDEO CAPTURED OF WOODY HAYES. This video footage from a roast of Woody Hayes, captured less than a week before the legendary coach passed away, comes to us courtesy of Jamie Hankins, and it's amazing:
The video features most of Woody's friends (and former assistants), including Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz (who's hilarious), Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, Indiana coach Bill Mallory, Ohio State coach Earle Bruce, Archie Griffin, athletic director Rick Bay and others.
Thank you, Jamie, for sharing this treat.
IT'S ALL THE RAGE. Zach Boren confirms that he, too, was asked about his sexual preferences by NFL personnel:
Zach Boren confirms he's another player who was asked by teams at NFL combine: "Do you like girls?" (Should have responded: "Got any?")
— Dave Biddle (@davebiddle) March 4, 2013
Whether you agree with teams asking that question or not, what's not up for debate is whether asking a potential employee that question is legal. It's not:
"I know that the NFL agrees that these types of questions violate the law, our CBA and player rights," NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday. "I hope that they will seek out information as to what teams have engaged in this type of discrimination and we should then discuss appropriate discipline."
The NFL appears ready to comply.
"Like all employers, our teams are expected to follow applicable federal, state and local employment laws. It is league policy to neither consider nor inquire about sexual orientation in the hiring process," league spokesman Greg Aiello wrote in an e-mail to USA TODAY Sports. "In addition, there are specific protections in our collective bargaining agreement with the players that prohibit discrimination against any player, including on the basis of sexual orientation.
MISC. An improbable high school buzzer-beater... How Russell Wilson has NFL teams thinking intangibles... The wild Les Miles rumor and the dangers of social media (hold me, I'm scared)... Dick Vitale is just a 7th-rounder in a college basketball broadcaster draft... Keith Olbermann is angling for a return to ESPN... Just a 400-pound Clintonville resident... Future Nobel Peace Prize winner.
