Regular Season Big Ten Co-Champion
#2 Seed East Regional
Tournament Wins:
W 78-59 vs #15 Loyola (MD)
W 73-66 vs #7 Gonzaga
W 81-66 vs #6 Cincinnati
W 77-70 vs #1 Syracuse
Starters:
#0 Jared Sullinger - Sophomore - 6'9" 265 lbs - Sullinger surprised a lot of people when he came back for his sophomore season at Ohio State. A strong, physical player with a high basketball IQ, Sullinger has turned in a second straight strong season for the Buckeyes and has averaged 18 points and over 8 rebounds a game in their four tournament wins. Sullinger is projected to be a Top 10 pick in this year's draft if he declares.
Photo Credit: theclevelandfan.com |
Photo Credit: therepublic.com |
Photo Credit: sportsillustrated.cnn.com |
Photo Credit: zimbio.com |
Photo Credit: thebuckeyebattlecry.com |
Key Reserve:
#30 Evan Ravenel - Junior - 6'8" 260 lbs - The Buckeyes don't rely on their bench much, so Ravenel hasn't had much of an impact in the NCAA Tournament playing just 27 minutes. The Boston College transfer is an efficient scorer and rebounds well. He leads the Ohio State bench in the tournament with 6 points and 5 rebounds.
Photo Credit: heraldnet.com |
Coach:
Thad Matta - Matta, my boss's cousin, is in his 8th year at Ohio State after stops at Butler and Xavier. This will be the second time Matta has taken the Buckeyes to the Final Four. He actually brought them all the way to the finals in 2007, but there they ran into a tough Florida squad led by Al Horford and Joakim Noah and came up just short. He is one of just two coaches nationally to post 20 or more wins in each of his first twelve seasons as a head coach.
Photo Credit: cleveland.com |
Where I had them finishing:
I had Ohio State losing in the Sweet 16 to Florida State, but obviously that didn't happen because the Seminoles didn't even reach the Sweet 16. Whoops.
Notes:
Kansas dealt Ohio State its first loss of the year back on December 10th, 78-67. Don't read too much into that though as the Buckeyes were without Jared Sullinger who missed the game due to back spasms. William Buford led the way with 21 points but shot just 8 of 23 from the field, and Evan Ravenel started in place of Sullinger and chipped in 9 points and 5 rebounds.
No comments:
Post a Comment