Another college basketball season has came and gone. It was a great season for the Buckeyes as they began the season 24-0 and grabbed the weekly #1 ranking once the other favorites had fallen. The streak was finally snapped in February with disappointing losses in two tough road games. But they bounced back and shifted to a higher gear on March 1st when Jon Diebler lit up Penn State with 10 three pointers. In the next game, the Bucks handed Wisconsin a nearly 30 point drubbing in return for breaking the streak a month earlier. They finished the regular season with a remarkable 32-2 and regained the national #1 rank.
Taking the top seed into the Big Ten Tournament they had a bye in the first round and dispatched a very determined Northwestern team in OT in the second. This put OSU up against Michigan in the semifinal. I knew it’d be well worth the drive over to Indy to see the Buckeyes put a third beatdown on the Blue this season. The tournament vibe was very cool in Indianapolis and I regret not making it over in past years. The Wolverines kept things close in the first half, but failed to score for a large chunk of the second half. Michigan tried to pull close in the end, but the Buckeyes clinched the win in front of the large fanbase in the stands.
We stuck around to watch the second game, where Penn State continued its surprising tourney run over much favored Michigan State. From their team’s gutsy play, the Penn State student section got a lot of love, despite their position up in the rafters. Unfortunately their ride would end the following day, as OSU defeated Penn State in the Big Ten final.
As the NCAA brackets were announced it was no great surprise that the Buckeyes were handed the number one overall seed, but that didn’t make it any less sweet. Most people have quickly forgotten that three years earlier the Buckeyes missed the NCAA tourney and played in (and won) the NIT tournament. The following year, they suffered a shocking NCAA first round loss to a scrappy Siena team in double OT. Then last year, with large hopes pinned on team leader Evan Turner, the Buckeyes failed to make it past Tennessee in the sweet 16. This year’s team had more talent, and a win-loss record to prove it. Filling out brackets was an unusual treat. Usually you have you “dream” bracket where your team wins it all, and your “real” bracket which you hope will actually win you some money. This was one of those extremely rare years where those brackets could be the same. I got the most out of it by entering over a dozen brackets in various pools around the web.
Well, so much for that. After very solid first and second round wins, against 16 seed Texas San Antonio and 8 seed George Mason, the Buckeyes hit a brick wall in the sweet 16. And it looked like this guy:
Kentucky fought OSU tooth and nail and finished two points ahead when time expired. It was real disappointment for Buckeye Nation – not that we’re not used to it, heck maybe even half expecting it. High ranked teams were falling left and right in the tourney, but still most figured Ohio State would survive to fight North Carolina, then UConn, then maybe Kansas. For Dielber, David Lighty, and Dallas Lauderdale it was their final game, having received diplomas that month. After early exits by Oden, Koufos, Cook, Conley Jr., and most recently Turner, it was great to see all three of these guys play out their career. The Bucks will be much younger next year, but with Sully leading them, it’ll be fun to watch them back at it in the fall.
