Big Ten Basketball: Conference tournament preview and predictions
7. Ohio State Buckeyes
Not many teams in the Big Ten have improved as much as the Buckeyes this season. They are one of the youngest teams in all of Division I, but veteran head coach Thad Matta has his team playing some of its best basketball this season over the last month. Making it more impressive is that one of their key players, sophomore Jae’Sean Tate, went down for the season after a February 20th game against Nebraska.
Their tournament draw is not great. They should move past Penn State on Thursday, but a match-up with Michigan State awaits on Friday. Sparty is playing as well as anyone in the country and have their eyes on a number one seed in the overall NCAA tournament if they can win the Big Ten Tourney. The games between the two teams this season have not been close either.
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In the first match-up, Sparty routed Ohio State in Columbus 81-62 behind seven three-pointers from sharp shooting senior Bryn Forbes.
In the second match-up last weekend, Ohio State played well, but couldn’t defend against a Michigan State senior day onslaught. The Spartans handled the Buckeyes 91-76 behind 56 points from their seniors (Forbes, Denzel Valentine and Matt Costello). Expect more of the same in the third match-up.
Should the Buckeyes pull off the improbably upset, their NCAA Tourney hopes would drastically improve, but missing the tournament does not diminish the amount of growth and coaching job done by Matta.
The Buckeyes lost non-conference games to UT-Arlington, Louisiana Tech and Memphis, and have improved to a point of beating a ranked top-10 at home (Iowa) and being in the fringe discussion for a tournament bid. This is a team to watch next season as they return everyone.
Next: 6. Maryland Terrapins