tOSU Players felt slighted by Indiana

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

LINK

Slight inspires rout of Hoosiers

AP



Ohio State's Terence Dials is trapped by Indiana de- fenders D. J. White and Marshall Strickland dur- ing the first half Tuesday in Columbus.









COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ohio State center Terence Dials said he saw Indiana players saying on TV that they had two difficult games left -- and Ohio State wasn't one of them.

The Buckeyes made the Hoosiers pay for that slight with a 57-44 win Tuesday.

"They kind of overlooked us ... Maybe they should go back and take some of that stuff back," Di- als said. "That got a lot of our guys riled up."

J.J. Sulling- er had 14 of his 17 points in the second half, Dials had 14 points and Jamar Butler added a career-high 13 for the Buckeyes (18-8, 7-5 Big Ten), who have won six of seven.

The Buckeyes took over fourth place in the conference.

While schools in similar straits are close to locking up NCAA berths, the Buckeyes are headed nowhere.

Ohio State President Kar- en Holbrook and outgoing athletics director Andy Geig- er announced in December that the Buckeyes would not play in the NCAA or NIT tournaments to head off stiffer penalties for violations which occurred under former coach Jim O'Brien. Thad Matta, who took over the Buckeyes after O'Brien was fired last summer, said he didn't get any joy out of making things harder for Indiana and other bubble teams. "I'm honestly more concerned with us," Matta said. "I don't like the fact that people talk now about the tournament and all that stuff. Hey, enjoy the game. Maybe I'm saying that because we can't compete in the tournament."

Its really disappointing that this group will not see the NCAAs. They have played extremely hard and they have some nice wins.

[Misanthrope]

Not as disappointing as another losing season. The Bucks have been a pleasant surprise and they're not done yet.

Here's hoping Illinois doesn't stumble between now and March 6th, and we can have OUR national championship game in the Schott that day versus the #1, unbeaten Illini.

[wadc45]

I just hope guys like Cook, Conley, and Oden were watching last night.

JJ played like a man possessed...with him coming back as (hopefully) an even more complete player, like he is developing into this year, I expect huge things from him. Dials is getting more comfortable with his footwork and using either hand down in the post and just needs to work on his free throws for next year. Jamar looked more comfortable as both a passing PG and a scoring PG last night. Foster plays great defense and just needs to get more comfortable with his outside game. Harris still loves playing out top, but he has posted up nicely a few times in the last few games, including one nice lefty baby hook last night. And Sylvester is the most improved player on the team. Add Terwilliger, Lewis, Jackson-Wilson, Mayes, and Bell to the mix next year and this team has a chance to be really special.

[coastalbuck]

I thought they looked pretty good too. Indiana was playing really good defense, and we still found a way. That marks a pretty good team. Really good game and good win. Indiana has some really talented young guys though, they could be tough in the future!