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2010-2011 Men's Basketball (Outright Big Ten & BTT Champs)

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Not to get ahead of myself, just something to think about, but if OSU makes it out of the tournament victorious, they would have 38 wins, the most in the history of the NCAA, as well as 2 losses, which is the fewest since the 1999 Connecticut squad. They could do it against Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, and Kansas, some of the most historical and successful programs in the history of college basketball, making it that much more impressive.
 
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Media down-plays Buckeyes!

It's interesting Georgia, how when listening to the main media guys they will say something to the effect...yea the Buckeyes could probably win it, BUT they will have to get by the likes of...blah,. blah. blah...in other words the love for Kansas, Duke and NC is predominent in their thinking...if you watched the NCAA talking pundits, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley have no love for the Buckeyes...others hedge their calls...at least Dickey V thinks they can win it all!
 
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Thad Matta, players love family business
Mar. 24, 2011
Written by
LARRY PHILLIPS
CentralOhio.com

COLUMBUS -- Basketball is the family business for four members of the nation's top-ranked team.

Freshman center Jared Sullinger, senior guard Jon Diebler, freshman point guard Aaron Craft, and head coach Thad Matta are all sons of coaches.

"I love the fact I was a coach's son myself," Matta said. "I think the thing that you think about are all the rides home after practice, sitting at the dinner table and what the topic is. ... I think that you learn a lot more because that's your father's job."

That born-and-bred intellect with the sport is a big reason the Buckeyes are described as a team wielding a high basketball IQ, a necessary trait when playing Kentucky at 9:45 p.m. Friday in an NCAA Tournament East Regional semifinal in Newark, N.J.

Three of those fathers coached their sons to their respective high school Final Fours, and two of them won state championships.

Jim Matta, with Thad as his leading scorer and star guard, took Hoopeston to a third-place finish in the small-school division of the 1985 Illinois state tournament.

James "Satch" Sullinger coached Columbus Northland to a 2009 Division I state championship when Jared hit two free throws with three seconds left to beat Cincinnati Princeton 60-58.

Keith Diebler guided two sons to a state title when Upper Sandusky won the Division II championship in 2005 with Jon as a sophomore and Jake Diebler as a senior.

Craft's father, John, wore a whistle as a junior high coach and tutored Jon Diebler at Fostoria in 2003.

"Both Jon and Jared, even Aaron's dad has done coaching, and I think those guys maybe have just a little bit more understanding," Matta said. "And I think the other thing is that they seem to listen a little bit better because they've heard it all their life, and they appreciate it."

Cont...
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http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20110324/SPORTS/103240313

Q. Who do you think is the favorite right now?

A. I think it’s Ohio State. I think Ohio State and Kansas are the two best teams. Throughout the year, I’ve maintained that I didn’t think there was a historically great team. I think if there is one, it’s Ohio State. They’ve played extraordinarily well, especially in the latter part of the year. Of the losses they’ve suffered, it’s taken an awful lot to beat them. Wisconsin had to have an extraordinary finish. Purdue played a great game at Purdue to beat them, so I think Ohio State and Kansas have separated themselves by a little bit. But of the two, I would say Ohio State is the better team.

Q. Do you think a Kansas vs. Ohio State national championship game would be the ideal final?

On paper it would be if you take a BCS view of things. The beauty of it is, the teams get to prove things through the course of the tournament. I’m one of those that believes that the best team doesn’t always win in this. In other words, in 1985, I thought Georgetown was the best team, and they lost to Villanova in what was an epic game, an epic upset. In 1991 I was an assistant coach on that Duke team that beat UNLV and I thought UNLV was the best team. We happened to clip them. So, the best team doesn’t always win, and that’s part of the beauty of this tournament. Those are the two best teams, I think it would be a wonderful final if they were to earn their way there.

Q. What are your thoughts on the upcoming Kentucky vs. Ohio State game?

A. I think Ohio State is the better of the two teams because they’re a lot older and they’re really balanced. Having that kind of experience and the talent they’ve got is a great combination. I think Kentucky’s got terrific talent, but it’s inexperienced talent. I may differ with some of my friends on this, but there’s an adage that’s been used that freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore at this time of year. I differ with that. I think freshmen are freshmen more so now than at any time during the year because they’ve never been in these kinds of situations before. We saw that when Kentucky played West Virginia in the regional final. West Virginia threw out that 1-3-1 on Kentucky and they didn’t handle it particularly well. I think if they had an older, more experienced team, their talent and experience would’ve guided them through that and that wouldn’t have been as big an issue for them.

Q. Can freshmen actually carry their teams despite the inexperience?

A. I think it can happen in today’s game, especially when the older players in the game are not of the same caliber than the older players were in the game 20 years ago. It is possible for freshmen to be more successful now than they could’ve been many years ago. But still, experience matters. If you had overwhelming freshmen talent like Kentucky had last year, it can take you further than not having that overwhelming talent. But Ohio State has outstanding talent. They’ve got not only two really good freshmen, they’ve got the best freshmen in the country, Jared Sullinger, but Aaron Craft is beyond his years as a freshman as well. I haven’t seen a guard put better pressure on a basketball than he does and be more disruptive as a defender. He had 15 assists in that George Mason game, so they’re the real thing. They’ve very, very good. It will take an extraordinary effort on Kentucky’s part to win.
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http://sujuiceonline.com/2011/03/24/jay-bilas-espn-ncaa-tournament/

Rival coach likes Buckeyes' chances
Calgary Herald March 24, 2011

BASKETBALL . Morehead State Coach Donnie Tyndall, whose team lost at Ohio State by 19 in November, sees the Buckeyes as a cut above Kentucky and almost all other teams still playing in the NCAA Tournament.

"I certainly think Kentucky's got a chance," Tyndall said Tuesday of the upcoming Kentucky-Ohio State Sweet 16 game. "But, in my humble opinion, Ohio State, Kansas and Duke are the three best teams in college basketball that remain."

When asked what separated Ohio State, Kansas and Duke from other contenders, Tyndall said, "Experience. Not only are they talented, well coached and very good players, but they're experienced."

Ohio State plays three seniors and a junior in its seven-man rotation. The first-year players include Jared Sullinger, who was announced Tuesday as The Sporting News National Freshman of the Year.

"They're a very complete team," Tyndall said of the Buckeyes, the overall No. 1 seed in this NCAA Tournament. "That's the word I'd use."
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Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/R...eyes+chances/4494549/story.html#ixzz1HW2BTIJT
 
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I like what they say, but as far as experience goes, all of these kids have been playing AAU ball at an extremely high level. Many of those traveling teams could get into the Top Ten at the NCAA level. All of the freshmen (by now) are sophomores, in that they have experienced a whole year in their respective leagues. My daughter got to the lower limits of the traveling team thing, and from what I've seen, the college scouts would do better watching those games than watching the HS games that they do scout.

Ergo, when it's crunch time, Brandon Knight from Kentucky is going to know what to do, and won't be hesitant to do it. He's faced that situation before. Whether or not he succeeds is academic, but he's logged enough minutes at an elite level of bball. Having said that, OSU has many of its athletes that have logged the same minutes in the same leagues, plus having three seniors that have put in the time at the college level as well. That does count for something as well, and the chemistry of the OSU team is what I believe will carry them over the top.

I'm surprised that more hasn't been made about our seniors 'giving themselves up' for the incoming freshmen. While the upper classmen might make the frosh carry their gym bags, on the floor, ALL of these seniors are looking for the BEST shot, not THEIR shot. Said another way, they are playing for 'the team' and not for a high draft spot, putting up big numbers. My vote for MVP goes to David Lighty. He just does what's necessary to win, the little things that don't go into the scorebook, and as the whole world saw against George Mason, is very able to step up and score when needed. We have 5 that they have to guard all the time, and the Kentucky's, Duke's, and Kansas's cannot guard all 5 all of the time. 'nough said. Go Bucks. All in.

:gobucks3::gobucks4::banger:
 
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Apr 05, 2011
Ohio State voted No. 1 by one coach in final USA TODAY/ESPN poll
By Erick Smith, USA TODAY

Connecticut defeated Butler to claim the school's third national championship Monday night. But the Huskies were not a unanimous choice at No. 1 in the final USA TODAY/ESPN Top 25 Coaches' poll.

Ohio State lost in the Sweet 16, but still managed to receive one first-place vote in the final USA TODAY/ESPN coaches poll.

Northern Arizona coach Mike Adras, one of the 31 voters, selected Ohio State first and Kansas second ahead of the Huskies on his ballot.

"I voted for who I thought was the best team in the country based on the entire body of work during the season," Adras said. "I believe it is Ohio State. I want to congratulate Connecticut for winning the NCAA tournament. They deserved it."
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http://content.usatoday.com/communi...icks-ohio-state-no-1-final-poll-connecticut/1

Bucks finished no. 5...

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/usatpoll.htm?loc=interstitialskip
 
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WolverineMike;1903565; said:
are those votes public, or did Adras choose to come out and say what he said. Pretty cool of him either way, because I completely agree. The best overall team doesn't always win the tourny
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They aren't, Wilbon and Kornheiser were complaining about this a couple of minutes ago.
 
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Yeah, I didn't hear about this until my mom got home and mentioned they were raising hell about it on the radio. I get voting for whoever wins the tourney/final game as #1, but I don't think that it should be expected to vote that way, especially when the team that won the final game didn't exactly provide a stellar body of work during the regular season.
 
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WolverineMike;1903565; said:
are those votes public, or did Adras choose to come out and say what he said. Pretty cool of him either way, because I completely agree. The best overall team doesn't always win the tourny
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Systems_id;1903571; said:
They aren't, Wilbon and Kornheiser were complaining about this a couple of minutes ago.
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scarletmike;1903587; said:
Yeah, I didn't hear about this until my mom got home and mentioned they were raising hell about it on the radio. I get voting for whoever wins the tourney/final game as #1, but I don't think that it should be expected to vote that way, especially when the team that won the final game didn't exactly provide a stellar body of work during the regular season.
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It's pretty obvious that a 10-loss Butler team is better than a 3-loss Ohio State team (with all 3 losses being to top-10 teams on the road). :roll1:

If your vote is only going mirror the results of the tournament, why even bother to have the poll?
 
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Systems_id;1903571; said:
They aren't, Wilbon and Kornheiser were complaining about this a couple of minutes ago.
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They complained about the guy not identifying himself, when the USAToday article on the final poll was posted at 1:20 ET today and quoted the guy and his reasoning. The votes are public throughout the year, but not for the final poll. That's the exact opposite of how it works for football, where they don't disclose the coaches votes until the week of the Final BCS Standings. ESPN

Perhaps they taped the show earlier than usual today since they're getting the rest of the week off for the Masters. Normally I think it's taped within an hour of it airing.
 
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