Our Honor Defend

Selection Monday for the women’s basketball team and Selection Sunday for the men’s basketball team yielded similar results.  The women, like the men, are a 2-seed in a Midwestern regional that includes the tournament’s number one overall seed.  Unlike the men, the 1-seed Connecticut Huskies look unbeatable.

The good news is that, should UCONN and Ohio State play shooty hoops in this tournament, it will be in nearby Dayton, Ohio.  Therein, Buckeye fans can (and absolutely should) flood the place to make the atmosphere as intimidating as possible for the undefeated Huskies.   The bad news is that the road out Pittsburgh to Dayton is fraught with peril.  As a 2-seed, the Buckeyes will probably not sweat their first round opponent — the15th-seeded St. Francis (PA) Red Flash — too much. The winner of the 7-10 matchup between Mississippi State and Middle Tennessee State is a little more daunting.  The Mississippi State Bulldogs, you may remember, were that pesky 11-seed in last year’s tournament that upset the 6-seed Longhorns to face the 3-seed Buckeyes in Columbus.  The Buckeyes dispatched them, but had to work for it.  Their common opponent, Ole Miss, does not seem to shed a light on this picture one way or the other.  The Buckeyes eeked out a victory against the Running Akbars in Oxford whereas Ole Miss and Mississippi State exchanged wins at home.

The other potential second round opponent is Middle Tennessee State, the automatic qualifier from the Sun Belt conference.  I think Middle Tennessee State were the only selection from that conference into this tournament, but that comment belies how much momentum the Blue Raiders have coming into this tournament.  At 25-5 with only one conference loss, the Blue Raiders are winners of 16-straight.  The last of it was an overtime victory over Arkansas-Little Rock to get the conference’s automatic bid.  Beyond that, Middle Tennessee State has a player that’s kind of a big deal: Alysha Clark.  Alysha Clark is the leading scorer in shooty ladyhoops (28.7ppg) and averaged a blistering 44ppg in the conference tournament.  The closest the Buckeyes have seen to such a prolific scorer this season is Andrea Riley of Oklahoma State.  Riley is the 3rd overall scorer in the NCAA as a 5’5 guard, and the Buckeyes relinquished 27 points to her.

The important information for immediate consumption is that the Buckeyes will be the first tip in Pittsburgh on Sunday.  The game will be held at the Petersen Events Center on site of the University of Pittsburgh.  You can watch the game at 12:06pm on ESPN2.

Worth Noting

• The Buckeyes, as well as the Big Ten in general, do not get a lot of publicity in women’s basketball.  Ohio State’s inability to put together a deep tournament run under Jim Foster is probably explanation for their lack of fanfare while the fall of Penn State, Michigan State, Purdue, and Minnesota have brought the caliber of the conference down a bit.
• That said, Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin are all in the tournament.
• With respect to Ohio State, they have some important previous opponents in the tournament.  WVU is a 3-seed and Oklahoma State is a 4-seed.  The Buckeyes blasted both in the preseason WNIT by over 20 points.
• Michigan was actually a bubble team at 17-13.  A 17-win team in the men’s game is usually not a bubble team at all, but I think the selection criteria are different for the women’s game.  Regardless, Michigan was not selected into the tournament.  So, yes…