Open Thread: Day Two, Ohio State v. UCSB
It did not end there. The Big East had a total face-plant and could’ve put up a big donut in the win column if not for Villanova. Villanova, the 2-seed in the South region, needed a collapse from Robert Morris down the stretch, and OT, in order to put away the 15-seed Colonials from the Northeast Conference. Elsewhere? Total face-plant. 6-seed Marquette lost to a very meek Washington Huskies from a nationally maligned Pac-10 conference and 6-seed Notre Dame was upended by Ol’ Dirty University.
There was great action all around on Thursday. The first day alone had enough suspense to match last year’s entire tournament. Half of the SEC schools vanished from the tournament in a four hour span. Brigham Young, behind sure-to-be Stephon Curry incarnate Jimmer Fredette, felled the Florida Gators in double overtime. The victory for Brigham Young was the first tournament victory in almost twenty years. No doubt, BYU fans opened their Postum reserves on Thursday night and it was flowing like champagne in Provo while using Family Home Evening to discuss how much the 2-seed Kansas State Wildcats, their next opponent, hurt the soul. Lastly, Vanderbilt, bounced in hilarious fashion in the past two tournaments, were again punked, this time by a buzzer beater from the Murray State Racers. I don’t know where the state of Murray is, but I imagine its US Senators are already drafting legislation to proclaim Danero Thomas a statewide hero.
It is therefore with a sense of excitement, and anxiety, that we usher in day two with Ohio State playing in the nightcap against the UCSB Gauchos. UC-Santa Barbara, the school responsible for Jim Rome (and, to my knowledge, has issued no apology or paid this country any indemnity as a result of him), is the tournament champion of the Big West conference. You may remember; Cal State Northridge — the localest of local schools when I was growing up in Los Angeles — gave 2-seed Memphis everything they could handle in their opening round matchup. The Gauchos (seriously) are not coming into the dance just to have their mom pick them up at 10pm. To accomplish that objective, and Hampton the Buckeyes, UCSB wants to slow down the pace drastically. A track meet does not favor them. Meanwhile, they hope their perimeter defense will be enough to force the Buckeyes into jump shots. Therein, UCSB is thinking that any team of good shooters (as Ohio State) can have a cold shooting day. How Evan Turner is able to drive into the lane, how healthy Jon Diebler is, and how effective Dallas Lauderdale can be is worth watching.
I’ll be around, but mostly on Twitter. Enjoy the madness.
- Jim Groce was a former Matta assistant at Butler, Xavier and Ohio State [↩]