Right: Mike Tisdale, also known as “Lurch,” scored 21 points in Illinois 58-54 win over Wisconsin, Friday afternoon. (Getty Images)

After Evan Turner’s miracle shot from somewhere near Muncie, the fifth-seeded Fighting Illini of Illinois (18-13, 10-8 Big Ten) held on to defeat fourth-seeded Wisconsin, 58-54, in the one of the other quarterfinal match-ups in the Big Ten tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Friday afternoon.

With all of that means that fifth-ranked Ohio State (25-7, 14-4 Big Ten) will take on Illinois in the semifinals, Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:40 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on CBS with Gus Johnson and Clark Kellogg.

Before Friday’s game vs. the Badgers, the Illini were riding a three-game losing streak and were squarely on the bubble getting into the NCAA tourney. With their win over Wisconsin, Illinois should now get a ticket to the Big Dance.

Ohio State, meanwhile, survived and advanced to play another day after receiving a scare from Michigan. The Buckeyes have won five-straight and 11 out of their last 12 contests while hoping to secure a possible No. 1-seed in the NCAA tournament.
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Right: Ohio State’s Evan Turner, minus the cape, acknowledges his three-pointer at the buzzer after it was reviewed by officials that beat Michigan. (Getty Images)

John who?

If there’s was any type of a two-horse race for National Player of the Year awards, that just ended today after Evan Turner drained a three-pointer with .3 seconds left to give fifth-ranked and top-seeded Ohio State a 69-68 win over eighth-seeded Michigan at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis during the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.

The Buckeyes trailed by a deuce with 2.2 seconds remaining after Michigan’s Manny Harris drove to the basket to give the Wolverines a 68-66 lead. After a timeout, though, Michigan head coach John Beilein decided against guarding the inbound pass and let Turner race up the court for the decisive triple.

Maybe Michigan should hire all of their coaches from West Virginia, seeing how well its worked for them so far. The relaxed defense at the end of the game was a total brain fart and Turner made them play dearly for it.
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Right: Ohio State’s Big Ten Player of the Year, Evan Turner. (AP Photo)

villain
/v’ɪlən/
noun -

1. A villain is someone who deliberately harms other people or breaks the law in order to get what he or she wants.

2. The villain in a novel, film, or play is the main bad character.

Another certain blogger and teammate of Ohio State’s Evan Turner, Mark “the Shark” Titus nicknamed him “The Villain,” because of Turner’s general use if the word “chillen” as a Facebook status update.

Granted, this is nothing new. Me and my boy Joe Malagreca use to say things like this before Turner and Titus were even born at good old Bishop Hartley High School back in the 80s. “Chillin’ like a villain. Chillin’ like Bob Dylan. Chillin’ like penicillin.”
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Above: Another big, shiny trophy for Jim Foster’s crew. (Getty Images)

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Jantel Lavender scored 35 points, which tied a tournament record, and added 10 rebounds as Ohio State rallied from a 16-point deficit to defeat Iowa, 66-64, in the championship game of the women’s Big Ten basketball tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Sunday afternoon.

With the score tied at 64-all and just 1.9 seconds left, a foul on Iowa’s Trisha Nesbitt sent Lavender to the free throw line after a pass went inside to her near the block. Lavender sank a pair from the charity stripe to give the Buckeyes the win.
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Right: Ohio State outfielder Zach Hurley was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday after the senior hit .571 over four games, reaching base at a .609 clip and slugging at a 1.048 rate for an OPS of 1.657. (AP File Photo)

The 17th-ranked Ohio State baseball team won three out of four contests over the weekend to improve their record to 8-2 on the season with victories over Duquesne and Fairleigh Dickinson while splitting a doubleheader with Saint Louis on Saturday with all games being played at the North Charlotte Regional Park in Port Charlotte, Fla.

On Sunday against Fairleigh Dickinson, the Buckeyes took a 5-0 lead in the first inning on Ryan Dew’s two-run single after Zach Hurley reached on a base hit and Dan Burkhart walked. Later, Dan DeLucia added a three-run homer that scored Dew and Burkhart.

In the top of the third, the Knights plated two runs to cut the lead to 5-2. Stephen LaForge doubled in Mike Eliasen for the first run, and Joe Martno singled in LaForge for the second run.
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Above: Ohio State goaltender Dustin Carlson stopped 81 of 84 shots in two wins over the weekend. (Emily Meyer/OSU Athletics Communications )

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The Ohio State men’s hockey team advanced to the quarterfinals of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament by sweeping the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, two games to none in the first round of the best-of-three series over the weekend at the OSU Ice Rink.

With the two victories, the Buckeyes will take on No. 2-ranked and top-seed Miami for a best-of-three series at Steve Cady Arena in Oxford, starting on Friday.
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Right: Ohio State’s soon-to-be-named Big Ten and National Player of the Year, Evan Turner, kisses the conference championship trophy. (AP Photo)

Last night at the Schottenstein Center, Jon Diebler scored 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting from three-point land and Evan Turner had a double-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and five assists as sixth-ranked Ohio State defeated Illinois, 73-57. With the win, the Buckeyes earned no less than a share of the Big Ten regular season title.

Things, though, looked less than promising in the first half as the Illini streaked out to a 19-13 lead after a pair of triples from Demetri McCamey, the last one coming at the 11:28 mark.

The Buckeyes withstood the long-range barrage by going on a 15-2 scoring run from that point fueled on a two treys from Diebler along with a couple of highlight reel dunks by William Buford that put Ohio State ahead 28-21 with 7:16 remaining until intermission.
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No. 6 Ohio State (23-7, 13-4) vs. Illinois (18-11, 10-6)

Date: Tonight
Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
Place: Schottenstein Center, capacity 19,049
TV: ESPN with Dave O’Brien and Steve “Hair Gel” Lavin.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460 and WBNS-FM 97.1 in Columbus and 58 more stations across Buckeyeland on the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.
Series History: Ohio State owns a 60-99 all-time record vs. Illinois.
Last Game: Ohio State defeated Illinois, 73-54, in Champaign on Feb. 14. Jon Diebler scored 18 points and David Lighty added 17. Evan Turner had 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

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Right: Dunk you very much. Ohio State’s Dallas Lauderdale throws it down over Michigan’s Zack Novak. (AP Photo)

The Ohio State Buckeyes notched two wins last week, defeating Penn State 75-67 in State College on Wednesday before downing Michigan 66-55 at home on Saturday. With those two victories plus Michigan State’s upset win over Purdue on Sunday, Thad Matta’s cagers moved into sole possession of first place, one-half game ahead of the Boilermakers and Spartans.

With a win over Illinois on Tuesday, the Buckeyes will clinch at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title.

On Monday, Ohio State moved up in the polls to No. 6 in the Associated Press and are now ranked seventh in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll. Continue Reading »

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No. 9 Ohio State (21-7, 11-4) at Penn State (10-16, 2-12)

Date: Tonight
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
Place: Bryce Jordan Center, capacity 15,261
TV: Big Ten Network with Tom Hamilton and Tim Doyle.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460 and WBNS-FM 97.1 in Columbus and 58 more stations across Buckeyeland on the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.
Series History: Ohio State owns a 26-13 all-time record vs. Penn State. The Buckeyes have won 12-straight games vs. the Nittany Lions.
Last Game: Ohio State defeated Penn State 75-62 on Feb. 3 at the Schottenstein Center. Evan Turner led the Buckeyes with 27 points.

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Right: I think this photo is self-explanatory.
(Matt Barker Photo)

Generally when you cheat, you hold an unfair advantage. Most cheaters win things like home run titles, gold medals, or hold 100-meter dash records. In Ann Arbor, when you cheat you get a grand total of eight wins in two seasons against teams like Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Delaware State and Indiana.

It’s also apparent that University of Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez is too dumb to count or to be able to tell time, which are skills that are usually acquired in kindergarten.

According to the Detroit Free Press, “The School Up North” is so desperate for winning season and a bowl invitation that they have been resorting to illegal means.

The article states that the “NCAA has issued a notice of allegations to the University of Michigan alleging five major violations in its football program.” It also states that all five are major, and that none of the violations are secondary.
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Right: Ohio State’s Dallas Lauderdale posterizes Michigan State’s Delvon Roe.
(AP Photo)

On Sunday, Thad Matta’s cagers got off the mat with a big win at the Breslin Center, defeating Michigan State, 74-67, led by a pair of Buckeyes who had double-doubles. Evan Turner scored 20 points while William Buford added 17 as both pulled down 10 rebounds. With the victory, OSU is now one-half game behind league-leading Purdue and is still in the hunt for a Big Ten title.

Ohio State controlled their own destiny at one time, but the 60-57 lost to the Boilermakers last Wednesday means that the Buckeyes are going to need some help. Purdue has four games remaining: at Minnesota, vs. Michigan State, vs. Indiana, and at Penn State. Michigan State, meanwhile, has just three contests left: playing at Purdue before finishing with Penn State and Michigan at home.
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No. 9 Ohio State (20-7, 10-4) vs. No. 11 Michigan State (21-6,11-3)

Date: Sunday
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Place: Breslin Center, capacity 14,759
TV: CBS Sports with Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460 and WBNS-FM 97.1 in Columbus and 58 more stations across Buckeyeland on the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.
Series History: Ohio State owns a 49-58 all-time record vs. Michigan State.
Last Time Out: Ohio State defeated Michigan State, 82-70, in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse on March 14, 2009. Evan Turner led the Buckeyes with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

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