After playing the first six games against mid-major opponents, and winning by an average margin of just over 26 points no less, time had come for the “Thad Five minus one” to be given a true test, and on the road.

The verdict is in, and these kids are alright, even with arguably the nation’s best player, Greg Oden, who was unavailable and looking more like a very tall model for Gap sitting on the bench as he rehabilitates his right wrist after surgery.

With eight scholarship players that includes four, first-year members of the Ohio State Buckeyes basketball team, taking their first journey away from Columbus to venture into one of the more hostile environments in all of basketball, the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, home to the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Senior Ron Lewis, who has more hops than Budweiser, scored a season-high 30 points, but it wasn’t enough as the third-ranked Buckeyes dropped a 98-89 decision to the seventh-ranked Tar Heels.

In the end, North Carolina just had a deeper bench and fresher legs to finish off Ohio State.
It was quite a game as the young Buckeyes’ came flying out of the gate without any fear or apprehension, taking a 15-9 lead into the first media timeout that was fueled on three-pointers from Jamar Butler and Ivan Harris.

Ohio State claimed their largest lead of the game on two different occasions, with the last installment coming on a jumper by Lewis that put the Buckeyes ahead 35-25 with seven minutes remaining in the first half.

North Carolina chipped way at Ohio State’s lead and trailed 48-44 at halftime.

The Buckeyes didn’t quite get off to the same start in the second half as they did in the first, as the Tar Heels went on a 9-0 run capped off on a three-pointer by Wayne Ellington that put North Carolina ahead 53-48 with 6:38 left.

But Ohio State used a 16-5 scoring barrage thanks to three consecutive triples by “Inferno” Harris, because when he comes in off the bench, Ivan’s on fire, and the Buckeyes took a 64-58 lead with 12:43 remaining.

The Tar Heels reclaimed the lead after Tyler Hansbrough scored on a short jumper at the 8:28 mark to put UNC up 69-68, and never trailed the rest of the way.

North Carolina’s largest advantage came with 4:43 left after a jumper by Ty Lawson made the score 84-72 in favor of the Tar Heels.

Harris added a another three-pointer with 1:52 remaining to reduced UNC’s margin down to 88-83, but Ohio State could not get any closer.

Along with Lewis’ 30 points, Harris and Cook both came off the bench to score in double figures. Harris finished with 17, and Cook had 14 points for the Buckeyes.

Hansbrough was the Tar Heels’ leading scorer with 21 pints, while Ellington added 19, Lawson had 13, and Brandan Wright chipped in 11 points.

Too bad Oden had to sit this one out, because he would of made Hansbrough look like the average player that he really is.

One telling stat, Hansbrough had seven points in the first half on 3-of-11 shooting, then scored 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the second half.

Othello Hunter began the game with the assignment of guarding Hansbrough, but played just five minutes due to foul trouble.

Matt Terwilliger came in and played 15 minutes in the first half to help shut down Hansbrough, but played just six minutes in the second half when the UNC center found the scoring easier against Hunter.

Maybe Coach Matta should of player Terwilliger more in the second half?

Ohio State was 34-of-65 (52.3%) from the field, and 13-of-26 (50.0%) from beyond the arc for the game.

North Carolina was 34-of-64 (53.1%) from the floor, and 8-of-18 (44.4%) from three-point range.

The Tar Heels outrebounded the Buckeyes 41-27.

Up next, Ohio State will host the Crusaders from Valparaiso. Tip-off at the “V” is scheduled for 4 pm., Saturday afternoon.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker
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We all know about Ohio State head coach Thad Matta’s heralded recruiting class of 2006, since we have seen four out of the five in action so far this season. There’s one other player, a really tall guy who sits on the bench in street clothes, who I hear is pretty good, too. He will get a chance to play within the next month.

On Monday, Coach Matta added another five-star recruit to the class of 2008 when 6-foot-1 Anthony Crater, a junior at Flint Southwestern Academy in Flint, Michigan, issued a verbal commitment to play for the Buckeyes.

Ranked the third-best point guard in his class, Crater also had offers from Arizona, Kansas, Marquette, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati, while Duke, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, and Michigan State were also highly interested in the kid nicknamed “Noopy.”

Crater joins other five-star recruits in that class as 7-foot center B.J. Mullens from Canal Winchester, and 6-foot-4 shooting guard William Buford from Libbey High School in Toledo have also verbally committed to play at Ohio State.
The fourth member of that class is 6-foot-3 Walter Offutt from Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, who comes in with a four-star ranking by Scout.com.

A fifth member for that class could be Delvin Roe, a 6-foot-8 forward from Lakewood St. Edwards. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Roe attended the OSU-Michigan football game a part of a recruiting visit.

Coach Matta already has five for the class of 2007, and headlining that group is five-star recruit Kosta Koufos, a 7-foot forward from GlenOak High School in Canton.

Rounding out the class of 2007 are four-star prospects with 6-foot-5 shooting guard Jon Diebler from Upper Sandusky, 6-foot-8 power forward Dallas Lauderdale from Solon, 6-foot-6 forward Evan Turner from St. Joseph’s Carondelet High School in Chicago, Illinois, and 6-foot-6 forward Eric Wallace from Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker
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It’s looking as though it will be Southern California, not Michigan, as Ohio State’s opponent in the BCS National Championship game slated for the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on January 8.

By virtue of their 44-24 win over Notre Dame, last Saturday, the Trojans leapfrogged past the idle Wolverines in the Associated Press poll, climbing one spot from third to second.

The Wolverines led the Trojans by just 0.0075 points before the new BCS standings were released Sunday. Now, USC has a 0.244 point lead.

USC plays crosstown-rival UCLA on Saturday and a victory would likely lock up the Trojans third consecutive appearance in the BCS title game.

But is USC that good, or is Notre Dame that bad?

I have always felt that Notre Dame has been overrated during the past two years. This season, the Irish have played three teams that are currently ranked, Georgia Tech, Michigan and USC, with only one win. In the two defeats, Notre Dame has lost by an average margin of 23 points.

It’s pretty easy to get as many wins as Notre Dame has by playing teams like Stanford, North Carolina, and the Pentagon (Army, Navy, & Air Force).

To me, it’s extremely difficult to determine who is the second-best team in the nation, but Gerry Ahern, a senior editor for Yahoo! Sports, seems to think he can. But I think he is way off the mark.

In his column entitled, “The Point After”, Ahern states that both Michigan and USC have a common opponent, which is Notre Dame. But then he basically just compares stats from both games side-by-side.
 

A simple study of the boxscores shows the Wolverines were even more demonstrative in dismantling Notre Dame, and by a fairly significant margin.

Michigan had the edge over USC against Notre Dame in the following categories:

Points for: 47-44 (3).

Points against: 21-24 (3).

Total yards allowed: 273-404 (131).

Rushing yards allowed: 32-130 (98).

Passing yards allowed: 241-274 (33).

Turnovers forced: 5-1 (4).

Rushing yards: 148-139 (9)

The evidence seems pretty empirical, especially when you factor in that the Wolverines’ lone loss came by three points at top-ranked Ohio State (12-0), while the Trojans lost at unranked Oregon State (8-4) by two.

Strength of schedule? USC faced 10 teams that will play in bowls, Michigan seven.

As you do the math, it seems clear that the Maize and Blue should be making their way to the desert for a date with the Buckeyes, not the Cardinal and Gold.

First of all, I don’t think it’s fair to look at one game that was played in September, to one that is played two months later.

Secondly, I question as to whether or not he watched both games.

Michigan scored two defensive touchdowns on “gifts” by Notre Dame. The final score was not really indicative of how the game really went.

Erick Smith gave us a different take in his USA Today column, last week.

For everyone talking about what a “classic” game it was and how a rematch would be the best matchup in the national title game, here comes the cold water. The game wasn’t that close. The Wolverines had a strong opening drive before the Buckeyes showed they were the far superior team.

As much as a rematch might be unfair to the Buckeyes, don’t think for a second that Jim Tressel would be worried about it. He might actually welcome another chance, knowing that by cleaning up a few mistakes, the game would be in the bag by halftime.

With Smith’s assertion, it would appear that USC is the logical choice, since Michgan had their chance and lost.

As for the polls, it seems that most voters just check the boxscores from the previous day and they don’t watch many games.

Two weeks ago, a voter for The Associated Press college football poll was removed from the board because he mistakenly thought Oklahoma had lost to Texas Tech and voted the Sooners lower in the rankings.

Jim Kleinpeter of The Times-Picayune of New Orleans said he tried to find the score of the Oklahoma game but was unable to.

“It was my fault. I probably had other avenues I could have gone to get the score, but I usually rely on the morning paper here in Baton Rouge. And for some reason, they didn’t have the score. I looked all through it,” Kleinpeter said.

AP sports editor Terry Taylor said: “We understand mistakes can happen, but we thought this one could have been prevented. The heart of the matter here is the credibility of the poll.”

Obviously, not only do these voters not watch the games, but they can’t even keep up with the final scores.

It’s time the college presidents and athletic directors got together to come up with a better plan to crown a national champion.

Tags: Football by Matt Barker
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Ohio State has two former McDonald’s All-Americans, senior Ivan Harris and freshman Daequan Cook, who don’t even start.

I guess all of that energy they save from having to run out during the pregame player introductions is being used when it matters most, after the tip-off.

Both came off the bench to lead Ohio State, with Harris scoring a game-high 19 points, and Cook notched a double-double by adding 17 points and pulling down a team-high 11 rebounds as the fourth-ranked Buckeyes will head into Chapel Hill undefeated after drilling the Youngstown State Penguins 91-57 at Nationwide Arena, Friday night.

The Buckeyes toyed with the Penguins for the first seven minutes of the game before Ohio State stepped on the gas like a rush-hour commuter on I-270.

In the first six minutes of action, there were four lead changes and two ties until Harris drained a deep three-ball from the right wing to give the Buckeyes the lead for good at 13-10 with 13:48 left in the first half.
Youngstown State’s Quin Humphrey sank a 15-footer to trim OSU’s lead down to a point before the Buckeyes shifted into fifth-gear by going on a 27-2 scoring run to blow past the Penguins.

The rout began with Ron Lewis’ dunk with 12:46 left and ended on a steal and two-handed jam by 6-foot-1 point guard Mike Conley Jr. at the 4:35 mark to put Ohio State ahead 40-14.

In between both dunks, another benchwarmer, backup center Matt Terwilliger scored 10 points during the run that included his first collegiate three-point field goal from 26-feet away.

Ohio State claimed a 54-25 advantage at halftime, and took their biggest lead of the game with 47 seconds left when walk-on guard Mark Titus drilled a trey to put the Buckeyes up 91-52.

Along with Harris and Cook coming off the bench to score in double figures was Terwilliger, who finished with 12 points.

Starters Ron Lewis and David Lighty scored 16 and 11, respectfully.

The leading scorer for Youngstown State was forward John Barber with 16.

For the game, Ohio State was 35-of-69 (50.7%) from the field, including a red-hot 22-of-37 (59.5%) in the first half. The Buckeyes also made 13 of their 29 three-point attempts.

Youngstown State was 24-of-67 (35.8%) from the field, and 5-of-16 (31.3%) shooting threes.

Up next, Ohio State travels to Chapel Hill to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels (4-1), Wednesday night. Tip-off at the Dean E. Smith Center is scheduled for 9:00 pm., and the game will be televised on ESPN.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker
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I have a second favorite college football team now, and like most Buckeye fans out there, it should be yours, too.

It’s the Trojans from the University of Southern California, who take on the sixth-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, Saturday night. The game will be televised nationally on ABC, with the kickoff scheduled for 8:00 pm EST.

This is another storied rivalry in college football, and one of the most significant contests in the 78 years these two teams have met on the gridiron.

USC were nearly knocked out of the national title race by Notre Dame last season, but Matt Leinart pushed and spun his way into the end zone thanks to some helping hands of a shoving Reggie Bush with three seconds left as the Trojans escaped South Bend with a 34-31 victory.

Since Ohio State has concluded their regular season, I have no problems donning the cardinal and gold of USC, if only for the next two weeks. Meanwhile, Michigan fans have to cheer for rival Notre Dame.

This all factors in because of USC’s win over California, coupled with Michigan’s lost to Ohio State, that trimmed the Wolverines lead for the second slot in the BCS standings down to just 0.0075 points.

USC has taken hold of second place in both the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ and Harris Interactive polls, the only polls used by the BCS to determine the title game participants.

Why should Buckeye fans root for USC? Because we don’t need a rematch.

Here is what I posted on Every Game Counts, the Official Blog of NCAA Football:

Having Ohio State play Michigan is not only unfair to Ohio State, but unfair to the rest of the NCAA.

Florida coach Urban Meyer said last Sunday, when both The Associated Press poll and BCS rankings kept Michigan in the No. 2 slot, ahead of Southern California, by margins no wider than a few blades of grass.

“If that does happen,” Meyer said about a possible rematch between Ohio State and Michigan in the national title game, “all the (university) presidents need to get together immediately and put together a playoff system.”

“I mean like now,” he added, “January or whenever to get that done.”

Michigan had their chance to go to the BCS Championship game, and lost.

How can you reward a team for losing? There are no moral victories in college football.

Granted, the final score was 42-39, but Ohio State would of won by 11 if they hadn’t gone to the “prevent” defense and a questionable pass interference penalty on fourth down against the Buckeyes that kept Michigan’s last scoring drive alive.

My next question is this: if, and I do mean if, Michigan makes it to the championship game and beats Ohio State, couldn’t the Buckeyes stake a share of the title? After all, Michigan would get in for losing. Both teams would have the same record, and the same record against each other.

Everyone who seems to be in favor of a rematch just needs to watch the game over and over on ESPN Classic, because round two would be a travesty to college football.

With that said, Yahoo! Sports columnist the author of several books including Glory Road, Dan Wetzel, chimed in on what he thinks of a possible rematch:

A rematch? It would be fun. It would be unique. It would be an over-the-top twist in a rivalry that hardly needs anything else.

But to say definitively right now that it should happen is shortsighted and blind to four other factors.

Nos. 1-3: Southern California, Arkansas and Florida.

No. 4: The Michigan-OSU game, despite the final score, wasn’t really that close.

Let’s start with No. 4. Ohio State controlled this one, racking up 503 yards on what was supposed to be an airtight Wolverines defense. Troy Smith and his receivers had their way with Michigan’s secondary. The Buckeyes running backs peeled off two touchdown runs of 50-plus yards.

Yes, anything could have happened at the end, and yes, the final score is what it is. But if Ohio State doesn’t commit three turnovers to Michigan’s none and commit two third- and fourth-down defensive penalties (de facto turnovers) to Michigan’s one, then this isn’t that close.

Two of Ohio State’s turnovers were near their end zone (one on the nine-yard line, one on the 25).

This isn’t to say things wouldn’t be different next time. But to call this a true back-and-forth, anyone’s ballgame is dishonest. Only once in the second half did Michigan even have the ball with the chance to take the lead.

Wetzel went on to say that Michigan’s resume includes just two wins, Notre Dame and Wisconsin against top-25 teams, though the Badgers were not ranked when they played the Wolverines.

On the other hand, if USC wins out, they will have four victories against ranked teams which include Nebraska, Oregon, California, and Notre Dame. That does not include the 50-14 pasting USC put on Arkansas in the season-opener for both teams at Fayetteville. Since then, Arkansas has won 10 straight games.

Since both Arkansas and Notre Dame are long shots to make it to the BCS title game, thanks to lopsided losses to teams still in contention, the only other team other than USC and Michigan who has a shot is fourth-ranked Florida.

The Gators finish the season by playing archrival Florida State, Saturday, before taking on Arkansas in the SEC Championship game next week.

One closing note, Michigan fans have determined that since their team lost to Ohio State by three points on the road, they try to reason that if both teams met on a neutral field, it would be even since oddsmakers give three points to the home team.

But since Michigan defeated Ball State by just eight points at home, does that mean the Wolverines are at the same level as North Dakota State, who beat Ball State by five on the road?

Sounds ridiculous, right? But it’s really hard to rationalize who is the second-best team in the country.

The bottom line is this, Michigan had their chance, now it’s Southern Cal’s turn.

Tags: Football by Matt Barker
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