This is it. The waiting is over.

No room to run, no way to hide, no time for wondering why.

It’s here, the moment is now, about to decide.

For some reason, these lyrics from this Kenny Loggins’ song are stuck in my head this morning.

Tonight, the Ohio State basketball team is attempting to do what the football team couldn’t nearly three months ago. And that’s beat Florida for a national championship.

Led by a bloated Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback stuffed full of fast food hamburgers, the slow and sluggish football Buckeyes never stood a chance against the Gators out in the desert, even though they were seven-point favorites.

Coach Matta has had several resources at his disposal to give his team a pep talks during the Final Four. From Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek, who were members of the 1960 Ohio State team that last won a national title, to Jared Fogle, “The Subway Guy,” who can speak to the Buckeyes on the evils of fat-laden foods.

By now, you should now the essentials. The game will be televised on CBS with Jim Nantz and Billy Packer, and on your radio dial, “Big Daddy” Paul Keels and Ron Stokes handle the call on the OSU Radio Network.

Tip-off at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta is scheduled for 9:21pm EDT.

With a win, Ohio State are national champions, and Buckeye Nation will feel vindicated.

With a loss, I am on the next Jet Express to Put-in-Bay to drown my sorrows over the summer.

And unless you live under a rock, you should know by now the cast of characters on the Florida Gators.

There’s 6-foot-11 forward Joakim Noah, who looks more like an overgrown seventh grader from a girl’s junior high school basketball team.

Florida also has two talented guards in 6-foot Taurean Green, who can do everything well, and 6-foot-2 Lee Humphrey, a deadly sharpshooter from three-point range.

Arguably the best player on the team is 6-foot-9 Corey Brewer. He will give Ohio State some match-up problems with his length, and he can score in many different ways. He’s a slasher who can put the ball on the deck and drive to the dish, and he can step back on knock down threes.

At center, the Gators have 6-foot-10 Al Horford. Though not a physically dominating post player, he is quick and athletic for his size.

All five can fill up the peach basket. You just can’t try to shut down one or two players because if you do, then the others will hurt you.

It’s going to take a great team effort, but I feel that Ohio State will come out of top. Of course, I had that same feeling in January, too.

Tags: Buckeye Basketball by Matt Barker
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So much for that build-up between the Battle of the Titans, Ohio State’s 7-foot Greg Oden versus Georgetown’s 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert.

Both were on the court at the same time for just over 13 minutes due to foul troubles. But when it mattered most, Oden was on the floor to help lead his Buckeyes to the national championship game.

Oden played just three minutes in the first half after two quick fouls, and the only stat he posted in the opening frame was two turnovers.

But Oden was able stay on the Georgia Dome hardwood for 17 minutes in the second half when the Buckeyes needed him most, and scored 13 points to go along with nine rebounds as Ohio State defeated Georgetown 67-60.

“It was real tough in the first half, sitting there because I wanted to contribute,” Oden said.

“My teammates did really good. They stepped up and didn’t allow them to get any offensive rebounds. In the second half, I just wanted to get in there and contribute.”

The win sets up a rematch in two different ways as the Buckeyes will face the Florida Gators, who downed UCLA 76-66 in the other semifinal match-up.

Back on December 23, Ohio State lost to Florida 86-60 at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville.

Oden was in foul trouble for most of that game and finished with seven points and six rebounds.

On January 8, the football team also lost to Florida 41-14 in the BCS national title game.

Since then, I, like many other Ohio State fans have been dreaming about the possibility of a rematch against the Gators in basketball.

You can call it what you like, but I prefer to use the term redemption rather than revenge. Most Buckeyes fans, though, are more willing to use the latter.

Ohio State enters the national championship game an early four-point underdog, which is fine by me. The Buckeyes were a seven-point favorite against the Gators in the BCS title game.

Most of the so-called “experts” are picking Florida to defeat Ohio State. Of course, the football “gods” said the same thing about the Buckeyes.

Against Georgetown, Ohio State was in control for nearly the entire game. The Hoyas largest lead of two points came in the opening minutes of the game, and Georgetown held a slim one point margin over Ohio State at the frist media timeout in the second half.

The game was tied on four different occasions and there were five lead changes.

The contest was deadlocked at 44-all with 8:50 left when Hibbert was called for his fourth foul. As Hibbert was walking towards the Georgetown bench, Oden was checking in at the scorer’s table.

From that point, Ohio State went on an 10-2 run which was capped off on a deep three-pointer by Jamar Butler that put the Buckeyes ahead 54-46 with 5:47 left.

Jonathan Wallace’s steal led to an easy layup by Georgetown’s Jessie Sapp that cut Ohio State’s lead down to 56-52 with 3:21 remaining, but the Hoyas could not get any closer.

With 1:41 left, a defensive rebound and eventual pass from Mike Conley Jr. to David Lighty led to an acrobatic layup, who was also foul on the played by Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing Jr. Lighty’s conventional three-point play put the Buckeyes ahead 61-52 and that was the ball game.

Conley finished with a team-high 15 points, six assists and five rebounds for Ohio State

Probably the most decisive reason for Ohio State’s win was the ability to contain Georgetown’s Jeff Green.

Green, the Big East player of the year. who had been scoring a team-best 15.8 points in the NCAA tournament, had just nine points, and took only five shots the entire game.

Hibbert scored 19 points, had six rebounds and one blocked shot in 24 minutes for the Hoyas. Wallace also chipped in 19, while Sapp added 10 as the only players to score in double figures for Georgetown.

Ohio State forced 14 Georgetown turnovers and cashed them in for 22 points. The smaller but quicker Buckeyes also outrebounded Hoyas 37-30.

Tags: Buckeye Basketball by Matt Barker
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