Right: Ohio State’s Jon Diebler rises and fires on one of his seven triples vs. UC Santa Barbara, Friday night. (Getty Images)

No. 2-seed Ohio State advances to the second round of the NCAA tournament after defeating 15th-seed UC Santa Barbara, 68-51, at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wis., Friday night.

With the win, the Buckeyes will take on 10th-seed Georgia Tech, Sunday afternoon. Tip-off at the Bradley Center is scheduled for 2:20 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on CBS.

Though Ohio State was in control throughout the game against UC Santa Barbara, it was far from an impressive showing.

The Buckeyes took an early 13-3 lead heading into the first media timeout and never trailed the rest of the way, even though the Gauchos went on a 9-0 run to trim their deficit down to a single point after a tip-in by Orlando Johnson with 8:47 left in the opening period.

From that point, though, Ohio State went on to score 14 of the games next 15 points as junior guard Jon Diebler was 3-of-3 from three-point range during that span.
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No. 2-seed Ohio State (27-7) vs. No. 15-seed UC Santa Barbara (20-9)

Date: Friday, March 19
Time: 9:35 p.m. ET (appox.)
Place: Bradley Center – Milwaukee, WI (capacity 19,000)
TV: CBS Sports with Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel.
Radio: Flagship stations WBNS-AM 1460 and WBNS-FM 97.1 in Columbus plus 58 more stations across Buckeyeland on the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.
Series History: Ohio State owns a 2-0 all-time record vs. UC Santa Barbara.
Last Game: Ohio State defeated UCSB, 79-56, at St. John Arena in Columbus on Dec. 14, 1993.

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Right: UC Santa Barbara’s sophomore guard Orlando Johnson leads the Gauchos averaging 17.9 points per game. (AP Photo)

The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos head into their first round match-up against Ohio State as the No. 15-seed and have an overall record of 20-9. UCSB earned their way into the NCAAs by winning the Big West tournament, defeating Long Beach State in the championship game, 69-64, last Saturday.

The Gauchos got off to a fast start, winning their first four games of the season. But the month of December was not kind to UCSB as they lost five out of six contests to end the 2009 calender year.

On Jan. 2 against UC Irvine in the Big West opener for both teams, UC Santa Barbara began 2010 just how the finished the previous year, with a lost. With a record of 5-6 after dropping their conference’s first game to the Anteaters, it appeared then that the Gauchos wouldn’t make it into any tournament.
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Right: Toledo Rogers’ DerJuan Gambrell.
(Photo courtesy of JJHuddle)

Ohio State’s recruiting class for the class of 2011 swelled to a total of seven in the last two days with the additions of Chase Farris, Brian Bobek, DerJuan Gambrell, Antonio Underwood and Chris Carter.

Farris, a 6-foot-6, 265-pound defensive end from Elyria High School currently headlines the class of 2011 as he offered up his verbal to the Buckeye coaching staff on Tuesday evening. Farris also had offers from Cincinnati, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Louisville, Michigan State, Notre Dame and West Virginia, among others. Neither Rivals or Scout have him ranked currently.

Bobek, a 6-foot-2 1/2, 278-pound center from William Fremd High School in Palatine, Illinois, issued his verbal commitment to head coach Jim Tressel and Ohio State today, He had offers from Ball State, Michigan State and Purdue as well. He is unranked at this time by both major scouting web sites.

Gambrell, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound cornerback from Rogers High School in Toledo, also issued his verbal today. Neither Rivals or Scout has a rating on Gambrell as of yet, and the only other offer he had received before committing to Ohio State was from the University of Toledo.

The other two who issued their verbals yesterday to play for Ohio State starting in 2011 are offensive linemen.

Underwood is a 6-foot-3, 295-pound guard from Shaker Heights also had offers from Akron, Kent State, Miami (Ohio) and Toledo. Chris Carter, another projected guard, stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 325 pounds and had offers from Miami (Ohio) and North Carolina State.

The other two for the class of 2011 who have issued their verbal commitments are defensive ends. Steve Miller from Canton McKinley and Ken Hayes from Whitmer High School in Toledo.

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Above: While it’s safe to assume that Ohio State’s Jim Tressel doesn’t own any real estate in “that state up north,” he’s has definitely owned the Wolverines since taking over in 2001. (Matt Barker Photo)

Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel will be roaming the Buckeye sidelines at least until 2014 after his contract was extended another two years, according to various sources BuckeyeBanter.com has learned today.

While Tressel had his contract lengthen by two additional years, he will not receive a pay raise. Currently, the coach makes about $3.5 million per year.

Gene Smith, Ohio State associate vice president and director of athletics, had this to day earlier this morning:

We wanted to reward Jim for his exemplary work with our football program and lock him in as our coach for an additional two years. Jim has never once come to me about compensation. Jim has indicated to me he is satisfied with his salary. He is aware of the financial situation we all face in athletics and I am thankful for his service and loyalty to the goals of the department.”

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Jim Foster and his Ohio State women’s basketball team earned the Big Ten’s highest seed at No. 2 in the Dayton Regional and will face No. 15 St. Francis (Pa.) on Sunday at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. The tip-off is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on ESPN2.

The Buckeyes are making their eighth consecutive and 19th overall trip to the NCAA Tournament and could advance to play either No. 7 Mississippi State or No. 10 Middle Tennessee on Tuesday. Ohio State won the Big Ten’s regular-season and tournament titles and is led by three-time Big Ten Player of the Year Jantel Lavender.

St. Francis (PA) is 17-14 overall and finished tied for fourth-place in the Northeast Conference with a league record of 11-7. The Red Flash punched their ticket to the NCAA tournament by defeating Long Island, 77-68, in their league’s tournament championship game.

The Red Flash are led by 5-foot-6 senior guard Britney Hodges, who averages 17.8 points per game. Second on the team in scoring is 5-foot-10 junior guard Samantha Leach, who pours in 14.0 points and a team-high 3.2 assists per outing.

The No. 2 seed is the highest for Ohio State since its No. 1 seed in the 2006 tournament. The Buckeyes were a No. 4 seed in 2007, a No. 6 seed in 2008 and a No. 3 seed last season when Ohio State advanced to the Sweet 16. It marks the fourth time in Ohio State’s 19-year NCAA history that the Buckeyes have earned a No. 2 seed (2010, 2005, 1987, 1985). Ohio State reached the Sweet 16 in 2005 and the regional finals in 1985 and ’87 after receiving first-round byes those years.

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Right: Ohio State’s Evan Turner (left) along with Mark Titus and and David Lighty celebrate with the Big Ten tournament championship trophy. (Getty Images)

Now Ohio State has a companion for the trophy they won earlier this season by winning the Big Ten regular season title.

The Buckeyes took care of business in the second half by walloping Minnesota, 90-61, in the Big Ten tournament championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Sunday afternoon.

Shortly after the game, the selection committee revealed their pairings for the 2010 NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Ohio State will be playing close to home, though they really didn’t get a favorable draw as OSU received a No. 2-seed in the Midwest Regional. The Buckeyes will begin the tourney at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, taking on No. 15-seed UC-Santa Barbara, Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for roughly 9:35 p.m. or so, and the game will be televised on CBS.

With a victory this Friday, Ohio State will then play the winner of Oklahoma State-Georgia Tech on Sunday to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
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