Normally we’d direct you over to The BBC who has been graciously hosting these chats for like ever, but for a game of this magnitude we figured we could keep things “in-house” on this Championship Afternoon.

Also, feel free to use this as an open thread for any comments on the announcement of the NCAA Tournament brackets.

Ohio State beat Michigan at sports. Again.

With today’s 68-61 victory over the bad guys, the Buckeyes moved to 35-5 against the Wolverines in the top three sports (Football, Men’s Basketball and Women’s Basketball) under current coaches. Even if you’re one of those people who want Michigan to be good for the sake of the rivalry, you’ve got to admit that’s pretty awesome.

Today’s game played out like a lot of our basketball games do: Close for 25-30 minutes, Ohio State pulls away, opponent catches up but falls short. It’s always a little scary on those rare occasions when individual players get into early foul trouble since, as you may have heard once or twice, we’re not very deep. Aaron Craft and David Lighty spent a good deal of the first half on the bench after picking up a pair each, but Deshaun Thomas and Jordan Sibert filled in fine. If there’s anything to worry about in the Big One though, that would be it.

Tomorrow brings the Big Ten Championship game against Penn State, who just ousted Michigan State 61-48. It will be the Nittany Lions’ first appearance in the game.

Going on over at The Buckeye Battle Cry.

One year ago today, arch-rivals Ohio State and Michigan met in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.  With 2.2 seconds left to play, the Wolverines’ Manny Harris hit a jumper to take a 68-66 lead, securing the upset for 8-seeded Michigan over the Big Ten’s top team.

And then this happened:

Today, they meet again in the semi-finals. Watch your hearts, Wolverines.

North By Northwestern

It was so suspenseful, I’m pretty sure I saw Alfred Hitchcock stroll nonchalantly past the Buckeyes bench at one point.  Ohio State’s second game against the Wildcats looked frighteningly like its first.  First things first, hats off to Northwestern for controlling the tempo so masterfully.  No one else has been able to do that consistently against us all year.  This game was tight all the way through regulation and didn’t open up until overtime, and in the end we still only won 67-61, a score that could have easily been in favor of the other guys.

Michael Thompson came back down to earth after yesterday’s record-setting day, notching just 15 in this outing, equally due to John Shurna’s re-emergence, Aaron Craft’s relentless defense, and the slow-pace strategy the ‘Cats employed so effectively.  On the winning side, Craft racked up 17 points, Jon Diebler went for 13 on an off day from outside (but the one he hit was huge in terms of momentum), and Sullinger added 20 almost entirely from the free throw line.

Angry Nerd

The turning point in this one was undoubtedly the technical foul committed by Luka Mirkovic about halfway through the overtime period.  After fouling Sullinger under the basket, Mirkovic was visibly agitated and either threw his mouthpiece or mimed the action.  Either way, the B1G isn’t fond of such displays.  Mirkovic lucked out when Buford inexplicably missed both technical shots, but the wind was out of their sails anyway.  Sully hit on both of his for the original foul and at that point, it became obvious that the best team in the nation was going to find a way to survive this scare.

The Buckeyes take on Michigan–fresh off a late comeback from 12 down against Illinois–tomorrow at 1:40 ET.

In the inaugural contest of the 2011 Big Ten Tournament, the Wildcats pulled away and secured a 75-65 victory, despite the Gophers keeping pace for the majority of the game.  Northwestern’s Michael Thompson set a new Big Ten Tournament record with 35 points hitting 11-26 from the floor and all eight of his free throws.  Meanwhile, Northwestern’s leading scorer John Shurna was virtually absent, putting up only two.

Thompson’s performance is especially troubling for Ohio State, as he led the Wildcats with 16 points (including 13 in the second half) in Shurna’s actual absence when the two teams played in January.  On top of that, Ohio State’s two losses have been almost entirely due to huge nights from individual players.  Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor put up 27 (9 more than his average) in their win, while Purdue’s E’Twaun Moore dropped 38 (20 above average) a couple of games later.

Can Thompson duplicate his feat tomorrow?  The Buckeyes have been on fire lately, playing their best ball of the year in a dominating season-ending win over 3-seed Wisconsin.  You know who I’ve got my (completely hypothetical) money on, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this tourney gets weird quick.

I made this little video in honor of Threebler’s fantastic outing at “Happy” Valley.  Enjoy!

2/20/2011 (3) Ohio St 63, (11) Purdue 76 (25-2, 13-2 Big Ten)
2/22/2011 (3) Ohio St 89, Illinois 70 (26-2, 13-2 Big Ten)

Regression to the mean There are times when you take, full force, a Daisy Cutter of a performance by an opposing player right to the face. As a fan, there is nothing you can do but hope it doesn’t last forever. And sometimes it does. Such was the case of E’Twaun Moore’s performance two Sundays ago as he, as they say, went ham all over the court at Mackey Arena. Seven three’s and a host of other ridiculous shots was a singular performance that you walk away realizing you witnessed something special. Similar to what The Villian did to Purdue last year, Moore’s game never let up or let OSU back in the game. His 13 for 18 game (with a ridiculous 7-10 from 3 point range) was almost a full 20 percentage points higher than his season average. It’s a game like that were you GG everyone at the end and hope that doesn’t happen again.

Then you get an uncanny team performance like Illinois had in the first half of a game (8-9 from 3 point range) and still trail by 15 points at half time.

2/27/2011 (3) Ohio St 82, Indiana 61 (27-2, 14-2 Big Ten)

Bad blood Tom Crean’s attempt to recruit Jared Sullinger’s mother was unsucessful. Thad Matta, of course, will have nothing to do with Tom Crean’s shenanigans. He’ll just go recruit some more of Indiana’s best players and watch them GO OFF for 22.

This and that After another week of top teams going down, Ohio State finds itself back at the top of the polls leading into the home stretch.

Will you? So either I completely missed this or it wasn’t well publicized but apprently Jon Diebler asked his girlfriend to marry him at the OSU/Michigan football game this past season. Did I miss something?

Trap game Ohio State’s trip to Penn State could be another potential trap for Ohio State. A scrappy, desperate team that could use a signature win against a team like Ohio State could be trouble. If Deshaun Thomas can maintain a hot hand, maybe all my worrying will be for naught.

Another week of Buckeye Basketball and another week I’m racing to get it out before the next game and the next “week” starts. I don’t want to fall behind again.

This week was kind of a downer, what with the Buckeyes losing to Wisconsin Saturday afternoon.

(1) Ohio St 67 v. (14) Wisconsin 71

Wisconsin. Why did it have to be Wisconsin?

Badgers, very dangerous. You go first.

Seriously, why did it have to be Wisconsin? If, as some fans suggest, we needed to lose a game before the tournament, a loss to Michigan State would have been much easier to swallow. But since I firmly believe Bo Ryan is a SkyNet cyborg sent from the future to kill the joy derived from basketball by essentially implementing “Tresselball” on the hard court, it’s no surprise it had to happen this way.

SHOOT. THE. FRIGGIN. BALL. ALREADY.

Michigan St 61 v. (3) Ohio St 71

This game had all the makings of another trap game (see also: Northwestern) with the Buckeyes looking like they were mired in a funk and Diebler seem rather uninterested in getting himself open for a three while Sullinger continued getting mugged as BEE ONE GEE officials seemed to take perverse satisfaction in his obvious frustration.

So it’s been one of those weeks. A few stories of interest:

So after OSU fell out of favor with the pollsters, this past week has seen Kansas (the new #1) crap itself profusely against in-state rival K-State, Texas lose to a good defensive team in Nebraska and Pitt fall to St. John’s (who, admittedly, is a bit of a giant killer in MSG). They all faltered. So when Ohio State beats Purdue today, we’re all back at square one.

Speaking of Diebler, barring some act of God like losing power at Mackey Arena, Jon Diebler should take his rightful place atop the BEE ONE GEE three point leaders, topping Penn State’s Pete Lisicky record of 332. Let’s hope Dieb’s shows interest in shooting a three-pointer or four today.

To get your ready for today’s rematch against Purdue, the BBC has you covered with their preview and you can head over their during the game for the live-chat.