The loss to Tennessee was quite the gut punch and I really didn’t feel like posting anything after it. For whatever reason, even though I love football more than basketball, I always feel more emotion during a basketball game. Maybe it’s the ebb and flow of the game is so different from football, maybe the beauty of the game is more emotional than the visceral rawness of football. Maybe I just really hate Tennessee. Whatever it was, this game was a frustrating exercise in Buckeye Fandom, no matter what this team’s ultimate ceiling could have been.

I really thought the Buckeyes were one three-pointer away from putting the Volunteers away. Up by five with about 5-6 minutes to go I thought one more dagger could distance the Buckeyes and crush the Vols’ spirits. It clanged out and Tennessee killed us at the rim and that was that.

So instead of writing any kind of season warp up, I think I’ll just link what Vico wrote (with a nice little PJ Hill tribute), which encapsulates more or less what I feel.

In the end, I’m not too torn up about the loss to the Volunteers. It sucks. It really does. However, I pictured the Buckeyes as a Sweet 16 team before the season. To that end, they met my expectations. The hard part is getting a taste of what may come, only to have it all suddenly end. The Buckeyes are still blessed to have Thad Matta and company at the helm of the program. Dave Richardson, the strength and conditioning coach, also deserves special praise for keeping a 5.5 man rotation fit for the Big Ten run. Simply put, we would never be dreaming this big under Jim O’Brien. Further, the roster losses for the Buckeyes are all very manageable (at least, the five seniors) and Evan Turner has led us to believe that a return for his senior season is still a possibility. However you look at it, there is not that instant thought of defection like some of the Thad Five. Lastly, the Buckeyes are getting an incredible recruiting class next year, led by Jared Sullinger. Hopefully, Sullinger will be a necessary complement in the post.

And with that, the blogging around these parts will probably slow a bit (not that it’s been blazing by any stretch of the imagination) except for brief bursts of activity, such as the spring game, the NFL draft and when Evan Turner announces his decision to return for his senior season to subjugate the NCAA field to his whim and fancy.

I have some stuff I’ve been working on that will show up periodically, but I’m not sure how often that will trickle out. For now, we will promise not to disappear completely (if I can get my co-bloggers to throw in the occasionally post, all the better) and you can always hit us up with your tips, ideas for stories and complaints and we will be as responsive as we can be.

It’s been a great 2009-2010 athletic season, all these considered, and the future looks just as bright.

Going in to today’s game, I was nervous about Georgia Tech’s size. I love Dallas Lauderdale like everyone else (what a monster he was against UCSB, no?) but he isn’t what you might call a pure player. Kyle Madsen isn’t pushing anyone around either, bless his little Dublin heart, so I was nervous what Favors and Lawal were going to have free reign to do.

But, that being said, Evan Turner still wears the Scarlet and Gray (and white), so the Buckeyes are in any close game. Even when the opposing players should have been arrested for assault (see: UCSB) we have a chance.

For 22+ minutes, this game was close. Georgia Tech’s full court pressure was frustrating and the cold shooting in the first half was hard to watch. Going in ahead by two at the half was promising, but it wasn’t until Diebler got free and the pressure was letting up that Ohio State took control. There were a couple moments there when it looked like it might slip away, but the Buckeyes stayed the course while Georgia Tech was getting visibly frustrated (they were the better team, after all).

In the end, Ohio State’s transition game, their accuracy from behind the three point line and, ultimately, their poise down the stretch turned this game around. They may have been out-sized (obviously) and out-talented (very debatable) but the better team won. Sweet, sweet victory. (Oh, and beating the progeny of a former Wolverine makes it that much sweeter.)

So now on to the Sweet Sixteen. Thanks to Northern Iowa’s giant brass cojones, we may have an outside chance of reaching the Final Four. But let’s beat Tennessee and Bruce Pearl’s horrible suits first.

Who knew?

Elbows on knees, a scowling Iman Shumpert bent forward in his chair. Someone asked if Ohio State was better than Georgia Tech. “Not at all,” Shumpert said.

So: Was Tech better than Ohio State? Said Shumpert, almost spitting the words: “A lot better.”

Man, these sour grapes are SOUR!

Michigan needed them to get back into the game and Evan Turner turned around and used one to stab them straight through their under .500 hearts. Sorry guys, it was just meant to be.

This was only a second round Big Ten tournament game. I know this. That being said, this shot has to rank in the top two three-pointers of all time (I’m still partial to Ron Lewis’ three against Tennessee in 2007). But man, what a shot. I hope this game is a wake-up call for the Buckeyes going in to tomorrow’s game against Illinois and the rest of the tournament. You can’t sleep on anyone at this point. Michigan had nothing to lose and everything to gain from beating Ohio State. It’s going to be that way from here on out.

It’s a good thing we’ve got the Player of the Year on our side.

Thad reloads again:

Thad Matta, Ohio State head coach, announced the addition of six student-athletes to the Buckeye men’s basketball program Wednesday. The class of six high school seniors is rated by many analysts as the No. 1 class in the nation and will be eligible to play for the Buckeyes in the fall of 2010. The highly-touted class includes a quartet of Ohioans and natives of Illinois and Indiana.

We don’t cover the basketball team with as much regularity as we do with football (hopefully that will change) but we do follow the basketball team as close as we can. We love Thad Matta and we’re very excited about the team they’ve got this year.

But with the class coming in next year, along with the possiblity of Turner, Diebler, Lighty and Buford coming back for senior seasons, this could be one heck of a team. Very exciting.

I remember hearing that there were no freshmen coming in this year. Does anyone know why this was? I know we had a couple transfers, but that was it. Is Thad counting on next year’s class?