Via Ohio State Buckeyes dot com:

Thad Matta, head coach of the Buckeyes, filled two positions Monday on the Ohio State men’s basketball staff. Greg Paulus, who served the last two seasons as the team’s video coordinator, was named an assistant coach. Jake Diebler, who spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Valparaiso, is the new video coordinator for the Buckeyes.

Paulus replaced Chris Jent, who became an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings last month. Jent left after two seasons as an assistant coach at Ohio State.

We’ll have more on this later, but Chris Jent is going to be missed but it’s good to see Paulus’ hard work paying off.

I know what you are thinking…. but but but this is a big football recruiting weekend why in the world are you talking about basketball recruiting. Because Thad Matta says so that’s why :). Not to be out done on the recruiting trail by his football counterpart Urban Meyer Coach Matta is putting together an extremely strong 2014 class of his own. The class is already large basketball recruiting class speaking with 4 members now and he may not be done if you follow bball recruiting at all he is chasing arguably the top 2 players in the country in Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor who both have OSU in their top 5 schools. But I digress because right now we should be talking about the 4th member of the 2014 class so here goes nothing.

D’Angelo Russell announced that he has committed to Ohio State via his twitter account.

https://twitter.com/dangelorussell3/status/343158218626850816

D’Angelo Russell is a 6’4″ 185 lbs 5 star Shooting Guard from Louisville, Kentucky. D’Angelo brings to the table a guy who can play Sg or point guard if he needs to. He is a scorer from both the outside and the drive. He has the ability to find and make his own shot and get his teammates involved as well. He is a bigger Trey Burke in my opinion with better ball handling skills. Probably the best part about landing Russell is that it came down to OSU and his hometown Louisville Cardinals and that we were able to steal him away from Rick Pitino who has recently became public enemy no. 1 for OSU fans. Rivals ranks him a 4 star and the 22nd best recruit in the country. ESPN ranks him a 4 star and the 24th best recruit in the country in their ESPN 60 ranking. 247Sports ranks him a 4 star and the 39th best prospect in the country. Scout ranks him a 5 star and the 2nd best recruit in the country and the best Shooting Guard. You can see his Junior season mixtape below….

According to Ohio State Buckeyes.com:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Deshaun Thomas, a junior on the Ohio State men’s basketball team, has elected to forgo his senior season of eligibility to enter the 2013 National Basketball Association Draft.

“My three years at Ohio State have been the best years of my life,” Thomas said. “I have grown tremendously as an individual and as a basketball player. I intend to return to finish my degree, but I believe that now is the best opportunity to pursue my dream and begin my career as a professional basketball player. I will always be a Buckeye and am blessed to be a part of the Ohio State University family.”

Good luck, Deshaun, and thanks for all the memories.

The title says it all. LaQuinton Ross had a huge offensive surge down the stretch including the game winning three pointer leading the Buckeyes over Arizona 73-70. The Buckeyes overcame a significant first half defecit to make it to the Elite 8 for the second straight year.

Jae C. Hong | Associated Press

Ross has come up huge in last two wins with 17 points in each game. We have been waiting all year for the secondary scoring punch. Ross has stepped up and provided it in a big way. I know he is not alone. The rest of the team has also played well, but I have been very impressed with Ross and feel he is turning the corner. His ability to score and complement Craft and Thomas will be crucial if the Buckeyes are going to make some noise even deeper in the NCAA tournament.

Amadeo Della Valle says:

http://instagram.com/p/XbbttJrtmj/

Tip: Thursday, March 28, 7:47 pm Court: Staples Center

Watch it on: TBS  Announcers: Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Len Elmore, Lewis Johnson

Winner will play: No. 9 Wichita St./ No. 13 La Salle

Spread: Buckeyes -3.5

Record: 28-7 Conference record: 13-5 Neutral court: 7-0

Leaders: Points: Deshaun Thomas (19.5)

Rebounds: Thomas (6.2)

Assists: Aaron Craft (4.6)

Record: 27-7 Conference record: 12-6 Neutral court: 6-1

Leaders: Points: Mark Lyons (14.8)

Rebounds: Kaleb Tarczewski (6.1)

Assists: Nick Johnson (3.2)

Matchups: 

Buckeyes offense vs. Wildcats defense

Will Arizona’s big men control the paint?

When the Wildcats and Buckeyes take the floor Thursday night, the glaring disparity between the two teams will be Arizona’s clear height advantage in the paint. Coach Sean Miller uses two highly touted freshmen in a rotation at power forward with Brandon Ashley (6-8) and Grant Jarrett, (6-10) alongside another highly touted freshman Kaleb Tarczewski (7-0) at center. Although they are young and inexperienced, the three big men were five star recruits and have the ability to lock down the paint. How will Coach Thad Matta arrange his lineup versus the trees in the lane? Will he give Amir Williams/ Evan Ravenel more playing time, or will they try to spread out the Arizona big men with a smaller lineup? Although Solomon Hill will most likely cover Deshaun Thomas, Thomas could have his hands full if he is down low for the majority of the game. Another intriguing match up will be Craft vs. Mark Lyons/ Nick Johnson. Lyons is Arizona’s de facto point guard but Johnson is a supreme athlete and is the much better defender. If Lyons struggles early defensively, expect Arizona head coach Sean Miller to put Johnson on Craft.

Similar to Iona, the Wildcats struggle when guarding the perimeter. They have allowed opponents to shoot 36 percent from three point land, (287th in the nation)  which then turns their height advantage to a disadvantage if their opponent is hitting from the outside. Spreading the Arizona bigs out of the paint is key to scoring on the Wildcats, and if the Buckeyes can hit from the outside early,  Miller will have to adjust.

Wildcats offense vs. Buckeyes defense

Which Mark Lyons will show up for the Wildcats?

This is where the game will ultimately be won or lost for the Buckeyes. Craft has already manned up against the great guards from Michigan, Kansas, Duke and the others from the B1G and you can now add Mark Lyons to the list of another great guard that Craft will be shadowing today. Lyons has had a great NCAA tournament, dropping 23 points against Belmont and then 27 versus Harvard but he has not gone against an on ball defender like Craft. He thrives with the ball in his hands and he is also not afraid to take the last shot, as he hit the game winner at home against Florida earlier in the year. The knock on Lyons is that he can get a bit wild at times and force up questionable jump shots and three pointers, thus destroying Miller’s offensive philosophy. If Lyon’s feels frustrated by Craft and decides he wants to be selfish, he has the ability to lose the game for the Wildcats.

Next to Lyons, the other half of the ‘Cats back court is Nick Johnson who is very athletic and can score in bunches; expect Shannon Scott to cover Johnson. They have the big freshmen that I touched on earlier who are capable of scoring inside but their offensive games are not polished enough to really take over the game. If one were to go off, it would be Ashley as he is the most advanced of the freshmen big men offensively and could be an X-Factor. Then there is Solomon Hill, who is Miller’s do it all version of Deshaun Thomas. Hill does not score at will like Thomas but he is a solid, all around, senior forward with experience who can score from inside or outside. He makes the little plays that do not necessarily show up on the stat sheet but is tough to guard defensively.

Ken Pom ranks the Wildcats offense as the 21st most efficient in the country and they averaged 77 points per game in the regular season.

Prediction:

The Buckeyes will defeat the Wildcats on the court and off the court

The Wildcats are most dangerous when they are playing team basketball and when Lyons is playing smart. If Craft can get into Lyon’s head and play terrorizing on ball defense, the Buckeyes’ chance of winning will be high. If Lyon’s is playing smart and taking what Craft gives him, it will come down to the final possession. I think Lyon’s will use his tournament experience (back to back Sweet 16’s with two different teams) to play smart but it will not be enough. This will be one of the better games of March Madness.

Ohio State 67

Arizona 64