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#1 Ohio State 78, Valparaiso 58 (Final)

OSUBasketballJunkie;675932; said:
It will be interesting to see how this team reacts to the loss at UNC and the emotion and energy that went into that game....lets hope Oden gives them a spark.

Definitely. The team has waited as long as we have to get to be on the team with Oden. I bet they are as pumped up as I am or more.
I look for lot's of scoring and D in this one. I don't think Matta will hold them down.
Look out Valpo.
:oh:
 
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Valpo ready for No. 1 Buckeyes


December 2, 2006
BY MARK LAZERUS Post-Tribune
Facing the No. 1 team in the nation, in the loudest venue in college basketball, just a doe-eyed freshman playing his fifth career game -- Brandon McPherson was nervous.
Real nervous.
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And it didn't take long for those nerves to be validated.
"Against Duke last year, when I first got in, (Duke point guard Sean) Dockery stole it from me on the first play," McPherson recalled. "Just flat-out ripped me. Just like that."
And just like that, McPherson had his welcome-to-the-big-time moment. He also got the necessary slap in the face to shake off the nerves.
"It helped, actually," he said. "I was like, 'Man, now I have nothing to be afraid of. I already got ripped.' After that, it kind of settled in and became just another basketball game."
Well, not quite.
The massive amount of people in the stands, the massive amount of talent on the floor, the massive amount of butterflies in the stomach -- playing the team judged the very best out of 336 Division I-A teams is no typical night at the gym.
And amazingly enough, this is the third straight year Valparaiso gets to do it. Two years ago, the Crusaders visited No. 1 Illinois and lost 93-56. Last year, they visited No. 1 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium and lost 104-77.
Now comes a trip to Ohio State, ranked No. 1 in the coaches poll, and likely feeling vengeful after a loss to North Carolina on Wednesday.
As if the Buckeyes weren't imposing enough.
"When our game ended on Wednesday, we were watching and we were the biggest Ohio State fans out there," said Valparaiso coach Homer Drew. "You just don't want to be the next ones to play a team of that caliber after a loss. We wish there was one other game in between."
Of course, the way Shawn Huff looks at it, after a near-upset of No. 8 Marquette and a loss to No. 19 Butler, Valparaiso's in the same situation.
"We lost some games, too," he said. "We're frustrated, too. We're going to play hard, too."
Playing hard probably won't be enough against the Buckeyes, even without 7-foot center Greg Oden, the probable No. 1 pick in next year's NBA Draft. The Lawrence North graduate -- and former teammate of McPherson's -- is out until January after undergoing offseason wrist surgery.
Valparaiso will need to overcome more than just Ohio State's undisputed talent advantage. The young Crusaders will have to overcome their own nerves, particularly significant contributors such as sophomore forward Urule Igbavboa, sophomore guard Jake Diebler, freshman guard Sam Haanpaa, all of whom have yet to play much, if at all, under such circumstances.
Even the veteran Huff, who had to sit out the Duke game last year with a stress fracture in his foot, is aching for his chance. He's unsure if the younger guys really know what they're in for, but he knows they're excited.
"Some of the freshmen were really taken aback by the Marquette game," he said.
Heck, Igbavboa said playing in front of the raucous crowd of 5,000 at the Athletics-Recreation Center during the Marquette game was "one of the greatest moments in my life."
So imagine what playing the No. 1 team in front of nearly 20,000 people will be like.
"I don't really know what to expect," he said. "I've never really had an opportunity to do something like this. The only opportunity I had was when we played Marquette. And it'll be a lot different when the crowd is cheering against you, not for you."
Drew has been coaching for three decades, but even as he preaches to his team to play like it's any other game, he freely admits it's hardly like any other game.
"It's a thrill," he said. "You're playing against the best -- some of these guys will be playing in the NBA. … For the players, it's wonderful. Years later, when you raise your children, you can say you played against the No. 1 team in the nation. How many athletes can say they played against the No. 1 team in the nation? And we've done it three years in a row. What other team has done that at the mid-major level?"
Huff is taking the same approach. Colossal upset or catastrophic loss, it'll be a learning experience and character-builder for the Crusaders.
Not to mention a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"This is why we play, why we put all those hours in practice just to play in a couple games," Huff said. "The games are not a lot of time compared to all the time you practice. But this is why you do it, this is why you play basketball -- to play in games like this."
Contact Mark Lazerus at 648-3140 or [email protected]
 
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