What has passed is in past
Buckeyes know prior games mean nothing
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
INDIANAPOLIS — In a basketball season, the best teams are able to consign the previous game to the dusty pages of history regardless of the result.
Given where Ohio State and Michigan State view their respective programs heading into a Big Ten tournament semifinal today, what happened between the top-seeded Buckeyes (26-2) and fourth-seeded Spartans (22-8) on Feb. 20 in Columbus already is part of the Pleistocene age.
"It was a long time ago the day after the game," Ohio State coach Jim Foster said. "You move on. Teams that dwell are teams that usually struggle."
For the record, OSU undressed Michigan State during a nationally televised 69-38 rout in Value City Arena. Four weeks earlier, the fifth-ranked Buckeyes needed a last-second shot by Jessica Davenport to keep their uniforms on and pull out a 67-65 victory against the 16 thranked Spartans. That game could have been played in Jurassic Park.
"This is a new environment," senior forward Debbie Merrill said. "You can’t look to the past and say, ‘Oh yeah, we beat them twice.’ This is a neutral court. They’ve played here before. They’ve won (the tournament)."
History, however, can provide valuable lessons. In this case, it forecasts floor burns and bruises for players on both teams.
"I think it’s going to be a hard game," said Merrill, who left skin on the court in the regularseason finale at Penn State and during a quarterfinal win over the Nittany Lions. "We’re both very physical teams. It’s going to a be a rough game to the end."
There is reason for this beyond playing styles. The Buckeyes and Spartans are well aware that the recent history of the conference has seen both programs rise to challenge perennial powers Purdue and Penn State for supremacy.
A season ago, Ohio State and Michigan State made significant jumps by tying for the regularseason title. The Spartans took the longer leap by winning this tournament and reaching the NCAA final before falling to Baylor. That reality still irks the Buckeyes.
"We know what is at stake," junior center Jessica Davenport said. "We want to win another type of championship and just finish off the Big Ten with wins."
The Spartans want the same. They dismantled Iowa 79-58 in a quarterfinal Friday, and the Buckeyes ousted Penn State 64-46.
"We’re going to have some great opponents coming up in the NCAA Tournament," Michigan State coach JoAnne P. McCallie said. "The bottom line is that it is real great preparation as we head down the road."
She realizes that moving to the final Monday won’t be easy. What happened in Columbus might be history, but it still hurt.
"We certainly learned from it," McCallie said. "There was a lot of good tape. But you’ve got to move on now. This is a great opportunity for us and they’re a very strong team. They’ve got a lot of weapons. You’ve got to defend them all. You can’t really cheat off anybody. I can’t think of a better game heading into the NCAA Tournament."
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