Men's Basketball Buckeye Tidbits 2005-2006 Season

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

2/23/06

COMMENTARY

Buckeyes have something to say to Spartans fans

Thursday, February 23, 2006

BOB HUNTER

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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Matt Sylvester walked off the floor with his head up and a smile that was worth a thousand insults. He looked left, right and then left again, scanned the crowd as if he were looking for somebody. He was looking for everybody. "You know what? I’ve been waiting five years to do that," Sylvester said. "I’ve been waiting five years to walk off the floor and not have the band playing and everybody pointing and cussing at me. It feels unbelievable."


The Breslin Center doesn’t hold a lot of good memories for any Ohio State basketball player, let alone a fifth-year senior such as Sylvester who has sometimes struggled to keep his emotions under control.

A lot of promising Buckeye dreams have come here to die — OSU hadn’t won a men’s basketball game here since 1992 — and every time it happened, the raucous student crowd seemed to grind the pain in as much as it could.

"This place and Illinois compete for being the (Tom) Izzo is one of the best coaches in the nation, so it makes for an extremely tough place to play."

Having said that, the Big Ten title is won and lost in games just like this.

Last night’s 79-68 victory looks easy on the score sheet, but it was an evening of grit and a succession of hustle plays that went beyond the familiar Je’Kel Foster and Jamar Butler three-pointers that made the difference.

Dials hit the floor several times in search of loose balls. There were wild scrambles for rebounds. Sub Matt Terwilliger blocked a desperation threepointer by Drew Neitzel as the shot clock was expiring with the Buckeyes up by four and 2:56 left. And Foster was right there with him to make sure the Spartans guard didn’t get it off. Ron Lewis got a big offensive rebound off a missed three by Sylvester with 2:01 left, got fouled by Paul Davis and sank two free throws to extend the lead to six.

On this night, the Buckeyes aptoughest places to play on the road," senior center Terence Dials said. "It’s just a tough environment here, having all those kids in the Izzone around you, and they play well here."

The fans are close, loud and personal. One year, the fans held up giant pictures of homely women with the names of OSU players underneath them.

Last year, Sylvester lost it and spit at a fan who was screaming obscenities at him as he left the floor, a reaction that earned him a one-game suspension and only added to his frustration.

Make no mistake about it, though. He knows — all the Buckeyes know — that the road to the Big Ten championship leads right through here.

"This is definitely the toughest place to play," Sylvester said. "The fans are extremely intense and their players are good, they’re always good. And coach peared to want it more, and none wanted it more than Sylvester, who had a few hustle plays of his own in the waning minutes. The big one was a rebound of a Lewis’ three-pointer that merely grazed the rim; Sylvester grabbed the ball, leaped in the air and called timeout before he came down with 2:23 remaining.

Now for the rest of the story: Sylvester’s aching back caused him to miss the Northwestern game and probably should have cost him another.

"I wish I could sugarcoat it, but the back was hurting a lot," Sylvester said. "I’m a pretty humble person, but I’m proud of myself that I could stay out there. To be completely honest, I was probably 70 to 75 percent tonight. It was hurting literally the entire time."
It didn’t look like it was hurting him after the game, but then that’s understandable.

Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch.

 

[CONGERSBUCKEYE]

this weekend

Any update on the Schott being packed for this weekend? I would love to see the same atmosphere as the Illini game last year. Michigan coming in and Big Ten Championship on the line. We can help keep them from going with a loss. CBS coverage. Matta has put us back on the map big time and time to pack the house. I live outside Columbus and would enjoy an update or creative thoughts for this game. Are the students getting together and turning it All Red like Illini does Orange?:osu:

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

2/26/06

COMMENTARY

With shots not falling, OSU cranks up defense

Sunday, February 26, 2006

BOB HUNTER

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When you live by the threepoint shot the way Ohio State does, you are also prone to occasionally clang yourself to death.

Although the three-pointer is the most lethal of basketball murder weapons, let the buyer beware. It can be every bit as effective for suicide.

OSU’s 64-54 win over Michigan, then, might be the most positive sign yet for the Big Ten-leading Buckeyes. They were 4 of 18 from beyond the arc, clanging those babies loud enough to drown out the pep band, and they couldn’t be more alive.

Guys who normally nail three after three through an assortment of torsos, hands and armpits couldn’t hit them yesterday when they sometimes had a clear view from here to Findlay. Je’Kel Foster was 0 of 4. Jamar Butler was 1 of 3. Ron Lewis was 0 of 2. Matt Sylvester was 1 of 3. J.J. Sullinger was 1 of 4.

So how did they find beauty in all that ugliness?

The only way it could have, truthfully. That tired sales pitch that coaches have been trying to sell their players since James Naismith first hung up those peach baskets — that nobody has the hot hand every game, so the only way to guarantee victories is through good defense — once again proved true. This might have even been the textbook example of that.

"This would be considered that," coach Thad Matta said. "We always tell our guys, and this is hard for kids to understand, but don’t ever tie your defense to your offense. We’ve talked about in some games where we shot the ball particularly well, maybe we played better defense that game. Well, there’s gonna be games where the shots don’t fall, but we’ve got to continue to defend."

It gets old, I know. If you and I get tired of hearing coaches say that stuff, it must make the players feel as if their ears are bleeding. Probably, the only thing that makes it bearable is that it’s true.

At halftime, the Buckeyes were 9 of 31 from the floor (29 percent) and 2 of 9 from beyond the arc (22 percent). They had been outrebounded 26-16, yet they were still leading 27-22.

Foster and Butler were a combined 0 of 5 and had two points between them.

"Je’Kel Foster, I don’t think at this point in the season, he cares if he makes another shot," Matta said. "He just wants to win. And Jamar honestly is the same way."

This is the way to do it. Of particular importance was Butler’s defense on Michigan guard Daniel Horton, who had scored a career-high 39 against Illinois on Tuesday against Dee Brown, the 2005 Big Ten defensive player of the year.

With Butler on him — and good help defense — Horton was 1 of 7 from the floor in the first half, 4 of 16 overall and had 12 points. Meanwhile, Foster was on Dion Harris, an 11-point scorer who suffered a 1-of-7 shooting day and finished with three points. Horton and Harris combined for 15 points and 11 turnovers.

"I was pretty pleased," Butler said. "We tried not to let (Horton) get going, and it was a great team effort on the defensive end. I thought we did our job."

In fact, the Ohio State guards, Foster and Butler, could actually be described as having played well, even though they finished a combined 1-of-11 shooting and had only seven points between them.

"Absolutely," Matta said.

It seems a little strong only until you think about Butler riding Horton, a candidate for conference player of the year, right out of the game.

"It’s funny about JB," Matta said. "He always seems to step up and rise to the occasion. He has quickness and he has great strength, and probably his greatest attribute is just his toughness.

"I joked with him right before the game, I said, ‘Look, if you don’t think you can get this job done, we can fake an injury and you won’t have to play.’ And he doesn’t say anything. He just looked at me and kind of smiled and went on his way."

On his way to the Big Ten title, apparently.

With or without those lethal threes.

Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch.

[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

PlainDealer

2/28/06

OSU BASKETBALL

<H1 class=red>Men, women both ranked in AP top 10

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Tuesday, February 28, 2006



From staff and wire reports

The Ohio State men's and women's basketball teams are both ranked among the Associated Press' top 10 teams this week, a first in OSU history.

The men's team is 21-4 and ranked ninth by the AP in the poll released Monday. It's the first top-10 ranking for the Buckeyes since the end of the 1999-2000 season. The squad was No. 8 in the final poll that year.

The OSU men are No. 8 in the USA Today/ESPN poll.

The women's team is 25-2 heading into the Big Ten Tournament this week in Indianapolis. The OSU women will carry a No. 5 ranking into their quarterfinal game Friday vs. either Penn State or Wisconsin.

Also Monday, the pivot players on Ohio State's men's and women's teams were the centers of attention in the Big Ten. Terence Dials was the men's player of the week, and Jessica Davenport captured the women's award for the fourth time this season.

Dials, a senior, had 19 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Michigan State on Wednesday, then had 22 points and 11 rebounds in a victory over Michigan on Saturday.

Davenport, a junior, had 22 points in a win over Michigan State on Monday, had 20 points and 10 rebounds in a conference-clinching win against Purdue on Thursday and then had 24 points in a win at Penn State on Sunday.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DDN

2/28/06

Inspired Buckeyes seek Big Ten crown

By Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS | Ohio State was expected to become an instant national-title contender when its acclaimed recruiting class checked in next season, but the group has managed to have an impact even before arriving on campus.

Coach Thad Matta has turned the buzz about the incoming freshmen into a motivational ploy.

"I've used that a little bit: 'Everybody's talking about next year, but what about you guys?' " said Matta, who has marveled at the response.
"Guys have elevated their games and bought into the team concept and how we want to play."

The eighth-ranked Buckeyes (21-4, 10-4) sit alone atop the Big Ten standings and can capture their first outright crown since 1992 by winning at Northwestern on Wednesday and at home against Purdue on Sunday.

OSU failed to crack the major preseason Top-25 polls and was projected by many to finish no better than sixth in the conference, but Michigan State coach Tom Izzo wasn't fooled.

"I told our writers that Ohio State was my sleeper team to win the Big Ten," he said.

The Buckeyes finished 20-12 last season and returned seven of their top nine scorers, including second-team all-conference center Terence Dials.

What's more, Izzo thought the Buckeyes caught a scheduling break this season by having to play Indiana, Iowa and Illinois only once.

"What they've done an incredible job of is consistently shooting the basketball," Izzo said. "They've got four shooters and a stud inside, and Thad has done a great job with them. That's why I'm not overly surprised.

... I thought they would be one of the teams that would contend."
Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DDN

2/28/06

BIG TEN NOTES
Hosket gives Dials a lesson in motivation

By Doug Harris
Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS | — Bill Hosket provides color commentary for many televised Ohio State games, but the Dayton native doesn't dole out his expert analysis only when he's wearing a headset.

Hosket shared some insight with OSU's Terence Dials a couple of weeks ago, and the senior center has been on a rampage since huddling with the former Buckeye great.

"He was telling me how he was toward the end of his senior year," said Dials, the Big Ten player of the week. "You always think you're playing hard, but then the last month comes around and you want to take it up even more. That's the case with me.

"I don't want to leave anything on the court. You want to make sure you leave a memory in people's mind that you gave it all you had."

Dials has reached double figures in points and rebounds in five straight games — the best streak of double-doubles at OSU in 20 years — and has become the front-runner for the Big Ten player of the year award.

Most league coaches said during a teleconference Monday that they tend to cast their MVP votes for the best player on the championship team, and the Buckeyes can clinch at least a share of the crown with a victory Wednesday at Northwestern.

"If Ohio State wins it outright, I'll vote for Terence Dials," Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. "All those guys (around him) have been huge , but Terence Dials has been the MVP because he gives them a presence that allows those guys to get the outside jumpshot."

Dials has averaged 19.6 points and 12.6 rebounds over the last five games after averaging 13.9 points and 7.1 boards during the first 20.

Illinois' Dee Brown is the reigning conference player of the year, and Wisconsin's Alando Tucker is worthy of MVP consideration. But the Buckeyes have won seven of their last eight games, and Purdue coach Matt Painter believes Dials has locked up the award with his late-season surge.

"I've actually already voted for him as an All-American," Painter said. "I think he's had that kind of season and he's meant that much to his team."

IU may woo Few

Iowa coach Steve Alford might be the leading candidate for the Indiana job, but Gonzaga's Mark Few would cause Hoosier hearts to flutter if he became interested.

Few, who followed Monson at Gonzaga, and Ohio State's Thad Matta are the only coaches in NCAA history to win at least 20 games in their first six seasons.

"If they went in Mark Few's direction, that would be a great fit," Monson said. "(But) he's talked to me at length about how difficult a transition it's been for me, and I don't think he'll just run after any job."

Davenport named

OSU's Jessica Davenport was named Big Ten women's player of the week for the fourth time this season after scoring 20 or more points in three straight wins. The 6-foot-5 junior has won the award nine times in her career.

Quote of the week

Illinois coach Bruce Weber on the Buckeyes' 40.4-percent marksmanship on 3-pointers this season: "If they shoot that well, they have a team that can make a run deep into the NCAA tournament."

Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

2/28/06

COMMENTARY

Ohio State doesn’t really fit in with football-only-school crowd

Tuesday, February 28, 2006


BOB HUNTER

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Everybody knows Ohio State is a football school. If a guy made his first trip to Columbus from Australia, he might figure that out in the time it took him to walk from the plane to his cab.

If he didn’t hear some leather-head talking about football recruiting in the terminal or see a business executive wearing a "Tressel for President" T-shirt under his $1,000 suit, he might just find himself in the cab listening to the driver lecture on the punt being the most important play in football.

What everybody doesn’t know is that Ohio State is also a basketball school. Maybe most OSU fans don’t lie awake nights trying to figure out why Coach didn’t play a zone on some inbounds play the way they do at Indiana or Kansas — hey, it’s hard to worry about that stuff when there’s a good offensive tackle in Medina still uncommitted — but the success is unmistakable. The Ohio State women are No. 5 in the latest Associated Press poll and won an outright Big Ten championship when they beat Penn State on Sunday. The OSU men are No. 9 and leading the conference by one game with two to play.

Know how many times the men’s and women’s teams at the same school have won outright Big Ten titles? Never. Never. Only twice in the 24 years that the conference has crowned a women’s champion have both basketball champions (Indiana in 1982-83 and Purdue in 1993-94) even come from the same school. No school has ever won or shared both basketball titles and the football title the same year.

So what is about to happen at OSU is not only amazing, it also proves just how wrong that these football schoolbasketball school perceptions can be sometimes.

Any casual college sports fan can identify a school as either football or basketball as soon as the words are out of his or her lips. Kentucky . . . basketball. Alabama . . . football. North Carolina . . . basketball. Southern California . . . football. You get the idea. It’s no trouble at all.

Schools occasionally break out of the mold and have a couple of good seasons in another sport, much the way Michigan did with the Fab Five or Texas is doing now under Rick Barnes. But most schools that are really, really good at one usually aren’t that special at the other. Penn State . . . football. Duke . . . basketball. University of Miami . . . football. There just aren’t many crossovers.

That also would seem to be the case at Ohio State, at least until you start to look a little more closely. If the OSU men win one of the next two, and that seems likely given the opponents are Northwestern and Purdue, it will be their fifth Big Ten title in the past 16 years under three different coaches.

College basketball power Indiana has won three in that same span. It is a fact that might be lost amid all this handwringing over speculation about men’s coach Thad Matta leaving for what one Mailbox correspondent referred to as a "big-time" basketball program at Indiana.

Ohio State has lacked consistency — it has had valleys most basketball schools haven’t — but if it can keep the competent coaches it hires, it clearly has the resources and the tradition to keep winning.

When Rusty Miller from the Associated Press asked OSU women’s coach Jim Foster, whose team also tied for the conference title last year, about the school’s across-the-board basketball success the other day, Foster stated it bluntly and accurately.

"Basketball is a city game," he said.

A state with numerous urban areas — Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Dayton, Akron, Canton and Youngstown — actually has a recruiting advantage over an Indiana or Kansas (men) or Tennessee and LSU (women), as long as it has the coaches and the success necessary to keep the players in state.

This could just be the start of that. While Ohio State probably will always be a football school, it is worth noting the Buckeyes haven’t won an outright Big Ten title in football since 1984.

You might say that the football factory has diversified.


Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch
.
[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Tribune

2/28/06

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: BIG TEN BITS

Buckeyes not being overlooked now


BY REID HANLEY
Published February 28, 2006


Ohio State basketball fans can hardly wait until next season when superstar Greg Oden and a great recruiting class suit up for the Buckeyes.

In all the commotion about next season, the current Buckeyes were a little overlooked when the season started.

The truth is, the future is now.

They can clinch a share of the regular-season Big Ten title with a victory Wednesday.

"Next year's class deserved to be talked about, at that point in time," said senior Terence Dials, who earned Big Ten player-of-the-week honors Monday for double-doubles against Michigan and Michigan State. "We could care less. Right now it's about us and what we want to get done on the court."

The Buckeyes (21-4, 10-4) hold a one-game lead over Illinois (23-5, 9-5), Iowa (20-8, 9-5) and Wisconsin (19-8, 9-5). They travel to Northwestern (13-13, 5-9), where Iowa and Wisconsin have lost, Wednesday night and finish the regular season at home against last-place Purdue (9-16, 3-11).

Coach Thad Matta has seen a big push by Dials with his college career coming to an end.

He had 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 79-68 victory at Michigan State and 22 points and 11 rebounds in a 64-54 victory over Michigan.

"The light has gone on for Terence," Matta said. "He's saying `This is my last run, my last week of regular-season college basketball.' He's playing more passionate [with] more intensity on both ends of the floor."

Ohio State, whose women's team won the Big Ten title, has no interest in sharing the crown. "A tie would be disappointing," Matta said.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

rivals.com$

3/1/06

Good read on the basketball buckeyes by Adam Jardy.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

3/1/06

OSU men just want their title

Wednesday, March 1, 2006


[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]By RUSTY MILLER AP Sports Writer [/FONT]

AP Kiichiro Sato EYES ON TITLE Ohio State guard Je'Kel Foster shoots against Illinois guard Chester Frazier during a Feb. 12 Big Ten game. Ohio State’s women’s team already has captured an outright Big Ten title. Their male counterparts can follow suit if they win they their final two regular-season games.
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COLUMBUS - These are heady times to be an Ohio State basketball fan, with both men’s and women’s teams ranked in the top 10 and Big Ten championships either in their grasp or on the tips of their outstretched fingers.
Yet one slip and all the nice words and accomplishments will vaporize.
“Nothing has been accomplished yet,” center Terence Dials said Tuesday. “We still have two more games before we win the Big Ten. In retrospect, if you lose those two, you’re not Big Ten champs and no one’s talking about Ohio State anymore.”
The men’s team (21-4, 10-4), ranked No. 9 in the nation, plays at Northwestern tonight and then hosts Purdue on Sunday. If it wins both, it clinches the program’s first outright Big Ten title since Jim Jackson led the Buckeyes to the heightsof the league during the 1991-92 season.
Ohio State’s women (25-2, 15-1), have won 16 games in a row to climb to No. 5 in the rankings. The Buckeyes drew a bye in the opening round of this week’s Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis, then will play Friday at noon in the quarterfinals against the Penn State-Wisconsin winner.
Neither team can afford to enjoy their watershed seasons. One more loss can taint what they’ve done so far.
Coach Thad Matta said he can’t imagine his men’s team not being prepared to play hard at Northwestern, which tested the Buckeyes before fading at the finish less than two weeks ago.
“They know we have a lot of work still to do,” Matta said of his players. “They have a great understanding and respect for what we have to do this week, starting with Northwestern. The guys have a tremendous focus on what we need to do.”
Oddly, the Buckeyes may be helped because they know what it’s like to be an overlooked underdog. It wasn’t so long ago — just last season, in fact — that they were a team headed nowhere and had to be content ruining the hopes of others. Exhibit A is their shocking upset of No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Illinois a year ago in the final regular-season Big Ten game.
“We know exactly what’s going on in that (other team’s) locker room,” forward J.J. Sullinger said. “We understand what they’re talking about. They’re playing to spoil our season. That’s what we did last year, so we understand totally.”
Ohio State has come out of nowhere to become one of the elite teams in the country.
“That’s the beauty of it. Nobody gave us a chance, but we believed in ourselves,” guard Je’Kel Foster said.
The Buckeyes women enter the Big Ten tournament as the top seed for the second year in a row. This time, they say, they’re older, wiser and better prepared.
“We’ll make sure to take care of our business,” said center Jessica Davenport, who was selected as the conference’s Player of the Year for the second year in a row Tuesday. “I think we’re a lot better. We’re more diverse and a lot more experienced. Just about everybody here went through that loss last year (in overtime to Minnesota in the semifinals). We’re going in with a chip on our shoulders.”
In their most recent game, the Buckeyes trailed by 17 points in the second half but still was able to pull out a win at Penn State. Jim Foster, chosen as the Big Ten coach of the year, said that was a mark of how far his team has come.
“I don’t know if last year’s team would have been able to handle Sunday,” he said. “That was sort of a senior win. The seniors decided it was worth winning that game.”
Matta and Foster said their teams have not shown signs of arrogance or overconfidence. If they did, the coaches wouldn’t put up with it. Dials, this week’s Big Ten player of the week, was asked what it’s like to be on a team sitting atop the conference standings. “I haven’t been there long enough to even enjoy the view yet,” he said with a laugh.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

PlainDealer

3/1/06

OHIO STATE BASKETBALL

<H1 class=red>Dials answers the call

</H1>

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus- Everyone has been waiting for this Terence Dials, who rips down rebounds, runs the court, works for position in the post and goes hard to the basket. Even his mother.

"The family and I have been looking for this," Judith Dials-Kimbrough said. "It seemed like sometimes he wasn't giving 100 percent. We've wanted to see this all along."

Ohio State men's basketball teammate J.J. Sullinger said someone must have accidentally hit Dials in the face in practice to fire him up. Coach Thad Matta begs Dials, who never sleeps more than six hours per night, to get more rest, though he so far hasn't listened. Michael Dials, 19, always has pushed his older brother to "get hyped" for games.

Hands in his pockets, his voice like syrup, Dials is a 6-9, 260-pound shrug.

Even as he admits to some last-chance motivation in his senior season, spurred in part by a conversation with former Buckeyes big man Bill Hosket, there's no urgency in his inflection.

Dials saves his edge for the court, where he is playing the best basketball of his life, making a push for Big Ten Player of the Year and giving the Buckeyes reason to believe their runs in the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments could go on for a while.

"When Terence is playing the way he's playing, and we have that inside-outside game, it's hard to stop us," senior guard Je'Kel Foster said.

Since playing one of the worst halves of his career at Michigan three weeks ago, when he had one point and one rebound in 12 min- utes, Dials, who rises at 6 a.m each day, has wo- ken up.

He's averaged 19.6 points and 12.6 rebounds in the five games since. As much as the Buckeyes rely on his scoring, his 15 points per game lead the team, what their four-shooter lineup needs most is for their only big man to play big.

"When Terence is ready to play, we've seen him do some things on the court I don't think even he realizes he's doing," Matta said, remembering one play against Illinois when Dials popped out to cover the dribbler after a screen, then careened toward the basket from 28 feet out to snatch a rebound. "We need him to have his energy and his effort at all times."

Dials can't hide. He admits the energy hasn't always been there, especially during nonconference games. He doesn't have a reputation as a voracious rebounder.

"Early on in the season, I wasn't focused on rebounding," Dials said. "Whatever rebound came to me, that's all I got. Now I think I'm pursuing it a little bit more."

The Buckeyes play at Northwestern tonight, then Dials plays his final game at Value City Arena on Sunday against Purdue. It will be his 127th game for the Buckeyes, and he should end his career second in games played in an Ohio State uniform. He has saved his best for last.

"Terence is very humble," his mother said. "But he's coming to the end of his career. He has to shine."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

[email protected], 216-999-4479

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ESPN.com

3/2/06

OSU two Ws away from unlikely Big Ten crown


When college basketball games tip-off Wednesday night -- the first night of March -- there will be nine teams that have four or fewer losses. It's a pretty impressive feat to have lost, basically, one game a month.

The list is an impressive one: There's Duke, Connecticut, Villanova, Texas, Gonzaga, Memphis, Bucknell and George Washington. That's eight.

The ninth member of this group is the most surprising. This team was projected to finish outside of the elite tier in its conference. When this season began, it's fan base seemed to be largely captivated by that sport with the pointy-ended ball or by the sport of recruiting.

The school? Ohio State.

And for the first time this season, the Buckeyes have begun to get a little attention outside of the 614 area code. It's only taken a 21-4 record, Ohio State moving into the top 10 of the Ratings Percentage Index, both major polls and the Buckeyes being on the verge of a Big Ten title for it to happen.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Dials is providing the inside stuff for the balanced Buckeyes.




That's pretty good for a team that wasn't supposed to be that great until Greg Oden and company, arrive in Columbus next year.

A week ago, it seemed almost predestined that the Big Ten champion would have at least five losses and the title would be shared. That was when the Buckeyes were one of four Big Ten teams with four losses in league play.

Every team, including Ohio State, had at least one difficult road game to play.

As Ohio State enters Wednesday night's game at Northwestern, the Buckeyes control their own destiny. Thad Matta's team is the only Big Ten team left with four conference losses. Defeat the Wildcats and win at home on Sunday, and Ohio State will win the title outright. It's reached the point where the Ohio State players acknowledge they want nothing less than a solo title.

"Sharing would be a disappointment," Ohio State center Terence Dials said. "We all know how hard it is to win at Northwestern, and we're going to try to do it."

If there is a Big Ten team that can take care of games it's expected to win, it is the Buckeyes. In a season in which Illinois has lost to Penn State, Michigan State and Iowa have lost to Minnesota, and Wisconsin has lost to Purdue, Ohio State has been extremely consistent.

After an undefeated nonconference season that included wins at St. Joseph's and against LSU, the Buckeyes have been very steady in Big Ten play. Their only losses this season have been at Indiana (back when the Hoosiers looked like a Tournament lock), to Michigan State in two overtimes, at Iowa and at Wisconsin.

Down the stretch this season, Ohio State has continued to improve. The Buckeyes have won seven of their past eight games; last week was especially impressive, as Ohio State won at always tough Michigan State and then defeated Michigan, despite not making perimeter shots.

The former is a sort of Big Ten badge of legitimacy, as winning at the Breslin Center is never an easy task. The later showed just how much the Buckeyes have improved this season.

Earlier this season, the scouting report on the Buckeyes went something like this: Limit their 3-pointers and you have a chance. Well, against Michigan, Ohio State made all of four 3-pointers. And they won by 10.

The reason is two-fold. First, Ohio State has evolved into a sneaky-good defensive team. Second, the improved play of Dials has ensured the Buckeyes are more than just a team of 3-point bombers.

The Buckeyes have the best 3-point field goal percentage defense in the Big Ten and they're giving up less than a point per possession. Now, the Buckeyes aren't going to be mistaken for a team that can win games with the way they guard, but they certainly defend well enough to get by.

Matta said the improvement on defense is simply the product of hard work and want-to.

"I would say it starts with the players -- and, in particular, our seniors," Matta said. "These guys have set out and been very focused and committed to doing the best we can do.

"[Monday was] practice No. 93 and I don't know if they've had two bad practices."

The Buckeyes don't have to be great defensively to win games, just above average.

"Against Michigan, we continued to defend and challenge shots," Matta said.

That improved defense is going to be crucial as March continues. The ability to get defensive stops during a time of the year when possessions are more and more valuable is often the difference between advancing and going home.

If you haven't seen Ohio State play, here's a mental image: Think Villanova.

Like the Wildcats, the Buckeyes play four players on the perimeter around one in the middle. Villanova has attempted 578 3-pointers and made an average of 9.04 per game. Ohio State has shot 547 3s in the same number of games, making 8.84 per game.

"Their [small forwards] and [power forwards] can shoot the ball well and it just spreads you out," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "And they're smart enough to -- after a few 3s -- pound it inside.

"If they hit difficult 3s like they did against us, it puts you in a bind ... they mix it up enough that they keep you off-guard."

That's where Ohio State and Villanova are a little different. The Buckeyes' four perimeter guys -- point guard Jamar Butler, guards Je'Kel Foster and J.J. Sullinger and forward Matt Sylvester -- are good, but they aren't as good as Allen Ray, Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry and Mike Nardi.

That said, Dials is a significant upgrade on Will Sheridan. Of late, Dials has looked very much like a potential Big Ten player of the year selection. In the past five games, Dials has recorded five consecutive double-doubles and averaged 19.6 points and 12.6 rebounds per game.

"Ohio State has more of a definitive inside presence than Villanova," Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. "I think Terence Dials makes those teams a little different. Sylvester is a 6-foot-7, 6-8 four man while Villanova's four-man is a guard. [The Buckeyes] have a little bit more size."

Because of Ohio State's ability to shoot the 3, Dials has not been double-teamed nearly as much as a lot of Big Ten centers.

"Playing four out and me in, it creates a lot of matchup problems," said Dials, one of three fifth-year seniors in the Buckeyes' starting lineup. "It's been working out pretty well for us.

"It's great for me, it opens so many things up for me."

Said Matta: "I think the light has gone on for Terence. He's seeing the sand going through the hourglass. He's playing more passionately and with more intensity on both ends of the floor."

That inside-out combination is a lot of the reason why Ohio State leads the Big Ten in scoring offense and in points per possession.

"One thing I think we do a good job with is playing unselfishly," Matta said. "No one truly cares who get the shots or the points."


But the Buckeyes are getting points -- inside and outside. And that's why Ohio State isn't going to have to wait for its hyped recruiting class to enter the NCAA tournament with optimism.
Jeff Shelman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (www.startribune.com) is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

3/4/06

OSU MEN’S BASKETBALL

Sylvester takes steroid injection in lower back

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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Matt Sylvester hopes this shot is as good as a couple of the others he has taken.

Sylvester, who has been hampered by a tight back for the past month while the Ohio State men’s basketball team has surged to a share of the Big Ten championship, said yesterday that he received an epidural steroid injection in his lower back Thursday that he hopes will loosen his back and allow him to play like his old self again soon.

"It wasn’t very much fun at the time," Sylvester said of the epidural, "but I’m actually feeling a lot better already. I look to start doing more and more reps in practice and just do whatever I can to help this team out down the stretch."

The ninth-ranked Buckeyes (22-4, 11-4) can win their first outright Big Ten title in 14 years Sunday and the top seed in the Big Ten tournament when they play Purdue (9-17, 3-12) at noon in Value City Arena. Sylvester and fellow seniors Terence Dials, Je’Kel Foster and J.J. Sullinger will be recognized before the game, their last at home.

Sylvester, famous for making the three-point baskets that beat No. 1 Illinois last season and LSU this season, has been stretching and receiving therapy for about 40 minutes before and after each game. He said he consented to have the injection because the problem was not improving.

He missed all seven shots he attempted Wednesday at Northwestern and was 1 of 13 from the field in his past two games. Sylvester said the fact that he hasn’t been able to practice a lot has affected his performance.

"But I also look at it like there’s a lot of basketball to be played this year," he said. "I think once I really start getting the practice reps back and I get back into the game flow, I think I’m going to be ready to be rippin’ and roarin’ by the time the tournament comes around."
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

3/5/06

Buckeyes’ special year a lift for Foster family

Title run offsets damage of hurricane

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Todd Jones
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

</IMG> NEAL C . LAURON | DISPATCH Ohio State guard Je’Kel Foster can cap Senior Day with an outright Big Ten championship today.


They don’t talk about the pain and loss much anymore, now that the horrible winds have passed and the floodwaters receded.
Hurricane Katrina will always be part of their lives, but so will this Senior Day — a day when Ohio State can earn its first outright Big Ten regular-season championship in men’s basketball in 14 years.

Win or lose, Je’Kel Foster and his parents will forever cherish today’s special moment before the guard’s final OSU home game.

They have pondered how the moment will play out, how they’ll embrace and probably cry some tears of joy, how they’ll soak up the crowd’s pregame applause.

"It’s been a long journey," Je’Kel said. "There have been a lot of ups and downs. I’m going to be emotional."

Basketball has always been important to the Fosters, but the game has served an even greater purpose as a therapeutic option for the family during the past six months.

"It’s definitely helped us," said Je’Kel’s mother, Yolanda. "It’s been something positive to think about and focus on. It’s made the hardships of Katrina easier."

Yolanda lost everything except for a few clothes, photos and a couple of her son’s trophies when her New Orleans apartment flooded after Katrina wrecked the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29.

Foster’s father, Willie, was luckier in Natchez, Miss., where he rode out the hurricane in the darkened bedroom of his house with sons Je’Kel and Jayvin, 10.

Although his home, 175 miles north of New Orleans, was spared damage, Willie’s heart ached for the losses suffered by his ex-wife.

"It was devastating," he said. "She had to start over."

Willie and Yolanda, both 40, divorced when Je’Kel was a freshman in high school, but his parents remain friends and talk almost daily. They’re bonded by a shared love for their sons.

"They mean everything to me," Je’Kel said. "They’re my motivation. They’ve always been in my corner no matter what."

His parents have made the 14-hour drive to Columbus. They traveled in a caravan that included Je’Kel’s grandparents and many other family members.
"We have a real close family," Je’Kel said. "They’re a big support system. I couldn’t ask for a better family."

Yolanda drove to Natchez the day before Katrina hit to stay with her mother, and took only a couple of outfits with her.

A month passed before she was allowed back in New Orleans, her home since 2003.

"It was like walking into a horror film," Yolanda said. "Everything was gray and gloomy and lifeless."

Floodwaters from Lake Pontchartrain had risen above the light fixtures in her first-floor apartment in the devastated Orleans Parish. What the water didn’t destroy, mold did.

"When I got there, all I did was cry," Yolanda said. "I knew it would be bad because of what I had seen on TV, but everything was far worse than I imagined."

Je’Kel called his mother every day, as he always does, and sent her text messages of hope.

"I tried to make her smile and brighten her day," he said. "I knew deep down she was hurting, but she didn’t let me know that."

Willie occasionally would visit her in Baton Rouge, La., where she had taken refuge at a hotel while continuing to work as a nurse for a home healthcare agency.

"I just tried to comfort her," said Willie, a collection agent for an insurance company.

Yolanda lived at a hotel for four months — "It was like the room was getting smaller and smaller," she said — until she moved into a Baton Rouge apartment in January.

"It has been a slow, slow process," she said. "I’ve got basic necessities, a bed and some small furnishings. I am much better. I’m not back, but I’m not where I was."

Je’Kel said his mother’s toughmindedness has inspired him on the court and in the classroom.

The junior-college transfer is scheduled to graduate this summer with a degree in sociology — a feat his parents are as proud of as his basketball success.

"I’ve got a tear in my eye right now," said Willie, a shooting guard at Alcorn State in the 1980s.

The tear is from joy — something the Foster family needed to find after a devastating hurricane.

Basketball helped direct them to better days.

"My family has been watching all of our games," Je’Kel said. "With us having a special year, it has motivated my family. It took our minds off what was going on down there."

Today, the roar the Fosters will hear will be from the OSU crowd, not a hurricane. The noise will sound great.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

3/5/06

COMMENTARY

Only a few could have seen success heading OSU’s way

Sunday, March 05, 2006

BOB HUNTER

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Is it really a mystery why Thad Matta’s once-unheralded Ohio State men’s basketball team is suddenly one win from an undisputed Big Ten title?


Maybe not. Longtime Michigan State beat reporter and columnist Jack Ebling recently told me about how, in the spring, he prepared a Big Ten preview for a preseason magazine. Ebling then showed his preseason rankings to Spartans coach Tom Izzo to get his thoughts.

"Are you crazy?" Izzo supposedly said.

Ebling was perplexed. Why?

"You’ve got Ohio State seventh," Izzo said.

Yeah, so?

"They’re gonna win the league."

Ebling said he was flabbergasted. But then he listened to Izzo explain how the Buckeyes not only were talented and well-coached but had loads of experience. Besides three fifth-year seniors (Terence Dials, Matt Sylvester and J.J. Sullinger), they also had a senior (Je’Kel Foster), a fourthyear junior (Ron Lewis) and a junior (Ivan Harris). That kind of experience, Izzo said, teaches players what it takes to win in a tough conference such as the Big Ten.

Izzo is no dummy. He knew his team was the overwhelming favorite for the title. But he also knows something else. Experience wins.

"So I went back and tried to figure out who I could put them in front of," Ebling said. "I think I got them up to fifth."

The writer was by no means alone in his bleak assessment. When the Big Ten media gathered in Chicago for its preseason conferences, reporters ranked Michigan State, Illinois and Indiana as the favorites, in that order.

No additional ranking or vote totals were announced, but a few coaches expressed surprise that Wisconsin wasn’t in the top three. Another coach mentioned Iowa. No one said anything about Ohio State, which isn’t too surprising; an informal poll of the writers had Ohio State sixth.

There would seem to be a couple of lessons in this. First, you can’t always believe the hype, even when it’s seems authoritative. That could prove to be an important lesson here, because the 2006-07 Ohio State team is already being hyped to high heaven before it ever sets foot on campus.

Even though that team might have enormous talent and potential, probably more of both than this year’s team, its lack of experience could prove to be just as much of a detriment to it as experience was beneficial this year.

This season also should serve as a reminder that last year is last year.

Some players just aren’t as good when they lose much of their supporting cast — Illinois’ Dee Brown is an example of that — and others make tremendous strides during the course of their collegiate careers, particularly if they have good coaches. Hence, freshman Jamar Butler was nothing like sophomore Jamar Butler, which made a significant difference in this OSU team.

We tend to forget this stuff until a team like this one suddenly seems to appear out of nowhere and win a title. Then we take a closer look and it all starts to make sense: more consistency from Dials, more aggressiveness from Butler and improved shooting from everybody because Matta insists every day in practice that they shoot until their arms are ready to fall off.

It’s easy to forget now, but preseason expectations weren’t high for the 1998-99 team that finished second in the conference and made Ohio State’s first Final Four appearance in 30 years. That group was rated about where this one was before the season.

By the way, Dials wasn’t among the media’s first-team all-conference picks and now he looks like a solid choice for Big Ten player of the year.

How could all of us have been so wrong?

All of us weren’t.

Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch.

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