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No. 1 Ohio State--78, #16 Central Connecticut--57 (Game Thread)

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DDN

CCSU gets biblical in desire to beat top-ranked OSU


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By Mark Gokavi
Staff Writer

Thursday, March 15, 2007
LEXINGTON, Ky. ? Before the Central Connecticut State players left for Kentucky, school president Jack Miller gave each player and coach a small stone ? a not-so-subtle reminder of David versus Goliath.
CCSU, the 16th seed, battles No. 1-ranked and top-seeded OSU at 7:10 p.m. today in Rupp Arena. No. 16 seeds are 0-88 all-time against No. 1s.

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DDN

March to Atlanta begins in Lexington for Buckeyes

Making Final Four would be dream come true for Springfield's Harris, but that's still four wins away.


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By David Jablonski

Thursday, March 15, 2007

When you're Springfield's Ivan Harris, it has to be hard not to look ahead this week.
The Ohio State senior will take this NCAA tournament one game at a time ? and never has it been more advisable to follow that cliche than during March Madness ? but bigger things are in the back of the Buckeyes' minds than beating Central Connecticut State at 7:10 p.m. tonight in Lexington, Ky.

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ABJ

Egos checked, Buckeyes balanced

For OSU, key to success is players accepting roles

By Marla Ridenour

Beacon Journal sportswriter

LEXINGTON, KY. - Ohio State coach Thad Matta might not admit to his toughest challenge this season.
Even if he's celebrating a championship late into the night on April 2, he might not confess.
But to guide the top-ranked Buckeyes to a school-record 30 victories, Big Ten regular-season and tournament championships and a top seed in the South Regional, he had to try to bury nine players' egos. OK, maybe eight, since 7-foot freshman center Greg Oden doesn't seem to have one.

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CPD

OSU hopes? Not a long shot


Thursday, March 15, 2007Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter
Lexington, Ky.- The 3-pointer is the tool of the desperate and the highly skilled, not the choice of giants, of No. 1 seeds with a 7-foot inside force.
Yet on the top-ranked team in the country, Ohio State's veterans retain the remnants of an underdog personality built during last year's unlikely Big Ten title run, when the Buckeyes were forced to shoot their way to the top.
In the second half of this season, the Buckeyes stopped playing that way - even if they may still think that way.

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Cincy

Buckeyes have found comfort zone
OSU worked to get used to Oden
BY DUSTIN DOW | [email protected]
http://del.icio.us/post
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LEXINGTON - The shirts they wear around the locker room read "WITNESS Buckeye Basketball."
These days, that means something far more cohesive than it did even less than a month ago when Ohio State, although No. 1 in the country, was incessantly questioned about its offensive prowess.
Last week's dominating performance in the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago eliminated most of that doubt surrounding Thad Matta's Buckeyes (30-3) who open the NCAA Tournament at 7:10 p.m. today as the No. 1 seed in the South Region. They'll play 16th-seeded Central Connecticut State (22-11), champion of the Northeast Conference.


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Morning Journal

Bucks don't want to be one to lose NCAA TOURNAMENT: A top seed has never lost to a No. 16 seed
JASON LLOYD, Morning Journal Writer
03/15/2007


http://www.zwire.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=1699&dept_id=46370&newsid=18081470

During a pep rally on campus yesterday morning, Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell presented the Central Connecticut State players with a storybook that represented their season. The last few pages were left blank, so they could fill them up with their own memories of this weekend in Kentucky.


History shows they won't need much room. The Blue Devils likely won't be in Lexington for very long.

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Blade

Road-tested Buckeyes have faced diverse defenses

By Matt Markey

Toledo Blade

The Ohio State Buckeyes finished the regular season with a big cache of frequent flier miles.
They traveled to Tobacco Road to face North Carolina, and ventured down into The Swamp to play defending national champion Florida. There were also trips to the mountains of central Pennsylvania to see Penn State, and up near The Dells to square off with Wisconsin.
Buckeyes coach Thad Matta hopes that all the time on the road experiencing a broad spectrum of venues and playing in highly charged atmospheres will be worth a considerable amount as Ohio State enters NCAA Tournament play tonight in a state it did not visit this season ? Kentucky.

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CPD

Undersized Devils promise an oversized effort



Thursday, March 15, 2007 Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter
Lexington, Ky.- If Central Connecticut State's Obie Nwadike, the Blue Devils' leading rebounder who's generously listed at 6-4, had met Ohio State's Greg Oden on an elementary school playground, he may have had a chance.
"I couldn't imagine being eight inches shorter," the 7-foot Oden said. "That was probably fifth grade for me."
Said Nwadike: "Believe it or not, I was 6 feet in fifth grade, I just stopped growing. I guess Greg put on another foot since fifth grade, and I put on about an inch-and-half, so that's the biggest difference between me and him."

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CPD

Abiding faith in miracles is Central to Devils' plan


Thursday, March 15, 2007Bill Livingston
Plain Dealer Columnist
Lexington, Ky.- The Blue Devils - no, not those Blue Devils, not the Blue Devils of Coach K, Christian Laettner, J.J. Redick and aren't we grand? - come to the NCAA Tournament against top-seeded Ohio State tonight after exploring every stratum of their role as David.
Central Connecticut State's school president handed stones to the players on the 16th-seeded team in the South Regional before they left New Britain, which sure isn't Storrs, the home of the two-time NCAA champion Connecticut Huskies.

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Link

Buckeyes tough task for Central

Thursday, March 15, 2007
By WILL GRAVES
Copyright ? 2007 AP Wire
Greg Oden paused for a second while he considered the question.
No, not that one. Sorry, the Ohio State star remains coy about any potential NBA plans.
When asked if he knew why the top-seeded Buckeyes (30-3) were playing 16th-seeded Central Connecticut State (22-11) in the opening round of the NCAA tournament tonight, the freshman center stroked his neatly trimmed beard and mulled it over before the answer came to him.
"They won their tournament!" Oden said with an almost-relieved look on his face.

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Link

History says Central has no chance to win

Thursday, March 15, 2007
Copyright ? 2007 Republican-American
BY ED DAIGNEAULT
Republican-American
When it comes to NCAA Tournament success in Connecticut, UConn obviously leads the way.
In fact, the Huskies are the only team in the state to ever win at least one game in the Division I tournament. Central Connecticut, Fairfield and Yale are a combined 0-8 in the tournament.

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Dispatch

The method to their madness
Buckeyes? search for ways to generate offense closer to the basket has paid off so far in the postseason
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


LEXINGTON, Ky. ? For whatever reason, and he doesn?t give one, Ron Lewis put the regular season behind him as soon as it was over. Ohio State had won its second consecutive outright Big Ten men?s basketball championship and earned a No. 1 ranking for the first time in 45 years, but as far as Lewis was concerned, it was history.


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Dispatch

COMMENTARY
Talent should allow OSU to go a long way
Thursday, March 15, 2007
BOB HUNTER


LEXINGTON, Ky. ? Since the Final Four excursion in 1999 the NCAA says we have to forget, no one has had trouble forgetting Ohio State?s ensuing postseason trips.
There have been four ? gosh, it seems like only yesterday the Buckeyes were losing to Utah State in Greensboro, N.C. ? and all four ended with the same sickly splat in the first two rounds.

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