The Big Ten is a great place to look if you need examples of how to keep some perspective about this season. Team after team there has had some real ups and downs along the way; just a couple of days ago we looked at Wisconsin as one fine example of that. Frankly, about the only teams that have had a run of consistent success or failure all season long have been bottom teams Northwestern and Nebraska.
To that end, we should now talk about Ohio State, who swept Michigan after a 77-63 win in Columbus on Sunday afternoon for their third straight win, fifth in the last six games and eighth in ten. The Buckeyes appear to be in a good place now, but they have been in a both better and worse position than this during the course of the season.
Back in December, one wouldn’t have been crazy to think the Buckeyes should have been No. 1 in the polls at one point. They had early wins over Cincinnati, Villanova (a blowout), an impressive blowout at North Carolina before we knew that the Tar Heels aren’t very good this year, and then a blowout of Penn State before we knew just how good the Nittany Lions are. When they beat Kentucky at the CBS Sports Classic, it was far from a bad loss for the Wildcats, though it was a missed opportunity for a team we were still trying to figure out.
Things took a big turn in the wrong direction starting with the game against West Virginia in Cleveland. That game would be the first of four straight losses and six in seven games, and in all four losses during the streak they scored under 60 points, something they also did in the last game in the seven-game stretch. Suddenly, the team that was once thought of as the best in the country was 2-6 in the Big Ten. It was as if the strong and deep Big Ten had chewed up and spit out one more good team.
The Buckeyes had another idea at that point, which was to play better. Having Northwestern as the next opponent on the schedule helped, even on the road, and it jump-started the current stretch with eight wins in the last ten games. The only losses have come at Wisconsin and at Iowa, not bad losses at all. After pulling out the first meeting with Michigan in Ann Arbor by three, they scored a more convincing win at home on Sunday, although the difference came in the final seven minutes.
There, the Buckeyes hit another crucial point. The Wolverines tied the game at 54 with under seven minutes to play, but Ohio State scored the next eight points to take the lead for good, then a 13-2 run a little later put the game out of reach.
What the real Buckeyes look like is not entirely known, but they appear to be a little closer to the team that was seen as No. 1 than a non-NCAA Tournament team. They’ll be tested well in their final two regular season games as Illinois comes to town before they go to East Lansing to take on Michigan State. As noted elsewhere, the way a team appears to be trending seems to mean little this season; lots of teams trending one way get a big win or suffer a big loss that goes against the way they have been trending. That seems to hold up for Ohio State to a reasonable degree. It’s one more reason some perspective on the season to this point helps us view this team in a way that seems to help us understand them better.
Side Dishes
Ohio State was without forward Kyle Young for the second straight game on Sunday, as he sat with a high ankle sprain suffered in their win over Maryland a week earlier. Since he is day-to-day, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that he returns for one of their final two games.
Speaking of keeping perspective and responding, you have to tip your hat to Stanford. The jury has been out on the Cardinal for a lot of the season, as they went through non-conference without a signature win, although wins over Big Sky co-leader Montana, Oklahoma and CAA runner-up William & Mary aren’t bad, then in Pac-12 play they lost seven of eight on the road and/or against much of the meat of the conference. Sunday night, they won their fourth straight, a 72-64 win over Colorado and one that just might put them over the hump barring a bad loss the rest of the way.
You have to feel for Minnesota. The Golden Gophers came into the week with a chance. Twice it looked like they might take full advantage of a desperately needed quality win opportunity, and twice they got their hearts broken by big baskets late. The big heart-breaker was against Maryland, but Sunday night’s hurt as well, with Wisconsin getting the lead late and then hanging on for a 71-69 win to join two other teams a game back of Maryland atop the Big Ten.
St. John’s had a good run in non-conference, but has had trouble pulling games out in Big East play. On Sunday, they hit 14 three-pointers and ran away from Creighton 91-71. The Red Storm also managed to continue a pattern they have had throughout Big East play – ever four-game stretch has started with three straight losses followed by a win. The other Big East game of the day was a dandy, with Xavier getting a three-pointer in the final seconds for a 66-63 win at Georgetown.
Saint Louis continues to play well, going to Rhode Island and knocking off the Rams 72-62 for their third straight win and fourth in five games. The Billikens seem to be a long shot for an at-large bid, but they can’t be counted out yet.
North Texas clinched the outright regular season title in Conference USA with a 78-72 overtime win over Western Kentucky in Denton. The Mean Green are 14-3 in the conference and reached 20 wins on the season.
Other results of note: Houston pulled away from Cincinnati 68-55 to join Tulsa in a first-place tie atop the American Athletic Conference; Ayo Dosunmu was Mr. Clutch again for Illinois as he scored their final five points in the last 90 seconds in a 67-66 win over Indiana; in MAAC play, Monmouth took care of Manhattan 80-60 and Rider pulled away from Fairfield 65-51 to each reach 11 conference wins; Towson held off Northeastern 75-72 in Boston, and the two teams will turn right around and face off again in the CAA Tournament quarterfinals in less than a week; Wichita State won a classic tale of two halves by having the better good half in a 66-62 win at SMU; and Louisville handled visiting Virginia Tech 68-52 to go a half game ahead of Florida State, with who they are even in the loss column;
Tonight’s Menu
Conference tournaments beckon, but first we have a light night of action with less than a dozen games on tap.
- A key ACC game helps get things going as NC State heads to Duke (7 p.m.)
- A busy night of MEAC action has Norfolk State visiting Delaware State, Maryland-Eastern Shore going to Howard, South Carolina State hosting North Carolina A&T and the best one looking like NC Central hosting Bethune-Cookman, all tipping at 7:30 p.m.
- The SWAC takes over a little later as Prairie View A&M hosts Alabama A&M, Grambling hosts Mississippi Valley State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff goes to Jackson State and Alabama State visits Texas Southern, all with an 8:30 p.m. tip.
- A key Big 12 game comes up later as Baylor hosts Texas Tech in a battle of teams who lost on Saturday (9 p.m.)
- A Big Sky game also comes up later as Idaho State visits Weber State (9 p.m.)
