Ohio State got to February, started thinking about March and
suddenly went flat.
The Buckeyes went the diva
route, too. Jared Sullinger signed off Twitter and admitted he was
worried about media criticism and officials' calls. A 39-game home win
streak ended, and then Ohio State lost a second game on its home floor.
It seemed like there was lid on the rim and it was clear the Buckeyes
were playing burdened.
All that's changed over the
last few weeks. Sullinger is back to playing like one of the nation's
most dominant players. That's opened things up for his teammates, too,
and the shots have dropped. Deshaun Thomas is just a sophomore, but he's
a grown man in the paint. Aaron Craft orchestrates things, and William
Buford's late shot in East Lansing gave the Buckeyes a three-way split
of the Big Ten regular-season title.
The Buckeyes
are back to business mode, and business is good. It's suddenly more
difficult to pick out Ohio State's potentially fatal flaws and easier to
see that this is a talented, athletic and battle-tested team that's
going to be a tough out for anybody.
At its best,
Ohio State is a team that likes a little pace, can still excel in a
halfcourt game and uses its defense to wear down its opponents and set
up scoring opportunities. When things run through Sullinger, good things
tend to happen for Ohio State's offense. Craft is one of the nation's
best true point guards and doesn't mind guarding bigger players if and
when his team needs him to.
A year ago, the Buckeyes
were the easy choice as the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
This year's team played like No. 1 in November before Sullinger got
hurt, the Buckeyes kind of lost their way and some early conference
opponents got hot and took advantage of the Buckeyes' shooting
struggles. Matta had insisted his team was young and inconsistent, and
it showed up at times.
Over the last two weeks,
though, the Buckeyes have been poised and resilient. They're still not
deep and still can be scared into shooting too many 3-pointers, but
they've done a great job of controlling the flow and shape of recent
games. Sullinger commands double teams and is simply too strong for a
lot of guys in the paint.
Matta was still tinkering
with his rotation two weeks ago. He's since just shortened it - his
preferred style, anyway - and concentrated on the guys on the floor
providing Sullinger the proper spacing to operate in the post. Sullinger
looked like his old, aggressive self in the Big Ten Tournament, and
that's bad news for future Buckeye opponents.
The
Buckeyes have enough scorers to survive the next two weekends. They
might still be a little uncertain of where to go with the game on the
line against a quality team, but they won't lose many rebounding battles
and make very few unforced errors. It's a team driven by last year's
tournament failure, and it's one that's peaking just as its shot at
redemption begins.
Why they'll get to New Orleans: Sullinger is
unique. He's very talented and very unselfish. It's a young team overall
but one that has big-game experience, can get stops at the most crucial
times and can spread the wealth.
Why they'll flame out early:
They have volume shooters, but not enough reliable ones. The halfcourt
defense can be suffocating but doesn't have a shotblocker at the back to
protect the rim. It's easier to imagine the Buckeyes going cold from
the perimeter than hitting a bunch of clutch jumpers in a close
tournament game.
Key to their title hopes: Buford. The lone senior
shot 2-of-16 in the Kentucky loss last year. He doesn't need to be the
lead dog, but he does need to stretch the defense and keep Ohio State on
the attack.
