BOSTON — Ohio State played a beautiful, balanced and
unselfish brand of basketball for most of Thursday night's regional semifinal
vs. Cincinnati. The Buckeyes played to their strengths — of which there are
many — in gradually breaking down what had been a red-hot opponent and taking
control the way a true national championship contender should.
Before we get to further discussion of this team and the chances three
multi-talented sophomores drive it to make history, let's step back and examine
Ohio State's recent history.
A week ago, the Buckeyes were alarmingly flat in their NCAA tournament opener.
A month ago, they were erratic and inconsistent enough to wonder what kind of
March run would even be possible. A year ago, Ohio State was the fallen
favorite, the No. 1 overall seed stunned in the Sweet 16 by a young Kentucky
team just figuring out how good it could become.
Sound a little familiar?
All of the above play a role in why, in the here and now, an Ohio State team
that's still growing looks like the favorite to win this East Region — and a
very viable contender to cut down another net in a little more than a week,
too.
Thursday night, the Buckeyes overwhelmed Cincinnati, 81-66, to advance to
Saturday and the East Region final against No. 1 seed Syracuse. After building
a 12-point lead behind 20 first-half points from Deshaun Thomas, the Buckeyes
trailed by four points nine minutes into the second half. Then they hit
the gas — and maybe their finest stride of the season.
They did it with flashes of both brilliance and maturity. After a scoreless
first half, Aaron Craft finally got a jump shot to drop, Jared Sullinger scored
at will in the paint and Lenzelle Smith Jr. and William Buford hit big 3-point
shots, too. Sullinger and Thomas did the bulldozing and Craft sucked the last
wind out of the Bearcats with an 11-point, six-steal, five-assist showing.
Thomas finished with 26 points, Sullinger with 23 and 11 rebounds, and an
athletic, energetic Cincinnati team saw its best run come up well short of what
was going to be necessary to stop Ohio State.
"I don't think we'd win games like (Cincinnati) in the middle of this
year," Craft said. "We hadn't been through the battles. We didn't
understand what it took. We play our best when we're together, we're positive,
we're having fun out there. That's what it's about.
"We still have a bitter taste in our mouths from last year. We didn't play
as well as we needed to and Kentucky was a great team, they beat us. We had to
go through it. I just think having the experience is big. For me at least, last
year (in the Sweet 16) was more like a whirlwind than a basketball game. We
really didn't appreciate the moment but I think we're really trying to do that
now."
Last season’s Buckeyes were three seniors, Buford and three freshmen: Sullinger
the headliner, Craft the gritty point guard who looked more like a team
manager, and Thomas only a bit player off the bench, a one-dimensional gunner
essentially waiting his turn. This team has another short bench, three new
starters and a whole bunch of guys in new roles. But those roles are becoming
more defined, the players are becoming more comfortable in them and the
Buckeyes have a true floor leader in Craft who knows most defenses aren't
equipped to slow both Sullinger and Thomas.
Thursday's win was Ohio State's 30th of the season and served as a breakthrough
after the Buckeyes were eliminated in the Sweet 16 in each of the last two seasons.
"If you would have told me in November this team was going to win 30
games, I would have said there's no way we're going to win 30 games," Ohio
State coach Thad Matta said. ""I think a lot of it had to do with
just youth. I keep saying I'm not going to beat a dead horse here, but we've
got one senior, one junior, and the rest are freshmen and sophomores. We talk
about maturity with these guys, and I think we've grown in that area. But we
needed a little bit of a wake‑up call there.
"The thing I don't want to do is take anything away from Cincinnati
because they're a really, really good basketball team. And we knew they
were going to make a run on us, and we just weren't able to stop it when we
wanted to. But like I said, I give our guys credit. They played themselves
through it."
There was a point in the first half Thursday night when Thomas had 20 points
and Cincinnati had 22. After the Bearcats switched back to their aggressive man
defense and got some shots to drop early in the second half, Ohio State regained
control by ratcheting up its defense and spreading the offensive wealth — but
only after Sullinger got a post touch.
"We've got two types of basketball teams: We've got the cool guys and then
the blue-collar guys," Sullinger said. "I thought to start the second
half we got into cool-guy mode and we kind of let our guard down. Coach Matta
basically told us before we started the second half that Cincinnati was going
to come at us with everything they had; Cincinnati is just the type of team
that does not give up.
"I mean, we just came out and decided to be cool guys, and they came out
and they stung us, and then we got ourselves back into another basketball
game."
Sullinger was admittedly more diva than dominator during that February rut,
when shots weren't dropping and the Buckeyes' body language was bad, too. It
looks now, though, as if the identity crisis has been resolved. Craft runs the
show. Thomas keeps attacking. Sullinger owns the paint — unless Thomas is
barreling in for another one-handed put-back try.
Cincinnati's Yancy Gates, the older and bigger part of this much-hyped matchup
of future NBA players in the post, was rendered basically invisible after
encountering early foul trouble. Gates finished with seven points and five
rebounds, and Thomas and Sullinger combined for 24 points in the paint.
"We're here as a team, we keep moving the ball and then we play off each
other," Thomas said. "And that's what me and Jared, we just keep
doing. We're just successful at that."
The blue-collar Buckeyes are certainly no longer baby Buckeyes. They're all
grown up, embracing the big stage and the big opportunity.
They're one win from the Final Four. They haven't forgotten where they've come
from.
"I think (how well) we're playing now has a lot to do with getting stopped
here (in the Sweet 16 last year)," Craft said. "We've lost some close
games this year that tested us but we learned to stick together. It's added up
to us playing our best basketball and hopefully we keep that going Saturday
night."
