Ohio State lost the Big Ten Tournament final to Michigan State, but may have won an easier NCAA path than last season, as a No. 2 seed in the East.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Ohio State didn't cut down the nets Sunday, but the Buckeyes might have a reason to pump their fists.
Ohio State lost the Big Ten Tournament title game, shuffled off the floor instead of dancing off it, earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament instead of a No. 1 seed ... looks to have an easier path to the Final Four than a year ago.
After losing to Michigan State, 68-64, in what may have been the best Big Ten championship in 15 years, the Buckeyes were given a No. 2 seed in the East Regional behind No. 1 seed Syracuse and will open the tournament on Thursday against No. 15 seed Loyola (Md). A win would send the Buckeyes against the winner of No. 7 Gonzaga and No. 10 West Virginia, where the Mountaineers could have a homecourt edge 75 miles from their campus on St. Patrick's Day.
Florida State is the No. 3 seed in the region and Wisconsin is the No. 4 seed.
Compare that to the bracket that No. 1 seed Ohio State had in 2011 -- with No. 2 seed North Carolina, No. 3 Syracuse and No. 4 Kentucky. Those three are all top seeds this season, a final reminder of the path those Buckeyes faced.
"That is an incredible thing when you stop and think about it," OSU coach Thad Matta said after the bracket was unveiled Sunday night.
For much of Sunday afternoon, the play on the court was rather incredible, with the pace and intensity of players and fans creating what felt like a NCAA regional final. If both teams continue to play as they did over the weekend, both Michigan State (27-7), which earned the West's No. 1 seed, and Ohio State (27-7) should be viewed as Final Four contenders.
"I thought it was one of the tougher, better games that I've seen," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.
"It felt real good. It was an NCAA experience," said OSU senior William Buford, who became the first Big Ten player to play in four straight conference championship games. "But that was our problem. We kept trading baskets and we can't do that. Starting Thursday, we can't trade baskets. We've got to score and stop somebody on the defensive end."
To that end, guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. said the game had an AAU feel at times with all the running. In the furious first eight minutes of the second half, Ohio State went from five points down to seven points up on a Deshaun Thomas 3-pointer before the Spartans rallied back with 8-0 run that gave them a lead they never relinquished.
"We didn't guard in transition at all," Smith said. "We got buckets and we kind of jogged back instead of finding our man and communicating with each other."
So the Buckeyes have something to work on, reminded of their deficiencies by the loss.
"Better now than in the tournament, absolutely," Buford said.
Jared Sullinger led the Buckeyes with 18 points and was named to the All-Tournament team along with Deshaun Thomas. Brandon Wood led Michigan State with 21 and also made the All-Tournament team, while Spartans' senior Draymond Green had 12 and followed his regular-season conference player of the year honor with the tournament MVP award.
But following quarterfinal and semifinal wins over Purdue and Michigan, and a win at Michigan State to end the regular-season a week earlier, the Buckeyes still flashed enough of the team they want to be. They should have been reminded of what they can be.
"This team showed me a lot over the last couple weeks," Matta said. "Today's game, we didn't get the job done in terms of the plays we needed to make. But I thought we played in stretches some really good basketball."
Now all that is behind them. Ohio State is in the middle of finals, so some players have tests as early as 7:30 a.m. Monday. Matta is hoping the Buckeyes would be able to get all their finals done before leaving for Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, where they'll practice and do interviews Wednesday before opening play Thursday.
The Buckeyes won the Big Ten Tournament in 2010 and 2011, but Matta brought up that the last time they lost in the championship game in 2009, they then lost in the opening round of the NCAAs as a No. 8 seed to Siena. Now the turnaround is even faster -- the Buckeyes will play on Thursday for the first time since 2007. That year, Ohio State won the Big Ten title in Chicago and then reached the national title game.
"It's a little bit of a mental letdown when you play the last game of the regular season, but you've got to pick yourselves back up," Matta said.
They'll do that against the Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds (24-8), who are in the tournament for the first time since 1994 after winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament. Loyola was 1-27 eight years ago, which led to the hiring of coach Jimmy Patsos. He's a former assistant at Maryland, where he coached with current OSU assistant Dave Dickerson. Matta thought that would give Ohio State some familiarity with Loyola's style.
There's no reason to expect the Buckeyes to have problems with the Greyhounds. After that, there are fewer reasons than a year ago to expect problems in their bracket.