Wow, So I Guess Ohio State is For Real!

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Until recently I was not sure. Yes I saw that they pasted Florida early, but Florida isn't what it used to be and plays in the pushover SEC basketball conference. Yes, they beat Florida State, but we all know the ACC is down this year and while they had an impressive upset over Duke, they also managed to lose to Virginia Tech, Auburn and Florida.

Then they played three close games against Minnesota (home), at Michigan and Penn State (home). All three of those games were decided by 4 points or less. Penn State and Minnesota are both good teams but I would have expected a Top 5 team to beat them handily at home. Michigan is not a good team and that 4 point win was unimpressive even though it was in Ann Arbor.

However, their last two games were a huge statement about how good this team is. First, they traveled to play a very good Illinois team in the House of Paign. While Illinois led for much of the second half, the Buckeyes were able to maintain their composure and execute down the stretch to take the lead and win the game. That was an impressive test as the #1 team.

Then they returned home to face a highly rated, red-hot Purdue team. Since a fluke loss to Richmond back in November, Purdue had been on a roll. They lost two road games but to very good teams and had won the rest of their games. So, this looked to be a close game (on paper). However, the Buckeyes must have had this game in their sites for a while because they came out inspired and dominated from the opening tip. The final margin of 23 points did not even convey the utter domination in this game.

When looking at OSU earlier in the season, my biggest knock on the team was their lack of a true point guard. However, with the emergence of Freshman Aaron Craft over the last few weeks, this team now looks to have all the pieces in place to make a deep run in the tournament. Sullinger is an absolute beast and I would be quite surprised if he is not the Number 1 pick in the NBA draft this summer.

Their outside shooting is excellent and they have improved their team defense tremendously since last year. It is hard to believe that you could subtract Evan Turner from a team and they get better but it appears that is what has happened. Sullinger is more valuable to this team than Turner was because he adds the dominant dimension inside. Lighty, Diebler and Buford provide both outside shooting and athleticism and now with the emergence of Craft as a true point guard this team is rocking and rolling at the right time of the season.