Ohio State Buckeyes - NCAA Basketball Betting

After decades of playing second fiddle to the football program (and even the band), the Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball program is now on the verge of becoming a perennial national power itself.

Coming off a 26-win season that included a regular-season Big 10 championship before a second-round loss to Georgetown in the NCAA tournament, the Buckeyes were picked not just to win another conference title, but to compete for a national title.

OSU lost four starters from last year's squad, including Big 10 Player of the Year Terence Dials, who combined on average for 45 points and 20 rebounds per game.

The Buckeyes fattened up a bit on a relatively weak non-conference schedule this season, and lost their two toughest non-con games, at Florida (badly) and at North Carolina. This team is clearly the class, along with Wisconsin, of the Big 10, and a Top 10 team nationally.

Returnees Ron Lewis and Jamar Butler provide the experience, while freshmen Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Othello Hunter and Daequan Cook provide the youthful talent. Oden, of course, a two-time national prep Player of the Year, came with the hype and yet proved himself to be a real talent. The seven-foot center, who looks and plays a bit like The Great Bill Russell (and there is no higher compliment than that), was effective on both ends of the court, and did it while playing most of the season one-handed – and wrong-handed at that.

Conley, a high school teammate of Oden's, is a coach's son who set the Ohio State freshman record for assists this season in just the first 20 games.

Add it all up, and the Buckeyes have a real good mix of talented veterans and newcomers. Ohio State's Thad Matta has now piled up 20 or more victories in each of his seven seasons as a collegiate head coach, the first four at Butler and Xavier and the last three in Columbus.

Now it's the number of wins he can get in the NCAA tournament that will begin to define him, and his teams.

Greg Oden – Showing that the hype was well-deserved.

Jamar Butler – Swallowed some ego to become a fine team player.

Mike Conley – A coach's kid who, although just a frosh, knows how to run a show.

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