Ohio State Basketball: Are They Tournament Ready?

With two games left in the 2012-2013 regular season, and the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments around the corner, opinions on the Ohio State men's basketball team are as varied as which four schools should get No. 1 seeds to the Big Dance.

Truth of the matter is the Buckeyes have no legitimate scoring threat beyond Deshaun Thomas. That flaw has been painstakingly apparent in each of OSU's five Big Ten losses this season, most notably in blowout defeats on the road to Wisconsin and Illinois. Thomas accounted for approximately 40% of the Buckeyes scoring in both of those losses.

That is not to say Thomas himself doesn't have serious flaws. The junior foward-guard forces way too many shots, and his accuracy from beyond 17 feet needs some work. Not to mention that, defensively, he plays a little too much of the 'ole' (pronounced O-lay) defense.

But I digress. After 28 games, what type of team is Ohio State? Their  head coach, Thad Matta, is routinely criticized, more often than not for his reluctance to make in-game adjustments. Two of their more ballyhooed sophomores, Laquinton Ross and Amir Williams, have not lived up to expectations. And they have let teams such as Purdue and Northwestern hang with them despite having a clear advantage in talent.

Yet, at the end of the day, this team may be poised to make a huge run come NCAA tournament time. For starters, they are in the thick of the Big Ten race despite Thomas being the only scoring threat, in large part due to the suffocating defense that Matta employs. This was never more evident than in the last game at Northwestern, where the Buckeyes won despite shooting a dismal 41.9% from the field. The Buckeyes are led on the defensive end by point guard Aaron Craft, but sophomore guards Sam Thompson and Shannon Scott have also stepped up their games on that end.

So the Buckeyes have flaws, but so does every other team in the nation this year. Which is why the NCAA tournament should be really fun to watch.

Ohio State Basketball: Amir Williams, LaQuinton Ross are X Factors for the Buckeyes

As the Ohio State University men's basketball team is still reeling from last night's 76-74  overtime loss to Michigan in Ann Arbor, there are still some unanswered questions.

Chief among them is why head coach Thad Matta refused to call timeout with a little more than seven seconds left in overtime, leaving the potential tying basket to chance rather than a set play. Instead, Matta trusted that his team would be able to catch the Wolverines off guard, and that the Buckeyes would live to play one more overtime. The game would end, however, when junior point guard Aaron Craft 's layup was blocked by Michigan guard Tim Hardaway, Jr.

Yet, despite the fact that the Buckeyes lost their third Big Ten game of the 2012-2013 season, there is a silver lining to last night's loss. First of all, Ohio State took the Wolverines best shot, on the road, and went toe to toe with the No. 3 team in the nation before falling to them in overtime. That in itself speaks volumes for a team that, only a month ago, was blown out by Illinois when two met in Assembly Hall.

More importantly, however, for the Buckeyes might be that sophomores Amir Williams and LaQuinton Ross may finally be living up to the hype that surrounded them as freshmen last year. Ross, a 6-9 swingman from Mississippi, scored 16 points for Ohio State last night on 7-10 shooting, including a perfect 2-2 from three point range. Williams added nine points but, more importantly, had four blocked shots on the defensive end.

These two couldn't have picked a better night to have what was by far the best game of their careers at Ohio State. Ross is still averaging only 8 points per game over the last five Big Ten contests, yet he has steadily seen his minutes increase since the last time Ohio State played Michigan (in Columbus). If he continues to shoot as well he did last night, it won't be long before he's averaging double digits.

And while no one expected Amir Williams to duplicate Jared Sullinger's numbers on the offensive side of the ball, his progression on the defensive side of the ball( he's averaging three blocks per game in his last five games) has to be music to the ears of Buckeyes' fans who felt the center from Detroit would be this year's version of Anthony Davis. Now if coach Matta can only get him to rebound the ball a little better.

But I digress. The point of the matter being, as Ohio State marches toward the NCAA tournament, Amir Williams and Laquinton Ross's improvements over the last several games mean the Buckeyes should no longer be an easy out. Ross is finally starting to come around as the Bucks' scoring alternative to forward Deshaun Thomas. And Williams seems quite content to be a game changer on the defensive end. With this year's tournament field being as weak as it is, it wouldn't be a surprise at all to see Ohio State once again playing on the final weekend.