#15 Greyhounds (24-8) vs #2 Buckeyes (27-7)
According to the Selection Show the only reason the Buckeyes were not a #1 seed was because they lost to Michigan State in the Big 10 Championship game.
#2 Ohio State Buckeyes (27-7) vs #15 Loyola-Maryland Greyhounds (24-8)
Thursday March 15
East Region – Pittsbugh, PA
9:50PM
Moneyline: No money line currently listed.
Spread: Ohio State -17
O/U: 130
Ohio State
To me neither earned that honour and I am just not that impressed with the Buckeyes this season.
No, they are not going to lose in the opening round but any round after that would not be a surprise to me. I am not sure anyone on this team is really any better than they were a year ago.
The lone exception could be forward DeShawn Thomas who is the team’s second leading scorer and rebounder.
I don’t know if it is the system or not but he seems to take a lot of awkward looking shots and get easy put backs for his points – he is not dominating.
There is little smooth to his game. This team is not very deep and I think they are vulnerable to any team that has real size and knows how to block out.
Loyola-Maryland
The Loyola-Maryland Greyhounds are dancing as winners of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The finished second in the league to Iona and took advantage of the fact that the Gaels exited the tourney sooner than expected. The fact that Iona was selected for the First Four says a lot about the quality of the league.
Loyola beat Iona during the regular season but doesn’t really have any other quality wins to mention.
The Greyhounds lean heavily on forward Erik Etherly. He leads the team in scoring, rebounding and blocks but is joined by a trio of other scorers. The key will likely be how well center Shane Walker holds up in the post guarding Buckeye center Jared Sullinger.
He has the length but is probably giving up 40+ pounds. If he is overmatched early the game could get away from Loyola as Sullinger seems to score half his points in the first 5 minutes of the game.
Spread Pick: Loyola +17
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Ohio State 72 – Loyola-Maryland 60
