The first game will be against MAAC Champion Loyola Maryland. Now, I know as a 2 seed you are supposed to easily defeat a 15 seed. However, let’s not count all of our chickens before they hatch. A 15 seed winning is not unheard of. It has happened four times since the tournament expanded to 64/68 teams (twice it was especially painful for me, since I had Arizona who lost to Richmond in 1991 and South Carolina who lost to Coppin State in 1997 as final four picks).
Also remember Loyola, Maryland is a champion, they will not roll over and play dead for the Buckeyes, they are in Pittsburgh to shock the world. Through twitter I have read quotes from Loyola’s Shane Walker (6ft 10 senior forward) that they hope to run and wear down the not-so-deep Buckeyes. In fact his exact quote (through Cleveland Plain Dealers Doug Lesmeires was: “They’re not very deep, I feel like we can run them.”
So I guess it is time to see what Jared Sullinger (whom Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos calls a monster), Deshaun Thomas (whom Patsos is worried about, because he is better then he thought), Aaron Craft, and the rest of the Scarlet and Gray can do this weekend.
