Men's Basketball
The-Ozone Hoops Note and Quotebook
By John Porentas

One vs. Sixteen: It's never happened, and the Buckeyes sure don't want to be the first ones. A 16-seed has never beat a one-seed in the NCAA tournament. When the Buckeyes open play as a one-seed in Lexington on Thursday, they will, of course, have that possibility in front of them. OSU Head Coach Thad Matta knows all about that situation, because Matta was on a coaching staff that nearly engineered a 16 over one upset while he as an assistant coach at Western Carolina in the 1995-96 season.

"There were nine seconds left and they (Purdue, the Catamounts' opponent) missed a free throw," said Matta.

"We were down two, brought it down and we had a great look at a three, missed, got the offensive rebound, and we had the nation's leading three point shooter and he had a wide open 15-footer and missed it to send it to overtime."

More than ten years have past since that game, but Matta still remembers the sad details of the loss.

"Ironically, their last field goal their guy stepped out of bounds and they didn't call it, on the assist, so in my book, we won the game," Matta quipped.

Matta has shared his experience with the Buckeyes in the hopes of avoiding that kind of close-call in Lexington.

"I've talked to our guys about that. I've been there before and I know what it takes to be right there. I guess we're fortunate in that regard that I've walked that line before," Matta said.

Matta's own experience as a 16-seed makes him wary of letting Central Connecticut State stay close too long because tournament crowds absolutely love an underdog and love an upset.

"I think the loudest environment I've ever been in was when we were a 16-seed and had a chance to knock off a number-one seed," said Matta."It was the most amazing thing, The Pit in Albuquerque," Matta said.

Matta is hoping that if the game stays close for a while his young team's experience early in the season will see them through a tough environment.

"I think the environments we've been in have prepared us," Matta said.

"You couple that with Chapel Hill, Gainesville, Madison, wherever we've been, it's been that way, so I think these guys will have a pretty good understanding of that," Matta said.

On the Rise: Teams are either getting better or getting worse. At the Big Ten tournament last weekend the Buckeyes definitely looked like a team on the upswing, a notion that brought a smile to the face of Thad Matta.

"I think anytime you're competing for a championship you've got to raise the level all the way through the tournament. I think our guys in the second half of game three really did a nice job with that and will hopefully continue to build on that," said Matta.

"I've always said we want to be playing our best basketball in February and March. I think for our guys I think that was something they wanted to achieve, to play 120 minutes up there and come away with three victories. I'm pleased with their performance," Matta said.

Freshman center Greg Oden has improved noticeably in every outing over the past month but the argument could be made that senior Ron Lewis has made as much progress as anyone as the season has wound down as, progress on many fronts and progress that has been a real key to OSU's late-season success.

"I thought Ron played great basketball out there and more so I loved the leadership that he exhibited throughout the course of the entire tournament," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta of Lewis' play in Chicago.

"I think Ron is really playing solid basketball. He's got great focus and great concentration on both ends of the floor, from taking care of the ball to defending to being more patient on offense. I think he's just really playing solid, doing the right things," Matta said.

"I think I am," said Lewis when asked if he is playing his best basketball now at the4 end of the season.

"I'm not worrying about my shot or anything else, I'm just playing to win," Lewis said.

Chip off the Old Block: Mike Conley Jr. has been a standout for the Buckeyes this season. Conley is the son of Olympic Gold Medal athlete Mike Conley Sr., an athlete that OSU Head Coach Thad Matta saw play basketball in high school for Luther South. Matta kidded about his memory of Conley Sr. the basketball player.

"I remember Mike Sr. stealing the ball and jumping from the free throw line and dunking it two hands. It was the greatest dunk I've ever seen in a game," said Matta.

That part of Matta's story was probably true, but then he continued.

"I remember saying to myself at that point 'If that guy ever has a young son, I'm going to recruit him...I think I was 11 or 12 at that time," Matta smiled.

Matta said that athleticism was not the only trait the Conley Jr. got from his father.

"If Michael got anything from him it's his poise. You think about standing on the runway going down to jump for a gold medal with 100,000 people watching you, you better be pretty collected, and I think Michael has picked up on that."

Game Face: The Buckeyes came back from the Big Ten tournament on Sunday but didn't get back on the practice floor in preparation for the NCAA tournament. They had other things on their minds, like final exams.

"What I wanted them to do is strictly focus on academics. As hard as that is on a coach, you have to be fair to the guys and give them their time to do the work academically, but it's tough when you know you're in the NCAA tournament," admitted Matta.

The Buckeyes have now completed their finals and are now putting their concentration on their game. Matta, however, is hoping to keep his his players from dwelling on the trappings surrounding the game.

"I think the really hard thing is not getting caught up in the fans and the media and how they try to blow it up. Our thing is we've got to play basketball. We've got to play 40 minutes on Thursday and if we don't play well, the season will be over," said Matta.

Matta said he has seen the effect of tournament hype play havoc with some teams.

"You go to the afternoon practice that's open to the public and guys were throwing balls off each other's heads, they couldn't catch, they couldn't pass, it was unbelievable," said Matta.

"I think these guys have had great composure really all year long. I think it goes back to what we've put them through to get to this point," Matta said.

Senior Ron Lewis says he is not letting the one-and-done tournament format enter into his thinking.

"I don't think about. When it's over it's over, but during the game and pregame I don't think about it at all, because me not being focused on the game is not going to help us win the game," Lewis said.

Tournament Talk: Tournament time is a great time for the fans and for the players, but OSU Head Coach Thad Matta insists that he is still most-impressed by league championships. The NCAA tournament, according to Matta, doesn't necessarily measure which team is best, but rather which is hot at the end of the season.

"No question about that," said Matta.

"I think it's a team that gets on a roll, a team that maybe one particular game they're making shots," said Matta.

"I had a team make ten-straight three pointers in the second round though the course of the game at Xavier. Anything can happen in these games. That's why I don't put a lot of credence in upsets in these games because you just don't know," Matta said.

"I think the parity in college basketball today in incredible."

Matta admitted that his opinion is not necessarily shared by everyone, particularly coaches in the so-called mid-major conferences. Many of those coaches, said Matta, place a very high premium on their conference tournaments because those are the entrees to the Big Dance.

"When I was at Western Carolina Coach Hopkins said 'Fellas, we've only got to be good for three days.' Honestly, that was his mind set," said Matta.

"That was his mentality. I've always been kind of the opposite. I would rather win a conference championship than a conference tournament championship," Matta said.

That's not to say that Matta doesn't want to win in the tournament. The Buckeyes pulled out all the stops in the Big Ten tournament and will do the same in the NCAA. Ron Lewis says the Buckeyes definitely have their sights set on a better showing than they made last year.

"We don't want to go out second round this year; we don't want to go out first round this year," said Lewis.

"The main thing is to keep everybody focused and keep playing the same way that we have in the (Big Ten) tournament."

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