Men's Basketball
Twelve Courtside Observations from the Garden
By John Porentas

For the second straight game we were able to sit courtside for a basketball game. Our observations from that up-close vantage points.

1) Texas A&M is good. They are richly deserving of their ranking. They're going to win a lot of games this year and you will see them in the NCAA tournament.

2) Texas A&M is classy. Unlike Wednesday's opponent, the Aggies played the game, played to win, but played it with respect for their opponent even when they were blowing out the Buckeyes. Hats off to the Aggies.

3) The Buckeyes obviously were not happy about the outcome of the game both after the game and during it, but didn't lose their poise in terms of their conduct toward A&M.

4) As the horrendous shooting night wore on a couple of the Buckeyes seemed to lose confidence, most notably Othello Hunter and David Lighty. Both turned down open shots that they would normally have taken and gave up the ball instead.

5) Jon Diebler is a mystery. He is now three-for-his-career (3 of 27) in his shooting from the field. We'll give him this though, he doesn't seem to have lost confidence and was battling right to the end of the game.

6) This one isn't actually courtside, but it is from an unusual vantage point. While walking to the post-game interview room at The Garden you walk past the locker rooms. As we walked past the OSU locker room someone opened the door and we got a rare glimpse of the Buckeyes, still in uniform, sitting and listening to Thad Matta's post-game talk. We couldn't hear what he was saying, but that's the point. It wasn't fire and brimstone. It was a message that this was an aberration and that things would get better. In his postgame interview, Matta confirmed that was his message to his team.

7) The Aggie Dance Team is "talented".

8) The OSU cheerleaders are also "talented".

9) Jamar Butler has the stuff to captain a basketball team. Butler kept the Buckeyes in the game and wouldn't let them quit. He also said all the right things in the postgame. Butler is going to be very important to this team this season.

10) The Buckeyes didn't quit. They may not have played well, but the effort was there right until the end of the game.

11) We watched the game between Syracuse and Washington and came away impressed with Syracuse. They bounced back nicely from their loss to OSU. Like Texas A&M, we think Syracuse will be an NCAA tournament team as well.

12) In the age of Blackberrys and hand-held devices OSU fans were keeping close tabs on the LSU vs. Arkansas game. OSU fans in the crowd, including the OSU band and cheerleaders, knew the outcome of that game within seconds of it ending. They were excited.

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