Phog Allen Fieldhouse is the venue when the Ohio State
Buckeyes and the Kansas Jayhawks go head to head. Ohio State is a solid 8-1
Over in their last 9 on the road.
One has to wonder how many TV sets initially tuned to the
Army-Navy football game on Saturday afternoon will eventually find their way to
ESPN for college basketball. Don't get
me wrong; I love the tradition of the Army-Navy game, but after about 30
minutes of watching each one run the option against one another, the allure of
a pair of top-ranked programs meeting up on the hardwood will be too much to
resist.
The No. 2 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes face a tough road test in
Lawrence
against the No. 13 Kansas Jayhawks, part of a big Saturday NCAA basketball
betting card. ESPN will have the tip
from Allen Fieldhouse around 3:15 PM (ET), and follow this contest with the
top-ranked Kentucky
at the Indiana Hoosiers.
Once it became pretty clear that Buckeyes big man Jared
Sullinger would be available on Saturday, the opening NCAA basketball odds came out with Ohio State
laying 2.5 and 138 for the total.
The big sophomore missed OSU's last game because of back
spasms, and while it's wrong to say the Buckeyes didn't miss Sullinger, they
certainly didn't need him in a 64-35 win over Texas-Pan American. The win was the 300th for Thad Matta's
career, and probably ranks as won of the ugliest. Ohio
State easily scored its fewest points among eight this campaign, and the
offense shot a season-low from the field, failing to net 40% of the attempts.
Sullinger could've easily made up for the off-game
offensively, his 19+ scoring average almost exactly the margin between those 63
points and Ohio State's season average (82.5, 14th). The
Buckeyes were also playing with a less-than 100% Lenzelle Smith in that game,
the sophomore guard also bothered by a sore back. Smith is fifth on the team in
minutes, and second in rebounding behind Sullinger.
Rebounding is something Bill Self's squad in Kansas is doing OK with,
but not quite as well as when they had the Morris Brothers in years past. Not only did Marcus and Markieff score more
than 30 points a game between them last season, they also accounted for about
41% of the glass work for the Jayhawks.
Thomas Robinson has emerged as Kansas' star, and has formed a very good
inside duo with 7-footer Jeff Whithey.
How they work together to control Sullinger in this game will certainly
be key for the Jayhawks, but they have other matchup problems that are more
troubling.
All teams are going to have matchup problems with Ohio State's
William Buford...at least when he shows
up with his 'A' game. Buford was just
about worthless in the win over UTPA, part of that being he was trying to play
bigger and make up for Sullinger's absence.
Aaron Craft is also going to create matchup problems for OSU
opponents. Not because he's tall, or
fast, or a bull's eye artist from way outside.
Craft is quick, both his first step and his hands, but it's the fact
he's relentlessly on the ball that will drive you crazy. The primary recipients of his harassment this
game will be Jayhawks guards Tyshawn Taylor and Elijah Johnson.
Something odd has to happen for the Buckeyes to cover the
spread. Something very, very, very
odd. Kansas has won 10 straight at Phog Allen
Fieldhouse since a 69 game win streak on this court was broken last January by
the Texas Longhorns. That works out to
79-1 the last 80 at home. Ohio State
is making its first real road venture of this campaign, and dropped two of the
last three on hostile courts to close last season.
Something also has to give when it comes to betting this
game's total. The Buckeyes are 8-1 to
the OVER recently away from home, while the UNDER is 4-1 in the last five games
at Allen Fieldhouse to have an official total.
Taking a Chance: The
first thing that has to give is the OVER.
Both teams will reach 70, just Kansas
will go higher into the 70s than Ohio
State. The Jayhawks plus the points is my NCAA basketball pick, KU
wins it 76-74.