By: Ken Lahmers via auroraadvocate.com -- Seeing Jerry Lucas among a group of former athletes who made a presentation at halftime of a recent state boys basketball tournament game brought back memories. The Circle of Champions honorees at the Division IV state finale between Berlin Hiland and Jackson Center were former Ohio State quarterback Bob Hoying, Dick Snyder and Barry Clemens. Honored at another game were former Major League baseballer Gene Tenace, Olympian Butch Reynolds and LaVonna ... Read More

Kentucky, which stopped a Kansas rally Monday night to win the NCAA men's National Championship, finished the season 38-2 and ranked No.1 in the AP poll.  Kansas came in second while Ohio State ended the season ranked third in the nation - OSU's highest final ranking since 2007. The Buckeyes came up short in the final four against the Kansas Jayhawks ended the season 31-8 while capturing a share of the regular season Big Ten title. Rounding out the top five of the final ... Read More

By: AP via nbc4i.com -- DAYTON, Ohio -- A newspaper review shows seven medical professors and coaches at Ohio State University received bonuses topping $1 million in 2011, most of them more than double the size of their base earnings. The Dayton Daily News reports Sunday that the university paid more than 4,000 employees total bonuses of about $25.6 million, up from roughly $13.6 million given in 2010 to about 1,700 employees. Basketball coach Thad Matta was the....... READ THE REST ... Read More

By: AP via washingtonpost.com --  NEW ORLEANS — Shortly after Ohio State’s season ended with a loss to Kansas at the Final Four late Saturday night, point guard Aaron Craft was asked if he will be coming back next season. “Pfft! Of course. I love Ohio State,” he said with a grin. OK, so the Buckeyes are set at the point. Forward? They might not know that for a week or two. Ohio State shook off a late-season funk to make an unexpected run to the ... Read More

By Doug Lesmerises via The Plain Dealer --  NEW ORLEANS, La. — In the vastness of the Superdome, Jared Sullinger's long jumper hit nothing, and the 265-pounder was knocked back, landing on the elevated floor at the Final Four with a thud Saturday night. At the other end of the court, Kansas broke free for a fast-break layup that tied the score in a national semifinal that the Buckeyes had controlled to that point. After almost five months and 39 games, with 14 ... Read More

By: Zack Hayes via huffingtonpost.com --  The much-maligned Tyshawn Taylor posted a redemptive senior season, staying out of Bill Self’s doghouse, limiting turnovers and shooting a robust 39 percent from three. Taylor is a tough cover due to his blazing speed, swift crossover and irrepressible confidence, a characteristic never more evident than when Taylor pulled up for a 3-on-1 three-pointer late in Kansas’ Elite Eight win over North Carolina despite the fact he hadn’t made a shot from behind the arc in ... Read More

By:  Matt Conner via sbnation.com --  The Kansas Jayhawks have already faced and defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes back in December, but the biggest asterisk associated with the win was the absence of OSU's best player Jared Sullinger. Now that the two are meeting again in the Final Four, KU can only hope for the same results while the Buckeyes are banking on Sullinger's return making the difference. Yet Kansas has a player in the middle who could make a significant difference, even ... Read More

By RANDY COVITZ via The Kansas City Star --NEW ORLEANS -- The Ohio State basketball team may be in the Final Four, but they realize they’re sharing the headlines back in Columbus. Spring football started this week. But the beleaguered gridiron Buckeyes can thank their basketball brethren for helping repair the tarnished image of Ohio State athletics and, for a few months this winter, taking fans’ minds off a turbulent football season. Football coach Jim Tressel was forced out last May for lying about NCAA ... Read More

By Tammy Nunez via nola.com -- A file cabinet could be filled with newspaper articles written this season about what drives Jared Sullinger. There is last year’s 62-60 NCAA Tournament loss to Kentucky, after guard Brandon Knight’s winning shot with five seconds left — an image that Sullinger, a 6-foot-9, 265-pound Ohio State forward, hung on a wall. There is the talk that Sullinger, a sophomore, shied away from Kansas and a matchup against the Jayhawks’ Thomas Robinson when the teams met Dec. 10. ... Read More

By MICHAEL PERIATT via nytimes.com --    The Quad asked writers at newspapers on the campuses of teams that made the Final Four for reports on what to expect on Saturday. “The Phog” proved too much for the Buckeyes the first time Ohio State faced Kansas. It was Dec. 10 and Ohio State Coach Thad Matta told his Kansas counterpart, Bill Self, that he had an early Christmas gift for him. Jared Sullinger, who was dealing with back spasms, wasn’t going to play. Without their preseason ... Read More