By Paul Daugherty via usatoday.com --   NEW ORLEANS - It still sounds strange to praise a college kid for staying in school a second year. Even if that praise is being dropped on "student athletes'' - as the NCAA people insist on calling them - whose futures are full of dollars. Most degrees require four years, at least. Keeping the academic faith for two years isn't remarkable. It's, well, assumed. Yet Jared Sullinger's decision to forestall his future for a year is notable, ... Read More

By: AP via si.com --  NEW ORLEANS  - Welcome to "The Other Game'' at the Final Four. OK, so, the Ohio State-Kansas matchup may not have the fantastic freshmen,  the outspoken coaches or blood-feud story line of the opening semifinal between  Kentucky and Louisville. But this one still should be worth a two-hour  investment in front of the TV set Saturday night. Besides the chance to watch two top-line teams play for a spot in the  national title game, the Buckeyes-Jayhawks game offers a ... Read More

By: Scott Howard-Cooper via nba.com -- This is the After. His weight is down, his stock is up and Jared Sullinger looks good for his decision to stay at Ohio State rather than enter the 2011 Draft. And that was the whole point: to look good. Sullinger wanted to be in better shape. Players tracking to the top five, and possibly the top three depending how the lottery broke, don't pass on that spot for another year of ... Read More

By Bradley Hartsell via easttennessean.com --  After watching Ohio State hold off Syracuse, I couldn’t help but notice just how terrific Jared Sullinger is. I don’t watch much college basketball mainly because I don’t enjoy watching 18-year-olds drain a way-too-long 35-second shot clock, whip the ball around the perimeter and jack 3-pointers without ever getting the ball inside the arc. But when I do watch, I’m always interested in watching the top guys, the ones who’ll be the next crop of young players. Sullinger ... Read More

By: AP via greenfieldreporter.com --  NEW ORLEANS — The season was spiraling away, the players didn't seem to care and Thad Matta had had enough. So, as he watched his team stumble lackadaisically through practice on the eve of a big game, the Ohio State coach snapped. Stop, day's over, head home, he told them. Not so fast, coach. Led by William Buford, the team's lone senior, the Buckeyes pushed back, decided to finish practice on their own. "I didn't let us leave," Buford said Thursday. ... Read More

By: Rob Kunz via 10tv.com -- Ask any Ohio State basketball fan about the “golden era” of OSU hoops, and you’ll get a near unanimous answer…the teams coached by Fred Taylor that went to three straight NCAA championship games, and four Final Fours in the span on nine seasons. There’s really no argument to be made. Well, maybe there should be. In eight seasons at Ohio State, Thad Matta’s Buckeyes have some numbers that stack up quite favorably with ... Read More

By: AP via DaytonDailyNews.com --   COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State opened spring football practice on Wednesday as the Buckeyes' basketball team prepared for its second trip to the Final Four in the last six years. Perfect symmetry there. The basketball team is usually playing in the shadow of goal posts on the Ohio State campus. Football gets most of the attention, even when it's bad. Coach Urban Meyer was brought in to resurrect the program from a scandal that resulted in a bowl ban ... Read More

By Mike Shiekman via BleacheReport.com -- The Ohio State Buckeyes are a matchup nightmare for the Kansas Jayhawks. Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas will be the undoing of Thomas Robinson and Co. in their Final Four matchup. Kansas has had its struggles in this NCAA tournament as early as the first weekend. They put all of the talk to rest in beating North Carolina by double-digits on Sunday. Nevertheless, Ohio State will prove Kansas’s triumph was fluky with a combination of their top-10 ... Read More

From: Cleveland.com -- Cleveland, Ohio -- Welcome to today's edition of Starting Blocks TV, hosted by Chuck Yarborough and Branson Wright. The Ohio State Buckeyes are headed to the Final Four in New Orleans, where they will play Kansas on Saturday. Which team wins that game Saturday night, and by how many points? That's the question in today's Starting Blocks poll. Today's guest on SBTV is Plain Dealer Ohio State reporter Doug Lesmerises, who says he thinks the Buckeyes....... READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE ... Read More

By Marla Ridenour via ohio.com -- Cinderella is sitting this one out and the 2012 NCAA Final Four has taken on airs. With Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas and Ohio State descending on the Louisiana Superdome, an aura of college basketball royalty surrounds Saturday’s semifinals and Monday’s championship. One style of T-shirt being sold for each school on NCAA.com has a “Here We Go Again” theme, listing the team’s Final Four appearances. Their total of 49 seems staggering. Kentucky leads the way ... Read More