By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- Last season, Ohio State basketball featured the two conference players of the year, and both the men's and women's teams won at least a share of the conference title. Not much is expected to change. At the Big Ten basketball meetings in Chicago on Thursday, the OSU women were picked as the favorite by the media and the coaches to win their seventh straight conference crown; and senior center Jantel Lavender was ... Read More

From: DaytonDailyNews.com -- COLUMBUS — With his services in demand, Ohio State’s Gene Smith became one of the nation’s highest-paid athletic directors earlier this year. Under terms of a contract addendum signed in June, Smith’s base pay increased more than 20 percent, to $800,000, and he is guaranteed at least $1 million a year, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The contract could be worth more than $1.2 million a year if Smith earns various incentive bonuses for athletic and academic ... Read More

By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Nebraska is prepared to join the Big Ten, according to multiple reports. Though the school issued a statement Wednesday night declaring that a decision had not already been made, the Nebraska Board of Regents has added a discussion of conference affiliation to Friday's scheduled meeting. It's then that the Big Ten could officially expand from 11 teams, maybe stopping at 12 teams for now, or maybe continuing with ... Read More

By: Tim Bielik (BleacherReport.com) -- Expansion fever seems to finally be finding its footing, as Nebraska will in all likelihood find a home in the Big Ten. With the Huskers being one of possibly a handful of teams about to join the Big Ten Conference, one thing that is being largely overlooked is the effect this process has on the rivalries in the conference. The most specific of these might be the greatest rivalry in college football if not sports: Ohio ... Read More

From: AP via LancasterEagleGazette.com -- COLUMBUS -- After losing $148,000 a year ago, Ohio State's athletic department will bank $23,400 for the 2009-10 fiscal year, according to numbers disclosed Thursday to The Associated Press by athletic director Gene Smith. Smith said the surplus came because of cost hold-downs and revenue increases in concessions and royalties. "We had a good year," Smith said. "There were some revenue increases in certain categories, but the expenditure controls by our unit managers ... Read More

By: Blake Williams (TheLantern.com) -- Three years ago, the Ohio State Athletic Department began raising money for a $22 million basketball practice facility that coaches Thad Matta and Jim Foster said is vital to their programs. The facility, designed to be adjacent to the Schottenstein Center, was supposed to open this fall. However, the Athletic Department has raised just $4.6 million, said Pat Chun, associate athletic director for External Relations. “When the economy bottomed out, that changed our planning,” Chun ... Read More

From: Cleveland Plain Dealer -- Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany announced in December that the venerable conference would consider expanding to 12 or more teams, starting a buzz that continues to echo through the world of major college sports. Delany said it would probably take 12 to 18 months for the Big Ten to make a decision on such a move. The consideration of such an event is, of course, rooted in money. The conference has its own cable television Big Ten ... Read More

From: AllHeadlineNews.com -- Top seeded Connecticut continued its dominance, crushing No. 8 Temple 90-36 in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Tuesday. The Huskies launched a balanced offensive attack, as four players scored in double figures. The 2009 James Wooden Award winner, Maya Moore, led all scorers with 19 points and five boards, while reserve guard Kelly Faris contributed 13 points and 10 boards for the Huskies. Tina Charles and Tiffany Hayes also combined for 23 points, as the Huskies outscored the Owls 55-12 in the first ... Read More

From: MStateAthletics.com -- PITTSBURGH, PA. - The Mississippi State women's basketball team will take to the court once again on Tuesday, facing Ohio State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. The 7-seed Lady Bulldogs advanced to face the 2-seed Buckeyes after a 68-64 win over Middle Tennessee in the first round on Sunday. Tip time is set for 6 p.m. CT where the winner will advance to play in Dayton next weekend in the regional semifinal. The Lady ... Read More

From: BlueRidgeNow.com via AP -- PITTSBURGH -When the NCAA women's pairings were announced, Ohio State couldn't help but look far down its Dayton Regional bracket and see unbeaten and top-ranked Connecticut. Sigh. // About the same time, Mississippi State couldn't help but glance one game down the same bracket and see Ohio State. Again. Second-seeded Ohio State was rewarded for its 30-4 season with a relatively short trip to Pittsburgh for what will be the Buckeyes' first two tournament games, unless 15th-seeded ... Read More