Three nights after falling to Wisconsin 71-67 for their first defeat of the online sports betting season, the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes blasted the Michigan State Spartans 71-61 to pick up from right where they left off before their 24-game winning streak came to a sudden halt. While it will take a couple of more days to figure out just how significant the win was, and see if the Buckeyes can parlay that result, Ohio State’s victory was big for a couple of reasons.
William Buford led four Buckeyes’ scorers that finished with double-digit point totals, scoring 23 points in the victory. Although it doesn’t make up for the loss to the Badgers, the win is significant because it gets Ohio State back on track and keeps them as one of just two teams in the nation that have only one loss. The Buckeyes have now won 19 straight home games, and the argument will once again come up about just how good this team is. While Buford decided to take the spotlight for a change, leading pay per head scorer Jared Sullinger scored 11 points on just 3-of-8 shooting, a concern for the coaching staff. While the positive is that he didn’t need to be the team’s best player, Ohio State will only go so far unless he can come up with a better performance on a more consistent basis. David Lighty and Jon Diebler also finished in double digits for the Buckeyes, with Diebler’s two three-point shots tying him with Shawn Respert for the second most in Big Ten history at 331. The record is 332, which was set by Pete Lisicky of Penn State.
While Sullinger struggled, the team did a lot of things right and that should make an impact when the votes are tallied after next week. While the No. 3 Texas Longhorns have already garnered recognition ahead of the Buckeyes in the USA Today Coaches Poll, there has to be an issue of whether they and the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks deserve to be seeded so high. The Jayhawks have already garnered concern after falling to the unranked Kansas State Wildcats on the same day that they were awarded with the top sports betting bonus position in the country, and that will be weighed in when the rankings are updated next weekend.
Still, there are big NCAA basketball betting question marks about whether or not the Buckeyes are the team that deserves that top spot. There is still the No. 4 Pittsburgh Panthers and the No. 5 and reigning national champion Duke Blue Devils that will also get consideration. All five teams have earned the right to have arguments made in their favor for the upcoming March Madness tournament, which is right around the corner. However, the question remains about just where the Buckeyes should stand right now, and where they will finish when it is all said and done.
