Did you ever think you would see the day when two, count ‘em, two Big Ten teams were eying #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
With Florida’s loss to unranked LSU on Sat. and North Carolina’s loss to unranked Maryland, Wisconsin may not have been set back much by Sunday’s loss to the Buckeyes. Another close game in the Big Ten tournament and both Ohio State and Wisconsin could be looking at #1 seeds in the big dance.
Everyone knows that momentum counts for a lot when it comes to seeding the tournament and Florida, which ran the table until the past few weeks locking up the SEC title, has lost 2 of its last three games. With five minutes left in the game, LSU lead Florida by a pathetic 53-35. Florida never got within eight points from then on losing by 10 with a final score of 66-56.
I mentioned earlier that Florida was struggling mentally and I am not the only one who seems to think so. Al Horford of the Gators told ESPN.com:
“I’m worried about our team right now. We just got to get back in there and just figure this out,” Horford said. “If it’s not going well on offense, guys quit on defense. That’s something we never did last year, so that’s something we have to deal with. … We’ve got to be able to overcome that and know that some nights we’re not going to score 80 points.”
While I’m sure that Gator fans will be quick to point out that they beat Ohio State earlier this season, Oden had just joined the team and was basically playing without the use of his left hand. Likewise with the loss to North Carolina which was against a pre-Oden Ohio State. Unlike many other teams out tere, the Buckeyes are much stronger than a one man team. ESPN’s Andy Katz went so far as to say that Matta coached two teams this year, “…one without Oden and and ultimately one with the superstar center.”
And finally, ESPNs Bracketology has moved Ohio State into a #1 seed (the kept Wisconsin #1 also).
