Michigan basketball players eager for rematch with Ohio State in Big Ten tournament today
INDIANAPOLIS - Members of the Ohio State men’s basketball team couldn't care less who their opponent is in today’s Big Ten tournament semifinal matchup with Michigan.
For the Wolverines, this one is personal.
“We have a whole lot of revenge we want to get on Ohio State,” Michigan guard Stu Douglass said Wednesday.
Douglass and his teammates will have their chance today. Michigan faces the Buckeyes in a Big Ten semifinal at 1:40 p.m. at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Stu Douglass and the Michigan basketball team take on Ohio State today in the Big Ten tournament semifinal round.
Earlier this season, the Wolverines lost a 68-64 heartbreaker to then-No. 2 Ohio State in Ann Arbor. In their encore, they went toe to toe with the No. 1 Buckeyes in Columbus for 35 minutes, before fading at the end in a 62-53 loss.
Bitter memories don’t stop there.
One year ago today, Ohio State’s Evan Turner’s bulls-eye three-point shot at the buzzer pushed Michigan out of the Big Ten tournament, 69-68, cutting short a promising Wolverines run.
“Heartbreaking, very heartbreaking,” Douglass said. “Pain was felt by everybody in that locker room. We really thought we could have won the whole thing.”
Michigan sits in a similar position today.
The Wolverines (20-12) took a big step toward a spot in the NCAA tournament Friday with a 60-55 win over Illinois in the conference tournament’s second round.
A signature win over Ohio State would guarantee their inclusion.
For the Buckeyes (30-2), who reached today’s semis with a 67-61 overtime win over Northwestern on Friday, today’s matchup with the Wolverines doesn’t include as much emotional oomph.
Prior to watching the Michigan-Illinois game, the Buckeyes were ambivalent about a potential rematch.
“Don’t matter to me,” guard William Buford said. “It is what it is.”
Jon Diebler agreed.
“Who do we play the winner of? I don’t even know,” he said. “Michigan or Illinois? Coach Beilein is doing a great job getting his team ready to play. … We’ll be ready for whoever we have to play.”
Pete Bigelow covers Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2556, via email at petebigelow@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @PeterCBigelow.
Comments
glacialerratic
Sat, Mar 12, 2011 : 5:56 p.m.
How will the layoffs at AnnArbor.com affect basketball and football reporting? There has been no announcement or any detailed information except for a brief item on WUOM: Ann Arbor.com laid off 14 employees this week. The mostly web publication, which also puts out a print edition twice a week, replaced the 174-year old Ann Arbor News when it closed its doors in 2009. Tony Collings is a University of Michigan communications professor and a former journalist. He says a lot of journalists and professional journalism organizations were looking to see whether Ann Arbor.com would be some kind of model for the future: "Apparently it isn't, or at least it doesn't seem to be succeeding in a business way, and I don't know whether it is succeeding journalistically either." This week's layoffs leave about 20 or so people in the Ann Arbor.com newsroom. Back in its hey day, the Ann Arbor News had about 75 reporters in its newsroom. <a href="http://news.michiganradio.org/post/annarborcom-lays-14-employees" rel='nofollow'>http://news.michiganradio.org/post/annarborcom-lays-14-employees</a>
RudeJude
Sat, Mar 12, 2011 : 7:14 p.m.
This is not surpising, nevertheless sad. I miss The Ann Arbor News... It sounds like it may not be long before there is no Ann Arbor paper, online or otherwise.
MjC
Sat, Mar 12, 2011 : 5:01 p.m.
Go Blue!!
michboy40
Sat, Mar 12, 2011 : 4:38 p.m.
OSU is cocky and confident, so I expect them to be upset by Michigan. I bet OSU plays with a lead most of the game and Michigan comes back in the final 5 minutes for the win. OSU will be a lot like MSpoo. They win be looking at each other like, "Aren't we supposed to win?"
tulsatom
Sat, Mar 12, 2011 : 3:39 p.m.
OSU can afford to be a little cocky because they are #1 in the country and in the conference and have a winning streak against U-M. However, they had a scare in their first-round game versus Northwestern, With Penn State's upset against Wisconsin and MSU's upset over Purdue, anything can happen and OSU should know they are not immune to the upset bug. Here's hoping U-M can pull the upset. Go Blue!