Wisconsin
vs.
Ohio State
College Basketball
Pick – Analysis
3/7/15
Wisconsin pretty much controls its own route of getting a No. 1 seed. If the Badgers win their regular season finale and the Big Ten Tournament, it’s hard to see them not getting a top seed for March Madness. The only problem is that Ohio State’s final home Game of the season stands in their way.
What makes this Game even more fun is that it’s the first time these teams are playing this year. The Buckeyes could really use a big win like this to insure they don’t get stuck with a 7- or 8-seed. Getting stuck in that situation isn’t exactly what this team will want, having to go through a top-2 seed to make the Sweet 16.
Ohio State has been unbeatable at home lately, with its only home loss in Columbus being to Iowa back in December. It’s been easy pickings since, with double-digit wins against Maryland, Indiana and Iowa. On the other side, Wisconsin has two Conference losses and those are both on the road, once at Maryland and the other at Rutgers without Frank Kaminsky. While the Badgers aren’t as dominant on the road, they still have shown their strength during the Conference season.
Like most teams in the Big Ten, Ohio State is going to have tons of problems with Player of the Year candidate Frank Kaminsky and Nigel Hayes. Those two completely dominated an undersized Michigan State squad last Sunday for a combined 45 points. OSU isn’t bigger than MSU and they have no one to guard Kaminsky. The Buckeyes will mix Amir Williams and Trey McDonald on him and those are not fair matchups. Kaminsky is just too big and too good for those guys to deal with. And then Ohio State will have to put Sam Thompson on Hayes, who is giving up plenty of size. Hayes should also have his way on the offensive end.
But like every other Game for Ohio State this season, they’ll need D’Angelo Russell to be on his Game. When he isn’t, the Buckeyes usually lose. The problem is that Wisconsin plays great perimeter defense with their athletic guards in Josh Gasser and Bronson Koenig. Gasser is one of the most consistent defenders in the Conference and he’ll probably mark up Russell.
The Badgers play sound basketball and rarely hurt themselves. It’s going to take an overall effort from Ohio State to win this Game, even at home. Shannon SCott is super inconsistent on the offensive end, and he’ll need to put a big Game in for his team. Sam Thompson has gotten better as the season has gone on and he’s putting in double-digit points on a regular basis, but he’ll have to do so against the bigger Nigel Hayes. If he can win that matchup, Ohio State will be in a good spot.
Wisconsin is the better team, but winning this Game will be a huge task. The Buckeyes will be at home for the regular season finale, and they get a chance to beat the conference’s best team and one of the best in the country. Ohio State will be hungry, and combined with the fans, may be enough to somehow knock off Kaminsky and company.
Our Pick – Yet another Game we rate as dead even. We’ll take any points available with the underdog.