Buckeyes Prepare For Business In Dayton

DAYTON Ohio—The Ohio State Buckeyes will begin their NCAA Mid-West regional Friday night.

The Buckeyes will play No. 9 seed Siena in Dayton.

NBC 4’s Sports’ Jerod Smalley talked about whether the Bucks have a prayer against the Saints.

Tip off was expected at 9:40 p.m. or exactly 30 minutes after the end of the Louisville game.

Smalley said, certainly, there was no guarantee the Bucks would move on, but despite little tournament experience in the Buckeye locker room, they were talking like a confident team.

Consider the two teams that came out for practice Thursday just before Ohio State: No. 1 seed Pittsburgh and fellow No. 1 seed Louisville.

The Buckeyes got a quick look at the massive competition in the field, but OSU players said they felt like the team belongs among the big-timers.

The team won four its past five games and was matched up with MACC champion Siena.

“We’re trying to get them the message of, ‘Hey, this is the tournament where you lose, you go home and turn your stuff in,‘ “ Coach Thad Matta said.

“Our confidence is really high right now,“ player Jon Diebler said. “We feel, uh, we feel that if we execute what we need to do on offense and defense, we’ll be fine in the game.“

But while none of the Bucks currently playing minutes have ever seen an NCAA court, backup guard and team comedian Mark Titus was a walk-on with the NCAA runner-up team two years ago.

As the Bucks prepared for business, they noted one difference from Siena—raw size.

The Bucks expected an advantage over the Saints at the hoop Friday night.

“I think we’ll get a lot of easy buckets,“ Evan Turner said.

“When our big guys are playing, and playing with great consistency, we’re a much better basketball team,“ Matta said.

GETTING TO THE TOURNEY
Since the Buckeyes have the closest thing to home-court advantage the team will get in the big dance, fans can reap the budget benefits.

Want to be part of March Madness?

It’s really only an hour-and-a-half drive, and depending on your car, you could make it there and back on just one tank of gas.

Some of the best fill-up deals at noon Friday were $1.89 per gallon at the Speedway on Noe Bixby Road, $1.91 at the Meijer on Polaris Parkway or $1.94 at the Sam’s Club on Sawmill Road.

Click here to find the best gas prices near your home or work.

The Ohio State Ticket Office said tickets for the first round of play were sold out.

There still were tickets available at noon on Stubhub.com. They cost between $132-$375.

And if you can’t get your favorite tourney team on your TV, you can get it online at NCAA March Madness.

For additional Buckeye Nation news and information, stay with nbc4i.com and NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com—Where Accuracy Matters.
To submit a story idea or news tip, e-mail us at .
NBC 4 POLITICS: Headlines, Interactives & Video
MORE: NBC 4 Local News | Local Crime News
NBC 4 SPORTS: Sports News, Video