Buckeyes Seeded 2nd, Play UCSB In NCAA First Round

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Evan Turner had a hard time being heard on the bus headed home on Sunday night.

The Ohio State Buckeyes were making some noise, just like they did in the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.

Hours after easily winning the Big Ten tournament title on Sunday, the Buckeyes received a No. 2 seed and a trip to Milwaukee to play UC Santa Barbara in the NCAA tournament on Friday.

"I'm just really excited," Turner said while being shouted down by happy teammates. "Before the season started, our team goal was to try to win the Big Ten tournament title. And we did it. It really hasn't sunk in right now. But now we'll change our focus to winning the NCAA tournament."

Ohio State (27-7), winner of 15 of 17 while taking a share of the Big Ten's regular-season title, will be making its 22nd trip to the big tournament.

"You've got to shift your mind to, 'OK, we've got Santa Barbara. Where do we go from there?"' coach Thad Matta said of the short turnaround. "I don't think there's any easy way. I just hope we're playing our best basketball right now as we move forward."

The Buckeyes stood at 1-3 in the Big Ten as Turner was coming back from a month layoff after breaking two bones in his back. They emerged as one of the hottest teams in the nation, winning 13 of their final 14 conference games before sweeping through the Big Ten tournament.

The 15th-seeded Gauchos (20-9) won a share of the Big West regular-season title and took the conference's automatic berth by winning the tournament.

"They're a good team," Turner said. "We definitely have to come out to try to take care of business, be ready and be prepared. We definitely can't overlook any team."

The winner of UCSB-Ohio State advances to meet the winner of seventh-seeded Oklahoma State and 10th-seeded Georgia Tech in the second round.

Ohio State couldn't have asked for a much better geographic draw. The Buckeyes always carry a large fan base when they hit the road, whether it is to an NCAA tournament or a football bowl game, and Milwaukee is an easy drive from Columbus. Should the Buckeyes make it out of the first weekend, they would play in St. Louis - also a manageable trip for Buckeyes followers.

Kansas, the No. 1-ranked team and top overall seed, also is in the Midwest Region. That didn't seem to bother Turner.

"Kansas is a really great team," he said. "In order to win a championship, you have to beat the best teams - teams like Kansas. What's a tournament for if you don't go head to head with the best teams?"

Junior standout David Lighty was a freshman defensive stalwart on the Ohio State team that went to the title game three years ago. He was a defensive stopper as a freshman coming off the bench on a squad that featured Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr.

"If we come ready to play every game and our minds are right, our mentality is right and we take no prisoners, hopefully we can make it to the Final Four," said Lighty, the only current Buckeye who played on the 2007 finalists.

Ohio State, on a seven-game winning streak, beat Minnesota 90-61 in the Big Ten finale earlier on Sunday behind Turner and Lighty.

Turner, the Big Ten's player of the year and tournament MVP, sat out just 2:27 of a possible 130 minutes of the Buckeyes' three grueling games in Indianapolis. Lighty and fellow starters William Buford and Jon Diebler also seldom left the court.

But Turner said the unit that Michigan State coach Tom Izzo referred to as the "iron five" would be fine next week in the first round.

"Right now, I'm tired. But with a day off and we'll all be great," he said. "We'll have time to rest up and then we'll be ready to go back into a new game and hit on all cylinders."