03/08 Morning Minute: Kidding Around
March 8, 2008Making (frozen) lemonade
March 8, 2008It comes as no surprise that with the exodus of Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Daequan Cook out of Ohio State last year – and into the first round of the NBA Draft – that Ohio State men’s basketball has somewhat fallen off of the radar around these parts. Admittedly, I have very little time to follow the NCAA world given the Cavaliers presence in Cleveland.
I know that Tennessee and Memphis are doing pretty well, which is awesome given their location. I know that Duke and UNC continue to be a hot ticket. But one other thing that I know, that many other might not, is that we could be seeing the Cleveland State University in the Big Dance this season.
The Horizon League is one that is typically represented by schools like Valparaiso, Butler, and the occasional bid by Wright State. Now being in third place only about a week ago, the stars aligned for CSU as they pulled themselves into the second seed, to get the ever-s0-coveted two-round bye.
Now as the Horizon League Tournament is winding down, the Vikings will take on Valparaiso at 4:30p EST. Hopefully, you have ESPNU so you’ll be able to check out the action. The winner of this game will take on the winner of the University of Illinois-Chicago/Butler game that will go down at 6:30p EST. The championship will be on Tuesday night, on ESPN. Horizon League goes Big Time!
Can juniors J’Nathan Bullock and Cedric Jackson lead the way? Jackson boasts a league-leading 159 assists on the season, while Bullock has lead the team in scoring each of the last three seasons. Don’t think for one minute that these two haven’t fed off of each other all season long and will provide quite the challenge over the next few days. Butler is a tough team, and has the NCAA experience, but if you remember back to only a month or so ago, another CSU win wouldn’t be the first this season.
Either way, a 20-11 mark is a complete turnaround from the 10-21 record of only a year ago. I mean, the school barely has dorms! This would have to be a NCAA tournament first. Right? I for one cannot wait to see what happens as I would love to fill out a bracket come the next few weeks and see “Cleveland State” loud and proud on one of the lines. Even if it is preceded by a number that ends in “teen.”
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4 Comments
A first? No. Kenny ‘the mouse’ McFadden, Dirk Minnifield, Massimino et al led the Vikings to the Sweet 16 in the late ’80s.
I know that CSU has a NCAA history, but I was speaking of the dormitories. But I can see what you’re saying…easily misunderstood.
Nice article. CSU downs Valpo and is one win away – fairy tales do happen! I should get a % of your click revenue on that blog entry given it my impetus that drove it :). I hope we see a big article preview for the butler game Tuesday which can easily be catogarized as the biggest game of the past 20 years for CSU. Get those old MouseMcFadden jerseys out!
A.I.
Ten percent of zero coming your way!!