I know I don’t mention the Buckeye cagers a lot (come on, there’s way more games to watch) but today was OSU vs. Michigan in ESPN’s “Rivalry Week.” While I would disagree that OSU and Michigan are rivals when it comes to basketball (that honor would go to the Bobby Knight-led Indiana Hoosiers) but it still is Michigan and Ohio State, so I’ll give ESPN a bye on that one. It was a good game, with the Buckeyes absolutely shredding the net with the three-pointer in the first half. They ended up winning 94-85, which is a huge road win for anyone in the Big Ten. Go Bucks!
Funny thing is, the best part of the game was around the eleven minute mark of the 2nd half, the showed a little clip of the OSU/Michigan football game. They highlighted the Gonazales catch. You might remember that great catch, but in case you forgot, you can check it out here. I know it sounds sad that the best part of a OSU basketball is an OSU football highlight, but that’s how we roll in Columbus. We really, really like our basketball team, but we LOVE our football team.
The catch still gives me the chills.
I would agree with your assessment that Michigan really isn’t Ohio State’s rival when it comes to basketball. I mentioned on my blog that I always believed that Indiana was our hoops rival, especially when Bobby Knight was coaching the Hoosiers. That of course was somewhat bashed on my site. In reality, I don’t think you can say that the basketball Bucks’ have a rival, though starting next year maybe they will have one in Cincinnati. Of course Cincinnati already has a few in Louisville and Xavier. Though I would also like the see tOSU play Dayton and Xavier, maybe even Kentucky, too.
Matt – The Indiana/OSU games of the early 90s were epic battles, so I would definitely say IU is Ohio State’s rival. Man, those were awesome games.
The Cincy game next year is going to be awesome.