A little off-topic, but does anybody know whether Loyola forfeits its share of the MVC's March Madness revenue for bolting to the A10?

Who is their NBA big man? I only see one guy over 6'8" and he plays limited minutes.

from what I can see, this is a fair draw. We want to play against big name teams because of the exposure. OSU has big reach and a power five conference will ensure that this game gets plenty of attention, albeit not in a prime time hour. However, all those transfer portal players from the east coast that we are targeting, will see this game.

They have a top ten pick and stars tend to shine at tournament time. That is a concern. They also have a secondary player who has emerged this year. They are tested and physical after a big ten schedule.

At the same time, this is a team that has lost 4 of their last 5 games, including some very bad losses against Maryland, Nebraska and Penn State. They are 5-6 on the road and 1-2 on neutral courts. This is a case of two teams with opposite momentum at the end of the season. It looks like there is only one common opponent in Michigan State. We lost to them by 1 in the Bahamas. OSU beat them by 11 at home.

They also look like a team that is more outside oriented as they take and make a lot of threes.

Overall, it seems like the type of team we are good at defending, outside oriented and heavily dependent on two players.

On their side defensively, they are 160th in points given up and are not particularly good at creating turnovers.

The game opened with Loyola about a 1.5 favorite and it has been bet down to a pick, so that market does not love the Ramblers laying points.

I would expect it to be a pro OSU crowd as they are the biggest school in that session. Delaware and Villanova fans will undoubtedly be pro Loyola (especially the Catholic Villanova crowd), but all three put together don't match what OSU brings.

It will be a tough game and I think it will be like the Michigan State game that came down to the last shot but as I said, it is a fair draw.

My biggest fear was that we would get matched up with a team loaded with NBA-level big men…and by big I mean a Purdue or even Illinois type team 6’10” + centers and forwards. We would need an unbelievable game from Hutty in a matchup like that.

Ohio State isn’t a team like that. EJ Liddell is an incredible player. One of the best in the Country. But I think people have it in their minds that he’s a 6’10 or 7 foot big man. He’s a 6’7 forward. For all of our shortcomings inside, we have more than a few players who are the same size as Liddell, including Aher. That could be a great matchup.

This is the tournament, so anything can happen. We could win, or get blown out. But, of all the possible matchups we could’ve had, this isn’t a terrible matchup for us.

and 30% of Liddell's shots are 3 pointers, so he isn't a guy playing the post. He's a great wing player, probably the best individual talent we have faced all year, but our strength is defending guards and wings.

OSU has also not enjoyed much recent tournament success. They are 2-3 in the last five years, being upset in two of those years as a 2 and a 5 seed with no second week appearances. Loyola is 6-2 during that time with a Final Four and two Sweet Sixteens.

EJ Liddell is a power forward whose 250 with a 7 foot wingspan, hes going to the NBA this draft albiet as a second round pick. I'd think we fans who rooted for Christian Thomas and Ben Averkamp would know a big man isnt just measured by height alone.

Im telling you I watch most Ohio State games, he will play down low and up high. Think Reink Mast or any of the UNI Big Men from years past. I'm not saying he's unbeatable but I am saying I am concerned about what we do with him. Any trying to dismiss him as small or perimeter oriented is going to set yourself up for failure on game day.

Lucas will handle Malachai, hopefully the rest of the team can handle EJ and we roll to a win.

I think Uguak just has to be aggressive on offense and we’ll be fine. Even if he’s not scoring, driving on EJ will tire him and hopefully put him in foul trouble. I’m sure EJ will get his on offense, but our D will make him work on that end too

I've mentioned it on another thread, but the Valley definitely gets to keep any money from our tournament runs (it's paid out over a few years). I would assume we negotiated to therefore get an equal share of the A-10's tournament money starting next year, so we should be rooting for the A-10 teams in the tournament for financial reasons.

Liddell is listed at 6'7" 240. His 7' wingspan is impressive, & is slightly larger than LU's defensive star, Aher Ukuak who is 6'7" 225 with a 6'11" wingspan, who may be a little quicker than Liddell.

With Liddell & Keys, OSU may have a bit of a weight advantage, but that is not unusual for LU opponents.

Some of yall are weird man. I really dont understand why we cant just admit Lidell is in a different class than most of the players we've seen so far this year. He's a 3rd team all-american, all big ten and all big ten defensive team.

Doesnt mean we're going to lose. I just dont see the value in underplaying our opponents biggest strength and an area that could be problematic for us. Knight fouls a lot and if he gets into foul trouble Hutson playing big minutes against Kyle Young or Keys while we throw Tom and Aher at Lidell could be an issue for us. I'm also worried about our at rim production, EJ is a pretty adept shot block and we all know what Walker Kessler did to us earlier this year. It's ok to admit they have strengths as a team.

The flip side is I expect Lucas will be able to contain Malachai Branham with ease, and if we do that it might not matter what Lidell does!