Illinois and Ohio St meet in Big Ten Semi-Finals

Evan Turner is amazing! His last second 30-footer at the buzzer beat Michigan in what was an epic battle between two of the most high profile teams in the league. The Ohio St Buckeyes have been one of the hottest teams in the country over the last 2 months. Outside of a 60-57 loss to a highly ranked Purdue Boilermakers team back on February 17th, the Buckeyes have been perfect. An 11-1 finish to the season has propelled them inside of the top-10 in the country, and will most likely land them a very favorable seeding in the NCAA tournament. They will have their hands full Saturday as they take on a confident Illinois Illini team that just beat a ranked Wisconsin team in their opening game of the Big Ten conference tournament.

The Illini have been flying under the radar all season long in the packed Big Ten conference, but are now just 1 win away from the championship game and their 20th win. They have built a rather solid resume’ over the course of the year with key wins against Clemson, Vanderbilt, Michigan St and Wisconsin twice. They are clearly on the bubble, but it seems as though they have done enough to punch their ticket to the “Big Dance”.

They are led offensively by Demetri McCamey who averages just under 15 points, 3 rebounds and almost 7 assists per game. Illinois is not a deep team in regards to their bench, but their starting 5 can hold their own with just about any team in the Big Ten. Mike Tisdale, Mike Davis and D.J. Richardson all average double-digits in scoring, and can hold their own defensively. It will take a huge effort Saturday to get past a streaking Buckeyes squad that has handled them easily in their 2 meeting this season, but after the shocking win against the Badgers on Friday, we can’t rule anything out.

Ohio St lives and dies with the play of stud junior Evan Turner. Three of the Buckeyes losses came in a stretch during late December when Turner was sidelined with an injury. If not for that injury, there is a good chance the Buckeye’s would be ranked in the top 3 in the country, and would most likely receive a #1 seed for the tourney. They will definitely be a tough team to get past during the tournament as they are much better than their record indicates.

This may seem like a cake-walk for Ohio St, but I anticipate a highly competitive game that may be closer than the experts think. Tune in Saturday at 1:40 PM ET.

Related posts:

1. Spartans and Buckeyes Meet in Big-10 Battle
2. Big Ten Match-Up: Wisconsin Badgers @ Purdue Boilermakers
3. Volunteers Take on Red-Hot Buckeyes in Sweet-16
4. NCAA Football Preview: Ohio St. vs. Marshall
5. College Football Betting – Ohio State at Penn State

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