There’s no doubt that during March Madness and after the end of the National Championship game that there were hundreds of articles posted about the final teams, games, and the national championship winners. Undoubtedly most people have heard about the students have announced after their school finished in the March Madness competition that they will be forgoing the rest of their schooling to go into the NBA draft. While there aren’t more students this year leaving school to go to the draft there still are a lot of them. We all knew that schools like Kentucky and UNC would have students leaving for the draft because they do almost every year. The surprising student that announced that he was leaving for the draft after only two years in school was Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger.

Many students and fans of Ohio State knew that it was a possibility that Sullinger would be leaving after this season at Ohio State but not many truly thought that he would go through with it. Many fans that I spoke to after his announcement last week said that they thought he would continue for at least one more year due to the fact that he wasn’t able to play that much this year. In my opinion though, that’s a big factor as to why he is leaving. He wasn’t able to play as much as he usually would because he had some minor injuries, none of which would prevent him from leaving school to go to the draft but ones that could scare him into thinking that if something worse were to happen his chance at playing in the NBA could be over before it even started.

There was tremendous uproar over the loss that Ohio State suffered to Kansas during the Final Four games. Many fans and students said that they didn’t think Ohio State played as well as they could have but what they don’t realize is how different it is to play in a stadium that is so different than anything a team has played in before. Granted Ohio State was doing really well during the first half and many people, including myself, thought that they would win the game, not lose by two points, Ohio State still played one heck of a game.

Jared Sullinger and his fellow Buckeye’s made it far in the March Madness competition two years in a row, but neither year did they make it to the championship. There’s still a chance that they could next year or any year after that, but from Sullinger’s standpoint, now is the right time to go into the draft and give a shot to the NBA. I know that the team won’t be the same next year without Sullinger but that doesn’t mean they won’t still do well. The team will still have two key players, Aaron Craft and DeShaun Thomas. The Buckeye’s will have a lot of change going on next season without Sullinger being on the team, but now is the time for fans to wonder what is coming next for the team.

During the last home game of the season, the Buckeye’s managed to disappoint their fans for the last time. Going into the game, no fan really thought that Ohio State would lose the game. Just a few weeks before hand OSU had defeated Wisconsin at Wisconsin, which has been a difficult task in the past. However during this past Sunday’s game, Wisconsin was able to walk away with the win in Columbus. The beginning of the game panned out as most Top 25 games pan out, with a semi close score. After a few minutes the Buckeye’s had managed to take a decent lead, but that was the last time.

There were many good plays that fans were highly impressed with during the game, but in the end the players just “weren’t playing the way they should have been” according to one fan. A few players missed almost all of their free throws, some missed shots that they clearly should have made, and others passed the ball to the wrong team. Granted the passing of the ball to the wrong team was not intentional, but the team just didn’t seem to be focused on the game according to a group of students that I spoke with after the game.

Buckeye fans were looking forward to a win for the last home game of the season, for most fans this is the last time that they will see the Buckeye’s play in person until next year when the new season starts. The fact that Ohio State lost by only three points, really not something that makes fans look forward to next season. Every fan that I spoke with after the game all said that the Buckeye’s should have won this game. The fans all seem to agree that the mistakes that were being made during the game were rookie mistakes, yet none of them were being made by rookie players. This makes one wonder; did the players not want the win as badly as the fans did? There’s still two games left of the season in which Ohio State could still redeem themselves in the Top 25 rankings and in the Big 10 tournament. All fans can do now is watch the Buckeye’s play and hope that they do better in the next two games.

During the past few games, the Buckeye’s haven’t really seemed to be playing like usual. Many fans have expressed that they don’t think that the men on the team have been putting forth all of their effort. They have been saying that it’s seemed like they are only using a part of their potential. The scores of the past few games have been a reflection of this. Tonight’s home game against Illinois though changed things. The Buckeye’s were able to get a good head start in the beginning of the game and end up with a win at their second to last home game. Granted, Illinois isn’t a ranked team, but they are also not a bad team.

Fans of both teams after the game said that the Buckeye’s really seemed to give it their all during tonight’s game. Buckeye fans said that it was a nice change from how they’ve been playing lately. All of the Buckeye fans are hoping that the team wins all of their remaining games of the season and does well during March Madness. The next home game will be the final home game of the season and is expected to be a big game. The Buckeye’s will be taking on Wisconsin on Sunday and seeing as how both teams have been doing very well in the rankings this season, fans are hoping that the team gives it all they’ve got and ends up with a win.

As for any school and sport no one wants their team to lose. All fans are hoping that the Buckeyes win the game against Wisconsin on Sunday just as they did against Illinois this evening. Winning the last home game of the season gives hope to fans that Ohio State could do well in March Madness and keeps them looking forward to the team playing next season. Tonight’s game proved that even though Ohio State did lose this past Saturday that they are not interested in having a losing streak. The players know that the end of the season is approaching fast and there is no doubt from fans that the team will be giving in their all in these final games coming up.

College men’s basketball is one of the most unique college sports in how it ends up determining who will win the NCAA championship for the season every year. Instead of simply having the top two ranked teams at the end of the normal season play each other and determine a winner that way, college basketball uses a system most commonly known as March Madness. In this system schools are assigned to play against each other in a bracket set up. After each game, the losing team is eliminated from the bracket and the winning team moves on to the next round. This allows a team that might not have been great during the regular reason to have a chance at making it all the way and winning the championship. The key word here is “allows.” It isn’t often that a team that wasn’t ranked or wasn’t ranked very high ends up winning the championship, but there’s always the possibility.

College students eagerly anticipate March Madness all through the regular season. Students agree that it’s a lot of fun to watch your team play and win during the regular season, but during March Madness it’s so much better. During March Madness there is more pressure on the team, so if the team wins and they advance on to the next round that puts them one step closer at potentially winning. No college student likes to see their team lose during March Madness. In fact, in the past some schools have had riots when their men’s basketball team lost in one of the last few rounds, such as VCU losing in the Final Four round last season.

Another reason that college student like March Madness so much is because it lasts through the whole month of March. For college football, the top two teams compete in the championship game and then it’s determined who the winner is, along with the bowl games that determine who the winner is of a specific bowl game. All of these games are usually right after New Years. These games don’t normally go more than a week past New Years. That’s what makes March Madness so great. There are games going on well past the end of the regular season. This year’s March Madness is predicted to be one of the best according to some students at OSU. Students have said that because there has been such a change in the past few weeks in the top ten teams and where they are ranked that March Madness will be something you won’t want to miss. March Madness is coming up right around the corner and it’s anyone’s guess as for who is going to win.

Valentines Day has always been about spending time with your significant other and celebrating how much the two of you mean together. However, these days Valentine’s Day is more than that. I think what better way to spend Valentine’s Day than watch the Buckeye’s play? It’s no secret that you want to watch the game and know how it turns out, so why deceive your significant other and secretly check the score on your phone while you’re out celebrating tonight. Instead you should order in and watch the game at 9 pm while Ohio State plays away at Minnesota.

I am not the only one that thinks this. In the past few days I have asked many students around campus what their plans are for Valentine’s Day, and shocker, most of the answers were the same. Most students have plans with their boyfriend or girlfriend to go out to a nice dinner and just spend some “quality time together” outside of their busy schedules. When I brought up the fact that there is a basketball game tonight, almost every student said that they knew there was and that they would either be getting updates on their phone while they were out or that they would record the game at home and watch in later. I asked why not just do an earlier dinner and then watch the game with your loved one and most of them gave me the strangest look. Apparently the thought hadn’t crossed their minds.

The students that I spoke with said that they had just planned on spending time with their loved one and that they didn’t want to tell their loved one that they also wanted to watch the game because it might “ruin” Valentine’s Day. The guys that I talked to all said that their girlfriends would be very upset if they even brought up watching the game tonight. The girls that I talked to that said that they wanted to watch the game tonight had various reasons for not doing so. Some of them said that their boyfriends had planned romantic dinners or dates and that they didn’t want them to think that they didn’t appreciate all of the thought that their boyfriends had put into planning the “perfect” Valentine’s Day. Some of the other girls said that they didn’t want their boyfriends to know that they are so into sports, because then that would be all that they ever talk about and that would just “ruin the relationship.”

After speaking with everyone, I gave them all the challenge of speaking up to their significant other and mentioning watching the game together – it still has them spending time together on Valentine’s Day, just not in the traditional manner. I challenge all of my readers to do this as well. Sports are a part of our everyday lives, it’s not just guys that want to watch the games tonight either. So instead of spending extra money on a movie after dinner, see if your loved one would be willing to go home, cuddle up on the couch and watch the Buckeyes crush Minnesota. There’s a good chance that they might just be willing to – give it a try. There’s nothing to lose on this one.

Buckeyes are known for three big things when it comes to sports – motivation, spirit, and heart. These three things are what help to make the athletes at Ohio State so great, but in the men’s basketball game against Michigan State this past week the team really seemed to be lacking in all three of these. This was a big game for both teams, because they are not only competing in the NCAA tournament, but they are also both Big 10 teams and are competing for a Big 10 title as well. On Saturday, before the game, Columbus was filled with people in their Scarlet and Grey as well as people in their green and white. There was no shortage of fans for either team. So wouldn’t you think that there being so many people there to cheer on both teams that the Buckeye’s would have had a little more spirit themselves when they were playing? Apparently not.

After the game, I spoke to some students and fans about what their thought was on the Buckeye’s lost. Many of them felt that the team really wasn’t playing their hardest for their game. One fan said “they seemed to have no heart in this game. It’s like they just didn’t want to be playing tonight.” This isn’t something that any athlete would want for one of their fans to be saying after a big game. Athletes aren’t only playing because they love the game; most of them also play because they love the popularity and the way that the fans love them.

I caught up with a few Michigan State fans after the game as well to get their opinion on the outcome, and I have to admit I was very surprised. A couple that I talked to said that they had planned on coming to this game and walking away with a loss. They figured that the game would be close, within 10 to 15 points (it was a 10 point difference) but they also figured that Ohio State would win. They even agreed with the Ohio State fan saying that the OSU players really didn’t seem to be all there tonight and that they were honestly kind of disappointed in that. It’s not often that fans of the opposing, winning team are disappointed in the home, losing team. So Buckeye’s where was the heart for this game? Let’s hope the players get it back for the next few games left in the season.