Ohio State vs. Arizona March 28 Free Pick
Ohio State and Arizona meet in the Sweet 16 as Sean Miller looks for revenge against Thad Matta after Miller’s then Xavier team collapsed against Greg Oden and OSU.
Free Pick
Aaron Craft – the hero against Iowa State with a three at the horn – matches up with Mark Lyons, the 23-year-old
Senior. I don’t really care what
people say about Solomon Hill; Mark Lyons has been U of A’s best player all year. With the ability to penetrate
and consistently hit a jump shot, Lyons is a score-first point guard but one that does a phenomenal job of
keeping his teammates involved too. Craft does not score at nearly the clip Lyons does, but he is just as
valuable to his team. A terrific defender, Craft is known for being a cerebral player, which is why I’m a huge
fan. I think he makes life really tough for Lyons. People will point to the scoring of other ‘Cats like Nick
Johnson, Hill and Kevin Parrom but the reality is that if Lyons isn’t creating this team is roasted. Lyons
absolutely has to be somewhat effective against Craft, but the Ohio State Junior has the ability to win this
game with his defense.
I’m hyped up for the point guard battle, but there is another great one-on-one matchup in this one with Deshaun Thomas and Solomon Hill. The 6’7” Leon Powe look-alike Senior, Hill is one of the best defenders left in the tournament gong up against the leading-scorer in the Big-10. Both Thomas and Hill are very similar in regards to size and versatility. A natural-born scorer, Thomas will look to play to his defender’s weakness and either play from the free-throw line down into the lane or operate from all the way out to the three-point arch. I don’t really know where he can get the best of Hill, who is now playing the power forward for Sean Miller after playing the three all season. My problem with Hill is that he can get careless with fouling and put himself on the bench. But my problem with Thomas is that he tends to fall in love with the jump shot a little too much. These problems obviously kind of run right around each other, so whoever is able to shake their Achilles’ heel here will get the best of this matchup.
These two one-on-one’s will dictate a lot in this game, as both teams rely very much on the offensive production of their star scorers. Although Tarczewski produced lately, I’d like to see him produce against someone other than Belmont and Harvard. I’m giving a pretty nice checkmark next to Ohio State’s role players in this one as they have the experience and size in the paint, whereas Arizona is a much more of a finesse team. I said I liked the winner of Ohio State/Iowa State to reach Atlanta and I still feel comfortable with the pick. I’m going with the Buckeyes to move on and contribute to putting an end to the Pac-12.
Free Pick: OSU/Arizona Under 134