You want some advice on filling out your pool? With the matchups yet to be announced we obviously don’t know who will be matched-up with who, but we can begin to draw some conclusions and prime the mind for filling out the bracket.

Today’s topic is OSU, aka Ohio St. University or its more relevant name Overrated State University. It started in January when the Buckeyes were exposed as a fraud when it came to contending for the football National Championship, and it will culminate, quite possibly, the first weekend of the tournament when the Buckeyes lose in the second round. Now, if I were a gambling man, which I am, I would put good money on the Buckeyes not advancing past the Sweet Sixteen, which would mean they would win two games, and then lose their third. But I am also of the belief that there is better money to be won by placing a wager on the Buckeyes losing their second round game. Here are my reasons why:

The Buckeyes are out of their element.

Here is a quote from Greg Oden after today’s win against Michigan: “This is my first go-around in these types of tournaments, so I just feed off the guys that have been there before”. These guys have NOT been here before. This team has NOT been here before. The coach has NOT been here before. Everything this team is experiencing is new to them. Last years Buckeyes lost in the second round to Georgetown and the previous year they didn’t make the tournament. So who exactly is Greg Oden looking to?

Too many Freshmen

Even if you got past the fact that this team hasn’t had great success in the past, you can’t get past the fact that 3 out of the Buckeyes 4 leading scorers are freshmen, their point guard is a freshman. Their senior leader is a guy that averages more turnovers than assists.

Big 10 is weak

The Buckeyes inflated their win total against the worst big conference in the NCAA. Only Wisconsin is even worthy of being considered a top 20 team and the Badgers would have swept the Buckeyes if Brian Butch didn’t get hurt and miss the majority of their second game. The rest of the Buckeyes wind amount to a whole lot of nothing.

What has OSU done that an 8 or 9 seed hasn’t?

Let’s assume the Buckeyes get a #1 seed. They would then face an 8 or 9 in the second round, assuming they win their first round game. Here are the teams that ESPN’s Joe Lunardi estimates will be 8 or 9 seeds.

Duke, Villanova, USC, Michigan St, Vanderbilt, Air Force, Winthrop and Kentucky

Without getting into how OSU would matchup individually with each of the above teams, some conclusions can be drawn about the type of team the Buckeyes may face in the second round. Vanderbilt, Duke and Villanova each have many more impressive wins than the Buckeyes. A team like Winthrop will cause the Buckeyes tremendous trouble. Kentucky has at least been a consistent team over the years.

More importantly, who have the Buckeyes defeated this year that matters? All good teams they played beat them. Don’t be fooled by the victory over Wisconsin. As stated above, if Butch didn’t get hurt, the Badgers would’ve won. Aside from a weak conference the Buckeyes tallied wins against the likes of Virginia Military, Loyola (IL), Kent St, Eastern Kentucky, San Francisco Valpairaiso, Cleveland St and Youngstown St. They lost to North Carolina, Florida and Wisconsin.

Bottom line is this team’s record is a mirage. The Buckeyes have none of the elements that are needed to advance in the tournament and will be out before the second weekend ends, if not before.