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Men's Basketball
Annual Debate Over the Value of Conference Tournaments is Here Again
By John Porentas

"I think the biggest challenge in college basketball is to win the regular-season championship where you play eight home games and eight road games.

"When you incorporate the travel and the crowds and the times of the games for television, that sort of thing, all my stock goes into the regular-season conference championships.

"I have been in some situations where we needed to win the tournament, and fortunately we did, but I think that what these guys have done, going undefeated in the non-conference schedule, going 12-4 in the Big Ten schedule and winning an outright championship, that's good for me." -----Ohio State Head Basketball Coach Thad Matta.

Interest in college basketball is about to reach a fever pitch, because its tournament time, and there's absolutely no denying it, it's the time of year that most-captures the interest of even the most casual of college basketball fan. It's just flat out exciting.

While fans love this time of year, there is a group that is not exactly a big fan of some of the tournaments, specifically the league tournaments that are taking place this week.

"I think these tournaments are more fan-base driven than they are coach-base driven," said Matta.

Fan driven, and of course money driven. The Big Ten tournament is a big-time money maker for the conference and its television partners, ESPN and CBS. The conference tournaments are here to stay, and the money they earn is unquestionably a big reason for that, but for the players and coaches, they are not really as meaningful as the regular season or the Big Dance, the NCAA tournament.

"I think the regular-season champs, that's the team that's endured a lot of ups and downs, has won on the road, has won at home," said OSU senior forward Matt Sylvester who like his coach puts much more emphasis on the regular-season outcome than the tournament outcome.

"Anybody can get hot and win that tournament anytime. To me the regular-season is far more important than the tournament. The tournament really measures who's playing good ball over those couple of days."

Proponents of the tournaments as the focal point of the college basketball season point to the opportunity that teams have to "play their way into the Big Dance" by winning their tournament in a year when perhaps they would not have qualified. That's nice, but at times that can rather dilute the accomplishments of the regular-season champions.

"We spend the entire season working our way into the tournament," said Sylvester.

Sylvester didn't say it, but the implied question is clear. Does it seem fair that a team can earn in three or four days what another team earns throughout the course of an entire season? It probably does if you're the team earning your way in, but in reality, teams that have done it over the long haul probably are slighted more than just a little. Matta was expectedly politic in his comments on that topic, but it's clear that he feels the conference tournament is a bit of grind and taxing for players and coaches.

"I'm sure we're going to be in a situation before our time is up here where we have to go over there and secure something, but I think for the most part it's a great opportunity to bring all the teams together and especially in the Big Ten, its a four-day slugfest," he said.

A four-day slugfest is certainly fun for the fans, and will undoubtedly draw audience, both to the arena and on television, but for the players and coaches, that kind of grind prior to the NCAA tournament is more than just a little demanding.

"It's hard, I think, because it takes a lot out of guys to play three games in three days or four games in four days," said Matta.

In a league like the Big Ten, the conference tournament champion will have won a war and of course the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, but it will have spent more-than just a little bit of energy to get that done. The risk is in leaving just a little too much on the court in the conference tournament to have the kind of NCAA run it would like to have. It doesn't matter. The fans, CBS, ESPN, and the conference bankers will all be happy.

Hoop Notes and Quotebook:

* Je'Kel Working on his Shot: Ohio State guard Je'Kel Foster has been in a bit of a shooting slump of late. Foster is sure he can work his way out of it, and says he has seen some things on film that have given him some hints as to why he is slumping.

"I've just been getting extra shots in every day, trying to get my stroke back to where it was at first. It's coming along right now," said Foster.

"I watched some film and I found myself rushing my shot instead of taking my time like I normally do. A lot of teams haven't been giving me too many looks, so when I do get a look I find myself rushing. I have to take my time on the shot."

* Matt Still Mending: The news that Matt Terwilliger will not be available to the Buckeyes due to an appendectomy yesterday certainly was not good news for the Buckeyes. On the upside, Matt Sylvester says that his ailing back is continuing to improve as the Buckeyes move into tournament season.

"The back is feeling better every day. I'd say it's about 85 per cent. Last week it was about 75 per cent," Sylvester said.

* Looking Back, Looking Forward: Thad Matta had one of those poignant sports moments last week when his team defeated Purdue at home to win an outright Big Ten championship. The game played out in a way that allowed Matta to substitute for his seniors at the end of the game which in turn allowed them to be recognized by the home crowd. Matta said the moment meant a lot to him, not only for what that senior class had done over the season, but for what their accomplishments will mean to both Matta and OSU in the seasons to come.

"It was a tremendous feeling for me because number one, the crowd gave them a well-deserved ovation, and at that moment you think about all the things you've been through with these kids and the progress you've seen them make as people and players," said Matta.

"For me, I plan on being here for a long time and seeing those guys lay the foundation, it's tremendous."

Tournament Brackets

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