The Ohio St. Buckeyes earned a No. 2 seed for the 2012 NCAA Tournament and will face the Loyola (MD) Greyhounds for their first game. Should the Buckeyes advance -- and they definitely should -- they will face either the No. 7 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs or No. 10 seed West Virginia Mountaineers. That matchup between GU and WVU appears to be a true toss-up and their play styles are very different from the other.
The Bulldogs like to push the tempo, while the Mountaineers like to bang around and use their physicality to gain an advantage. Both of the head coaches (Mark Few, Bobby Huggins) have plenty of NCAA Tournament experience and both will have their teams prepared for whatever comes their way.
If I'm the Buckeyes, I would prefer to play Gonzaga. They are the higher seed, but they have a freshman point guard who has been erratic at times and do not have the size to defend Ohio St. for 40 minutes.
The Mountaineers feature an incredibly talented player in Kevin Jones that is capable of taking over a game and creates matchup problems all over the floor with his size and strength. Combine him with senior point guard Darryl Bryant and their ability to grind games out down the stretch and you can see why WVU could present OSU with problems.
For more on Ohio State, visit Along The Olentangy. For more coverage of Ohio State in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, visit SB Nation Cleveland's STORYSTREAM. Click here for a link to our NCAA bracket 2012.