March Madness is finally here! While there are many great teams across the country all vying for that coveted National Championship trophy, a few teams from the Buckeye State are gearing up to take their shot at it as well.
In the Men's Tournament, the Xavier Musketeers from the Big East, and the Kent State Golden Flashes from the MAC are primed and ready to make a run. And for the Women's Tournament, Ohio State, Cleveland State, and the University of Toledo are ready to take their best shot!
Let's take a look at each of these teams, see how they got here, and look at what may be just around the corner for each of them as the Madness begins.
Xavier: #3 seed in the Midwest Region, 25-9 overall
The Musketeers are set to make their 29th appearance all-time in the NCAA Tournament, and they're no stranger to big-time postseason basketball. Coach Sean Miller returned to his old stomping grounds to lead the way this year. He was previously the coach at Xavier from 2004-2009 before he left to take over at Arizona, where he was for several years. It doesn't seem like Miller has missed a beat, as he picked up right where he left off, and guided a stout Musketeers team to a fantastic finish in the regular season. They played several teams tough in the regular season, including Indiana, Duke, Gonzaga and UConn. Not to mention they beat the Huskies twice for an impressive regular season sweep, and rode an 11-game winning streak at one point. They made it all the way to the Big East Championship Game before they fell to Marquette. This was quite a remarkable run for Xavier, considering they were on the bubble midseason.
Next up, the Musketeers face the 26-8 Kennesaw State Owls at 12:40 Eastern Time on Friday in Greensboro, North Carolina, for the right to move on and play the winner of Iowa State/Pittsburgh. Xavier has a 90 percent chance to win according to ESPN, and I don't see there being an upset in this one, even though anything can happen since it's March Madness.
Kent State: #13 seed in the Midwest Region, 28-6 overall, MAC Champion
Under longtime coach Rob Senderoff, the Golden Flashes punched their ticket to just the seventh NCAA Tournament in school history. But they did it in impressive fashion, convincingly beating the top seed in the MAC, Toledo, 93-78 in the Conference Championship Game in Cleveland on March 11!
The high-water mark for Kent State in men's basketball happened in 2002, when the team made a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight. While it remains to be seen if this KSU team can make that type of run, they'll face Indiana for the second time in school history. Coincidentally, the Hoosiers were the team that ended that run back in 2002 with an 81-69 victory over Kent State.
Flash forward to this season, and Kent State will be the second to last game to tip off in the First Round, at 9:55 PM on Friday in Albany, New York at MVP Arena. The Flashes are riding a six-game winning streak and Indiana is only a 4.5-point favorite coming in, so if Kent State can get rolling early, and take the fight to the Hoosiers, they may have a legitimate chance to advance to the next round! I'm not intrigued by many 4 vs. 13 matchups in the tourney, but this one is a rare exception!
Ohio State: #3 seed in the Seattle 3 Region, 25-7 overall
The Lady Buckeyes started off incredibly hot this season, even briefly climbing all the way to #1 in the country at one point. They rattled off an incredible 19 wins in a row before their first loss of the season on January 23 to Iowa. They ended up finishing fourth in the Big Ten, which I'm sure is disappointing to them after such a hot start. But a lot of their late-season struggles were thanks to the injury bug, and they look to be getting healthier at just the right time, according to ESPN's Kelly Gramlich.
If there ever was a time to get back on a roll? This would be the time, and they'll have a great chance to do it against the #14 James Madison Dukes at home in Columbus at Value City Arena!
According to Gramlich, Ohio State loves to press teams, and force them into bad decisions with the basketball. One of the key players that is returning for the Buckeyes who leads the way on defense, is Senior guard Jacy Sheldon. Look for her to get things kickstarted for Ohio State, who is an 18.5-point favorite at home. The game tips off on Saturday at 1:30 in Columbus, Ohio.
Cleveland State: #13 seed in the Greenville 2 Region, 30-4 overall, Horizon League Champion
But Cleveland State aims to pull off the shocker, and win in Philadelphia against #4-seeded Villanova, in just the third-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament in school history. The Vikings played as the 15-seed in both of their previous tournament appearances in 2008 and 2010.
If the Vikings were to pull off the upset despite being an 11.5-point underdog, they would then face the winner of the game between #5-seeded Washington State, and #12 seed Florida Gulf Coast.
The first-ever meeting between the Vikings and Wildcats tips off on Saturday, March 18 at 5 PM.
Toledo: #12 seed in the Seattle 3 Region, 28-4 overall, MAC Champion
The Toledo Rockets' women's basketball team captured their second straight outright MAC Championship by dispatching bitter rival Bowling Green 62-56 on March 4th! That helped the Rockets clinch the #1 seed in the conference tournament. A week later, they defeated the Falcons again by a final of 73-58 in the tournament's title game to make the statement that they are the current class of the conference.
Next up, Toledo is set to battle #5 seed Iowa State. Even though the Rockets are making their ninth NCAA Tournament appearance all time this year under head coach Tricia Cullop, Toledo made its first-ever tournament appearance way back in 1991 under none other than current Iowa State Cyclones head coach Bill Fennelly.
In order to give Iowa State a run for their money, the Rockets have to get the offense going through Senior guard and MAC Player of the Year Quinesha Lockett. She's scored well over 1,000 points in her decorated career, and averaged nearly 18 points per game this season. She can light it up from downtown, shooting over 45% from beyond the arc, and leads the team with 40 steals.
The battle between the Rockets and Cyclones goes down in Knoxville Tennessee, on Saturday March 18, at 3 PM Eastern Time.
The Buckeye State is well-represented with five very talented teams. Will one of these teams make a deep run, or just maybe hoist National Championship gold? Time will tell. Stay tuned for all the March Madness action!
Sources: ESPN, ohiostatebuckeyes.com, goxavier.com, heartlandcollegesports.com, kentstatesports.com, utrockets.com, csuvikings.com
Picture Credit: Jori Skowronski
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