Looks like the dispatch is catching on to what we have been talking about.
Ohio State (13-6 overall, 4-2 Big Ten) needs a run of wins in the next month to burnish its NCAA Tournament resume and put itself in position where it does not face a do-or-die scenario at the Big Ten tournament March 13-16.
Illinois was the first of seven opponents that Ohio State plays in an eight-game span whose Big Ten record entering this week was a combined 8-25. Three of the games are at home, four on the road.
Winning all seven plus a home game Feb. 10 against Indiana would get the Buckeyes to 20 wins, a benchmark Thad Matta has reached every year as a coach and, many feel, a magic number for NCAA Tournament inclusion.
Matta isn't thinking that far ahead. He likes to say he'll worry about March in March.
"I've never, ever looked down the road and said, 'Boy, if we can win these games, we're going to have a great shot,' " he said this week. "I can't function that way."
His players aren't so nearsighted. Guard Jamar Butler said the Buckeyes are worthy of a tournament bid right now.
"If you look at our losses, everybody we've lost to has been ranked high except for Purdue," he said, "and Purdue was an away game."
Ohio State's other five losses were to No. 3 Tennessee, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 10 Michigan State, No. 15 Butler and No. 18 Texas A&M. Because of that schedule, ranked the eighth-strongest in NCAA Division I, the Buckeyes stood 26th in the Rating Percentage Index power ranking yesterday.
Two tournament bracket projections this week have Ohio State in the NCAA field. ESPN.com has it getting one of the last four at-large bids, as a No. 11 seed, the last of five Big Ten teams to make it. CollegeRPI.com has it a No. 9 seed, the last of four Big Ten teams in. The Buckeyes' RPI standing might not improve much and could deteriorate the next few weeks as they take on the likes of Minnesota, Penn State, Iowa, Northwestern and Michigan. They have four games remaining against teams currently ranked: No. 11 Wisconsin and No. 10 Michigan State at home, and two vs. No. 7 Indiana.
All of which might as well be hieroglyphics to Matta.
"I've said this all along with this team, and really with every team I've ever coached -- big picture's out the window," he said. "We have to look at, every single day, getting ready to go on the practice floor and work at some things and get better.
"With any team I've ever had, we haven't talked about winning or losing. We've talked about playing our best basketball."
As Tuesday night showed again, the Buckeyes are still a few minutes short of doing that.
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