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No. 1 Ohio State enters NCAA tourney on roll

Buckeyes hammer No. 3 Wisconsin to win Big Ten tournament

Image: Greg Oden
Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images
Ohio State's Greg Oden dunks against the Wisconsin Badgers during the Big Ten final Sunday.
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updated 8:12 p.m. ET March 11, 2007

CHICAGO - Greg Oden heard the chants for one more year from the Ohio State fans and did his best to ignore them.

Time will tell if the 7-foot freshman grants their wish or answers the call of the NBA, but his mind was on other things Sunday.

Like celebrating No. 1 Ohio State’s Big Ten championship victory over Wisconsin.

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Like the NCAA tournament, where the Buckeyes will be a top seed.

Oden wasn’t at his best, but Mike Conley and Ron Lewis compensated as the Buckeyes beat No. 3 Wisconsin 66-49 to win their second conference tournament title.

Conley scored 18 points, Lewis added 17, and now, Ohio State can focus on the big prize.

The Buckeyes have the No. 1 seed in the South regional and will face Central Connecticut State on Thursday in Lexington, Ky. Wisconsin got the second seed in the Midwest and a matchup with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday at the United Center.

“We’re really looking forward to getting down to Lexington because it’s pretty close to home,” Conley said.

“It’s going to be an exciting time,” Oden said. “I’m ready for it.”

Besides having to cram for Central Connecticut, Oden has finals in sociology and the history of rock ’n’ roll this week. Although they didn’t earn an A, the Buckeyes passed a big test on Sunday.

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Oden finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks after playing just six minutes in the first half against the Badgers, but Conley and Lewis did enough to lift Ohio State (30-3) to its 17th straight victory. Conley had eight assists and six rebounds, and Lewis was 6-for-12 from the field.

Meanwhile, Buckeyes fans serenaded Oden with a “One more year!” chant during the postgame ceremony, but the teen phenom said he hasn’t “even thought about” whether he will return for another year of college basketball.

Big Ten player of the year Alando Tucker missed his first six shots for Wisconsin and finished with 10 points. He was 4-of-13 from the field. Kammron Taylor scored 15 points, but was just 6-for-18. The Badgers (29-5) never found their range, going 21-for-57 overall and 4-for-23 on 3-pointers. They also committed 17 turnovers.

The Buckeyes and Badgers split two nail-biters during the regular season, but this time the drama ended with about 6½ minutes remaining.

With the score 48-40, Ohio State’s Jamar Butler retrieved a loose ball near midcourt after having it knocked away and buried a 3-pointer from beyond NBA range with about 3 seconds left on the shot clock and 6:35 remaining in the game. Ron Lewis all but punctuated the victory two minutes later with a breakaway dunk after catching a long pass from Conley. That made it 57-45.


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