OSU keep taking curtain calls
Filed Under Shower Curtain | Posted on March 27, 2008
When Ohio State beat Dayton 74-63 on Wednesday night to advance to the semifinals of the NIT, it was the final home game at the Value City Arena for Shawnee High School graduate Jamar Butler.
Two and a half weeks earlier, he had hoped OSU’s regular-season finale against Michigan State would be his last time on the Buckeyes’ home court.
That would have meant Ohio State got an invitation to the NCAA tournament. But when the NCAA didn’t come calling, the result was that he got three more games in Columbus in the NIT — two in the Value City Arena and one in St. John Arena.
But Wednesday night was it. There are no more games. At least there are no more games at home, Butler was quick to point out.
He admitted his last time on the Value City Arena floor was a nostalgic moment.
“My emotions were high. I knew it was the last time I was going to play in this building. I really don’t want to talk about the end. I wish I had 80 more games.â€
Once he had said that, though, he pushed the nostalgia aside and began to look ahead to Ohio State’s NIT semifinal match-up against Mississippi at 9 p.m. Tuesday.
“My career is not over yet,†Butler said. “I’ve had a good four years playing here in this building. But we still have work to do in New York. We still have 80 minutes left.
“Even though it’s the NIT, it’s still a tournament. We still want to win this thing.â€
Butler got 12 points and seven assists in his final home game. That performance came in an atmosphere unlike most nights in the Value City Arena this season.
Since the NIT wasn’t included in the season ticket package, the seats near the floor were filled with people who were there because they liked basketball, not the usual corporate seat license crowd.
The game was a sellout. Not an announced sellout, where every ticket sold is counted in the attendance regardless of the fact that 2,000 seats are clearly empty. It was a real sellout.
The entire arena was filled with fans who really cared for a change, many of them from Dayton.
Both teams’ pep bands were there. Both teams’ fans were into the game. And, for some reason, the obnoxious scoreboard stunts and blaring music that are the rule at Buckeyes’ home games were absent on Wednesday night.
“It was incredible, the atmosphere in there,†Ohio State coach Thad Matta said.
Ohio State’s veteran players, like Butler, obviously know getting to the NIT Final Four is nothing like reaching the NCAA Final Four, as the Buckeyes did last year when they were national runner-up to Florida.
But, if they would win twice more and finish 24-13, it would put an upbeat ending to an inconsistent season. There is even a chance of a rematch with Florida, who plays UMass in the other NIT semifinal.
“You look at a team that had four players returning who played college basketball and Jamar was the only one who wasn’t a role player. Next week when we tip off there are going to be only eight teams still playing college basketball,†Matta said.
“I’m proud of their effort because there have been a lot of ups and downs,†he said.
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