How to Beat Ohio State

StraitPinkie has a good breakdown of what Kentucky must do in order to contain Ohio State.

Do you double down on their freshman beast underneath and scurry back to defend the perimeter? Do you defend Sullinger one-on-one down low and have defenders stand their ground at the perimeter to guard shooters and penetrators? This is the dilemma that John Calipari will be forced to deal with late Friday night.

To pull off the upset, the Cats will have to get a West Virginia performance by Knight and not a Princeton one. In OSU’s two losses, they were dominated by opposing guards. Jordan Taylor put up 27 points and seven assists in Wisconsin’s win and E’Twaun Moore dropped 38 in Purdue’s win.

Ohio State is clearly the best team in this tournament and it’s going to take more than a perfect game for the Wildcats to pull off the upset. It will also take a subpar performance from the Buckeyes and some luck. It will be fun to watch, but in the end I expect the Bucks to simply be too talented and experienced.

Ohio State 73, Kentucky 71