COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Eleven years have passed and the details
are still vivid for Thad Matta.
An assistant coach at Western Carolina under Phil Hopkins back
then, Matta has never forgotten what it was like to be a lightly
regarded underdog, to have the crowd turn on top-seeded Purdue, or
to barely miss out on an historic upset as a No. 16 seed.
You'll hear the refrain again and again this week -- no 16th seed
has ever beaten a No. 1. But Matta's memories of that 1996
first-round game at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M., might help his
current team, top-ranked and No. 1-seeded Ohio State, keep that
streak alive when it plays Central Connecticut State on Thursday in
Lexington, Ky.
Western Carolina was making its first appearance in the NCAA
tournament, while Purdue was coming off its third consecutive
outright Big Ten title.
Yet when Boilermakers center Brad Miller missed a free throw
with 11.6 seconds left, the overlooked school from North Carolina
had a terrific opportunity to rock college basketball.
"We brought it down and had a great look at a 3," Matta said
Tuesday, recalling Joel Fleming's shot from the top of the key.
"We got the offensive rebound and we had the nation's leading
3-point shooter (Joe Stafford) and he had a wide-open 15-footer and
he missed it."
Purdue survived, 73-71. But Matta still has total recall of that
game, of how the crowd sensed an upset and roared its support for
the seemingly overmatched Catamounts.
"We were right there," Matta said. "Ironically, their last
field goal the guy actually stepped out of bounds and they didn't
call it on the assist."
Pausing to set up the punch line, he added, "So in my book, we
won the game."
The Buckeyes (30-3) are a prohibitive favorite against the Blue
Devils (22-11), winners of the Northeast Conference. Ohio State
captured the regular-season and tournament titles in the Big Ten,
winning the latter in a lopsided final against Wisconsin on Sunday.
The Buckeyes' only losses have come against North Carolina,
Florida and Wisconsin.
The lessons Matta learned when he was a small part of that 1996
West Regional first-round game will serve as a warning for the
Buckeyes this week.
"I've been a 16 before and I had a shot to win it," he said.
"Honestly, I've talked to our guys about that. I've been there
before. I know what it takes to be right there. I guess we're
fortunate in that regard that I've walked that line."
Ohio State's two seniors say it's a lesson they don't need. They
still have their own painful NCAA memories from just a year ago,
when the second-seeded Buckeyes were tabbed to play in Dayton --
just an hour down the road from campus -- on the tournament's first
weekend.
The Buckeyes struggled before beating Davidson 70-62 in the
first round, but then were routed by seventh-seeded Georgetown
70-52. They never threatened in the second half.
"We don't want to go out in the second round this year. We
don't want to go out in the first round this year," guard Ron
Lewis said. "The main thing is to keep everybody focused and to
keep playing the same way that we did in the (Big Ten)
tournament."
The end will eventually arrive for 65 teams, whether it is after
the championship game in Atlanta or some other stop along the way.
Forward Ivan Harris said there is no need to worry.
"Every game could be our last," he said. "But we really don't
think about that. Just come out and play hard and prepare for the
next game.
"Hopefully, we'll just keep moving on."