| Ohio State Buckeyes The decision to favor the Big 10 brand over accuracy is understandable. Founded in 1896, the Big 10 is the oldest Division I college athletic conference in the United States. The conference as a whole provides nearly $100,000,000 annually in direct financial aid to over eight thousand male and female student-athletes. In addition to the conference’s athletic prowess, it also has a well deserved reputation for high academic standards. In the 1985 book Public Ivies, nine of the Big 10’s 10 public institutions (Northwestern is the only private university in the conference) were deemed to “provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price.” The Ohio State Buckeyes finished the 2007-08 season in 5 th place in the Big Ten with a 24-13 record. It was a definite disappointment for a team that finished 2007 in the NCAA Championship game. The Buckeyes have been Big Ten regular season champs 19 times since 1925. The team has 10 Final Four appearances on record. In 2006 Ohio State was placed on three years probation and ordered to pay back all tournament money earned from 1999-2002 as punishment for illegal player assistance. Among the accomplishments deleted from the official record is a 1999 visit to the Final Four. The Buckeyes have but a single NCAA Championship to their name; 1960. The team has an unenviable reputation for choking in the Big One. To their one championship the Buckeyes have 4 times been runner-up. The club’s most recent appearance in the championship game was 2007. The Buckeyes were the #1 seed in the South Regional, where they eliminated Central Conneticut State 78-57 in the first round and Xavier 78-71 in the second. They met Xavier in the Final 32, winning 78-71, squeaked by Tennessee 85-84 in the Sweet Sixteen and beat Memphis 92-76 in the Elite Eight. The Buckeyes faced East Regional champ Georgetown in the Final Four and won their way into the fifth NCAA Championship game in school history. The Buckeyes fell in the final 84-75 to the 2008 NCAA Champion Florida Gators |