DTI is introducing you to another one of our newbies here in Evan. Evan will bring you his insight and analysis on all issues Buckeyes just like Joel and should be an enjoyable read for all of you. We’ll get him his own user name soon, but for now,enjoy:

The Buckeyes basketball season is winding down as there is only a month left in the season. The #24 Ohio State Buckeyes (17-5, 7-4) are third in the Big Ten Conference behind #9 Michigan State (20-4, 10-2) and tied with #20 Illinois (19-5, 7-4). The Bucks have seven games left in conference play and it is critical to analyze where the team will stand on selection Sunday.

The Ohio State Buckeyes have a pretty tame schedule ahead of them, but there are a few marquee games to watch. Saturday, February 14th, will be a tough fought game against the Wisconsin badgers at the Kohl Center. The Badgers are 9-4 at home this season. The Badgers understand they need this win badly to try and sneak into the NCAA tournament and salvage what has been a disappointing season thus far. The Bucks will need to handle the hostile crowd and definitely take advantage on the boards, since Wisconsin is ninth in the Big Ten in rebounds per game. On Sunday, February 22nd, The Bucks will host #20 Illinois. Ohio State suffered a brutal loss at Assembly Hall a few weeks ago, and, even though the game will be tough, I will take the Bucks and their 13-2 home record. Finally, the last marquee game I can see is at #23 Purdue on Sunday, March 1st. This will be the toughest of Ohio State’s final 7-game stretch. They just beat the Boilermakers at the Schottenstein Center last week, and if they were to pull off a win at Purdue, it would only pad their résumé even more going into mid-March.

A chance at a Big Ten title is going to be extremely tough. I think Thad Matta’s team has the potential to win the Big Ten tournament at the end of the year, but essentially the two loses to Michigan State will hurt the team in the long run. Michigan State is 10-2 as of tonight, and they would have to lose at least three more games for the Buckeyes to even have a shot for the Big Ten. Even though MSU still has to play Purdue twice and Illinois once, I think MSU will lose at most two games.

Barring a disaster down the home stretch of this season, the Buckeyes will be competing with 64 other teams in March Madness for the chance at a National Championship. ESPN.com has Ohio State projected as a #5 seed facing the projected #12 seed Arizona Wildcats. It is vital that Ohio State does not falter too much in the last month, as the NCAA committee has a “what have you done for me lately” attitude. The Buckeyes cannot afford to stumble over teams like Iowa, Northwestern, and even Penn State, who has played exceptionally well this year. The truth is the Big Ten is tremendously difficult this year, as top to bottom the conference is competitive. Northwestern has beaten Michigan State, Purdue has lost to Penn State, and Illinois has fallen to a struggling Wisconsin. Ohio State must avoid the sad town of Upset City and continue to play solid basketball down the stretch.

Ohio State has been playing very well as of late, and as long as they keep playing the brand of basketball hey have been playing the last two weeks on both ends of the floor, they will be in good health come March.