Thanks for the season, Bucks

First off, thanks to Keith over at BC for this outstanding image. Blah blah picture is worth a thousand blah.

Well, the end of the run was a little sooner than I think we all were hoping, but this doesn't strike me as an appropriate time for lamenting. I mean, you can't really argue with 26-6, a 12-4 record in the conference, claiming the outright Big Ten title, and a 2-seed. Yes, our play over the last ... cripes, month, month-and-a-half was pretty much entirely bereft of solid, eye-pleasing play, at least on the offensive end -- the defense was almost uniformly good.

Tough way to end it, though: playing so poorly down the stretch, having everyone doubt us, having everyone pick us to lose to Georgetown, and seeing everyone's non-belief in the Buckeyes seemingly be affirmed with said loss. But hey, we got a Big Ten title and a 2-seed in the NCAAs out of it, in a season where the preseason projections placed us 6th in the conference and squarely on the proverbial bubble and even the optimistic Buckeye fans expected a 3rd or 4th place finish in the Big Ten and something in the neighborhood of a 5- or 6-seed in the NCAAs. Not a bad season, by almost any measure (I mean, would we rather be building an NIT dynasty like a certain other Big Ten team ... I keed, I keed!).

So anyways, thanks for the season, especially to Terence, J.J., Matt, and Je'Kel. Hopefully you'll be remembered as the guys who spearheaded the rebirth of Buckeye basketball. It kind of bugs me that I never got to ever actually see you play well in a game. Not a single one. But I enjoyed reading about your victories on the internets.

It's time to welcome in Oden & co. Everyone else: let's work on that shot selection, fellas. And above all else, I trust in Thad.

Thanks again, Bucks. See you next season.