Ohio State has more of a definitive inside presence than Villanova. I think Terence Dials makes those teams a little different. Sylvester is a 6-foot-7, 6-8 four man while Villanova's four-man is a guard. [The Buckeyes] have a little bit more size.

Their inside guys, I think, were huge. White, Kiefer and (Gary) Ware were more physical than we were and more aggressive than we were.

If we somehow could win a couple, our last 10 would be a very good record against top 20 teams. We have to keep grinding because that's what the Big Ten is about. We're playing against teams that beat us the first time, and we're trying to show we've improved by getting some of these guys on the way out.

In looking at Ohio State and Maryland, it was very, very close. Maryland was one of the teams the committee looked at very carefully in terms of consideration for a No. 1 seed. In our final judgment, two of the things that worked against Maryland were the four losses and it did not bring quite the strength of schedule as the other teams.

I think we're done with moral victories for a while now. We're just as good as Ohio State is. Last year we came in, we expected to win but we knew we'd have to play extremely well and have some stuff fall our way. This year, we just came in and played our game. And we're just as good as Ohio State is.

I think it's important to them to go out on their own terms. You really get close throughout this process. Some teams want it to just end, especially when you've had some ups and downs like this team had. But this team doesn't feel that way.