Ohio State basketball coach Thad Matta gets to lead his Buckeyes into battle against his old school from the Atlantic-10 Conference, the Xavier Musketeers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament (South Region) at Kentucky’s Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky today at 1:10 p.m. EST. Matta, in his third year at Ohio State, spent three years at Xavier before taking over at Ohio State (31-3) in June of 2004. This game will be just the fourth time in the history of the two in-state basketball powers meet on the hardwood.
The storylines run deep for the match-up that has a trip to the Sweet 16 in San Antonio, Texas on the line. Not only is Buckeye’s head coach Thad Matta just three years removed from that same position at Xavier, but Xavier head coach Sean Miller was Matta's top assistant when with the Musketeers. Nine-seed Xavier 25-8 overall and Atlantic 10 Conference regular season champs at 13-3, defeated eight-seed Brigham Young in the first round on Thursday night. Ohio State advanced to the second round by defeating Central Connecticut State University 78-57 on Thursday.
In the second game of the South Region round of 32, three-seed Texas A&M, led by Acie Law IV and coached by Billy Gillispe take on Rick Pitino’s Louisville team in what will be a virtual home game for the Cardinals with tip-off at 3:40 p.m. Louisville pounded the hapless Stanford Cardinal in the opening round game 78-58 to make it to the second round while the Aggies defeated 14-seed Penn 68-52 to advance.
