MADISON, Wis. - There has been a fantasy element to this Ohio State men's basketball season, a component that has made it a pinch-yourself-to-see-if-this-is-actually-happening experience. The fantasy was stronger than ever 27 minutes into a game yesterday against Wisconsin.
The Buckeyes had somehow withstood an emotional bonfire before the game that rivaled the swelling intensity of a religious revival. There was video of the Badgers beating the Buckeyes last fall in football ("Let's take down No. 1 again!"), video of the basketball Badgers' win over the undefeated and top-ranked Buckeyes in 1962 and even the introduction of John Erickson, the coach of that Badgers team, whom the Wisconsin players high-fived on their way onto the court yesterday.
That turned the Kohl Center into a tinderbox of emotion and might have helped the Badgers build a 10-4 lead - to be sure, letting Buckeyes guard Aaron Craft wait for his customary entrance after the first media timeout didn't help - but this Ohio State fantasy wouldn't include a loss.
So the Buckeyes ground and swarmed and slogged their way back to a 28-26 halftime lead- in one daring moment, Ohio State scored the half's only fast-break basket - then started to pull away after the break until they led 47-32 on a Jared Sullinger layup with 13:12 left.
That's when the fantasy no longer looked like such a wild fairy tale, when visions of being the first unbeaten Division I team in 35 years were dancing in nearly everyone's heads. The Buckeyes hadn't won in Madison since 2000 and a small army of national media had stormed the doors, figuring this was the time and place to see No. 1 lose. But the lead was 15 points, Bo Ryan's unflappable Badgers were playing like some ragged, jack-it-up team and suddenly, implausibly, the outlines of an unbeaten season became clear.
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