The good news for the Buckeyes is they don't have to play Penn State again. After almost losing to the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley two weeks ago, Ohio State trailed at home Wednesday night with eight minutes to play before pulling away for a 68-60 win. Penn State has had success against OSU by slowing the tempo and playing a lot of zone, and I expect the Badgers will apply much the same formula. Then again, Ohio State has improved more than Wisconsin since the Badgers beat the Buckeyes in Madison on Jan. 9. Remember, that was Greg Oden's eighth college game, and he wore a thick wrap on his right hand that day as opposed to the less cumbersome splint he sports now. Still, Ohio State's youth continues to nag at me, and you never know when their shooting hands will go cold. Unlike a lot of teams, Wisconsin has several big bodies it can throw at Oden. In a bona fide tossup, I'll take toughness and experience by a hair.

If there are two teams in America going in the wrong direction faster, it's hard to find them. Clemson has proved to be paper Tigers indeed, having now dropped eight of its last 10 games after a 17-0 start. They faced a must-win situation Thursday night at home against Duke, but fell behind by 24 points in the first half before losing by five. This team simply can't shoot straight -- they made just 9 for 18 from the foul line against Duke and rank 317th in the U.S. in foul shooting and 231st in three-point shooting. It's hard to imagine those numbers going up on the road, even against a BC team that has itself lost three straight games. BC's defense was horrible during Wednesday's loss at Virginia Tech (the Hokies shot 55.7 percent), but I'm guessing Al Skinner will have his guys ready to play with a lot more competitive pride.

Don't let the Hoosiers' 22-point margin of victory over the Spartans on Jan. 7 fool you. That was Michigan State's first game with freshman forward Raymar Morgan back in the lineup after a seven-game absence because of injury. As his 12-point, eight-rebound performance in 31 minutes during Tuesday's win over Wisconsin indicates, Morgan is a very critical part of what is often a very limited offensive team. The big question for Michigan State is whether it can summon the same emotion for IU as it did for the Badgers. You know Indiana is going to play hard, and you can be sure D.J. White will cause problems in the post. Indiana is the better team, but the Spartans do seem to have a certain magic when they play in the Breslin Center. Witness Drew Neitzel's twice-rimmed, game-clinching three-pointer in the waning minutes against Wisconsin. I say the Breslin magic works for the Spartans one more time, ending any doubt as to whether they are headed for the NCAA tournament.

There will be a lot of attention paid to the status of Pittsburgh center Aaron Gray, who sat out Wednesday's win over Seton Hall because of a badly sprained ankle, but even with Gray in the lineup I'd like the Hoyas in this one. I don't know of another team in America that has done a better job forging its identity and playing to its strengths the last two months. The Hoyas are getting monstrous contributions from Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green, but that is happening because the Hoyas' backcourt duo of Jonathan Wallace and Jessie Sapp are playing remarkably efficient basketball. (Sapp was especially good during Monday's road win at Villanova, going for 16 points, five rebounds and three assists in 39 minutes.) I actually think Pitt could have a better chance without Gray because that means the Panthers would have to play small and quick and take a lot of threes. In the end, though, they won't have enough possessions to get past Georgetown. Here's hoping they play once more in the Big East tournament final in New York.

Don't look now, but Creighton has lost three of its last four games, including last Saturday's home game against Drexel, to put its NCAA hopes in jeopardy. The loss to Drexel highlighted Bluejays' two areas of concern. First, they are not getting enough production out of their regular point guards, which means Nate Funk is spending too much time passing the ball and not enough time catching it. Second, they don't have any quality backup to 6-foot-9 senior center Anthony Tolliver. The Dragons made their run after Tolliver got into foul trouble midway through the second half. Creighton badly needs to right the ship, and with a badly dispirited Wichita State coming to town for the final regular season game, I like the Bluejays' chances to do just that. The Shockers were everybody's mid-major darling back in December, but those road wins at LSU and Syracuse don't look so hot in retrospect. Wichita State has shown an inability all season long to defend the post, and in Tolliver they are facing the best center in the Missouri Valley.