Ohio State

Keegan Bradley had no thoughts about a course record, or the possibility of a 59, after consecutive bogeys in the middle of his opening round in the Byron Nelson Championship at Irving, Texas. Until his 136-yard wedge shot on his final hole Thursday. "It was going right at it. [A 59] crossed my mind for a second, and it would be unbelievable if I buried this," Bradley said. "But I had three feet to shoot 60. I was actually very nervous, uncomfortable over it and thank God I made it. " Bradley shot 10-under-par 60, completed by that short birdie at the 428-yard ninth hole, to break the TPC Four Seasons course record and match the best round ever at the Nelson.

Wichita State is off to its first Final Four since 1965 with the appropriate nickname: Shockers. The ninth-seeded team from Kansas concluded its siege through the West Regional on Saturday with a 70-66 win over Ohio State in front of 17,998 at Staples Center. Wichita State is the first team seeded No. 9 to reach the Final Four since Penn in 1979. That was also the last year a team from the Missouri Valley Conference made it: You may remember Indiana State, Larry Bird and the Sycamores.

Notre Dame finished the college football season undefeated and will play in the BCS championship game. Ohio State also went unbeaten but is ineligible for a bowl due to NCAA sanctions. Writers from around the Tribune Co. discuss the possible outcomes if the two teams had been able to meet this season. Feel free to join the conversation with a comment of your own. Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times There are a lot of similarities between the two schools. Both have star coaches who came up through the MAC ranks who also led previous schools to undefeated seasons.

Ohio State's LaQuinton Ross received a lot of attention in the last 24 hours. That happens when you step up and make a tie-breaking three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to keep alive your team's dreams of winning a national title. Ross' shot on Thursday gave Ohio State a 73-70 victory over Arizona, advancing the Buckeyes to Saturday's NCAA West Regional final against Wichita State at Staples Center. Asked what the aftermath had been like, Ross said, "Basically, just a lot of phone calls, a lot of texts, a lot of stuff on Twitter.

Here's how Kansas and Ohio State match up in one of the Final Four games Saturday in New Orleans. SCOUTING REPORT: Ohio State's 78-67 loss at Kansas on Dec. 10 comes with a huge asterisk because the Buckeyes' best player, Jared Sullinger, missed the game due to back spasms. Sullinger has made 27 free throws in four NCAA tournament games, the most of any player in the field.  Sullinger's inside matchup with Kansas' Thomas Robinson may require...

Ohio State remained undefeated Saturday by rallying to defeat Purdue, 29-22, in overtime but the victory was marred by an injury to star quarterback Braxton Miller. Miller suffered an apparent head injury after being tackled in the third quarter and was taken to a local hospital for observation. Miller entered the game as a Heisman Trophy candidate who had amassed 2,183 passing and rushing yards entering Saturday's game. Backup Kenny Guiton replaced Miller and rallied Ohio State in regulation, throwing a touchdown pass with three seconds remaining to cut the lead to two. The Buckeyes converted the two-point conversion to send the game into overtime.

When former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel was under attack in 2010 for potential NCAA violations he was vehemently defended, at least at first, by his school president. "I'm just hopeful the coach doesn't dismiss me," Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee quipped at a press conference. Maybe now we know why. Without Ohio State, how would Gee pay for his bow ties? While Tressel's ultimate firing led to major sanctions, including a bowl ban this season, Gee is getting along just fine.

Ohio State defensive end Matt Finkes on the Arizona State offense: "They have some similarities to Michigan as far as the running attack," said Finkes, who was a first-team All-Big Ten selection. "As far as their passing game, I wouldn't really liken them to anybody in the Big Ten." * After sitting out Friday's workout because of flu, offensive tackle Orlando Pace and guard LeShun Daniels practiced Saturday morning.

No. 9 Ohio State 21, at Michigan 10: Tate Forcier threw four interceptions and fumbled in his end zone, and the Buckeyes took advantage for their sixth straight win in the series. Ohio State clinched an outright Big Ten championship and will play in the Rose Bowl with a five-game winning streak. No. 13 Penn State 42, at Michigan State 14: Daryll Clark passed for 310 yards and four touchdowns to move into first place in the school's record book with 23 touchdown passes in a season and 42 in a career.

It's counterintuitive, but Ohio State's small lineup paid big dividends on the boards Thursday. Ohio State defeated Arizona, 73-70, at Staples Center and advances to the West Regional final on Saturday. The Buckeyes out-rebounded the Wildcats, 32-30, and 11-9 on the offensive end, something that wasn't expected. Kaleb Tarczewski , Arizona's 7-foot freshman center, played just 16 minutes, far less than the other four starters. By putting smaller, quicker players on the floor, Ohio State forced Arizona to follow suit.

Some West Regional final this turned out to be. The closest school left, Wichita State, is located 1,380 miles from epicenter court at Staples Center. Ohio State in the NCAA West makes as much sense as Dallas in the NFC East. That is not to say Saturday's game between No. 9-seeded Wichita State and No. 2 Ohio State won't be terrific in a salt-of-the-earth, country-strong sense. The West bracket turned out to be as fragile as a bird's nest. Of the top eight seeded teams, only No. 6 and No. 2 survived much past the check-in desk.

OHIO STATE vs. WICHITA STATE SCOUTING REPORT: The pressure is on Big Ten Conference member Ohio State, which is trying to live up to its No. 2 seeding in the regional. The Buckeyes required a last-second shot to get past Arizona and now they meet a physical Wichita State team that welcomes the opportunity to mix it up inside. "They've got nothing to lose," Ohio State forward Deshaun Thomas said. "So they're going to come out there and try to get every loose ball, every rebound, so we're going to have to match that.

It's counterintuitive, but Ohio State's small lineup paid big dividends on the boards Thursday. Ohio State defeated Arizona, 73-70, at Staples Center and advances to the West Regional final on Saturday. The Buckeyes out-rebounded the Wildcats, 32-30, and 11-9 on the offensive end, something that wasn't expected. Kaleb Tarczewski , Arizona's 7-foot freshman center, played just 16 minutes, far less than the other four starters. By putting smaller, quicker players on the floor, Ohio State forced Arizona to follow suit.

STARTERS OHIO STATE; HT.; WT.; Stats; P; ARIZONA; HT.; WT.; Stats Deshaun Thomas, 6-7; 225; 19.7 ppg; F; Solomon Hill; 6-7; 220; 13.3 ppg Sam Thompson; 6-7; 190; 7.8 ppg; F; Kevin Parrom; 6-6; 220; 8.3 ppg Amir Williams; 6-11; 250; 3.9 rpg; C; Kaleb Tarczewski; 7-0; 255; 6.2 rpg Aaron Craft; 6-2; 190; 10.0 ppg; G; Mark Lyons; 6-1; 200; 15.4 ppg Lenzelle Smith Jr.; 6-4; 205; 9.4 ppg; G; Nick Johnson; 6-3; 200; 11.6 ppg ...

He not only made the winning pass, he ordered the winning basket. That is how Aaron Craft rolls, either into your heart or under your skin, his tiny hands rummaging deep into the pockets of March, his rosy cheeks squarely in America's face. With two seconds remaining in a deadlocked, chaotic NCAA West Regional semifinal at Staples Center on Thursday night, Ohio State guard Craft flipped the ball to open teammate LaQuinton Ross with instructions. "Knock it down!" he shouted above the roar, just before Ross launched a three-point shot whose swish gave the Buckeyes a 73-70 victory over Arizona.

A day before LaQuinton Ross leaped, splayed his legs and downed Arizona with a decisive three-pointer Thursday, the 6-foot-8 Ohio State forward randomly won the locker-room lottery. He walked into the Lakers' locker room at Staples Center - his team's temporary digs in the NCAA tournament - and staked a claim to a corner locker that normally belongs to another clutch shooter. "I found out from one of the guys who worked here it was Kobe Bryant's locker," Ross said after the Buckeyes' 73-70 victory.

Evan Turner drained a 37-foot shot at the buzzer to give Ohio State a 69-68 victory over Michigan in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals Friday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Turner took an inbounds pass, dribbled upcourt and pulled up barely past halfcourt. He finished with 18 points and eight assists for the No. 5-ranked Buckeyes (25-7), who will move on to play Illinois (19-13), which beat No. 13 Wisconsin, 58-54. "I was just trying to get the ball up and get it in shooting range and keep my follow-through, and it went in," Turner said.

Ohio State star Chris "Beanie" Wells isn't ready to say whether the Fiesta Bowl will be his last game for the Buckeyes. "I personally feel like I haven't done enough at Ohio State, the things I wanted to accomplish here, to move on to the next level," the junior running back said Thursday. Asked if that meant he was leaning toward staying at Ohio State for another season, Wells said: "I don't want to say I'm leaning toward staying or I'm leaning toward going.

Florida Gulf Coast is a hot story and, gee, that old La Salle played great, but all of that may not matter. Forget Louisville, Indiana, Duke and Syracuse and save your talk about difference-maker guards Peyton Siva of Louisville, Miami's Shane Larkin, Ohio State's Aaron Craft and Michigan's Trey Burke leading their schools to this year's national title. The truth is, Arizona will win this year's NCAA title if senior guard Mark Lyons plays the way he played last weekend in Salt Lake City.

My dream of a West Regional foursome of Wichita State, La Salle, Harvard and Iowa State came only half true. Los Angeles fell two underdogs short from hitting for the Cinderella cycle. The disappointment abated when, in Philadelphia, the hallucination that was Florida Gulf Coast University lived into Sunday evening. More than Coach K calling a timeout, or Kansas Coach Bill Self's perfectly coiffed hair, these are the story lines that make the NCAA tournament the best reality show on television.