tBBC All-Time Tourney Semi Finals: #2 2007 vs. #3 1992

To the victor go the spoils, and in this case, the winner of this mythical match up gets to face the Jerry Lucas led squad of 1960. When you look at the success of teams in Ohio State history we have covered every one of them in depth in this tournament. We have yet to have a game where the parallels were scary. For the Jim Jackson led 1992 team they played in one of the best all around era’s in college basketball history. For Mike Conley and Greg Oden, there was just one team that was clearly better in the Florida Gators.

The 1992 Buckeyes was very diverse and talented group that competed with every team in the nation. They had a transfer from Indiana in Lawrence Funderburke who contributed early and often and became an eventual starter that season. Jamaal Brown is still considered one of the best PG’s to play in Columbus and of course there’s Jim Jackson. I still believe if they hadn’t had the misfortune of facing TTUN for a third time that season they would have won it all.

The 2007 Buckeyes were instantly successful with incoming frosh Greg Oden, Michael Conley and Daequan Cook. The other two in that class were special as well and stuck around a little longer in Othello Hunter and David Lighty. Widely believed to be the best class to come in since Lucas, Havlicek and Nowell they took the fans on a great ride making it to the NCAA Championship.

What are to follow will be several comparisons of each team’s makeup. We will be including our opinions of each comparison with who has the advantage and at the end will be guest appearances. We hope you enjoy our tournament as we look forward to the outcome!

2007 Starters and Stats

2007 Team Stats

2007 Team in the Record Books
The 2007 team had three freshmen lead them to the promise land and all three left for greener pastures in the NBA.  There wasn’t a National list that Greg Oden was left off of and Mike Conley Jr. garnered several on the way as well including the Final Four all tourney team with Oden. Daequan Cook won the 6th man award in the Big Ten coming off the bench all season except for one start. Conley set single season marks in steals (87) and assists (238) on his way to a stellar freshman season.

1992 Starters and Stats

1992 Team Stats

Jim Jackson in the Record Books
There are few players in Ohio State basketball history that will be remembered for being the type of player Jim Jackson was in the Scarlet and Gray. Number 22 was a three year starter for the Buckeyes, he led them to three NCAA appearances and two Big Ten Championships during one of the best era’s for basketball in the NCAA’s. Quite a resume for what a lot of fans consider the best to ever play in the S&G. Jackson was the 1990 Freshman POY in the B10 and followed that up with conference POY awards the next two seasons. In 1992 he was the UPI National POY before leaving for the NBA. His 1785 points are 6th all-time to go with his 9th best scoring average of 19.2 PPG. The all around great is also 8th all-time in assists with 372 and tied for 8th in steals with 147 for his career. Jackson led the Buckeyes in scoring all three years in Columbus and was the leading rebounder as well his junior year. He was the third Buckeye to have his jersey retired.

Playmaker

There is no doubt that the biggest playmaker in this game would be Jim Jackson. Fluent, smart, aggressive and timely. These are all traits that just begin to describe Jackson’s game. The Toledo product not only ended his career in the top ten in scoring, leading his team in all three seasons – he finished in the top ten in assists. Not to mention, he lead the team in rebound average in 1992. What made Jackson so good in his time on campus was his unselfishness.

That’s the definition of a playmaker.

The 2007 squad had a handful of players that you could consider playmakers. The timely shot of Ron Lewis, the block to stop a run from Greg Oden. The perfect pass to the hoop from Mike Conley.

Still, I’d take the intangibles of Jim Jackson any day down the wire. Advantage 1992

Post Presence
In a way, it seems silly to do a comparison in post presence between these two teams. The 2007 squad had once of the best centers Ohio State has ever seen in Greg Oden. As a rebounding team,  for a season they are 4th with 1,390 and only the Jerry Lucas led teams from 1960 to 1962 hold the three positions ahead of them.  The 1992 team had Bill Robinson in the post but he gave way to Lawrence Funderburke as the season went on so the up-tempo Buckeyes could get up and down the floor. Oden makes the career rebounding average list after just one season with 9.6 RPG and was a clear advantage in changing how teams went to the basket. His 105 blocks in a single season comes in 3rd all-time behind Ken Johnson and his single season has him in 7th in career blocks. It would have been interesting to see Oden stick around for one more season as Sullinger did.  Advantage 2007

Ball Handler

When it comes to Ohio State’s finest at controlling the basketball, it don’t get much better than Mike Conley Jr. Could you imagine if he had stayed on campus for more than one season? On a team where anyone could score at will, Conley took a back seat. He had 6 games with 10 assists or more. He broke the freshman mark for steals and assists in a season. He was one of the best at creating points off steals and fast breaks. And when he needed to score, he did so with authority. If Mike Conley didnt step up at the point, there is no way the 2007 team makes it to the championship game.

Despite Jim Jackson being one of the smoothest ballhandling forwards in NCAA history, you got to go with Conley’s ability to control ballgames with the ball in his hands. Advantage 2007

Head Coach
Randy Ayers did his best coaching job by not really coaching all that much. When you have a court general like Jim Jackson and the talent around him is smart? You can do just about anything you like. Coach Ayers was a great game day coach who had a good plan for most teams and that was simply outrun them. He had the Buckeyes in position to win it all and was very well liked by the fans.
He would be facing Thad Matta who is quickly becoming the best coach to ever roam the sidelines for the Scarlet and Gray. This team was his first full recruiting class that was his and he didn’t disappoint the fans. Though everyone thought it would be a tough act to follow, he did a great job keeping the team in position to take down the Gators in the title game. He too may have not had to coach that much with this ultra talented group but he managed it will especially starting the season off without injured Greg Oden. Both coaches won the Big Ten in these respective seasons. Coach Ayers was 15 and 1 at home and Coach Matta was an impressive 18 and 0.

Who do you think would win this mythical match up between two of the best teams in Ohio State history?? Leave your comments below and make sure you vote for the team you believe deserves to be in the finals on the left front corner of the website!