Men's Basketball
Home Team: Ohio State Buckeyes
Visiting Team: Bowling Green Falcons
Venue: Schottenstein Center (Columbus, Ohio)
Game Time: 8:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None
Given my previous experience as a visiting fan at an Ohio State sporting event, I debated for quite some time over whether or not I was going to go to this one. After seeing the Falcons play last week, though, I felt like they might have a shot at this one, and I knew I'd be pretty irritated with myself if they won and I wasn't there to see it in person. And I thought maybe their basketball crowd would be a little more easygoing than their football crowd.
And I was right on that count. No one had any snide comments or dirty looks for me in my bright orange BGSU shirt, even when I took my seat just two rows behind the OSU bench. I even ended up chatting a little bit with the guy sitting next to me, although our chatter grew more and more infrequent as the game wore on and the Falcons failed to just go away as several fans behind us seemed to think they should.
As I mentioned, I ended up right behind OSU's bench, just two rows from the court itself. How I ended up with that particular seat I'm not entirely sure - I bought it online from everyone's favorite global ticket conglomerate on the day before the game, and that's just where I landed. I didn't know myself how close I was until I got to the arena and started down the ramp. It sounds like a great place to watch a game, but frankly, I wouldn't have minded being a little higher up. I had a great view of the game when it was on my end of the court, but it was hard to see when it went to the other end - weird angle, coaches and officials standing in the way, etc. Even given that, though, and the Falcons' loss, I'm glad I decided to go. Watching in person is almost always better than watching on TV, and going into a Big Ten setting isn't something you get a chance to do every day.
The game got pretty close down toward the end, which made it exciting, but in the end BG just didn't hit enough shots or take good enough care of the ball to pull off the upset. I wasn't particularly impressed with any of OSU's guys, but they're well coached under Matta, and they play a sound game of basketball. The Falcons didn't play poorly by any stretch of the imagination, but they turned the ball over a couple of times right at the very end when hanging onto it could have turned a loss into a victory. Still, it's hard to be too upset, going into the Buckeyes' house and taking them down to the wire. Again I was impressed with Darryl Clements; Brian Moten and Nate Miller provided the offensive punch; and Joe Jakubowski did a nice job handling the ball against OSU's pressure defense. I also thought Otis Polk did well in the post against Ohio State's size advantage.
I have to say, attending this game was unlike any college hoops experience I've had before. Traffic before and after the game was easily navigated, although that may have been because I had to park so far away that I had to take a shuttle to the parking lot to the arena and back again after the game. The Schottenstein Center is an NBA-caliber venue, but that really took any semblance of a college atmosphere out of the game, which, to be honest, probably helped BG's chances. It was definitely the most sterile place I've ever seen a college game - even when BG played Michigan State at the Palace at Auburn Hills several years ago, the place was packed with screaming fans. This wasn't even like an NBA game. It was...just weird.
(I got some pretty cool photos I'll post as soon as I remember to unload them from my camera.)
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