As disappointing as it was to see the Ohio State Buckeyes get left out of the NCAA tournament, I find it awfully difficult to argue with their omission, even from the partial perspective of a fan.

The Buckeyes were given every single opportunity to prove that they could compete with the upper-echelon of college basketball (or at least the Big Ten), and during the all-important home stretch of the season, they laid a big fat egg.  Including the Big Ten Tournament loss to MSU, the Buckeyes final nine games consisted of seven "make or break your tournament hopes" types of games.  Seven!  Through the first four of those games -- a home and home with the Hoosiers, home against Wisconsin, and at Minnesota -- the Bucks succeeded in making a name for themselves exactly zero times (And, of course, they also lost to lowly Michigan during that stretch).  When those wins finally did come around against Purdue and Michigan State, it seemed like too little too late.  

Yet, the Buckeyes were miraculously given yet another chance when every single other bubble team around the country began dropping like flies.  Hope was reborn!  Of course, however, the Buckeyes returned their normal buckle-under-the-pressure selves when it counted the most in the conference tournament.  Quite frankly, this team got every chance in the world to squeak in and then some, and they blew it.  The Buckeyes have no one to blame but themselves.  It's almost sad these days to see mediocre big-conference teams like Ohio State be given opportunity after opportunity to make the tournament, while much more talented mid-majors get eliminated from the discussion one upset into the season.

I don't feel snubbed, and hopefully nobody else does either.  The bottom line is that the Buckeyes weren't one of the 32 best teams not to win their conference tournament, and it wasn't all that close.

At least we still get to see Kenny George.