March S[imulation]adness: Fort Wayne region features potential Ohio State-Mississippi State matchup

A potential blockbuster second round matchup

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When Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff travels to Starkville for the upcoming simulated first and second round of the 2020 NCAA Tournament, he has an ace in the hole when it comes to culinary options.

“I have known Vic Schaefer a long time,” McGuff told High Post Hoops. “So I’m going to give him a call before we come down and find out all of the places I need to hit up in Starkville.”

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Ohio State, a six seed in our bracket, has a tall order ahead of a potential second round matchup against Mississippi State, though.

The Buckeyes are facing Western Kentucky, the 11 seed, led by hyper-efficient combo guard Whitney Creech. The Hilltoppers were led in minutes per game by Creech, who scored 13.7 points per game, and she did it shooting better than 40 percent from three. Along with big Raneem Elgedawy and versatile wing Dee Givens, the Western Kentucky test is a difficult one for the Buckeyes.

“Whitney Creech is a very good player,” McGuff said. “She’s very talented and not only good at creating for herself but she makes her teammates better. We’re going to have to try to limit her touches. Force her to give it up and then try to not let her get it back. We obviously don’t want her to beat us but we also need to make sure we aren’t too focused only her and let the others go off.”

Ohio State has found a pathway toward that defensive focus, finishing the season with 10 wins in their last 13 games, and not coincidentally, allowing fewer than a point per possession to 10 of their 13 opponents in that stretch. McGuff noted that the last of those, a loss to Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament title game, came as the Buckeyes played their fourth game in four days.

“We’re going to need to play really well defensively,” McGuff said. “Western Kentucky is a team that can put up a bunch of points and if you let them get hot early, you can get buried. When we’ve played our best basketball this year, we’ve been really locked in on the defensive end.”

Then again, Western Kentucky could struggle for defensive answers against Kierstan Bell and Dorka Juhasz, a pair of players taller than 6′ who have a knack for scoring in a variety of ways. Western Kentucky, which finished 221st in the country in defensive efficiency, will need to outscore the Buckeyes to win, in all likelihood.

McGuff isn’t taking the Hilltoppers lightly, however.

“Western Kentucky is certainly a good program that has been to the NCAA Tournament a number of times here recently,” he said. “Coach Collins has done a great job and has continued the winning culture that Michelle Clark-Heard set before she moved on. They too have been on a roll over the last month so it will be a very difficult matchup for us.”

One of our guest analysts, Atlanta Dream head coach Nicki Collen, agrees.

“I think WKU would upset Ohio state with high ball screen execution and inside/outside balance,” Collen said.

As for the hosts, Mississippi State has been consistent all year, and few expect the 14 seed, Boise State, to slow down the twin engines of Jessika Carter and Rickea Jackson. That would set up a meeting of old friends, with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.

Also in the Fort Wayne region: two seed Louisville takes on 15 seed Radford, and in what Collen calls one of the best matchups between “two high octane motion offensive teams”, seven seed FGCU takes on ten seed Creighton.

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