BY The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The thought of Ohio State making a postseason tournament might have caused some snickering among fans at the beginning of the season, considering the Buckeyes' 34-78 record in the previous four years. But no one's laughing now.
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In winning the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic this week, the Buckeyes did three things they haven't done consistently for a long time: Win on the road, defeat quality opposition and hold onto a lead in the late stages.
Ohio State survived a late challenge to defeat Conference USA member Alabama-Birmingham 71-64, had a surprisingly easy 81-64 victory over the ACC's North Carolina State and held off Mississippi of the SEC 67-60, outscoring the Rebels 7-2 in the final minute of the championship game.
"I never questioned whether we could win or not," team captain Scoonie Penn said. "It was just whether we could win away from home, and we proved we can do it."
The Buckeyes are 11-2 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten Conference and have surpassed their victory total for any season since 1993-94, when they won 13.
With 11 victories already, the Buckeyes need five or six wins in their remaining 16 games to give them enough for at least strong consideration by the National Invitation Tournament. A .500 season (8-8) in Big Ten play would give them 19 -- a number that could be enough for an NCAA Tournament berth.
But coach Jim O'Brien said it's too early to have tournament dreams, considering the quality opponents to come.
"For anybody who wants to challenge our schedule, all I'll say is we're playing in the second-highest-rated conference in America right now," O'Brien said, "and I'll compare our last 19 games of the year with anybody's."
O'Brien took considerable heat for scheduling Oakland, Robert Morris, Army, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee-Martin and Florida Atlantic among his team's first 10 opponents this season. The Buckeyes beat five of the six by 27 points or more.
"Everybody wanted to harp on those first few games. We knew exactly what it was that we were doing," O'Brien said.
The victories gave a taste of success to a program badly in need of it and may have produced enough confidence to sustain the Buckeyes against tougher opposition.
