ESPN is currently airing their first Sunday Night Baseball as the Washington Nationals open their new ballpark, but it is the Cleveland Indians that I want to talk about. Two major ESPN baseball personalities, Peter Gammons and John Kruk, both picked the Indians tonight to represent the American League in the 2008 World Series. Gammons picked the Indians to defeat the Braves in 7 games while Kruk later chose the Indians to lose to the Cubs.

The Indians will open the 2008 season on Monday @ 3:05 as they host their AL Central Division rivals, the Chicago White Sox. C.C. Sababthia, the 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner, will get the opening day start for Cleveland and will face Mark Buehrle for the White Sox.

The opening round of the 2008 Ohio college basketball tournament is here as we give you the match-ups of Ohio Sports Time’s simulated tournament.

First round byes go to the Top 3 seeds, #1 Xavier, #2 Kent State and #3 Ohio State. First round matchups will be:

• #4 Dayton hosting #13 Yougstown State
• #5 Akron hosting #12 Bowling Green
• #6 Cleveland State hosting #11 Toledo
• #7 Miami hosting #10 Wright State
• #8 Ohio hosting #9 Cincinnati

The Xavier Musketeers started fast and have taken a 32-25 lead over West Virginia into the half of their Sweet 16 matchup. Xavier has led by as many as 18 in the first half as the Musketeers have four players with atleast 6 points in the game thus far. Two quick fouls on WVU’s Joe Alexander have held the Mountaineers’ star player to just 3 first half points.

The winner of this game will face the winner of #1 UCLA vs. #12 Western Kentucky in the Elite 8 matchup on Saturday.

In the spirit of the 2008 college basketball postseason, Ohio Sports Time decided to offer our own postseason tournament. This marks the first-ever Ohio College Basketball Tournament as we simulate a 13-team, single-elimination tournament. Higher seeds will host the lower seeds in first round games with the quarterfinals and semifinals to be played at the home of Ohio’s lone professional basketball team, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

Over the next few days we will release the results of each of the games based on the Ohio Sports Time staff’s knowledge of Ohio basketball. Feel free to use the comment feature on our blog to voice your opinions.

The seeding for the 2008 Ohio College Basketball Tournament will be:
#1 - Xavier - Easily the #1 seed based on regular season and postseason results.
#2 - Kent State - Despite their first half collapse in the NCAA Tournament’s first round, Kent State’s overall resume earns the Golden Flashes the #2 seed in the state of Ohio.
#3 - Ohio State - Coming into the NIT, OSU would likely have been below the Flyers, but after defeating Dayton in the NIT the Buckeyes take the #3 seed and the valuable first round bye.
#4 - Dayton - The Flyers looked like a NCAA-worthy team in winning @ Illinois State in the NIT, but could not handle Ohio State’s second half surge in Columbus, dropping them to #4.
#5 - Akron - The Zips got a tough draw in the NIT as they won @ Florida State before falling to UMass, a NIT Final Four team.
#6 - Cleveland State - Gary Waters has turned the Vikings around as CSU is now a relevant contender in the state of Ohio after a 21-13 season.
#7 - Miami - Despite Miami’s recent coaching changes, the RedHawks were solid once again in MAC play and in the MAC Tournament in 2008. A CBI first round loss @ Tulsa does not look so bad considering Tulsa has advanced to the CBI Championship Series and the RedHawks were without leading scorer Michael Bramos. Since this is a simulation, we will assume Bramos is healthy for our tournament.
#8 - Ohio - The Bobcats were a disappointment in 2008 as Tim O’Shea’s club finished at 20-13 after a CBI second round meltdown @ Bradley.
#9 - Cincinnati - The Bearcats have some impressive wins as well as head-scratching losses in 2008. If this were only RPI-based, UC would be seeded below Wright State, but Ohio Sports Time feels the Bearcats should get the edge over Wright State for the #9 spot.
#10 - Wright State - The Raiders had an impressive season going 21-10, but Wright State lost four of their final five games. As a result, the Bearcats edge the Raiders for the #10 spot in the 2008 Ohio College Basketball Tournament.
#11 - Toledo - The Rockets ended the season with wins in three of four games and their MAC Tournament win over Bowling Green gives Toledo the nod for the #11 seed over BG.
#12 - Bowling Green - Louis Orr has the Falcons headed in the right direction as BG defeated Kent State, Miami and Ohio at home and defeated Cincinnati this season. Expect to see Bowling Green improve on their #12 seed in the next few seasons.
#13 - Youngstown State - 2008 was not kind to YSU basketball as the Penguins were 0-12 against teams in the RPI Top 100, and the state of Ohio featured nine Top 100 teams.

After trailing 31-30 at the half and watching the Dayton Flyers agressively out-rebound his Buckeyes, OSU coach Thad Matta must have given his team one heck of a halftime speech. The Buckeyes came out on fire as they outscored the Flyers 44-32 in the second half and led by as many as 18 in the second half as they cruised to a 74-63 victory. With the win, #1 Ohio State will face #2 Mississippi in the NIT Final Four at Madison Square Garden on April 1st.

ESPN has called this the “Battle of the Buckeye State” as the #1 seed Ohio State Buckeyes trail the #3 seed Dayton Flyers 31-30 at the half. Brian Roberts has 11 points and three 3-pointers to lead Dayton at the half in what has been quite a physical game so far. The Buckeyes are led by Jamar Butler’s 6 assists and Kosta Koufos with 9 points, but fouls have become an issue already. While Dayton has been whistled for 10 fouls to Ohio State’s 7, Othello Hunter had 3 first-half fouls for Ohio State and Koufos had two while Dayton has four different players with two fouls.

Find Dayton Flyers hats and Ohio State clothing & apparel from College Sports Fans and merchandise for all Ohio teams online through Ohio Sports Time.

When the NIT brackets were released, this was the game I was hoping for. #1 seed Ohio State vs. #3 Dayton with the winner advancing to the NIT Final Four in Madison Square Gardens. Two teams thought to be on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament selection committee have proved that they are taking the consolation prize, the NIT, seriously.

On Wednesday night @ 9 pm the Buckeyes will host the Flyers with the game to be televised on ESPN2 and ESPN 360. Ohio State comes in with a record of 21-13 and NIT wins at home over UNC-Asheville and California. Dayton enters the game at 23-10 after a home win over Cleveland State and a tough road win @ Illinois State.

OSU/Dayton Prediction: Despite Thad Matta’s strong coaching and motivation, the Flyers “want it more” than the Buckeyes. Few times do Ohio teams get to play the Buckeyes as Ohio State does not favor scheduling games in-state, and this game presents an opportunity for Dayton to prove that Ohio State is not the only school in the state with a strong sports program. The Flyers’ fan base will expand greatly as the die-hard fans of OU, Miami, BG, Akron, Kent, Cleveland State, Toledo & more will become Dayton fans for a night. Look for Dayton to join Xavier as the only teams from the state of Ohio alive in 2008 Division I college basketball postseason play.  

As the top-seeded team not from a “major” conference, Xavier had a lot to live up to in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. The Musketeers surely have not forgotten their near-upset of Ohio State in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, a game that saw Xavier blow a lead late and fall in overtime. It appears this team has learned a lot from that experience as in two game in this year’s Big Dance, the Musketeers have not been rattled despite adversity. After watching Purdue erase a 10-point deficit and take a 61-60 lead late in their game today, Sean Miller’s Xavier team responded to the challenge and held on for a 85-78 victory.

With the win, Xavier (29-6) advances to the Sweet 16 and will face #7 West Virginia who upset #2 Duke 73-67 earlier in the day.

Buy Xavier shirts & apparel online at DFN Sports partner sites.

As Ohio’s lone 2008 NCAA Tournament representatives, #3 seed Xavier and #9 seed Kent State looked to make Ohio basketball fans proud. Both fell behind early, but that is where the similarities ended. In the first game of the day, #3 Xavier faced #14 Georgia and the SEC Tournament Champions led the Musketeers 35-26 at the half. But Sean Miller’s team came out firing in the second half scoring 47 points and pulling away for a 73-61 win. With the win, Xavier advances to play #6 Purdue who was a 90-79 winner over #11 Baylor.

Meanwhile, Kent State scored a NCAA Tournament record-low 10 points in the first half, digging themselves a hole that the Golden Flashes could not climb out of, falling to #8 UNLV by a final score of 71-58. While Kent did score 48 second half points, they could not hold down the Runnin’ Rebels offense. While Kent State has now been eliminated from the Big Dance, the concern for the Flashes now is will Jim Christian leave for Providence? Tim Welsh was recently fired to open the head coaching position, and Christian spent his college days at Boston University and Rhode Island, so he knows the area.

Find Kent State clothing & merchandise as well as Xavier shirts & apparel online at DFN Sports partner sites.

The seeding has held true so far throughout most of the 2008 NIT Tournament, and two Ohio colleges will be playing in the NIT’s version of the Sweet 16. #1 seed Ohio State topped #8 UNC-Asheville 84-66 on Tuesday night to begin the NIT this year, then #3 Dayton topped in-state opponent #6 Cleveland State on Wednesday night by a score of 66-57. With the wins, Ohio State will host the winner of tonight’s #5 New Mexico @ #4 California while Dayton will face the winner of tonight’s #7 Utah State @ #2 Illinois State game.

Meanwhile, over in the new CBI Tournament, the Ohio Bobcats are the lone Ohio team to advance past the first round. The UC Bearcats lost tonight @ Bradley 70-67 while Miami lost @ Tulsa 61-45. Ohio hosted Brown on Tuesday night and picked up a 80-74 victory and will play @ Bradley on Monday, March 24th for the right to be one of the Final Four CBI teams in 2008.