# 2006–07 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team

The 2006–07 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team represented Ohio State University in the 2006–07 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by third-year head coach Thad Matta, and played their home games at the Value City Arena, in Columbus, Ohio as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 35–4, 15–1 in Big Ten play to win the regular season Big Ten championship. As the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten tournament, they defeated Michigan, Purdue, and Wisconsin to win the tournament championship. As a result, the team earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, received the No. 1 seed in the South regional, and was the overall top seed of the tournament. They defeated Central Connecticut State and Matta's former team, Xavier, to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The Buckeyes then defeated Tennessee and Memphis to advance to the Final Four, their first trip to the Final Four under Matta. With a win over Georgetown, the team advanced to the national championship game against Florida, where they lost 84–75. Of note, the Florida football team also defeated the Buckeyes to win the National Championship in the same year.

## Preseason
### Recruiting

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Mike Conley Jr. PG | Indianapolis, IN | Lawrence North HS | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | Jun 29, 2005 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Daequan Cook SG | Dayton, OH | Dunbar HS | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Mar 23, 2005 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| David Lighty SF | Cleveland, OH | Villa Angela-St. Joseph HS | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Apr 29, 2005 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Greg Oden C | Indianapolis, IN | Lawrence North HS | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) | 240 lb (110 kg) | Jun 29, 2005 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Junior College/Transfers ||||||
| Othello Hunter PF | Winston-Salem, NC | Hillsborough CC | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 215 lb (98 kg) | Jul 18, 2007 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 2 Rivals: 2 ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Ohio State 2006 Basketball Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved April 4, 2010. "2006 Ohio State Basketball Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved April 4, 2010. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved April 4, 2010. "2006 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved April 4, 2010. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 1* 1:00 pm | No. 4 | Findlay | W 80–57 | | Value City Arena Columbus, OH |
| November 5* 1:00 pm | No. 4 | Walsh | W 87–62 | | Value City Arena Columbus, OH |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 10* 8:00 pm | No. 4 | VMI BCA Classic | W 107–69 | 1–0 | Value City Arena (13,219) Columbus, OH |
| November 11* 8:00 pm | No. 4 | Loyola (IL) BCA Classic | W 87–75 | 2–0 | Value City Arena (13,269) Columbus, OH |
| November 12* 8:00 pm | No. 4 | Kent State BCA Classic | W 81–59 | 3–0 | Value City Arena (12,883) Columbus, OH |
| November 17* 7:00 pm | No. 4 | Eastern Kentucky | W 74–45 | 4–0 | Value City Arena (18,882) Columbus, OH |
| November 20* 8:00 pm | No. 3 | San Francisco | W 82–60 | 5–0 | Value City Arena (14,592) Columbus, OH |
| November 24* 8:00 pm | No. 3 | vs. Youngstown State | W 91–57 | 6–0 | Nationwide Arena (17,463) Columbus, OH |
| November 29* 9:00 pm | No. 1 | at No. 6 North Carolina ACC–Big Ten Challenge | L 89–98 | 6–1 | Dean Smith Center (21,750) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 2* 4:00 pm | No. 1 | Valparaiso | W 78–58 | 7–1 | Value City Arena (17,311) Columbus, OH |
| December 9* 2:00 pm | No. 4 | Cleveland State | W 78–57 | 8–1 | Value City Arena (17,158) Columbus, OH |
| December 16* 3:56 pm | No. 4 | vs. Cincinnati John R. Wooden Tradition | W 72–50 | 9–1 | Conseco Fieldhouse (18,356) Indianapolis, IN |
| December 19* 8:00 pm | No. 3 | Iowa State | W 75–56 | 10–1 | Value City Arena (18,905) Columbus, OH |
| December 23* 4:00 pm | No. 3 | at No. 4 Florida | L 60–86 | 10–2 | O'Connell Center (12,621) Gainesville, FL |
| December 30* 8:00 pm | No. 6 | Coppin State | W 91–54 | 11–2 | Value City Arena (18,943) Columbus, OH |
| January 2 8:00 pm | No. 6 | Indiana | W 74–67 | 12–2 (1–0) | Value City Arena (18,813) Columbus, OH |
| January 6 1:00 pm | No. 6 | at Illinois | W 62–44 | 13–2 (2–0) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| January 9 8:05 pm | No. 5 | at No. 4 Wisconsin | L 69–72 | 13–3 (2–1) | Kohl Center (17,190) Madison, WI |
| January 13* 1:00 pm | No. 5 | No. 20 Tennessee | W 68–66 | 14–3 | Value City Arena (18,817) Columbus, OH |
| January 17 8:00 pm | No. 7 | Northwestern | W 73–41 | 15–3 (3–1) | Value City Arena (18,903) Columbus, OH |
| January 20 8:00 pm | No. 7 | Iowa | W 82–63 | 16–3 (4–1) | Value City Arena (18,963) Columbus, OH |
| January 24 7:00 pm | No. 5 | at Northwestern | W 59–50 | 17–3 (5–1) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (6,646) Evanston, IL |
| January 27 9:00 pm | No. 5 | Michigan State ESPN College GameDay | W 66–64 | 18–3 (6–1) | Value City Arena (18,965) Columbus, OH |
| January 31 7:00 pm | No. 4 | at Purdue | W 78–60 | 19–3 (7–1) | Mackey Arena (13,961) West Lafayette, IN |
| February 3 4:00 pm | No. 4 | at Michigan State | W 63–54 | 20–3 (8–1) | Breslin Center (14,759) East Lansing, MI |
| February 6 7:00 pm | No. 3 | Michigan | W 76–63 | 21–3 (9–1) | Value City Arena (18,927) Columbus, OH |
| February 10 12:15 pm | No. 3 | Purdue | W 63–56 | 22–3 (10–1) | Value City Arena (18,988) Columbus, OH |
| February 14 7:00 pm | No. 2 | at Penn State | W 64–62 | 23–3 (11–1) | Bryce Jordan Center (10,027) University Park, PA |
| February 18 12:00 pm | No. 2 | at Minnesota | W 85–67 | 24–3 (12–1) | Williams Arena (13,026) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 21 8:00 pm | No. 1 | Penn State | W 68–60 | 25–3 (13–1) | Value City Arena (18,957) Columbus, OH |
| February 25 4:00 pm | No. 1 | No. 2 Wisconsin | W 49–48 | 26–3 (14–1) | Value City Arena (19,044) Columbus, OH |
| March 3 4:00 pm | No. 1 | at Michigan | W 65–61 | 27–3 (15–1) | Crisler Arena (13,751) Ann Arbor, MI |
| Big Ten tournament ||||||
| March 9 11:00 am | (1) No. 1 | (8) Michigan Quarterfinals | W 72–62 | 28–3 | United Center (18,103) Chicago, IL |
| March 10 12:40 pm | (1) No. 1 | (5) Purdue Semifinals | W 63–52 $^{CBS}$ | 29–3 | United Center (20,471) Chicago, IL |
| March 11 2:30 pm, CBS | (1) No. 1 | (2) No. 4 Wisconsin Championship | W 66–49 | 30–3 | United Center (17,538) Chicago, IL |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 15 7:10 pm, CBS | (1 S) No. 1 | vs. (16 S) Central Connecticut State First Round | W 78–57 | 31–3 | Rupp Arena (20,752) Lexington, KY |
| March 17 1:10 pm, CBS | (1 S) No. 1 | vs. (9 S) Xavier Second Round | W 78–71 $^{OT}$ | 32–3 | Rupp Arena (20,882) Lexington, KY |
| March 22 9:18 pm, CBS | (1 S) No. 1 | vs. (5 S) Tennessee Sweet Sixteen | W 85–84 | 33–3 | Alamodome (26,776) San Antonio, TX |
| March 24 3:40 pm, CBS | (1 S) No. 1 | vs. (2 S) No. 5 Memphis Elite Eight | W 92–76 | 34–3 | Alamodome (26,260) San Antonio, TX |
| March 31 6:07 pm, CBS | (1 S) No. 1 | vs. (2 E) No. 8 Georgetown Final Four | W 67–60 | 35–3 | Georgia Dome (53,510) Atlanta, GA |
| April 2 9:21 pm, CBS | (1 S) No. 1 | vs. (1 MW) No. 3 Florida National Championship Game | L 75–84 | 35–4 | Georgia Dome (51,458) Atlanta, GA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from Coaches' Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 (15) | 5 | 4 (2) | 3 (3) | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 (31) | 1 (62) | 1 (70) | 1 (71) | Not released |
| Coaches | 4 (1) | 4 (1) | 3 (1) | 1 (11) | 4 | 4 (1) | 3 (2) | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 (17) | 1 (29) | 1 (30) | 1 | 2 |
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings.