This is underrated. The tourney can be loads of fun, but having a great team going in is more or less a lesson in disappointment. I still have mental scars on Matta's best team, which got dropped by Kentucky in the Sweet 16.
Oh man, me too. They were the #1 seed that year (2010/11) and got their first weekend games in Cleveland so I bought the NCAA Package ticket and went. They obliterated #16 UTSA on Friday. On Sunday they got #8 George Mason and George Mason had made a run to the F4 a few years prior as a #11 seed so their fans were wearing "We are this year's George Mason" t-shirts. That was cute and then the game started. Ohio State doubled them up 52-26 in the first half and coasted to an easy win by 30+.
I really thought that Kentucky was an underseeded #4 that year and they backed that up by getting to the F4 where they lost their semi-final by a single point to the eventual NC, UCONN.
That was definitely the best Ohio State team I've ever seen. They had good defense and they had a slew of scoring options. Sullinger was a presence inside, Diebler (Threebler) at the time (might still be) was the B1G's all-time leading three point shooter, and the leading scorer (IIRC) was Buford.
In that Kentucky game the Buckeyes had a just terrible night. Craft was never much of a shooter and was mainly on the court for his defense and to run the offense but he played 36 minutes and scored two points (on two-of-three FT) while going 0-5 from the field. That is a lot of minutes for two points. Sullinger and Diebler were ok, but didn't have great nights, not enough to make up for what is next:
Buford, the team's leading scorer, had a just dreadful night. He played 37 minutes and was 2-16 (including 1-3 from behind the line). He had nine points including 4-4 FT's.
Despite that bad of a night from the team's leading scorer the Buckeyes actually had a shot in the air to win at the buzzer. Unfortunately that shot was Buford's 14th and final miss of the evening. Honestly, I will always believe that if that team had made one more shot against Kentucky they'd have won the NC but it was not to be.