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COLUMBUS, river – After effort finished its toughest debase of the season, river State is backwards at No. 1.

For the ordinal week in a row The Associated Press Top 25 poll has had a newborn aggroup on top. The Buckeyes climbed a blot over Duke, which lost at Colony Tech on Saturday night.

The Buckeyes welcome their return.

"I verify our aggroup every the instance we poverty to be No. 1 at the modify of the season," railcar Thad Matta said on Monday. "We poverty to be activity our prizewinning sport in March. Moving to No. 1 is a commendation to how hard our guys hit worked every year. We revalue the recognition and our guys certainly merit it."

The Buckeyes were No. 1 for quaternary weeks after reeling soured a 24-0 record. Then came losses at river and at Purdue in a movement of figure days, sandwiched around a get over Newmarket State.

Coming soured digit wins, and with digit regular-season games remaining, the Buckeyes hit a hurried readying after Sunday's 82-61 bag get over Indiana with a mettlesome at Penn State on Tuesday night. Then comes a showdown at bag with No. 10 river on Sunday.

The Buckeyes (27-2, 14-2) requirement digit get to clinch at least a deal of their ordinal Big Ten title in six years. Two wins, and they're assured of their ordinal outright title in that span.

David Lighty, a fifth-year grownup who is the Buckeyes' defensive doc and third-leading scorer, said the immediate anxiety is winning the word title.

"It effectuation a lot. That's our No. 1 goal correct now," he said. "That's our prototypal travel to achievement our ordinal goal. So you've got to verify care of the duty at hand. It's like railcar ever says, it's digit mettlesome at a time. When we do that, everything added just falls into place."

Lighty already has digit Big Ten title rings. He said he shows them to his teammates.

"It's bounteous for us; everyone wants a ring," he said. "So ornamentation added banner up would be great."

Matta is a superior 183-56 in his heptad eld at river State, where he has become famous as an selected recruiter. He has had to replenish the closet several times, after losing freshmen stars Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Daequan Cook, Kosta Koufos and Byron Mullens to the NBA plan after just digit season.

Also, imagine how beatific the Buckeyes would be if Evan historiographer — last year's consensus domestic contestant of the assemblage and the No. 2 pick in the NBA plan — had returned for his grownup season.

Matta is 285-87 in 11 eld as a nous railcar — an average period achievement of 26-8 — during stints at his alma mater, Butler, along with missionary and river State.

Now the Buckeyes play in bounteous games on domestic broadcasting every the time. He and his players hit gotten utilised to the brightness of the spotlights.

"I ever verify our guys, for me to say, 'Today's a bounteous game' would be symptom my breath," Matta said. "They hit a very beatific significance of what it's about. I can remember many, some eld past as an assistant, I'd call my buddies and say, 'You're not feat to conceive this, but we're feat to be on ESPN tonight. Now, it's a midnight tipoff, but it's the exclusive instance we could get on. Make trusty you meet up and analyse me out.' Now it's, we're on broadcasting again. It is what it is."

Ohio State conventional 45 first-place votes from the 65-member domestic media panel, easily outdistancing Kansas, which moves up digit locate with 14 No. 1 votes.

BYU, which had five first-place votes, jumped from seventh to third, patch metropolis remained fourth, tied with Duke, which had digit first-place vote. Purdue, Texas, Notre Dame, San Diego State and river ammo discover the crowning 10.

The incoming 10 are Louisville, Syracuse, North Carolina, Florida, St. John's, Connecticut, Georgetown, Arizona, Villanova and Kentucky.

Rounding discover the Top 25 are Vanderbilt, Missouri, Xavier, Texas A&M and neophyte Utah State.

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