Back to the Big Apple?

Ohio State is a win away from Madison Square Garden as they take on Dayton at 9:00pm tonight in the (less?) friendly confines of Value City Arena. I say less because it appears Flyers fans have purchased plenty of tickets and plan to make the trip. Ohio State is an 8-point favorite. The game is on ESPN2.

This should be Ohio State’s toughest test so far in the NIT and Dayton looks to improve on its past two performances thanks to the return of Chris Wright. With two Ohio universities facing off there is no shortage of pre-game coverage, so I will not add another one.

The Dayton Daily News has a story previewing the game, as well as notebooks for both Dayton and Ohio State. The DDN also has a story on how the Flyers have learned to win on the road.

Other previews include The Plain Dealer, the Toledo Blade, and Canton Repository.

For the historical perspective, check out the Daily News’ piece on the four-game series played by the schools in the 1980s, and the Dispatch’s Rob Oller’s story about all that has happened since those games.

Future conflicts with present: Do not forget, the McDonald’s High School All-American game is tonight at 9:30pm on ESPN. If you have one of those fancy TiVo boxes, you can record the all-star game while watching the current men’s basketball team live. Besides, you are going to want to watch Mullens and Buford’s highlights more than once.