Bucketheads Podcast: Ohio State tangles with Loyola-Chicago in round one

Land-Grant Holy Land’s newest podcast, ‘Bucketheads’ takes you on a journey across the college basketball landscape every episode. The only basketball-focused podcast in the LGHL family of podcasts, co-hosts Connor Lemons and Justin Golba give the latest scoop on the Ohio State Buckeyes as well as all the other happenings in the college hoops world. ‘Bucketheads’ will be released every Thursday throughout the regular season.

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During this week’s episode, we thoroughly discuss seven-seed Ohio State’s matchup with 10-seed Loyola Chicago in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Clearly, the Buckeye fanbase is pessimistic about this game and many folks don’t see Ohio State advancing to the round of 32. But are there reasons to be optimistic?

Connor and Justin explain why E.J. Liddell should have plenty of space to make plays and why feeding Zed Key (if healthy) early and often will be critical to the Buckeyes’ chances of advancing. They also analyze the intriguing coaching matchup between Chris Holtmann — who has made the tournament every season with Ohio State — and first-year Loyola-Chicago head coach Drew Valentine, who is coaching in his first NCAA Tournament.

They then look at the reasons to be concerned about this game. Can Ohio State stop Loyola’s two star guards from blowing right past them, as has been the issue in recent weeks? Will they get the production from Joey Brunk and Key that they need to dominate the glass, and can they take advantage of a weak rebounding team and give themselves second-chance opportunities?

Connect with the Podcast:
Twitter: @BucketheadsLGHL

Connect with Connor:
Twitter: @lemons_connor

Connect with Justin:
Twitter: @justin_golba