Thad Matta wasn’t waiting around to see the closing credits for the 2008 NCAA tournament selection show.
One year removed from having played in the national championship game, Ohio State gathered inside its locker room at Value City Arena to wait in vain for its name to be called. When the full bracket was revealed and reality was about to set in, Matta switched the screen off.
“When we didn’t get in, he turned it off right away and he was like, ‘Look. This isn’t where we want to be, but it’s where we are, so we might as well win the thing,’ ” said Matt Terwilliger, a senior on that team.