Only somebody supremely naive would believe Ohio State’s coaches haven’t spent any time looking ahead to Sunday afternoon’s clash with Michigan. The nation’s No. 3 ranking, a reputation as the best of the Big Ten, a major resume-booster for teams looking to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and bragging rights in the rivals’ only matchup of the regular season are all expected to be on the line in three days.
As expected, however, Chris Holtmann denied spending even “one second” looking at the Wolverines when asked about the lingering showdown. Like almost any other college basketball head coach who doesn’t want to make it sound like he or his players are looking past their upcoming opponent, he publicly refuted that as a remote possibility.