Bruce Thornton is one of the few players in the country who have spent their entire four-year career at the same school. It took four years, and a coaching change from Chris Holtmann to Jake Diebler, to get the Buckeyes to the NCAA Tournament, but in that long-awaited moment, the Buckeyes’ all-time leading scorer came up small.
Facing an aggressive TCU defense, Thornton finished with just 10 points on 3-9 shooting in 40 minutes. The Horned Frogs had him off-kilter from the opening tip, and that continued until his failed half-court heave in at the final buzzer as the Buckeyes fell 66-64 in Greenville.
What was the difference between Thornton averaging 20.2 points a game in the regular season, and finishing with 10 in his lone March Madness appearance? According to TCU’s Micah Robinson, it’s the Big 12.
“It’s something coach kind of instilled in us since summertime. Just having a lot of ball pressure on good guards, and it’s worked for us down the line this season, especially in close games,” Robinson said postgame.
Then, Robinson took aim at the whole Big Ten conference. “We just felt like them as a Big Ten team, they just haven’t felt or seen a defense like ours. Just being in the Big 12 and the different level of physicality and intensity, so we just wanted to go out there and show them what Big 12 basketball is all about.”
Micah Robinson rips the Big Ten with postgame comments
TCU head coach Jamie Dixon has a long-standing reputation as an intense, defensive-minded coach, and that was on display. Throughout his long career, Thornton has faced plenty of high-level defenders, but with no NCAA Tournament experience until Thursday, he had only faced two Big 12 teams his entire career.
Especially with the recent additions of Arizona and Houston, which played in the conference championship on Saturday, the Big 12 has a strong case as the best league in college basketball. Yet, nine Big Ten teams made the NCAA Tournament while only eight Big 12 teams made the field. The SEC led the way with 10 of the 68 teams in the Big Dance.
The Big Ten has recently made a push for the SEC’s title as the best football conference in the country with three-straight national championships, but before it can claim to be the best in basketball, it needs to break a streak of 26 years with the conference claiming the crown.