The National Invitational Tournament is supposed to be the second biggest show in college basketball.
Apparently the memo failed to reach Ohio as a raucous crowd of 19,049 filled the Schottenstein Center to watch Ohio State defeat in-state rivals Dayton 74-63 for the right to play Massachusetts Tuesday in the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The Buckeyes (22-13) used a second half charge to clip the wings of the Flyers (23-11) after a slow start.
"We made the change to go small with about three minutes left in the first half," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "They kept driving to the baseline on our bigs, and it was tough for them to guard."
Freshman center Kosta Koufos, often the lone Buckeye big man on the floor, benefited from the four guard perimeter, finishing 9 of 11 from the field for 21 points.
Jamar Butler, Evan Turner and Jon Diebler combined for 30 second half points, boosting a first half which saw almost nine minutes pass before a Butler three opened scoring for OSU's talented guards.
Butler, alongside forwards Matt Terwilliger and Othello Hunter set foot on the Schottenstein Center court for the final time in Wednesday's victory.
"It was an emotional high knowing it's the last time I was going to play in this building," Butler said. "(I want to) thank the fans. They're the greatest fans in the world."
However for at least a few minutes, what sounded like a 60-40 crowd split was haunting the Buckeyes with turnovers by senior point guard Jamar Butler and sophomore David Lighty on consecutive possessions.
Flyers guard Brian Roberts finished his collegiate career with 20 points on 8-20 shooting.
"He'll go down as one of the greatest players of all time in the program's rich basketball history," Flyers coach Brian Gregory said. "He was in our first recruiting class here and those guys getting us to the postseason has got our program back on track. He's a great player and a great person."
2008 Woodie Awards
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