Awesome. Simply awesome. What more can be said about the 2006- 07 Ohio State basketball campaign that hasn’t been said or written about or watched dozens of times in the last month of the season? Coach Thad Matta, his terrific assistants, and the classy student-athletes provided more thrills for the fans than any Ohio State team in the last 45-plus years. And even though the Buckeyes lost in the national title game to Florida, 84-75, the 35-4 season was so full of accomplishment and good deeds that it just may live on in the minds (and hearts) of many as simply the finest effort ever by an Ohio State hoops team. Consider:

• Led by the freshman All-American center, and college basketball’s most dominant performer, Greg Oden, and the calm, cool and collected freshman point Mike Conley, Jr., the Buckeyes rode a 22-game winning streak to its fifth national title game appearance, but first since 1962 when only 25 teams made the NCAA tournament and two wins got a team into the national semifinals.

• This year’s Buckeyes defeated Central Connecticut, Xavier, Tennessee, Memphis and Georgetown to reach the championship game.

• The team, with senior leadership from Ron Lewis and Ivan Harris, terrific support from juniors Jamar Butler, Othello Hunter and Matt Terwilliger, and spirited play from freshmen Daquan Cook and David Lighty, captured outright Big Ten regular season and tournament championships on its way to a school record 35-win season.

• The Buckeyes took over the No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press basketball poll on Feb. 26. It was the first time since 1962 that Ohio State has held the top ranking.

• Lewis hit what may go down as the shot of the century: a gametying 3-pointer at the buzzer that sent OSU into overtime against Xavier in a second-round NCAA game in Lexington. The shot was chosen by fans as the “Pontiac Game Changing Performance” of the 2007 NCAA championships, and with that honor came a $100,000 scholarship contribution to the university.

• Matta was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the secondconsecutive year. Matta now has four coach-of-the-year honors from three different conferences. He also has coached five of his seven teams to league championships.

• Oden was named the Big Ten and national defensive player of the year, and he finished second in the Wooden Award balloting to Kevin Durant of Texas.

• Conley, Jr. was named first-team all-Big Ten, and he set OSU single season records for steals and assists.

• Cook was voted the Big Ten’s Sixth Man of the Year, while Butler and Lewis were named honorable mention all-Big Ten.