COLUMBUS — NCAA Tournament: Who needs it?

Sweet 16: Does it really matter?

In all honesty, it most certainly does mean something.

However, don’t tell the sell-out crowd that jammed inside of Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center Wednesday night to watch their beloved Buckeyes do battle with state-rival Dayton in the National Invitational Tournament quarterfinals anything about that other tournament that resumes this evening.

Because, for the Buckeyes and their fans the only thing that really matters is they are making reservations for the Final Four. Not the one in San Antonio, but the one in the Big Apple.

After their 74-63 victory over the game and valiant Flyers, the Buckeyes are headed to New York City for the second time this season to play in the NIT semifinals.

Playing in the bright lights of Broadway would bother a lot of young teams, but OSU has been down this road before.

In what seems like an eternity ago, the Buckeyes visited New York City to take part in the NIT pre-season tournament and got past Syracuse before running into Texas A&M, which exposed the youthful Buckeyes to a tune of 70-47 on Black Friday in November.

Well, these aren’t the same Buckeyes since the calendar will have flipped to April when this team takes the Madison Square Garden floor Tuesday night.

It’s a Buckeyes unit that’s not the same one that this writer witnessed against Indiana on Feb. 10.

It’s a Buckeye team that’s playing with the desire to keep playing. There were times during the regular season when this team appeared to be just going through the motions. Then it was as if a lightbulb went off and these players realized they’d better get it going real quick. Then in the Big 10 Tournament that light seemingly shut off once again and they were dispatched by the same Michigan State team they’d just beaten five days earlier, seemingly ending any chance of gaining an at-large bid to the field of 64.

Well, now some 10 days after they officially were dealt their NIT fate, the Buckeyes light is on and shining brightly. And it seems to come down to seniors. But let’s not short change just how much guys like Kosta Koufos, Jon Diebler and Evan Turner have grown up and matured as the season has progressed to now 35 games old.

“Our maturity level isn’t where I’d like to have it, but I am definitely proud of the way these kids have come along,” Matta said. “Our growth has really come a long way”

The growth can be seen on all different levels. Whether it’s from the way Turner has accepted his new role as a starter or Diebler’s role as the sixth man or Koufos as the team’s go-to-guy on the interior, they have adjusted well to everything around them and now they get the chance to make amends at the World’s Most Famous Sports Arena.

“We knew we wanted to finish strong even if it was just to build for next year,” Turner said. “We want to keep playing now that we’ve reached this point.”

While the three frosh have settled into their roles, it’s been the play of senior guard Jamar Butler which has kept the team in tact.

It’s obvious that Butler – who finally realized Wednesday that he will never suit up again in the Schottenstein Center – is doing his best to take as much out of this season as possible. He’s picked p his scoring and assists through the course of NIT victories over UNC-Asheville, California and now Dayton despite only have 12 points.

“It might not be the NCAA Tournament, but it’s still a tournament and this is what we’re in and we want to in it just the same,” Butler said. “We know there’s a reward at the end and we’ve got two more games to go.”

A LOT OF fans and media members are looking forward to a possible rematch with Florida in the final next Thursday. However, the players don’t have any time to be worrying about the Gators.

“I don’t even know who’s left, but whoever we play we’d better be ready,” said OSU senior Matt Terwilliger. “We are concentrating on playing the next team in front of us.”

MANY have chastised the shooting of the aforementioned Diebler who came to Columbus as the most prolific high school scorer in the state out of Upper Sandusky, but has struggled at times with his perimeter shot.

Well, Butler was quick to point out when he came to Ohio State from Lima Shawnee that it took him a while to become acclimated with the collegiate game and the pace.

“I think I shot 18 percent from the floor as a freshman,” Butler – who has since become the university’s all-time three-point shooter – smiled.

TROY, OHIO is just a shade over 20 miles from downtown Dayton. Well, Terwilliger is a Troy High School graduate and he was probably the happiest guy on the planet that his team was able to get it done.

“I probably wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere in Troy without hearing about it if we had lost,” he said during the press conference. “I have a lot of friends who go to U-D, so it was good to beat them.”

MATTA didn’t even bother warning his team of how the Flyers were going to look at the meeting with the Buckeyes. It’s obvious in any sport that when another university from within this state takes on the giant they have added motivation. Well, Matta didn’t clue his team into that.

“Not telling them how important this game was one of our keys,” Matta said. “This is a huge game for Dayton and I think in the first half we got clued into it.”

FOR MORE observations on the game and a look ahead to next week’s meeting with Mississippi check out this writer’s blog on www.timesleaderonline.com. Blogs are located at the bottom of the main page.

Staskey can be reached at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com