Elise Amendola/AP
The Sullinger-Robinson matchup should go a long way toward determining which team plays in the title game.
NEW ORLEANS Ohio States 6-9 two-time sophomore All-American forward Jared Sullinger showed up in the locker room Friday wearing a large strand of purple and gold beads. This is Mardi Gras, but Sullinger took time to reflect on the larger picture before Saturdays national semifinal game against Kansas at the Superdome.
Seven years ago, Hurricane Katrina ravaged this city and the massive arena became an enduring symbol of the poor who couldnt escape the f loodwaters and then took shelter in the building.
The first thing that hit me when I stepped inside was how Katrina wiped this city out and how so many people lived here, he said. I thought about all the people that didnt make it and how this place saved a lot of peoples lives.
This city has come back to life, repairing its tarnished image.
Ohio States basketball team has given this Big Ten school an image makeover as well, sanitizing the athletic department in the wake of the Tatoo-Gate football scandal and coverup that cost Jim Tressel his job. But football will always be king.
"Were just trying to get to their level, Sullinger said. Right now, its kinda hard because (coach) Urban Meyer is taking all the props. Our university has been waiting for a basketball team like this since 2007. As a Columbus kid, it would be pretty cool. I would have to do a lot more online shopping with the popularity I would get if we won it.
Sullinger is t he first player from the state of Ohio since Jimmy Jackson in 1992 to make first-team All-American. He will be one of three first-team All-Americans along with Kentucky 6-10 freshman center Anthony Davis and 6-10 junior forward Thomas Robinson of Kansas to play in a glittering Final Four filled with at least a dozen future NBA players.
Davis is considered a lock for the first pick in the draft. Robinson should go Top 3. Sullinger has been penciled in as a late lottery pick, even though there are no guarantees how his skills will translate to the NBA because he is an in-betweener.
The Sullinger-Robinson matchup should go a long way toward determining which team plays in the title game. Both were storied high school stars who went to programs that put a value on winning over individual statistics. Robinsons season at Kansas harkens back to Danny Manning during Kansas title run in 1988. Sullinger, the son of a high school coach who plays for Thad Matta, the son of a high school coach, has continued to get better and make his teammates better.
If the refs let us play, its going to be a street fight, Sullinger said.
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