John Gasaway pumps out articles at breakneck speed on Basketball Prospectus breaking down every team in the nation. Tuesday he previewed the East and Midwest regions and today BP has a breakdown of the West and South regions. He will be doing a live chat on Thursday as the tournament begins and he’s graciously given us a few minutes to ask Ohio State and brackets so let’s get to it.

From the outset Ohio State looks like a very good offensive team; what kind of attack will we see out of the Buckeyes?

John Gasaway/Basketball Prospectus: You have that right. Ohio State was one of the best shooting teams in the country this year during conference play, which is to say they made 55 percent of their twos and 41 percent of their threes against Big Ten opponents. Pretty impressive considering the league has three of the nation’s best defenses in Illinois, Michigan State, and Purdue. If Thad Matta’s team could learn to hang on to the ball, they’d be North Carolina–on offense.

Matta has always favored a four-out one-in attack on offense, one that features good spacing and is a little heavy on the threes (without getting all Butler about it). The emergence of Evan Turner this season has given the Buckeyes someone who will drive the ball to the basket which is something they’ve kind of lacked since Ron Lewis was in Columbus. Note as well that OSU concedes the offensive glass entirely.  This team gets its points from the first shot.

SSB: One thing Siena did all weekend at the MAAC Basketball Championships and has done all year, is play an up tempo game. This team is very willing to press and play a lot of pressure defense, how has Ohio State fared in up tempo pressing games so far?

Gasaway: Well, coming out of the Big Ten the literal answer would be: no idea. There are no up-tempo pressing defenses in the conference. Given that the Buckeyes have had issues with turnovers, however, you’d have to think that would be a solid choice for Siena or indeed any Ohio State opponent in the tournament. Over the past couple seasons Matta’s gone from having too many point guards (Mike Conley and Jamar Butler) to too few.

SSB: President Obama did an interview with ESPN (airing starting Noon Wednesday) and he has UNC, Memphis, Lousiville and Pitt in his Final Four. Agree or disagree?

Gasaway: I’m on the record as taking Memphis to win it all. Sounds like our President’s been reading Basketball Prospectus. I knew I liked that guy.

SSB: What’s the match up you will be paying the most attention to in this game?

Gasaway: I’ll be interested to see how Siena handles OSU’s offense-defense rotation at the 5: B.J. Mullens and Dallas Lauderdale. Mullens is incredibly raw and if you watch the Buckeyes you’d be forgiven for thinking that Matta’s best play for him is called “Mongo Go to Rim.” That play, however, has proven effective because Mullens happens to be seven feet tall. Lauderdale, of course, is a shot-blocking man-weapon at a mere 6-8.

SSB: What’s your prediction?

Gasaway: I expect both offenses in this game to be able to score. Sorry to say this in a Saints blog but I’ll take the Buckeyes in a close one, 78-71. Hey, tell Fran and the team to go out and prove me wrong. It’s been done, believe me.