Northwestern! Ohio State! Or, that is, a very highly hobbled version of Northwestern against a extremely regular version of Ohio State!

The Wildcats bring nine guys to Columbus. Two of those are guys who had a shot at the starting lineup at the beginning of the year. The guy pictured above, Omar Jimenez, could find his way into the game if foul trouble arises. I tend to keep an open mind about upsets. Like when Northwestern plays a top-seeded team, or something along those lines, I like to acknowledge that there's at least a slim, slim possibility that Northwestern plays close and luckily manages to get a final shot with a chance to win and maybe - maybe - it goes in. It's just basketball. There's a chance.

Tonight, there's not a chance. A game that would have been a potential upset if NU was at full strength is instead too lopsided for that to happen, because Northwestern travels only nine guys. Its a complete mismatch. It's like the early season games against SWAC teams. NU will be lucky to keep it within 10, more realistically it would be nice to stay within 20.

And yet we watch.