Pick of the Tournament: Ohio State -2.5 against Kansas

Ohio State
After receiving a #2 seed in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, all college basketball experts would have agreed that the season had been a disappointing one for the Buckeyes to date. Ohio State started the year ranked #3 overall in the preseason polls after returning 4 of its top 6 scorers from last year's tournament #1 overall seed (including 1st Team All-American Jared Sullinger). However, the Buckeyes were exposed a bit in conference play, losing 6 combined games to Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Michigan State (x2) due to injuries and poor shooting. However, the team got hot at the right time and has stormed through the tournament with convincing wins over Loyola (18pts), Gonzaga (7pts), Cinci (15pts), and Syracuse (7pts).

The team is anchored at Center by Jared Sullinger (18ppg, 9rpg), but the Buckeyes can get offense from every position on the floor. Deshaun Thomas (16ppg) and William Buford (14ppg) have the ability to put up points in bunches and the Buckeyes get solid production from both Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith. Craft is the heart and soul of the defense but this team is far from a defensive stalwart. The Buckeyes go 7 deep but there is significant drop off in production when you get past the starting 5.

Kansas
Let's all be honest here. On the other side of things, Kansas has significantly exceeded all expectations this year. The Jayhawks were picked to finish 13th in the preseason polls, but most college basketball experts didn't give the team a shot to advance to the final weekend of the tournament after losing the Morris twins to the draft and Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed to graduation.  Let's again be honest. Kansas is lucky as hell to be where they are today. The Jayhawks needed a Purdue collapse in the Round of 32 (3pt win), late turnovers by NC State in the Sweet 16 (3pt win), and an injured Kendall Marshall (13pt win) to set up this matchup with Ohio State.

During the season, Kansas lost a total of 6 games (all to tournament teams and all by 10 points or less) and beat Ohio State at home (Sullinger was injured and did not play) in December by 11 points. The team lives and dies by the play of Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor, who together accounted for approximately 50% of the team's total point production this year.  Like Ohio State, the Jayhawks only go 7 deep.

Prediction
This key to the game will be Ohio State's ability to take either Taylor or Robinson out of their games. Luckily, the Buckeyes have the perfect ingredient to do just that: Aaron Craft. Craft is considered by most to be the best on-the-ball defender in college basketball and completely shut down Taylor in the first matchup. Craft held Taylor to 9 points while forcing him to commit 6 turnovers. Kansas gets most of production in half-court sets at the end of the shot clock by isolating Taylor, which will be a difficult strategy to employ in this matchup. I think Craft's ability to disrupt Taylor (and thus Kansas' half-court offense) will be the biggest factor in the game.

In terms of match-ups, Ohio State again has the advantage. Many people will say that the Robinson/Thomas matchup is clearly in Kansas' favor, but I say not so fast. Thomas is a pure offensive weapon who is the leading scorer in the entire NCAA tournament this year. He will force Robinson out the perimeter which will create a real match-up problem and will prevent Robinson from playing help defense on Sullinger.
PG: Taylor vs. Craft: PUSH
SG: Johnson vs. Smith: Kansas (small)
SF: Releford vs. Buford: Ohio State (large)
PF: Robinson vs. Thomas: PUSH
C: Withey vs. Sullinger: Ohio State (large)
Bench: PUSH
Coaching: Self vs. Matta: PUSH - although Self has a championship, both coaches have choked away too many tournament games to give an edge to one side over the other.

Many people will say that the X Factor could be Kansas' ability to switch up defensive schemes and employ a Triangle and 2 defense that worked so well against UNC in the Elite 8. Unfortunately, this will be a very difficult defense to run against a team that puts 5 legitimate scorers on the floor (each starter has scored 17 points or more in a game in the tournament) and has good shooters and a very strong PG.  

Taking all of these factors in to consideration, I predict a 8-10 point win for the Buckeyes.