March Madness 2012: State of Ohio's Tourney Dominance Will End in Sweet 16

The state of Ohio heads into the Sweet 16 with four schools still alive in tournament play.

They'll enter the Elite Eight with only one team standing, and that will be the winner of the Ohio State versus Cincinnati clash in the East Regional.

I like Ohio State in that game, for what it's worth.

The run for the Ohio Bobcats in the Midwest Regional has been a good one, with the upset over Michigan and victory over USF. However, the slipper won't fit when the Bobcats face North Carolina.

This is a team that has too much talent for Ohio to overcome, whether the Tar Heels' point guard, Kendall Marshall, plays or not.

Tyler Zeller, John Henson and Harrison Barnes will simply be too much for Ohio to handle.

It's been fun while it lasted, Ohio, but sometimes Goliath (let's see how many cliche underdog metaphors we can cram into this article) is simply too big for David.

In my opinion, Xavier has a better shot at upsetting Baylor in the South Regional. Tu Holloway (17.4 PPG) and Mark Lyons (15.0 PPG) have the ability to lead Xavier in the upset, especially if Baylor's Perry Jones III continues to struggle like he has in the tournament so far.

Jones is one of the most talented players in the country, but he's only managed a combined nine points and is 4-14 from the field thus far. However, Baylor still survived the first two rounds.

That's in part because Baylor is incredibly balanced offensively, with five players averaging double-digit points this year. If Jones is able to get on track and has a big game—and he is certainly capable of doing so—Xavier won't be able to upset the Bears.

The State of Ohio has owned the NCAA tournament thus far. Only three other states have multiple schools remaining—Kentucky (Kentucky, Louisville), North Carolina (North Carolina, NC State) and Wisconsin (Wisconsin, Marquette).

That being said, the Sweet 16 won't be all that sweet for the Buckeye State.

Hit me up on Twitter—I've tweeted from Lehigh's campus before. Seriously.