Gilmore, 57, wasn't injured but the Florida Highway Patrol said witnesses had to help him from the car because he was caught on his seat belt.

Mr. Stein: I want to express my gratitude for this year’s OSU men’s basketball team. These men played with heart, hustle and grit, and as an alum and fan, I was proud of their accomplishments.

On the other hand, I have rarely been so embarrassed to be a Buckeyes fan as I was Sunday. The fans who sit on their hands in the Schott made their way to Dayton. The George Mason fans behind us actually yelled at OSU fans to stand up and make some noise.

Oh, we mastered O-H-I-O around the arena, but when the players needed to make a defensive stand, where was the noise? It was as if many in the crowd just gave up. What should have been a huge home-court advantage was not. Why drive all the way to Dayton and then sit there?

— Steve Kretzer,

Upper Arlington

Steve: In defense of the fans who made the trip, the Buckeyes’ performance against Georgetown was on par with a kick in the gut. Pretty early on, and for most of the way, it seemed apparent there was not a lot to get excited about.

Mr. Stein: When the Buckeyes’ shots weren’t falling late in the season, they didn’t hang their heads. Instead, they hustled, played great defense and accomplished what even die-hard fans wouldn’t have predicted: an outright Big Ten championship.

On the other hand, I must offer a sincere apology to the team for the pathetic showing our fans displayed in Dayton. You would have never known our fans outnumbered Georgetown fans 10-to-1.

Sitting on their hands, then streaming out of the arena with four minutes left, was behavior unworthy of this hard-working team. Is it that important to be the first car out of the parking lot? This team deserved better.

— Marc A. McTeague

Pickerington

Marc: There’s a joke in there about Dayton and rear-view mirrors, but I’ll let it be. Lastly on the subject of Buckeyes followers, the only thing generally faster than an OSU fan getting on the bandwagon is one jumping off.

Ray: "Arrogance" best summarizes Bob Hunter’s column about how the Big Ten didn’t prepare Ohio State for teams like Georgetown.

Blame yourself, Ohio State, not the Big Ten. You scheduled rigorous nonconference opponents such as Chicago State, Virginia Tech, Norfolk State, Tennessee State and Gardner-Webb. And when you actually played someone decent (like LSU), you made sure it was within the confines of Value City.

Blaming the Big Ten is as arrogant as blaming your high school for not preparing you for the real world when all you took was home economics and physical education in lieu of honors programs.

— Ben Hartnell, Westerville

Ben: I’ll offer that it’s possible to agree with you and Bob. Yes, OSU needs to beef up its schedule. No, the Big Ten did not prepare the Buckeyes for Georgetown. And home ec is the real world, by the way.

Editor: We are appalled by what we heard Monday on WBNS-AM (1460). The announcers’ remarks about the "basketball season being over" were shortsighted and showed a lack of respect for women’s athletics.

The statement neglected to recognize that the OSU women were still alive in tournament play. To top it off, the station poked fun at women’s basketball with "Five things to do now that basketball is over" — No. 3 being "watch women’s basketball." What kind of message does this send to young girls?

As alumni of Ohio State, we invite people to take a stand and join us in boycotting WBNS-AM. They obviously need fresh voices on the air who can appreciate the progress that has taken place with gender equity in sports.

— Chris and Amanda

Fountain, Upper Arlington

Fountains: Some in this world boycott sports-talk radio merely because the level of sophistication and intelligence is on par with wedgies and flatulence jokes. To each his own, I suppose.

Ray: Part of the reason Big Ten teams did so poorly in the NCAA Tournament was foul trouble. Indiana had 29 fouls, Gonzaga 14. Illinois had 28 fouls, Washington 17.

The physical Big Ten must play a game foreign to its regular season. It is time for Big Ten officials to call games the way the rest of the country does, or they will be forever doomed to early exits. — Bill Lowers, Upper Arlington

Bill: It’s an interesting statistical salad, but in the end I think all the numbers spell A-N-O-M-A-L-Y. Since 1999, eight Big Ten teams have made the Final Four, and the league didn’t begin the rough stuff just this year.

Ray: I’m disappointed that all six Big Ten teams were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament after the first week. I’m left wondering whether small and mid-major teams whose conference tournaments conclude a week sooner than the power conferences’ gain an unfair physical and mental advantage entering the tournament.

Perhaps this explains why so many first-round games between mid-major and power-conference teams are near or actual upsets.

— Roy Fish, Columbus

Roy: It seems likely that emotional and physical fatigue becomes a factor — for some teams (Texas, Boston College and Florida all made their conference tournament finals). Duke and OSU sure looked out of gas, though.

Stetson used an 18-2 run midway through the first half to shake off a 13-point Gardner-Webb lead, and went on to post its eighth win in a row with a 77-65 decision over the Runnin’ Bulldogs.

The loss snapped a five-game win streak for Gardner-Webb (16-11, 13-7 A-Sun), which lost despite hitting eight of its first 10 shots en route to a 18-5 lead early in the first half. The Runnin’ Bulldogs will be either the fourth or fifth seed in next week’s Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament, depending on the outcome of Sunday’s ETSU/Belmont game.

Regardless, the ‘Dogs will be playing the host Bucs in the first round in Johnson City – with play set to begin on Thursday. The only factor riding on Sunday’s game is whether GWU will wear home whites or road reds in the Memorial Center.

Stetson (13-17, 11-9 A-Sun) didn’t flinch after the slow start, however and, on Senior Night at the Edmunds Center, caught fire and took advantage of several untimely turnovers by the ‘Dogs to catch up and, eventually, go ahead. An 18-2 run turned that 13-point hole into a 23-20 lead midway through the opening half and, after Gardner-Webb responded with a 10-2 run of its own to lead 30-25 – the Hatters turned up the defensive pressure again to go into the locker room up 38-35.

The two teams stayed tight throughout the first 10 minutes, but with Stetson leading just 52-51, the Hatters exploded on a 14-0 run that effectively put the game away with 5:29 remaining. Trailing 66-51 at that point, GWU would get no closer than the final margin the rest of the way, as the Hatters stayed hot from beyond the three-point arc – not normally a team strong suit – to pull away.

The Hatters (13-17, 11-9 A-Sun) got a career-high 19 points from junior point guard Gabe McMillan, who hit 8-of-8 shots after coming off the bench on Senior Night. Two of the team’s five seniors – E.J. Gordon and Anthony Register – had 21 points and 17 points, respectively as the other Hatters in double digits on the night.

Gardner-Webb saw Stetson pull down 14 offensive rebounds for 16 second-chance points, and saw the Hatters turn 15 GWU turnovers into a decisive 24-7 edge in points off of turnovers – an area the Bulldog coaching staff emphasized over and over to their team coming into Saturday night’s game.

GWU shot 47.1 percent for the game, but made just 1-of-7 treys in the second half to prevent a comeback. Stetson was 4-of-6 from that distance in the final 20 minutes, and shot an efficient 54.5 percent from three in the game (46.7 percent overall).

Tim Jennings led Gardner-Webb for the second game in a row, scoring 11 of his 18 points in the first half and finishing 6-of-12 from the floor. Simon Conn had a tough night overall, turning the basketball over five times, but hit 7-of-10 shots for 15 points.

T.J. McCullough finished with eight assists and just one turnover in the game, giving the Chipley, Fla., senior an impressive 300 assists during his two-year career at GWU – a career record for Gardner-Webb at the Division I level.

Complete brackets for the 2006 General Shale Brick A-Sun Tournament will be available either late Sunday or early Monday.