It was an innocent enough comment that gave praise to teammates who picked up Jared Sullinger when he got into foul trouble in the first half of Saturday’s East Regional final against Syracuse. He finished with 19 points and seven rebounds after sitting the final 13 minutes of the first half and contributing just four points to the cause.

With 13:42 left in the first half and Ohio State up, 13-10, the All-American Sullinger was called for a foul on Dion Waiters‘ layup. He sat for the rest of the first half. But a funny thing happened. The Buckeyes didn’t crumble.

“I didn’t know Coach [Thad Matta] was going to sit me,” Sullinger said. “But these guys have played without me before, so they know what they have to do. We just kept competing on the defensive end. I think that’s what won the basketball game. And also in the first half that’s what got the game so knotted up. It’s not the first time they’ve played without me, so I’m just proud of these guys.”

They managed a 29-29 halftime tie against the top seed in the East, playing without a big of their own in Fab Melo. The TD Garden and national audience were introduced to names like Lenzelle Smith, Jr., Amir Williams and Evan Ravenel while Sullinger had to cool his heels.

“Lenzelle had big games before, when we played Indiana and then when we played Michigan,” Sullinger said after Ohio State’s 77-70 win that propelled them to New Orleans and the Final Four next weekend. “Lenzelle, the bigger the game I think the better he plays. With Amir, Amir always had talent. It’s just unfortunately he’s playing behind me and Evan at the time, so watch out for him next year. But those guys, they played big when it came to a big time game, and I thought that was tremendous for this basketball team.”

Watch out for him next year. Was that a message, a hint that Sullinger – a super sophomore – is in his final days as a collegian?

“Not at all. I’m not making any promises but I’m just saying next year you don’t know what can happen,” Sullinger said with a sheepish smile.

At 6-9 and 280 pounds, Sullinger is projected as a lottery pick right now by some NBA scouts because of his ability to score and rebound and dominate with his moves in the post, a precious commodity as witnessed in Boston this NBA season.

Another aspect Sullinger has mastered is the disrespect card – or more to the point – how to play it. Asked about his remarks that making the Final Four and playing for a title was the reason you came back to school for his sophomore year, Sullinger showed the classic chip on the shoulder.

“I appreciated everyone that doubted this basketball team, said we was the underdogs, we wasn’t good enough, mentally strong enough, not physically strong enough, mentally immature, we heard it all,” Sullinger said. “When we was going through that slump in February, everybody was saying this basketball team was kind of on a downhill. We heard negative comments. I want to thank y’all because through all the adversity, we constantly pushed through that. I’m so proud of these guys. It’s just I mean, we came from nothing, according to y’all, to something now.

“We know hopefully it’s not our last game, so we’re just trying to play hard and play smart, and not going down to New Orleans for a vacation, it’s a business trip.”

With next season almost certainly coming in the NBA, it’ll be ALL about business for Sullinger.

Saturday night’s 77-70 loss to Ohio State in the East Regional final was too much for Scoop Jardine to take.

He broke down in the Orange locker room after the game, maintaining all the time that no matter the result, he still believes Syracuse is the best team in the tournament.

Jardine and the Orange won more than any Syracuse team in school history. They finished 34-3 and just a game away from the fifth Final Four in Cuse history.

Jardine had so much to be proud of this season but the point guard with 14 points and six assists couldn’t do enough Saturday night – and it was painful to talk about afterward.

“I don’t think we ever had any tough times on the court,” Jardine said with tears in his eyes. “Going through a season like that and being as successful as we were throughout the year, it hurts just a little bit more. I’m proud of all 20 guys on this team, even the coaches because we put everything into it. We just came up short.

“I tell you one thing, we’re one of the best teams in the country. They can say what they want. They have doubted us all year. They thought we wouldn’t get this far. I think we’re the best team in the country, for real.”

Jardine is not like Fab Melo – the star shot blocker ruled ineligible for the tournament. He did not come to Syracuse for an NBA tune-up. He spent five years in Central New York – missing his sophomore season with a stress fracture in his left leg. He put body and soul into trying to lead this team to the Final Four.

The likable and adored Jardine represents a four-year class that won more games (119) than any team in school history. It’s a history he now leaves behind as a fifth-year senior and it’s why Saturday hurt so much.

“I think I took full advantage of my opportunities that coach [Jim Boeheim] and the coaching staff gave me,” Jardine said. “As a kid, you go to college, you might try to leave early and go to the NBA. It was never in my mind. I was just trying to be a better person and a better player and that’s what I’m leaving with.”

The stage and TD Garden floor is set for Ohio State and Syracuse to battle for a ticket to New Orleans. (Mike Petraglia, WEEI.com)

For the second time in four years, a ticket will be punched to the Final Four at the TD Garden as the top two seeds in the East Regional do battle for a trip to New Orleans next weekend.

No. 1 Syracuse has overcome the near infamy of becoming the first top seed to lose to a No. 16 as they survived North Carolina-Asheville in Pittsburgh. They then dispatched of Kansas State two days later. On Thursday, here in Boston, they survived their closest call, a 64-63 win over No. 4 Wisconsin when the Badgers had the ball, needing just a two-point field goal to win. Instead, Syracuse forced the Badgers into a desperation 3-pointer that fell short.

No. 2 Ohio State breezed past Loyola in their first game and handled Gonzaga, 73-66, to survive their Pittsburgh trip. They dispatched of downstate rival and No. 6 seed Cincinnati on Thursday here in Boston, using a 17-1 second-half spurt to put the game away en route to an 81-66 victory.

Some notes:

The No. 2 seed Ohio State Buckeyes used a 17-1 run to wipe out a four-point second-half deficit and roll to a 81-66 win over the No. 6 Cincinnati Bearcats Thursday night in the second East Regional semifinal at TD Garden.

As a result, the Buckeyes advance to take on the top-seeded Syracuse Orange in Saturday’s East Regional final at the Garden. Syracuse survived a late run from the Wisconsin Badgers and won, 64-63.

With Cincinnati big man Yancy Gates on the bench for most of the first half with two fouls, Ohio State took command, racing out to a 37-25 halftime lead.

But the Bearcats came out and applied pressure and for the first 10 minutes, the Buckeyes looked confused, committing five quick turnovers as Cincinnati opened on a 27-11 run to open a 52-48 lead with 11:34 left, and an upset seemed to be in the making. But Ohio State went on a 17-1 run and were never threatened down the stretch.

Deshaun Thomas led Ohio State off the bench with 26 while All-American Jared Sullinger added a double-double with 23 points and 11. rebounds.

Cincinnati was paced by Cashmere Wright, who had 18.

In a classic, No. 1 seed Syracuse held off No. 4 Wisconsin, 64-63, Thursday night in the first East Regional semifinal at TD Garden.

Syracuse led late in the first half, 33-23 and 33-27 at the half.

Then Wisconsin went on an unconscious 3-point shooting displaying nailing six straight, and taking a 56-53 lead. But Syracuse answered with back-to-back baskets from C.J. Fair to take the lead as part of an 8-2 run.

Wisconsin got the ball with 15.5 seconds remaining and a chance to win needing only a two-pointer. They couldn’t get close to the basket and Jordan Taylor‘s desperation three from 30 feet was short and Wisconsin couldn’t get the rebound and shot in time.

The Orange will play the winner of the second semifinal between Cincinnati and Ohio State on Saturday for the right to go to the Final Four next weekend in New Orleans.

Jim Boeheim looks to march back to the Final Four in New Orleans. (AP)

With temperatures soaring into the mid-80s Thursday, the action figures to be hot and heavy indoors at TD Garden as the East Regional finals begin.

The region favorite – and No. 1 seed – Syracuse Orange take on No. 4 seed Wisconsin. Tip is at 7:15 p.m. ET. That contest will be followed up by No. 2 Ohio State playing the No. 6 seed and downstate rival Cincinnati Bearcats.

A few notes:

Size, power and quickness. Toughness, fearlessness and the ability to rebound.

All of those are qualities the Celtics could use. It’s a commodity they’ve been desperately seeking since Chris Wilcox and Jermaine O’Neal were lost for the season.

The Celtics won’t be in the lottery this season so scouts like Ryan McDonough will be searching long and hard in the college and amateur ranks for someone who might fall through the cracks and be available in the NBA Draft this June.

Meet Cincinnati’s Yancy Gates.

At 6-9, 260 pounds, he’s certainly powerful. He can rebound, currently ranked ninth all-time on Cincinnati’s all-time rebound list with 911. He is one of only six players in the school’s illustrious history with at least 1,400 points and 900 rebounds.

He’s a senior who’s been through the wars.

Oh yeah, about that last line. Arguably the ugliest moment in Cincinnati’s basketball history came on Dec. 10 at the Cintas Center against the archrival Xavier Musketeers.

With just 9.4 seconds remaining in a 23-point loss, Gates was in the middle of college basketball’s ugliest chapter of the season. He threw a right cross that landed flush on the left eye brow of Xavier big man Kenny Frease. It opened a gash and dropped him to the ground. Frease was then stomped on by Cheikh Mbodj and blood started flowing from above Frease’s eye.

To his credit, he served a six-game suspension handed down by the school and expressed remorse. It was a complete loss of self-control and judgment. But in saying that, he has showed something else in the following three months – competitive fire.

While inconsistent at times, Gates has been the backbone of the interior game for the Bearcats, rebounding and playing defense, as coach Mick Cronin directed the team not to rely on his offense but the other things he brings to the table, like nine rebounds a game in the Big East, still considered the toughest in college basketball.

“Defense and rebounding,” Cronin said Wednesday. “We lost Ibrahima Thomas and Yancy really had to change his basketball personality from an offensive player to an all-around player. He needed to be our defensive anchor this year because we’re small in the other areas. It took him time. When he came back [from suspension] he realized here’s what I have to do to help this team win – I have to be an anchor on defense.

“These guys are scoring, they’re running around, hitting shots, beating their man off the dribble. ‘I have to finish plays around the rim, fit in and give these guys an anchor inside.’ And he’s done that. Maybe I should’ve been using him more in that capacity. So, sometimes as a coach, you stumble on to some things.”

With his presence in the middle, he led the team to road wins over Pittsburgh, Georgetown and Connecticut and home wins over Louisville and Marquette. Then, in the Big East, the Bearcats did it again to Georgetown and sent No. 2 Syracuse packing before their offense was a no-show against Louisville in the Big East championship.

Fast-forward to the tournament, they handled Texas and eliminated No. 10 Florida State, the team that beat North Carolina in the ACC title game.

This is a Bearcats team tournament-tested, and ready to take on Jared Sullinger and the Buckeyes. And the Celtics will be watching Gates very closely. You can count on it.

Tommy Cross scored on the power play at 3:17 of overtime to lift top-ranked Boston College to a 3-2 win over Boston University in the second Beanpot semifinal Monday night at TD Garden.

Cross fired a shot from the high slot just 16 seconds after Ryan Ruikka was whistled for a cross-check. The Eagles advance to next Monday night’s Beanpot championship game, looking for their second straight title – 16th overall – against Northeastern, a 4-0 winner over Harvard in the first game of the Garden twinbill.

It marks just the third time in the 59 years of the tournament that the two schools will meet in the Beanpot title game.

BC, the 2010 Beanpot champs, took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Philip Samuelsson at 14:37 of the first. With the BC crowd in a frenzy, the Terriers came back just 38 seconds later to tie it on a goal by Wade Megan. BU took the lead, 2-1, on the only goal of the second period when Corey Trivino beat John Muse.

The Eagles appeared to tie it late in the second period when Pat Mullane came down the right wing and fired a shot on Kieran Millan. The BU goalie made the initial save but TV replays showed BC’s Jimmy Hayes appeared to poke the rebound across the line. The play was reviewed for several minutes but the goal was disallowed.

Hayes eventually got the equalizer five minutes into the third when his wrister beat Millan to the glove side. Samuelsson had a clean breakaway with 51.4 seconds left in regulation but Millan stopped the backhand shot.

BC, the No. 1 team in the nation, improved to 20-6-0 on the season and will play at Providence Friday night before taking the ice next Monday at 7:30 in hopes of defending their title. If they beat Northeastern next Monday, they will have captured three Beanpots in four years and will have claimed consecutive titles for the first time since the 1963-65 teams won three in a row.

The question posed to Northeastern coach Greg Cronin seemed innocent and straightforward enough. His team just beat Harvard, 4-0, to advance to the Beanpot final next Monday and a chance to end 23 years of frustration in the annual February Boston tournament.

So, what would it mean to finally win the Beanpot with a win on Feb. 14?

“It is funny you ask that question because I was thinking about two years ago in the final, and talk about goofy plays, pucks bouncing up in the air,” Cronin began. “The BU-Northeastern game was a great game. BU scores three shorthanded goals and a power play goal. That just doesn’t happen in the Beanpot. We end up losing that game. Last year, we played a terrific game against BU in the first round. Again [Alex] Chaisson shoots the puck and it squeaks through the shirt and trickles into the net, just as [Mike] McLaughlin’s did. Unfortunately, those are the memories for a lot of the Northeastern people over the last twenty years…near misses.”

Then it got interesting.

“I will give you an example,” Cronin said in an effort to back up his comments about years of frustration. “When I got here six years ago, the program was… well it just needed a lot of work form inter-structurally and in addition to me getting the fans back. The fans come in when you win, so we have started to win incrementally. We started to fill the building and last year we had good crowds. Now this year, they have stopped showing up and I think you see a reflection of of the fans when you are on the bench and you look into that left corner, and there wasn’t nearly as many black shirts as there was a year ago.”

Well, you can understand a coach reaching out to his student body and imploring them to support their team through good times and bad. After all, Cronin knows his team is a still-disappointing 9-11-6 after having much bigger aspirations entering this season.

But then he finished with a bang. Or a thud, if you’re a Red Sox fan.

“I am not a baseball fan,” Cronin said. “Believe it or not, I like the Yankees over the Red Sox, don’t kill me now. But I liked the Yankees because they would always win and the Red Sox would lose. I think we have a little bit of the mentality of when are they going to win this damn thing. And they get sick of it and I don’t blame them.

“But, this is twice in the last three years that we are in the final, and I know we are going to have a tremendous opponent to play against. So to answer you are question with a period, they would have to get both the NUPD and the Boston police on our campus if we won.”

The police might actually be more useful for Cronin the next time he shows his face at Fenway.

Poor Ted Donato. His Harvard Crimson can’t catch a break this year. And their lack of scoring has a lot to do with it. That was the case again Monday night when the coach watched as his players were blanked by Northeastern, 4-0, in the opening round of the Beanpot at TD Garden.

His team fell to 4-18-0 this season. They have lost 10-of-11 and in all but one of the 10 defeats they have scored two or fewer goals. Monday night was the third time in seven games they’ve been shutout.

Meanwhile, Mike McLaughlin scored the game’s first two goals and Chris Rawlings turned away all 41 shots as Northeastern beat Harvard Monday night in the opening game of the opening round of the 2011 Beanpot championship at TD Garden.

It was Northeastern’s first Beanpot shutout since they blanked Harvard, 2-0, in the 1997 consolation contest.

McLaughlin scored his second 1:47 into the second period to allow Northeastern to stake control. Steve Silva and Brodie Reid also scored for the Huskies, who improve to 9-11-6, advance to the title game for the second time in three years and for the seventh time since 1988, the last year they won the Beanpot. They will play the winner of the nightcap between the 2010 champ Boston College and Boston University.