BOISE, Idaho – The Buckeyes and the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State may not have known anything about one another coming into this basketball season but that all changed as soon as the two were placed on the same bracket on Selection Sunday as first round foes.

Each team has had to become a quick study of the other and both teams see a formidable foe. The Buckeyes know that Mike Daum is a likely NBA-type of player for SDSU and the entire team is very accurate from beyond the arc with a 40.3-percent make rate from three.

But what does South Dakota State know about the Buckeyes?

"We really respect the basketball club they have at Ohio State," SDSU forward Mike Daum said. "They are a group of guys that play well together. They do a good job of getting the ball in the paint and have a lot of matchup problems. They're a team that's really well-oiled and can play well together."

Don't look for South Dakota State to try and change who they are and play any differently than they did in a season where they won both the regular season and tournament titles in the Summit league. The Buckeyes will do whatever they can to try and take SDSU out of their game and Jackrabbits head coach T.J. Otzelberger knows that this Buckeyes team is among the nation's elite.

"Any time a team can do what they did in league play, go 15-3 in the Big Ten is really impressive," Otzelberger said. "Coach (Chris) Holtmann is a tremendous coach and they are a very physical team defensively. They have a really good defensive system and they are strong and tough and physically imposing.

Ohio State is just 2-3 in its last five games, but this is the same Ohio State team that handed significant losses to Michigan and Michigan State both in Columbus and then went to West Lafayette (Ind.) and rallied back against Purdue, all three teams are each high seeds in the tourney.

"(They're) just a very fundamentally sound team, a team you really don't see a whole lot of weakness there," Otzelberger added. "Very well coached and a group that displays a lot of physicality and toughness."

The Buckeyes present a challenge both defensively and offensively and it is Ohio State's uniqueness that makes it so difficult to contend with.

"I think offensively, they have got great mismatch players, Otzelberger said. "With (Keita) Bates-Diop, obviously being the Big Ten conference player of the year, he scores it inside and outside and is so talented. Then with Jae'Sean Tate, a guy at 6-foot-4, 230 pounds, just really physical. Those are players that we don't see every day in our league. And then even with (Kaleb) Wesson, the big man."

For the casual fan, the focus will be on KBD.

"He's a tremendous scorer, he's got tremendous size for his position, he can shoot the ball well from the outside, and using his body in the lower post," Daum said. "He's going to be a tough matchup for us."

"You are dealing with two guys, both conference players of the year, both very versatile, both can score inside out and outside," Otzelberger added. "Both will have a long career playing professional basketball following this. It is a really neat matchup."

South Dakota State is not about to offer up how they plan on attacking the Big Ten player of the year and they know that the Buckeyes will have to try several things to try and stop Daum, a player who just creates match-up nightmares.

"I think Mike, when you have not played against him, his ability to shoot it and the range that he shoots it from poses some challenges," Otzelberger said. "I would guess they will put different guys on him at different points in time."

5 versus 12 games have been close over the years in the NCAA Tourney and this one may be no different. Holtmann said that this is the best opening round team that he has ever had to prepare for in his coaching career in the tournament. There is plenty of mutual admiration.

"We just go over that Ohio State is a great basketball program and we're going to have to play very well," Daum said.