INDIANAPOLIS — There was supposed to be someone else on the podium at the center of the Conseco Fieldhouse floor yesterday accepting the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament championship trophy.

Maybe Illinois, Iowa or Indiana, or even Michigan State. All of which entered the season with high expectations.

However, despite low preseason predictions, Ohio State (23-7, 11-5 Big Ten) was leading the crowd in cheers of O-H-I-O as they hoisted its first ever Big Ten tournament championship with an 81-64 win over upstart Iowa (19-15, 11-5) after also sharing the conference title for the regular season.

The Buckeyes, seeded No. 4 in the West bracket of the NCAA tournament, join Illinois (Midwest No.4), Indiana (South No. 5), Wisconsin (East No. 8) and Michigan State (East No. 10) as the Big Ten's NCAA representatives.

"It's a terrific milestone for our program," Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien said. "I couldn't be any prouder of the way our guys played against a very determined and talented Iowa team. To not only get a share of the season title but to win the tournament is icing on the cake."

The Buckeye guards, once unheralded, proved to be the most powerful force in the conference.

After combining for 61 points in a 94-88 semifinal win over Illinois, seniors Boban Savovic and Brian Brown, and junior Brent Darby finished with a combined 50 in the victory.

Savovic scored 19 second half points on 6-of-7 shooting to finish with 27 points on the day. Darby added 14, and Brown scored nine. Forward Terrence Dials added 11 points.

All three guards were named to the All-Tournament team, and Savovic, who also scored 11 points against Illinois and 10 against Michigan in the quarterfinals was named the tournament's MVP.

His brother Predrag, who plays for Hawaii was also named MVP of the WAC tournament.

"It's just a great feeling," Savovic said.

"Like I said before, my teammates deserve as much credit as I do. I just stepped up today, but I got a lot of open shots."

The Buckeyes victory ended a dramatic run by the Iowa Hawkeyes. They had won the previous two games over No. 1 seed Wisconsin and No. 4 Indiana, both on buzzer-beaters by senior guard Luke Recker.

They were trying to win the tournament for the second straight year by winning four games in four days, but with the loss, they move on to the NIT.

Recker led his team with 21 points, averaging with 22.8 for the tournament and garnering mention on the All-Tournament team with teammate Reggie Evans, who scored 13 points in the loss.

"Earlier this year I didn't think I'd be sitting in this situation right now," Recker said. But that's what you get for not performing the whole season like we should have. I didn't think it would end this way. Hopefully I've still got a lot of basketball left in my career."

The Hawkeyes came into the game looking somewhat emotionally drained. The Buckeyes opened up a 9-0 lead to start the game, and led 24-10 at one point in the first half. The Hawkeyes tried to make a run at another miracle, closing the deficit to 37-29 at halftime, then opening up the second period with a 6-0 run to come within two points. However, the Buckeyes answered back with a 8-3 run to maintain breathing room.

The Hawkeyes swung the see saw back towards their direction with three pointers by Recker and guard Brody Boyd that got them within three at the ten minute mark, but the Buckeyes kept hitting shots. A 9-2 spurt pushed the lead past into double digits, and they would never trail by less than eight.

"We got beat by a very good basketball team," Iowa coach Steve Alford said.

"We knew winning four games in four days was going to be difficult, let alone trying to beat three of the four co-champions in the league. We had a bad stretch from the ten-minute mark on, but I liked what we did until then."

The Buckeyes victory assured them their fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance. This senior class is the first ever to play in the tournament in all four of its years.

"This really hasn't hit me, I guess you have to be on the outside looking in to see how mind boggling this is," Brown said.

"But we're a good team and we've been playing good basketball to accomplish this."