ATLANTA — Greg Oden stood at center court, checking out clips of Ohio State games on the Jumbotron while fellow freshmen Daequan Cook and Mike Conley stole glances around the cavernous Georgia Dome.

This whole season has been one new experience after another for the Baby Buckeyes, and they've managed to handle them all with poise and maturity. But the Final Four, well, there's nothing that can quite prepare them for this circus.

When the top-seeded Buckeyes (34-3) play second-seeded Georgetown (30-6) today, it's going to be louder, more crowded and more intense than anything they've ever seen.

"We haven't told them too much, just keep playing like they've been playing," Ivan Harris, one of only two seniors on the Ohio State roster, said yesterday. "We don't
want them to change up too much right now because it's crunch time."

Not that Georgetown is any more versed at this. The Hoyas start a freshman and a sophomore, and the two seniors on their roster barely play. The only road to the Final Four that they know is memory lane with John Thompson and Patrick Ewing — the fathers, not the sons.

"We've got some guys that are pretty experienced as far as tournament play, but at the same time, we're kind of both new to this stage, this level of the tournament," Georgetown guard Jonathan Wallace said.

"At this point, Xs and Os don't really make that much of a difference any more," Wallace said. "It's going to be who plays with the most intensity, the most heart."

Still, some of the lessons learned along the way have got to come in handy.

For Georgetown, it was last year's loss to eventual champion Florida in the regional semifinal. The Hoyas were in the game until the final seconds, when they fouled Corey Brewer on a twisting, falling-down shot. Brewer converted the three-point play, and Al Horford sealed the 57-53 win with a pair of free throws.

Season over for the Hoyas.

"We learned how to close out games better," Jeff Green said.

Georgetown got to Atlanta thanks to its cool. Trailing by a point to Vanderbilt in the regional semifinal, Green banked in the game-winner with less than three seconds left. Two days later, the Hoyas rallied from 11 points down, then bulldozed North Carolina in overtime to earn their spot in the Final Four.

Ohio State got its biggest test back in June, when the 7-foot Oden had surgery on his right wrist. The surgery sidelined him for the first seven games of the season, and it's only been within the last few weeks that he's been able to fully use his right hand.

"Each bracket that we've gone through the last two weeks, we've kind of made it like a Final Four," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said.