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2025 Season: Are You Ready For Some Football?
- By ScriptOhio
- Buckeye Football
- 12 Replies
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Anyway, the future (including 2025) looks bright for Ohio State football (i.e. the defending National Champion).
The Ohio State Buckeyes' national championship trophy is a 24-karat gold-plated trophy that the team won in 2024. The Buckeyes won the championship with a 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in Atlanta.
I would think that scUM should drop considerably on this list once the NCAA hammer drops on their "cheating violations", etc. Loss of postseason eligibility, reduction in scholarships, recruiting restrictions, "show cause" on the coaches, and/or large fines can do that to an athletic program.....
Login to view embedded media
Anyway, the future (including 2025) looks bright for Ohio State football (i.e. the defending National Champion).
The Ohio State Buckeyes' national championship trophy is a 24-karat gold-plated trophy that the team won in 2024. The Buckeyes won the championship with a 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in Atlanta.
I would think that scUM should drop considerably on this list once the NCAA hammer drops on their "cheating violations", etc. Loss of postseason eligibility, reduction in scholarships, recruiting restrictions, "show cause" on the coaches, and/or large fines can do that to an athletic program.....
LGHL Ava Watson earns Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor
- News
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Ava Watson earns Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The first year Buckeye shot perfectly from deep against Minnesota to earn the first award of her NCAA career
Soon after Ohio State women’s basketball picked up a Monday afternoon overtime win over the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Big Ten announced their weekly awards, honoring a top player and top freshman of the week. For the first time, Buckeye guard Ava Watson won Freshman of the Week, the second freshman this season to earn the honor for the Scarlet and Gray.
Watson entered Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on a cold streak, scoring six points in the previous eight games. The guard out of Georgia shot 2-of-13 from beyond the arc in that stretch.
Against the Golden Gophers though, Watson showed her potential as a member of Ohio State and came up big to help the Buckeyes beat Minnesota. When the freshman joined the game, the Golden Gophers were on a five-point run and the Buckeyes needed a spark of offense.
“She made shots and she gave us a huge boost in the first quarter,” said head coach Kevin McGuff. “We haven’t been shooting it very well.”
The freshman shooting guard delivered and after missing her first shot, Watson scored the next 11 points for the Buckeyes. Watson scored five points in the second half on another deep three and two free throws, scoring 16 points and eclipsing her previous single game Big Ten scoring high of 15 points against the Northwestern Wildcats back on Jan. 5.
In the victory, Watson went 4-of-4 from beyond the arc, her second best deep shooting day of the season after hitting six against the Bowling Green Falcons. However, the four three-point shots made is a conference high for the freshman guard.
However, it wasn’t all good for the freshman and early in the fourth quarter, Watson sprained her ankle. The injury took the guard out of the game, a matchup where the Buckeyes gave up a 14-point lead with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Watson watched from the bench as fellow freshman Elsa Lemmilä and junior forward Cotie McMahon led Ohio State to an overtime victory. In addition, Watson missed Monday’s game against the Iowa Hawkeyes, wearing a boot on her foot.
It’s unclear if Watson will suit up Thursday when the Buckeyes head to Bloomington, Indiana to face the Indiana Hoosiers in the always loud Assembly Hall.
“She’s rehabbing and it’s, it’s not like a long, long term issue,” said McGuff. “I do not know about Thursday yet, but hopefully we can get her back sooner rather than later.”
While it’s the first Freshman of the Week award for Watson, it’s not the first Freshman of the Week honor for a Buckeye this season. Watson’s former AAU teammate Jaloni Cambridge won the award twice, in consecutive weeks in January.
This is the first time since the 2019-20 season that two Buckeyes earned the honor in the same season, with guards Jacy Sheldon, Madison Greene and one-year Buckeye Kierstan Bell winning a combined five Freshman of the Week awards.
McMahon owns the most Freshman of the Week awards in program history, earning the honor six times during the 22-23 season, on her way to the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award.
Continue reading...
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The first year Buckeye shot perfectly from deep against Minnesota to earn the first award of her NCAA career
Soon after Ohio State women’s basketball picked up a Monday afternoon overtime win over the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Big Ten announced their weekly awards, honoring a top player and top freshman of the week. For the first time, Buckeye guard Ava Watson won Freshman of the Week, the second freshman this season to earn the honor for the Scarlet and Gray.
Watson entered Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on a cold streak, scoring six points in the previous eight games. The guard out of Georgia shot 2-of-13 from beyond the arc in that stretch.
Against the Golden Gophers though, Watson showed her potential as a member of Ohio State and came up big to help the Buckeyes beat Minnesota. When the freshman joined the game, the Golden Gophers were on a five-point run and the Buckeyes needed a spark of offense.
“She made shots and she gave us a huge boost in the first quarter,” said head coach Kevin McGuff. “We haven’t been shooting it very well.”
The freshman shooting guard delivered and after missing her first shot, Watson scored the next 11 points for the Buckeyes. Watson scored five points in the second half on another deep three and two free throws, scoring 16 points and eclipsing her previous single game Big Ten scoring high of 15 points against the Northwestern Wildcats back on Jan. 5.
In the victory, Watson went 4-of-4 from beyond the arc, her second best deep shooting day of the season after hitting six against the Bowling Green Falcons. However, the four three-point shots made is a conference high for the freshman guard.
However, it wasn’t all good for the freshman and early in the fourth quarter, Watson sprained her ankle. The injury took the guard out of the game, a matchup where the Buckeyes gave up a 14-point lead with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Watson watched from the bench as fellow freshman Elsa Lemmilä and junior forward Cotie McMahon led Ohio State to an overtime victory. In addition, Watson missed Monday’s game against the Iowa Hawkeyes, wearing a boot on her foot.
It’s unclear if Watson will suit up Thursday when the Buckeyes head to Bloomington, Indiana to face the Indiana Hoosiers in the always loud Assembly Hall.
“She’s rehabbing and it’s, it’s not like a long, long term issue,” said McGuff. “I do not know about Thursday yet, but hopefully we can get her back sooner rather than later.”
While it’s the first Freshman of the Week award for Watson, it’s not the first Freshman of the Week honor for a Buckeye this season. Watson’s former AAU teammate Jaloni Cambridge won the award twice, in consecutive weeks in January.
This is the first time since the 2019-20 season that two Buckeyes earned the honor in the same season, with guards Jacy Sheldon, Madison Greene and one-year Buckeye Kierstan Bell winning a combined five Freshman of the Week awards.
McMahon owns the most Freshman of the Week awards in program history, earning the honor six times during the 22-23 season, on her way to the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award.
Continue reading...
LGHL How ice cold fourth quarter performances are hampering Ohio State women’s basketball
- News
- 0 Replies
How ice cold fourth quarter performances are hampering Ohio State women’s basketball
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
The Buckeyes could be left out in the cold when it comes to hosting March Madness should the trend of late game collapses continue
Across Central Ohio, the ground is blanketed with a layer of snow and building that frozen layer of winter are snowflakes. Each one different than the other but still coming together for the same frigid result. Basketball games are a lot like snowflakes, where each game carries its own twists and turns, regardless of the game’s conclusion.
Look at Ohio State women’s basketball over the past two games, and on the surface, the Buckeyes overcame the obstacles to win consecutive overtime matchups over Big Ten foes. However, pay attention to the characteristics of each game and how the Buckeyes found themselves in the position of needing extra time to dispatch their opponents and the stories are like those snowflakes on Ohio State’s campus.
On Thursday, against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the Buckeyes built a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. Then, with five minutes remaining, the Gophers started accumulating baskets on Ohio State defensive lapses and combine that with cold shooting and the issues began to snowball.
Minnesota, no stranger to the winter, felt right at home in the storm and scored 12 of the last 14 points before tying it with an open three-point shot in the closing seconds. Junior forward Cotie McMahon and freshman Elsa Lemmilä weren't bothered by the cold close to the fourth quarter and propelled the Buckeyes to a three-point overtime victory.
Then, on Monday afternoon, Ohio State gave up another double-digit lead, this time a 12-point advantage with 1:38 remaining in the fourth quarter. If the Minnesota loss was a slow moving front, the Hawkeyes were a blizzard.
“We could have closed the game out with free throws and we didn’t,” said head coach Kevin McGuff. “And so they made us pay and you know some of it was Lucy [Olsen] just made some incredible shots.”
Graduate senior guard Lucy Olsen led the comeback, hitting three shots from beyond the arc, each time the Buckeyes getting to the line in the bonus and coming up short, failing to convert five late chances. The former Villanova offensive threat scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to put Iowa back in the game.
“Lucy is a really good player,” said McMahon. “I think some of the shots that she made were just tough shots. Like that’s just one in a million chance.”
Ohio State iced the game in overtime, outscoring the Hawkeyes 12-4 with freshman Jaloni Cambridge scoring half of those points. Cambridge also went 4-of-4 from the free throw line to make up for 3-of-6 shooting from the line late in fourth.
Both wins keep the Scarlet and Gray in the driver’s seat for a top-four finish in the Big Ten, and with that a double-bye into the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. Plus, keeping pace to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament with Ohio State coming in at No. 14 in the tournament committee’s initial top-16 seeding announced Sunday.
Despite the differences in how Ohio State got to the point where they needed overtime in consecutive games, one tough similarity for the Buckeyes to take is the team’s lackluster effort on the defensive end of the court. McMahon points the finger back at the team.
“Just lack of mental focus. I mean, we were doing everything right up until then,” said McMahon. “We just have to stay locked in the full 40 minutes. I feel like that’s where we struggled. Just our defense is still a struggle.”
Now, Ohio State has to prove that it can close out games, adding another wrinkle to the final four games of the regular season and conference tournament. In the regular season, two of the last four games are on the road, starting Thursday in a loud and raucous Assembly Hall against the Indiana Hoosiers.
Then, it’s a Sunday matchup against a Purdue Boilermakers side that’s shocked Ohio State in past seasons. Followed by a home game against the No. 22 ranked Michigan State Spartans who play their toughest basketball in the fourth quarter of games. It all culminates with a trip to College Park, Maryland to face the No. 21 Maryland Terrapins.
It’s a stretch that is difficult, but not impossible for the Scarlet and Gray.
“If we would have played the last five minutes of the game like we played in overtime, because in overtime we played really hard, we executed at a high level, we were together, we had great energy, great communication, but we didn’t have that last five minutes,” said McGuff. “So we’ve got to commit to that for closer to 40 minutes and I think we can close out games. But, you know, until we really get that we’re going to leave ourselves vulnerable.”
Should Ohio State stumble in the final days of the regular season and have another late exit in the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes will have a more difficult road come March Madness. A tough thought for fans of the Scarlet and Gray who don’t want to be left out in the cold when the tournament committee chooses tournament hosts in the next month.
Continue reading...
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
The Buckeyes could be left out in the cold when it comes to hosting March Madness should the trend of late game collapses continue
Across Central Ohio, the ground is blanketed with a layer of snow and building that frozen layer of winter are snowflakes. Each one different than the other but still coming together for the same frigid result. Basketball games are a lot like snowflakes, where each game carries its own twists and turns, regardless of the game’s conclusion.
Look at Ohio State women’s basketball over the past two games, and on the surface, the Buckeyes overcame the obstacles to win consecutive overtime matchups over Big Ten foes. However, pay attention to the characteristics of each game and how the Buckeyes found themselves in the position of needing extra time to dispatch their opponents and the stories are like those snowflakes on Ohio State’s campus.
On Thursday, against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the Buckeyes built a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. Then, with five minutes remaining, the Gophers started accumulating baskets on Ohio State defensive lapses and combine that with cold shooting and the issues began to snowball.
Minnesota, no stranger to the winter, felt right at home in the storm and scored 12 of the last 14 points before tying it with an open three-point shot in the closing seconds. Junior forward Cotie McMahon and freshman Elsa Lemmilä weren't bothered by the cold close to the fourth quarter and propelled the Buckeyes to a three-point overtime victory.
Then, on Monday afternoon, Ohio State gave up another double-digit lead, this time a 12-point advantage with 1:38 remaining in the fourth quarter. If the Minnesota loss was a slow moving front, the Hawkeyes were a blizzard.
“We could have closed the game out with free throws and we didn’t,” said head coach Kevin McGuff. “And so they made us pay and you know some of it was Lucy [Olsen] just made some incredible shots.”
Graduate senior guard Lucy Olsen led the comeback, hitting three shots from beyond the arc, each time the Buckeyes getting to the line in the bonus and coming up short, failing to convert five late chances. The former Villanova offensive threat scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to put Iowa back in the game.
“Lucy is a really good player,” said McMahon. “I think some of the shots that she made were just tough shots. Like that’s just one in a million chance.”
Ohio State iced the game in overtime, outscoring the Hawkeyes 12-4 with freshman Jaloni Cambridge scoring half of those points. Cambridge also went 4-of-4 from the free throw line to make up for 3-of-6 shooting from the line late in fourth.
Both wins keep the Scarlet and Gray in the driver’s seat for a top-four finish in the Big Ten, and with that a double-bye into the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. Plus, keeping pace to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament with Ohio State coming in at No. 14 in the tournament committee’s initial top-16 seeding announced Sunday.
Despite the differences in how Ohio State got to the point where they needed overtime in consecutive games, one tough similarity for the Buckeyes to take is the team’s lackluster effort on the defensive end of the court. McMahon points the finger back at the team.
“Just lack of mental focus. I mean, we were doing everything right up until then,” said McMahon. “We just have to stay locked in the full 40 minutes. I feel like that’s where we struggled. Just our defense is still a struggle.”
Now, Ohio State has to prove that it can close out games, adding another wrinkle to the final four games of the regular season and conference tournament. In the regular season, two of the last four games are on the road, starting Thursday in a loud and raucous Assembly Hall against the Indiana Hoosiers.
Then, it’s a Sunday matchup against a Purdue Boilermakers side that’s shocked Ohio State in past seasons. Followed by a home game against the No. 22 ranked Michigan State Spartans who play their toughest basketball in the fourth quarter of games. It all culminates with a trip to College Park, Maryland to face the No. 21 Maryland Terrapins.
It’s a stretch that is difficult, but not impossible for the Scarlet and Gray.
“If we would have played the last five minutes of the game like we played in overtime, because in overtime we played really hard, we executed at a high level, we were together, we had great energy, great communication, but we didn’t have that last five minutes,” said McGuff. “So we’ve got to commit to that for closer to 40 minutes and I think we can close out games. But, you know, until we really get that we’re going to leave ourselves vulnerable.”
Should Ohio State stumble in the final days of the regular season and have another late exit in the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes will have a more difficult road come March Madness. A tough thought for fans of the Scarlet and Gray who don’t want to be left out in the cold when the tournament committee chooses tournament hosts in the next month.
Continue reading...
LGHL How many losses is too many? Examining past “bubble teams” as Ohio State rides the line
- News
- 0 Replies
How many losses is too many? Examining past “bubble teams” as Ohio State rides the line
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
The Buckeyes have been metrics darlings this year, staying afloat despite picking up 11 losses.
It might not feel like it at times, but the Ohio State men’s basketball team (15-11, 7-8) has actually been pretty good this season.
At least, that’s what the metrics say.
Despite a three-game losing streak during conference play, a 38-point loss to Auburn, and a total of six games that were lost on the final possession, Ohio State has cracked the metrics code this season and is still viewed as a very solid team in the eyes of metrics like KenPom and the NET.
KenPom rankings are considered by the committee that selects the 68-team tournament field, but the NCAA’s NET ranking is even more vital to a team’s tournament chances. It is in the best interest of every team to remain high in both rankings, and despite racking up 11 losses, Ohio State is still in a respectable spot in both rankings.
As of early Tuesday morning, Ohio State was No. 28 in KenPom’s rankings and No. 30 in the NET. The Buckeyes are the only team with double-digit losses in the top-30 of KenPom, and the only team with 11 losses in the top-45 (North Carolina sits at No. 48 with an identical record of 15-11). Ohio State is also the highest-rated team in the NET to have 10+ losses, with Texas sliding in right behind them at No. 31 with a record of 16-10.
Bracket Matrix — a conglomeration of nearly 100 bracket predictions scattered across the internet, averaged together for simplicity — still had Ohio State as a 9-seed as of Monday night.
The Buckeyes have — thus far — avoided any crushing losses on the resume, with zero losses in the Quad-3 or Quad-4 categories. Right now Ohio State’s “worst” losses on the resume are home losses to Indiana, Pitt, and Oregon — the last two of which are still fighting for spots in the NCAA Tournament themselves.
On top of that, the Buckeyes have perfected the art of “looking good” in losses. No, it doesn’t look good to Buckeye fans when you have to overcome a 17-point deficit on the road at Wisconsin just to lose by two points in the final seconds, but to the committee it shows that Ohio State is on a similar level to Wisconsin. The same goes for Michigan, Pitt, Indiana, and every other close loss — Ohio State is not losing convincingly, and they’re beating the teams that they should beat (for the most part).
Because of this, the Buckeyes have slipped through the analytical cracks despite racking up the losses. With five regular season games remaining, Ohio State probably needs to win three out of the last five to feel good about their spot in the NCAA Tournament, right?
An 18-13 record, with a 10-10 record in Big Ten play, should get them in. But anything worse than that, and the Buckeyes may be tempting fate.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25877618/usa_today_25357394.jpg "Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch")
Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Even if analytics like the NET and KenPom still shine favorably on a 14 or 15-loss Ohio State team, at the end of the day human beings finalize the NCAA Tournament bracket, and those human beings simply haven’t put teams with 15 or 16 losses into the NCAA Tournament recently.
After reviewing the resumes of many of the “bubble teams” over the past three seasons (9-12-seeded at-large teams), I can conclude that no team with more than 14 losses entering the tournament has received an at-large bid from 2022-2024.
There were multiple teams to make it with a record of 17-14, however, so does that boot Ohio State if they were to say, end the season 17-15 but then win one or two games in the Big Ten Tournament to end 18-15 or 19-15? Probably not! Precedent is only precedent until something else supersedes it.
But still, 14 losses looks like the magic number that Ohio State should not want to pass if the team wants to feel good about making the big dance. Assuming the Buckeyes don’t win the Big Ten Tournament, that means they can probably afford two more losses in their final five games.
It also doesn’t look like the NET ranking of a team is as critical as it may seem. Over the past three seasons, there’s been a 9-seed that was No. 55 in the NET, and another year there was an 11-seed that finished No. 34. It’s clearly a factor, but resume and the raw wins and losses also matter.
For the purpose of comparing them to the 2024-2025 Ohio State Buckeyes, here are the records of each of the 9-11 seeds from each of the last three NCAA Tournaments, as well as their NET ranking on Selection Sunday. This includes teams that went to the First Four in Dayton and lost, and also includes 2022 Indiana, which somehow got an at-large 12-seed even though those seeds are usually left for the best mid-major teams.
2022 Indiana Hoosiers
Record: 21-13
NET: 38
2022 Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Record: 17-14
NET: 77
2022 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Record: 23-10
NET: 53
2022 Michigan Wolverines
Record: 17-14
NET: 34
2022 Virginia Tech Hokies
Record: 23-12
NET: 27
(Won ACC Tournament and earned automatic bid)
2023 NC State Wolfpack
Record: 23-10
NET: 45
2023 Pitt Panthers
Record: 23-11
NET: 67
2023 Mississippi State Bulldogs
Record: 20-13
NET: 49
2023 Providence Friars
Record: 21-11
NET: 56
2023 Arizona State Sun Devils
Record: 23-12
NET: 66
2023 Nevada Wolfpack
Record: 21-11
NET: 37
2024 Duquesne Dukes
Record: 24-11
NET: 80
(Won A-10 Tournament and earned automatic bid)
2024 NC State Wolfpack
Record: 22-14
NET: 63
(Won ACC Tournament and earned automatic bid)
2024 New Mexico Lobos
Record: 26-9
NET: 22
(Won Mountain West Tournament and earned automatic bid)
2024 Oregon Ducks
Record: 23-11
NET: 59
(Won PAC-12 Tournament and earned automatic bid)
2022 Davidson Wildcats
Record: 27-6
NET: 41
2022 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers
Record: 25-7
NET: 23
2022 San Francisco Dons
Record: 24-9
NET: 22
2022 Miami Hurricanes
Record: 23-10
NET: 62
2023 Utah State Aggies
Record: 26-8
NET: 18
2023 Penn State Nittany Lions
Record: 22-13
NET: 48
2023 USC Trojans
Record: 22-10
NET: 50
2023 Boise State Broncos
Record: 24-9
NET: 29
2024 Drake Bulldogs
Record: 28-6
NET: 47
2024 Boise State Broncos
Record: 22-10
NET: 26
2024 Colorado Buffaloes
Record: 25-10
NET: 36
2024 Nevada Wolfpack
Record: 26-7
NET: 34
2024 Colorado State Rams
Record: 25-10
NET: 36
2022 Memphis Tigers
Record: 21-10
NET: 53
2022 TCU Horned Frogs
Record: 20-12
NET: 44
2022 Marquette Golden Eagles
Record: 19-12
NET: 42
2022 Creighton Blue Jays
Record: 22-11
NET: 55
2023 West Virginia Mountaineers
Record: 19-14
NET: 25
2023 Auburn Tigers
Record: 20-12
NET: 32
2023 Florida Atlantic Owls
Record: 31-3
NET: 13
(Won American Athletic Conference Tournament and earned automatic bid)
2023 Illinois Fighting Illini
Record: 20-12
NET: 34
2024 Northwestern
Record: 21-11
NET: 53
2024 Texas A&M
Record: 20-14
NET: 45
2024 Michigan State Spartans
Record: 19-14
NET: 24
2024 TCU Horned Frogs
Record: 21-12
NET: 42
Continue reading...
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
The Buckeyes have been metrics darlings this year, staying afloat despite picking up 11 losses.
It might not feel like it at times, but the Ohio State men’s basketball team (15-11, 7-8) has actually been pretty good this season.
At least, that’s what the metrics say.
Despite a three-game losing streak during conference play, a 38-point loss to Auburn, and a total of six games that were lost on the final possession, Ohio State has cracked the metrics code this season and is still viewed as a very solid team in the eyes of metrics like KenPom and the NET.
KenPom rankings are considered by the committee that selects the 68-team tournament field, but the NCAA’s NET ranking is even more vital to a team’s tournament chances. It is in the best interest of every team to remain high in both rankings, and despite racking up 11 losses, Ohio State is still in a respectable spot in both rankings.
As of early Tuesday morning, Ohio State was No. 28 in KenPom’s rankings and No. 30 in the NET. The Buckeyes are the only team with double-digit losses in the top-30 of KenPom, and the only team with 11 losses in the top-45 (North Carolina sits at No. 48 with an identical record of 15-11). Ohio State is also the highest-rated team in the NET to have 10+ losses, with Texas sliding in right behind them at No. 31 with a record of 16-10.
Bracket Matrix — a conglomeration of nearly 100 bracket predictions scattered across the internet, averaged together for simplicity — still had Ohio State as a 9-seed as of Monday night.
The Buckeyes have — thus far — avoided any crushing losses on the resume, with zero losses in the Quad-3 or Quad-4 categories. Right now Ohio State’s “worst” losses on the resume are home losses to Indiana, Pitt, and Oregon — the last two of which are still fighting for spots in the NCAA Tournament themselves.
On top of that, the Buckeyes have perfected the art of “looking good” in losses. No, it doesn’t look good to Buckeye fans when you have to overcome a 17-point deficit on the road at Wisconsin just to lose by two points in the final seconds, but to the committee it shows that Ohio State is on a similar level to Wisconsin. The same goes for Michigan, Pitt, Indiana, and every other close loss — Ohio State is not losing convincingly, and they’re beating the teams that they should beat (for the most part).
Because of this, the Buckeyes have slipped through the analytical cracks despite racking up the losses. With five regular season games remaining, Ohio State probably needs to win three out of the last five to feel good about their spot in the NCAA Tournament, right?
An 18-13 record, with a 10-10 record in Big Ten play, should get them in. But anything worse than that, and the Buckeyes may be tempting fate.
Even if analytics like the NET and KenPom still shine favorably on a 14 or 15-loss Ohio State team, at the end of the day human beings finalize the NCAA Tournament bracket, and those human beings simply haven’t put teams with 15 or 16 losses into the NCAA Tournament recently.
After reviewing the resumes of many of the “bubble teams” over the past three seasons (9-12-seeded at-large teams), I can conclude that no team with more than 14 losses entering the tournament has received an at-large bid from 2022-2024.
There were multiple teams to make it with a record of 17-14, however, so does that boot Ohio State if they were to say, end the season 17-15 but then win one or two games in the Big Ten Tournament to end 18-15 or 19-15? Probably not! Precedent is only precedent until something else supersedes it.
But still, 14 losses looks like the magic number that Ohio State should not want to pass if the team wants to feel good about making the big dance. Assuming the Buckeyes don’t win the Big Ten Tournament, that means they can probably afford two more losses in their final five games.
It also doesn’t look like the NET ranking of a team is as critical as it may seem. Over the past three seasons, there’s been a 9-seed that was No. 55 in the NET, and another year there was an 11-seed that finished No. 34. It’s clearly a factor, but resume and the raw wins and losses also matter.
For the purpose of comparing them to the 2024-2025 Ohio State Buckeyes, here are the records of each of the 9-11 seeds from each of the last three NCAA Tournaments, as well as their NET ranking on Selection Sunday. This includes teams that went to the First Four in Dayton and lost, and also includes 2022 Indiana, which somehow got an at-large 12-seed even though those seeds are usually left for the best mid-major teams.
12-seeds
2022 Indiana Hoosiers
Record: 21-13
NET: 38
11-seeds
2022 Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Record: 17-14
NET: 77
2022 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Record: 23-10
NET: 53
2022 Michigan Wolverines
Record: 17-14
NET: 34
2022 Virginia Tech Hokies
Record: 23-12
NET: 27
(Won ACC Tournament and earned automatic bid)
2023 NC State Wolfpack
Record: 23-10
NET: 45
2023 Pitt Panthers
Record: 23-11
NET: 67
2023 Mississippi State Bulldogs
Record: 20-13
NET: 49
2023 Providence Friars
Record: 21-11
NET: 56
2023 Arizona State Sun Devils
Record: 23-12
NET: 66
2023 Nevada Wolfpack
Record: 21-11
NET: 37
2024 Duquesne Dukes
Record: 24-11
NET: 80
(Won A-10 Tournament and earned automatic bid)
2024 NC State Wolfpack
Record: 22-14
NET: 63
(Won ACC Tournament and earned automatic bid)
2024 New Mexico Lobos
Record: 26-9
NET: 22
(Won Mountain West Tournament and earned automatic bid)
2024 Oregon Ducks
Record: 23-11
NET: 59
(Won PAC-12 Tournament and earned automatic bid)
10-seeds
2022 Davidson Wildcats
Record: 27-6
NET: 41
2022 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers
Record: 25-7
NET: 23
2022 San Francisco Dons
Record: 24-9
NET: 22
2022 Miami Hurricanes
Record: 23-10
NET: 62
2023 Utah State Aggies
Record: 26-8
NET: 18
2023 Penn State Nittany Lions
Record: 22-13
NET: 48
2023 USC Trojans
Record: 22-10
NET: 50
2023 Boise State Broncos
Record: 24-9
NET: 29
2024 Drake Bulldogs
Record: 28-6
NET: 47
2024 Boise State Broncos
Record: 22-10
NET: 26
2024 Colorado Buffaloes
Record: 25-10
NET: 36
2024 Nevada Wolfpack
Record: 26-7
NET: 34
2024 Colorado State Rams
Record: 25-10
NET: 36
9-seeds
2022 Memphis Tigers
Record: 21-10
NET: 53
2022 TCU Horned Frogs
Record: 20-12
NET: 44
2022 Marquette Golden Eagles
Record: 19-12
NET: 42
2022 Creighton Blue Jays
Record: 22-11
NET: 55
2023 West Virginia Mountaineers
Record: 19-14
NET: 25
2023 Auburn Tigers
Record: 20-12
NET: 32
2023 Florida Atlantic Owls
Record: 31-3
NET: 13
(Won American Athletic Conference Tournament and earned automatic bid)
2023 Illinois Fighting Illini
Record: 20-12
NET: 34
2024 Northwestern
Record: 21-11
NET: 53
2024 Texas A&M
Record: 20-14
NET: 45
2024 Michigan State Spartans
Record: 19-14
NET: 24
2024 TCU Horned Frogs
Record: 21-12
NET: 42
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