Brett Ludwiczak
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You’re Nuts: Which Ohio State loss on Sunday was more disappointing?
Brett Ludwiczak 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
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
Sunday was a rough day for a couple Ohio State teams. Not only did the women’s hockey team lose in overtime to the Wisconsin Badgers in the NCAA Championship Game, the women’s basketball team lost at home to Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. While both teams were successful enough during the regular season to make the NCAA Tournament, which is something the men’s basketball team wasn’t able to do, they both fell short of their ultimate goal of winning a national title.
This isn’t meant to bring down either team since they had tremendous seasons, today we are dealing more with our personal feelings. The women’s hockey team has now not only made five straight Frozen Fours, they have made three straight championship games, with Wisconsin being their opponent in each of those games. The women’s basketball team won 26 games this season, finishing tied for third in the Big Ten behind USC and UCLA. There is no questioning the effort of either team.
Today we want to know which of the losses on Sunday hit you harder. Maybe it was the hockey team’s loss to Wisconsin since it came in the title game. It would be completely understandable if the loss by the Ohio State women’s basketball team hit a little harder since the hockey team has already won a couple titles this decade, so you felt it was time for the basketball team to get theirs. It would also be a valid reason for the women’s basketball team’s loss being tougher to stomach since it came on Ohio State’s home court. We all process losses in different ways.
I’m a Buffalo Bills fan, so I am more than familiar with losing in the playoffs. Usually, when people ask me in the fall what I think about the Bills' chances, I pretty much always tell them I hope for the best and expect the worst. In a wa,y I feel the same way about Ohio State women’s basketball. Kevin McGuff is running a quality program, but they just aren’t quite at the top tier like UConn or South Carolina. The program made their only Final Four in school history in 1993, and since then, the furthest they have advanced was the Elite Eight in 2023. Don’t get me wrong, the loss to Tennessee hurts, especially since it happened at home. I’m just not all that surprised it happened since it seems more often than not the program gets bounced from the tournament before the second weekend.
On the other hand, the women’s hockey team has captured the moment more often than not under head coach Nadine Muzerall. Wisconsin was a juggernaut this year, but the Buckeyes had not only beaten the Badgers in regulation this season, they also bested Wisconsin at Wrigley Field in a shootout. Ohio State was even up 3-1 early in the second period, and held a 3-2 lead until there were less than 30 seconds left in regulation.
The Badgers needed to not only be on a power play and pull their goalie to tie the score, but they also needed Buckeye goaltender Amanda Thiele to lose her stick, causing a teammate to cover the puck up in the crease with her glove, which resulted in a penalty shot that Wisconsin converted.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25925566/2206104544.jpg "2025 NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Championship - Finals")
Photo by Carlos Gonzalez/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
The loss probably wouldn’t have left such a sour taste in my mouth had the refs not had such a big hand in it. The awarding of a penalty shot after a challenge was sketchy at best. Then it could be argued that the Badger who took the penalty shot actually let the puck move backwards before taking her shot, which should have immediately caused the penalty shot to be called dead at that point.
Then, there could have been an argument made that the game-winning goal was offside. If we are being honest, Wisconsin didn’t beat Ohio State, the refs were the ones who beat the Buckeyes.
Maybe the women’s hockey team goes on to win the national title next year, which makes feeling so disappointed in Sunday’s loss look silly. In my head, you need to win every national title game you make it to, since you never know the next time you are going to be there, especially these days with student-athletes hitting the transfer portal in record numbers. At least the loss is easier to stomach with Muzerall in charge since she has proven she can build a winner, even with top talent leaving annually.
In a vacuum, yes, I agree with Brett. Losing in such a painful way in the national championship game is devastating and overwhelmingly disappointing. However, the OSU women’s hockey program is — along with new national champs Wisconsin — at the top of the sport, and that does not appear to be changing anytime soon. So, while an incredibly painful loss for the team and its fans, there is plenty to be optimistic about going forward.
But things do not feel as rosy over on the women’s hoops side. Not only was getting bounced in the Round of 32 an underwhelming and disappointing performance for a squad that showed flashes of elite play throughout the year (though not as consistently as incarnations in the recent past), but the fallout since the defeat has made things more difficult to hope for a better result in 2025-26.
Yesterday, it was confirmed that arguably head coach Kevin McGuff’s best and most consistent player Cotie McMahon would enter the transfer portal after three seasons in Columbus. While McGuff has had success in the portal before — especially following the departure of a massive star — there is no guarantee that he is going to be able to pull a Taylor Mikesell-sized rabbit out of the hat this time.
The Buckeyes have only advanced past the Sweet 16 once since 1993, when Katie Smith led OSU to the title game against Texas Tech (which the Bucks painfully lost 84-82). The other time was in 2023 — McMahon’s freshman season. Otherwise, they have been upset by lower-seeded teams 11 times in their 18 trips to the Big Dance in the 21st Century. You want to guess how many times they’ve upset a higher seed?
You probably don’t, honestly, but the answer is three; just three times in 18 trips to the tournament has Ohio State beaten a higher seed. One of those wins was in McMahon’s freshman year of 2023 when OSU beat the UConn Huskies who were led in part by former Buckeye All-American Dorka Juhasz.
Of course, you have to factor in that the Buckeyes’ average seed in those appearances has been 3.8, so there are far more teams ranked below them than above them. But they still haven’t been able to pull off the victories when they matter the most.
So, when you couple that troubling history with another disappointing end to the season, that’s bad enough, but then it leads directly to the departure of your best veteran leader, and it is hard not to feel like the Buckeyes are falling a bit further behind in the race to conference and national titles.
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Brett Ludwiczak 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
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
Sunday was a rough day for a couple Ohio State teams. Not only did the women’s hockey team lose in overtime to the Wisconsin Badgers in the NCAA Championship Game, the women’s basketball team lost at home to Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. While both teams were successful enough during the regular season to make the NCAA Tournament, which is something the men’s basketball team wasn’t able to do, they both fell short of their ultimate goal of winning a national title.
This isn’t meant to bring down either team since they had tremendous seasons, today we are dealing more with our personal feelings. The women’s hockey team has now not only made five straight Frozen Fours, they have made three straight championship games, with Wisconsin being their opponent in each of those games. The women’s basketball team won 26 games this season, finishing tied for third in the Big Ten behind USC and UCLA. There is no questioning the effort of either team.
Today we want to know which of the losses on Sunday hit you harder. Maybe it was the hockey team’s loss to Wisconsin since it came in the title game. It would be completely understandable if the loss by the Ohio State women’s basketball team hit a little harder since the hockey team has already won a couple titles this decade, so you felt it was time for the basketball team to get theirs. It would also be a valid reason for the women’s basketball team’s loss being tougher to stomach since it came on Ohio State’s home court. We all process losses in different ways.
Today’s question: Which Ohio State loss on Sunday was most disappointing?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Ohio State women’s hockey
I’m a Buffalo Bills fan, so I am more than familiar with losing in the playoffs. Usually, when people ask me in the fall what I think about the Bills' chances, I pretty much always tell them I hope for the best and expect the worst. In a wa,y I feel the same way about Ohio State women’s basketball. Kevin McGuff is running a quality program, but they just aren’t quite at the top tier like UConn or South Carolina. The program made their only Final Four in school history in 1993, and since then, the furthest they have advanced was the Elite Eight in 2023. Don’t get me wrong, the loss to Tennessee hurts, especially since it happened at home. I’m just not all that surprised it happened since it seems more often than not the program gets bounced from the tournament before the second weekend.
On the other hand, the women’s hockey team has captured the moment more often than not under head coach Nadine Muzerall. Wisconsin was a juggernaut this year, but the Buckeyes had not only beaten the Badgers in regulation this season, they also bested Wisconsin at Wrigley Field in a shootout. Ohio State was even up 3-1 early in the second period, and held a 3-2 lead until there were less than 30 seconds left in regulation.
The Badgers needed to not only be on a power play and pull their goalie to tie the score, but they also needed Buckeye goaltender Amanda Thiele to lose her stick, causing a teammate to cover the puck up in the crease with her glove, which resulted in a penalty shot that Wisconsin converted.
The loss probably wouldn’t have left such a sour taste in my mouth had the refs not had such a big hand in it. The awarding of a penalty shot after a challenge was sketchy at best. Then it could be argued that the Badger who took the penalty shot actually let the puck move backwards before taking her shot, which should have immediately caused the penalty shot to be called dead at that point.
Then, there could have been an argument made that the game-winning goal was offside. If we are being honest, Wisconsin didn’t beat Ohio State, the refs were the ones who beat the Buckeyes.
Maybe the women’s hockey team goes on to win the national title next year, which makes feeling so disappointed in Sunday’s loss look silly. In my head, you need to win every national title game you make it to, since you never know the next time you are going to be there, especially these days with student-athletes hitting the transfer portal in record numbers. At least the loss is easier to stomach with Muzerall in charge since she has proven she can build a winner, even with top talent leaving annually.
Matt’s answer: Ohio State women’s basketball
In a vacuum, yes, I agree with Brett. Losing in such a painful way in the national championship game is devastating and overwhelmingly disappointing. However, the OSU women’s hockey program is — along with new national champs Wisconsin — at the top of the sport, and that does not appear to be changing anytime soon. So, while an incredibly painful loss for the team and its fans, there is plenty to be optimistic about going forward.
But things do not feel as rosy over on the women’s hoops side. Not only was getting bounced in the Round of 32 an underwhelming and disappointing performance for a squad that showed flashes of elite play throughout the year (though not as consistently as incarnations in the recent past), but the fallout since the defeat has made things more difficult to hope for a better result in 2025-26.
Yesterday, it was confirmed that arguably head coach Kevin McGuff’s best and most consistent player Cotie McMahon would enter the transfer portal after three seasons in Columbus. While McGuff has had success in the portal before — especially following the departure of a massive star — there is no guarantee that he is going to be able to pull a Taylor Mikesell-sized rabbit out of the hat this time.
The Buckeyes have only advanced past the Sweet 16 once since 1993, when Katie Smith led OSU to the title game against Texas Tech (which the Bucks painfully lost 84-82). The other time was in 2023 — McMahon’s freshman season. Otherwise, they have been upset by lower-seeded teams 11 times in their 18 trips to the Big Dance in the 21st Century. You want to guess how many times they’ve upset a higher seed?
You probably don’t, honestly, but the answer is three; just three times in 18 trips to the tournament has Ohio State beaten a higher seed. One of those wins was in McMahon’s freshman year of 2023 when OSU beat the UConn Huskies who were led in part by former Buckeye All-American Dorka Juhasz.
Of course, you have to factor in that the Buckeyes’ average seed in those appearances has been 3.8, so there are far more teams ranked below them than above them. But they still haven’t been able to pull off the victories when they matter the most.
So, when you couple that troubling history with another disappointing end to the season, that’s bad enough, but then it leads directly to the departure of your best veteran leader, and it is hard not to feel like the Buckeyes are falling a bit further behind in the race to conference and national titles.
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