Evaluating Ohio State's viable path to locking up 2024 NCAA Tournament bid

After some tumultuous stretches throughout the season, On3’s Bracketologist James Fletcher III still believes there’s a path for Ohio State to get into the NCAA Tournament.

Joining Andy Staples on Andy Staples On3 on YouTube, Fletcher III elaborated on how the Buckeyes making a strong Big Ten Tournament run will vault them right into the conversation come Selection Sunday.

“Ohio State’s a team that I didn’t really have on the bubble coming into the conference tournaments, but was aware of them. I was still watching them. Similar to how I was watching Kansas State. It was like, right now, they don’t have a clear path. But if a lot of these other teams start losing early in the conference tournament, and they make a run this Sunday, then yeah, I’ll look at their numbers head to head with these other teams, and I’ll consider it,” Fletcher III said. “Now, we’ve got enough teams that have been knocked out, that they’re sort of the next in line team that still has some kind of path.

“It’s a very narrow path, but they’ve got some kind of path towards the NCAA Tournament field. And so they’re starting to creep up into that bubble conversation.”

While Fletcher III relented that a run to Sunday is essential to Ohio State’s chance at the NCAA Tournament, their resume is interesting enough to speak on compared to other teams on the bubble.

“They’re a team that you got to start watching, start looking at the numbers. But I think that they’re gonna have to make a run, no matter what, to Sunday. To the final of that Big Ten Championship. So they’re gonna have to pick up more quality wins along the way,” Fletcher III added. “And I think we’re the Ohio State conversation kind of goes off is, they already had a resume that could have been compared to some of the other teams on the bubble coming into conference tournament play. But what I think offsets that strong run of form that we’ve been talking about.

“That 6-1, you’ve got to win over Purdue. It is, in some way offset, by the fact that you fired a coach. It’s just a weird look to put a team into the NCAA Tournament after they fired their coach in the middle of the season for not living up to expectation. It’s just, it’s a weird dynamic that the committee is going to have to deal with. Do we reward an interim coach for overachieving? Or do we look at this team and say, ‘You fired your coach. You didn’t even think you were gonna make the NCAA Tournament. Why would we give you a spot?’ So they’re in a really weird spot right now for sure, and it will be interesting to see what the committee has to say about it on Sunday.”

Time will tell if Ohio State can get into the NCAA Tournament after firing their coach midseason, but it’s certainly an accomplishment the Buckeyes are even in this position, after where they were not too long ago.