Buckeyes officially miss NCAA Tournament for third straight season
COLUMBUS — The Big Ten Tournament loss to Iowa on Wednesday was really what put Ohio State on the outside, looking in at the NCAA Tournament.
What the Selection Committee did with the Buckeyes on Sunday just made it official: for the third straight season, the Buckeyes have missed the NCAA Tournament.
Despite incredible wins against Kentucky on a neutral site, at Purdue and at home against Maryland, Ohio State simply lost too many critical games down the stretch of the season. Their top-40 KenPom ranking and No. 41 spot in the NET rankings made them a compelling case study, even with a sub-.500 Big Ten record and 15 losses this season.
Back-to-back losses at Indiana to close the regular season and then against Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament completely sunk the bubble Buckeyes.
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The program has not made the Big Dance since the 2021-22 season, when the Chris Holtmann-led Buckeyes beat Loyola-Chicago in the Round of 64 but lost to Villanova in the Round of 32. Ohio State hasn’t been to the Sweet 16 since Thad Matta took the Buckeyes in 2013.
For Jake Diebler, his first season as the head coach after taking over for Holtmann, who the Buckeyes fired last February, was supposed to be better than 17-15 with a missed NCAA Tournament berth. Now Diebler will need to make significant changes to the roster ahead of a critical second season at the helm of the Buckeyes basketball program.
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