Buckeyes Roundball Roundup: Tamed the Wildcats, Took down Rutgers
February 15, 2016Kevin Love is (almost) untouchable in trade talks
February 16, 2016Thad Matta is a man of accomplishments. He holds the record for most career victories as Ohio State men’s basketball head coach. His Buckeyes won the Big Ten regular season five times and the conference tournament four times. He twice led the Bucks to the Final Four and once to the championship game. Perhaps most impressively, his team has reached the NCAA Tournament for seven consecutive seasons, dating back to 2009. That streak, however, may be in jeopardy as Ohio State heads down the home stretch.
The 2015-16 season did not start out well for the Buckeyes. The Scarlet and Gray had lost six players from the previous season either through graduation or, in D’Angelo Russel’s case, business savvy. The Bucks stumbled out of the blocks and in mid-December stood 4-6 with embarrassing home losses to UT-Arlington and Louisiana Tech on their resume. A shocking upset of No. 4 Kentucky sparked the Buckeyes who at one point won seven straight. The conference slate has not been kind to OSU with wins coming against also-rans (Rutgers twice, Illinois twice) and losses coming against ranked clubs (No. 3 Maryland, No. 8 Maryland, and No. 22 Purdue). At the moment the Basketbucks are on a two game win streak with only five scheduled games to go. More upsettingly, they may not need their dancing shoes next month.
Bracketology is an inexact science (and a silly word) but the cottage industry is in full force this time of year. No one at CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, or ESPN has Ohio State gracing the field of 68 in their most recent predictions. The ideal option is to win the Big Ten Tournament and receive an automatic berth, but the odds of that are slim to none. OSU’s best chance is to make the bracket as an at-large team. What can OSU learn from the most recent at-large tournament teams who snuck in?
Last season Oklahoma State was the at-large club with the fewest victories (18-13) which gives Buckeye fans hope until you remember that the Cowboys won five games against ranked opponents in the hypercompetitive Big XII. In 2014, Iowa qualified for the tournament with a 20-13 record. They scored only two ranked wins along with a handful of close quality losses and a first round tournament bounce. In 2013 Villanova managed a nine seed with a 20-13 record, four wins over ranked teams, and a conference tournament win. The Buckeyes’ resume (1-7 record against teams in the top hundred of RPI) suggests they will need a strong finish to even be in the conversation come March 13.
With a 16-10 (8-5 B1G) record OSU knows they will need to make the last five plus games count to get back on the bracket. The final slew of games shakes out as follows:
2/16 vs. Michigan
2/20 @ Nebraska
2/23 vs. No. 8 Michigan State
2/28 vs. No. 4 Iowa
3/6 @ No. 8 Michigan State
Three games at home bode well for Ohio State, but the final trio promise to be problematic. On the one hand, the Scarlet and Gray will have opportunities to boost their resume with wins over highly ranked teams. On the other, “highly ranked teams” does not do justice to the sky-high quality of opponent Michigan State and Iowa present to Ohio State. Both are top ten opponents who could be either a one or two seed on Selection Sunday.
Even if the regularly scheduled games do not work out in the Buckeyes’ favor, they have the advantage of the conference tournament to make a closing argument. With fourteen teams to negotiate, the conference tourney has the bottom four clubs play in the first round and the top four receive a double bye. If OSU holds its position as the eighth seed in the conference they would open against the ninth seed (currently Nebraska) followed by a date with the No. 1 seed. A healthy tournament run, even one that does not culminate in a trophy, could be the finishing touch Ohio State needs.
The most surefire path to the Tournament for the Buckeyes seems to be winning at least four more games, at least one of which needs to be against a ranked opponent. Anything short of that and the Ohio Union might be a very somber building on Selection Sunday. On the plus side, OSU would be all but a lock for the National Invitation Tournament, which Thad Matta and the Buckeyes won in 2008. Even if it isn’t the Big Dance, Matta would certainly get his boys ready to go in any postseason game they find themselves in.
1 Comment
my uncle Ellis L. Li got an almost new white Fiat 500 Hatchback by working part time from the internet…
learn the facts here now
poi