Ohio State Continues No.1 Seed

You’re lying if you try to tell me you’ve seen this year’s Ohio State basketball team be this good. After losing top scorer Kaleb Wesson to the NBA and a number of other major contributors to the team last year at graduation or transfers, there were a ton of question marks around this season’s Buckeye roster. Duane Washington Jr. had shown flashes in his first two years, and EJ Liddell really started showing up at the end of his freshman campaign, but could these two guys really be counted on to take the load off? approaching 2020-2021?

The answer to this question was a definite yes. While this version of Ohio State doesn’t go through a single star like they did with Wesson, Liddell and Washington were excellent for a unit of Buckeyes receiving contributions from almost everyone on the pitch. . Liddell leads the team in scoring with 15.4 points per game to go with a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game, while Washington adds 14.6 points per fight and is second on the team. with 3.1 assists per game.

What Chris Holtmann’s team lacks in terms of star power, they make up for by having a talented and deep group of guys who know their role. Judge Sueing has been excellent for Ohio State this season, scoring 10.9 points per game with 5.7 boards as well, while taking on some of the ball handling duties as CJ Walker was injured. Justin Ahrens has been one of the best three-pointers in the country, reaching 48.8% beyond the arc of the season. Kyle Young has been his usual character, second on the team with 5.9 rebounds per fight and offering a strong defensive presence under the rim.

The scary part is that the state of Ohio can continue to improve. Seth Towns slowly found his way back after a two-year knee injury, looking more and more comfortable with each passing game. Zed Key really turned heads in his first season, as his stellar game along with his finger guns captured the hearts of the fanbase, while Meechie Johnson begins to become a late addition to the squad that should be playing his last year of ball in high school. The Buckeyes are starting to bring it all together, and it has placed them at the top of the national conversation.

The state of Ohio is now No. 8 in the country in the latest NET Rankings, the primary selection and ranking tool in the NCAA tournament. At 15-4, the Buckeyes have the most Quad 1 wins of any team nationwide with seven, and they’re also the only school with five or more wins over ranked teams. In fact, since last season, Ohio State has now won six straight games against the PA’s top 10 teams, culminating in last night’s impressive 89-85 victory over the No.8 Hawkeyes. from Iowa.

Holtmann has put together quite the resume this season, as his side are just one game behind Michigan for the Big Ten’s top spot with a head-to-head clash against the Wolverines in a matter of weeks. The Buckeyes have already beaten 10th Wisconsin and 14th Illinois – both on the road – while twice beating a Rutgers Top 15 team in addition to Thursday’s huge win over Iowa. The state of Ohio will almost certainly be ranked in the AP’s top 5 when the new rankings come out Monday, and their quest for a No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament is not unrealistic.

Ohio State has five more Quad 1 games on the schedule in Maryland, Penn State, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois – in that order. Three of those teams they’ve already beaten this year, and the Buckeyes are in a great position according to Bracketology’s Joe Lunardi. Currently, Lunardi has Ohio State as the No.2 seed and the No.5 team overall – just a spot on a seed. Gonzaga and Baylor likely already have their spots locked, so the Buckeyes will battle Michigan (No.3 overall according to Lunardi) and Alabama (No.4) for one of the two remaining No.1 seeds. .

Could it be done? Absolutely. If the state of Ohio can win the majority of the remaining games on their schedule, they will have one of the best resumes of any college basketball team. There’s a bunch of tough opponents on the horizon, but the Buckeyes are playing some of their best basketball at the right time. As the great Jon Rothstein would say, it’s February ONLY.

While the basketball team is in the news right now, Ohio State football still has the ability to grab headlines even in the offseason. On Friday afternoon, the Big Ten released an updated version of the 2021 schedule. Right now, the conference still plans to move forward with a largely normal 12-game roster, including non-conference games, and Friday’s review was actually just to move a few games and maybe change locations to make up for cancellations during the 2020 season.

One of the big changes people were looking for, myself included, was whether the Big Ten would change the location of the Ohio State-Michigan game in 2021. The Buckeyes were supposed to host the Wolverines in Columbus in 2020, but a COVID -19 outbreak in Ann Arbor resulted in the game being canceled. Some expected the B1G to give Ohio State their home game in 2021, but that is not the case, as this year’s edition of The Game will still take place in the big house as originally planned.

The biggest change for the Buckeyes is the movement of the Penn State game. Ohio State was originally scheduled to face the Nittany Lions on November 20, but that game has now been moved to October 30. The Big Ten now have Ryan Day’s squad playing at Michigan State on Nov. 20, saving Ohio State the trouble of playing. Penn State and Michigan consecutively at the end of the regular season.

None of the Ohio State locations have changed, as everything that needed to be in or out of the house has remained as it was. There were, however, a few other games shifted around the timeline. The Buckeyes will play Rutgers on October 2 (originally in Nebraska) and host Maryland on October 9 (originally Purdue). They will then travel to Indiana on October 23 (originally to Rutgers) and travel to Nebraska on November 6 (originally to Indiana). The Purdue game was moved to November 13, which was originally Maryland.

Ohio State will open its season Thursday, Sept. 2 in Minnesota, and host Oregon to open the non-conference list the following week. The Buckeyes’ rest week remains scheduled for October 16. OSU will also host Akron and Tulsa to close off its non-conference opponents in 2021.