Is Ohio State in March Madness? Buckeyes' NCAA Tournament chances revealed by ESPN's Joe Lunardi

ASFN Admin · Mar 14, 2026

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Is Ohio State in March Madness? Buckeyes' NCAA Tournament chances revealed by ESPN's Joe Lunardi originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Ohio State Buckeyes may not have started this college basketball season at full speed.

By the time it's important -- March -- they hit their stride. They couldn't quite beat Michigan in the Big Ten quarterfinals on Friday, but that likely won't be a big deal in their March Madness hopes of dancing in the NCAA Tournament.

Nothing is a given, of course, and weird things can happen in the final few days of conference tournaments.

But as best everyone can tell, Ohio State's outcome for the rest of this month is pretty secure.

Is Ohio State in March Madness?

Yes, bracketologists are projecting the Buckeyes to make the NCAA Tournament field pretty comfortably.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi, in his new bracket out Friday night after OSU's loss to Michigan, has the Buckeyes as an 8-seed, lined up with 9-seed Villanova. It won't be official until Sunday night.

Given that at-large bids go down a few more seed lines from there, it suggests there's really no danger whatsoever for Jake Diebler and the Buckeyes. They can watch Selection Sunday wondering where they're going and who they're playing, not if they're in.

And once in the dance, Ohio State has one major thing going for it: Bruce Thornton.

The talented guard recently became the Buckeyes' all-time leading scorer. In this era of transferring, Thornton stayed put and became an OSU legend.

And there's nothing that can lead to a March Madness run more than a talented lead guard. Thornton checks that box, and the Buckeyes will try to make noise.

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Is Ohio State in March Madness? Buckeyes' NCAA Tournament chances revealed by ESPN's Joe Lunardi

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