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The Ohio State basketball team needs to stack a few signature wins as the college basketball season gets closer to turning the page to February, and then ultimately, March. The Buckeyes have had some solid wins, and added another at home vs. Minnesota on Tuesday, outlasting the Gophers in overtime, but that game was always one that could mostly hurt the Buckeyes' NCAA Tournament résumé with a loss rather than help with a win.
Our latest look at Joe Lunardi's 'Bracketology' has Ohio State sitting in about the same spot it has for a couple of weeks now. OSU missed out on big victories against North Carolina and Nebraska, two games it could have put in the win column and two that would have counted as Quad 1 wins (a win at home over a team in the NET top 30, a win on over a NET 50 team a neutral court, or a road win against a NET top 75 squad). In fact, OSU has yet to notch a Quad 1 win, something the NCAA Tournament committee looks at when seeding teams and determining whether or not they are quality enough to receive an at-large bid.
And while a lack of Quad 1 wins is a problem, it is not a death nail. The Buckeyes have a very good record against Quad 2 contests, going 4-1, and are 9-0 in games considered Quad 3 and 4. So, basically, Ohio State has won the games it was supposed to win, but has yet to get a win that it can hang its Scarlet and Gray hat on.
To that end, according to Lunardi, OSU is still squarely on the bubble, right where it has been the last three seasons when that bubble burst heading down the stretch. Lunardi has Ohio State as a No. 11 seed, playing in the First Four against No. 11 seed Texas in the South Region (of course, subject to major change).
In other words, there's still a lot of work to do. The Buckeyes will have plenty of chances beginning on Friday when they travel to Ann Arbor to take on No. 3 Michigan and beyond in a league that affords teams plenty of chances to notch a signature win, but also doesn't allow for a night off.
So, for now, OSU is in the field -- barely. But yeah, we've seen this movie before. Hopefully, the bracketology franchise takes a turn for the better this March.
Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.
This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State basketball squarely on bubble in latest ESPN 'bracketology'
Continue reading...
Our latest look at Joe Lunardi's 'Bracketology' has Ohio State sitting in about the same spot it has for a couple of weeks now. OSU missed out on big victories against North Carolina and Nebraska, two games it could have put in the win column and two that would have counted as Quad 1 wins (a win at home over a team in the NET top 30, a win on over a NET 50 team a neutral court, or a road win against a NET top 75 squad). In fact, OSU has yet to notch a Quad 1 win, something the NCAA Tournament committee looks at when seeding teams and determining whether or not they are quality enough to receive an at-large bid.
And while a lack of Quad 1 wins is a problem, it is not a death nail. The Buckeyes have a very good record against Quad 2 contests, going 4-1, and are 9-0 in games considered Quad 3 and 4. So, basically, Ohio State has won the games it was supposed to win, but has yet to get a win that it can hang its Scarlet and Gray hat on.
To that end, according to Lunardi, OSU is still squarely on the bubble, right where it has been the last three seasons when that bubble burst heading down the stretch. Lunardi has Ohio State as a No. 11 seed, playing in the First Four against No. 11 seed Texas in the South Region (of course, subject to major change).
In other words, there's still a lot of work to do. The Buckeyes will have plenty of chances beginning on Friday when they travel to Ann Arbor to take on No. 3 Michigan and beyond in a league that affords teams plenty of chances to notch a signature win, but also doesn't allow for a night off.
So, for now, OSU is in the field -- barely. But yeah, we've seen this movie before. Hopefully, the bracketology franchise takes a turn for the better this March.
Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.
This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State basketball squarely on bubble in latest ESPN 'bracketology'
Continue reading...
