More so every year, it feels like Ohio State is good at everything. It seems like there's always a Buckeye team or athlete competing for a title, breaking a record or turning heads in some fashion.
This athletic season was no different. Ohio state won national titles in synchronized swimming and men's volleyball, had runner-up finishes in wrestling, men's lacrosse, men's gymnastics and fencing, and made the semifinals in football as well as men and women's tennis.
All that is almost impossible to keep up with even for the most dedicated Buckeye fans (though, that is a good problem to have). For that reason, we're going to get out ahead of things for the 2017-18 athletic season.
This season is not even completely over yet — Ohio State still has a few athletes competing in the NCAA track and field championships later this month — but we decided to take a way-too-early look at which Buckeye teams will compete for national titles this upcoming season.
Synchronized Swimming
If there's any team in Columbus that can be classified as a perennial powerhouse, it's the synchronized swimming team. The squad has won the national championship an astounding 30 times, which is far and away an Ohio State record across all sports.
It gets even more impressive, though. See, the synchro team has 30 national titles, but the program has only existed for 40 seasons, meaning the team wins national championships 75 percent of the time. To put that in perspective, the football team's all-time win percentage is .724. So, the synchronized swimming team wins national titles more consistently than the football team wins games.
The team won the 2017 title, which should surprise no one, and will look for the repeat in 2018. Based on past trends, it's hard to pick against them.
Football
As long as Urban Meyer is the head coach, the Buckeyes are going to be national title contenders and 2018 is no exception.
The Buckeyes will once again have to reload a bit after another NFL exodus that led to seven Buckeyes being drafted and three going in the first round, but the team returns a strong core from last season including one of the most decorated quarterbacks in program history and its entire defensive line, which looks to be the most talented in the country.
The hires of Kevin Wilson and Ryan Day should provide even more optimism. Meyer brought in the offensive mastermind and the quarterbacks guru to help mend the ailing Buckeye offense, particularly the passing game and with former NFL head coach Greg Schiano running the defense once again, hopes should be high in Columbus.
Plus, Meyer has a history of rebounding from a bowl loss with a national championship the next season.
Wrestling
The Ohio State wrestling team posted a runner-up finish last season without sending a single senior to the championships. That said, the Buckeyes are going to have a pretty loaded lineup next season.
Though the departure of Jose Rodriguez leaves a hole to be filled, Ohio State returns three national champions and five 2017 All-Americans — four of whom placed in the top three of their weight classes.
This is all without mentioning that they have literally the best wrestler in world on the active roster.
Ohio State will be good at wrestling next season.
Women's Basketball
If the Ohio State women's basketball team is ever going to make a run at a national title, it will be this upcoming season.
The Buckeyes will have a veteran-laden roster led by arguably the best player in program history during her senior season. And should they make it to the Final Four, they would play virtual home games as Columbus is the host city in 2018.
Ohio State did lose a good but of production following the season with the graduation of Shayla Cooper and the transfers of promising freshmen Tori McCoy and Kiara Lewis, but the team's core remains intact.
The Buckeyes will have the best combination of talent, depth and experience they've had since Kevin McGuff's arrival this upcoming season. They'll hope it leads them to a title in their home city.
Men's Gymnastics
The Ohio State men's gymnastics team posted a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships this season, the team's best finish since its second-place finish in 2005.
Five Buckeyes earned All-American honors with their performances at the championships — Sean Melton, Alex Yoder, Jake Dastrup, David Szarvas and Joey Bonanno — all of whom will be returning to the team next season.
In addition to the returners, Ohio State adds a pair of talented freshmen — Sean Neighbarger and Max Andryushchenko — who posted top-20 finishes at the Junior Olympic Nationals. Andryushchenko finished fifth in the all around while Neighbarger finished 17th.
This is not even a complete list. It's possible, if not likely that Ohio State teams will be in the thick of title races in more sports than even these.
The men's lacrosse team posted a runner-up finish this past season and has one of the best young players in the country in Tre Leclaire. The fencing team posted a runner-up finish this season — its 15th-straight top-5 finish.
It's possible both tennis teams and the men's volleyball team will have the top player in the country next season, though the rest of the rosters took a hit to graduation. And how could we forget the rowing team that became the first team in history to win three-straight NCAA rowing titles just two years ago?
Things are going pretty great in Buckeyeland, and there's no indication that's going to change any time soon.
