As we are fully engulfed in the offseason, Eleven Warriors will answer five burning questions this week — one each day — relating to the Ohio State basketball team.
Ohio State head coach Thad Matta joked at the beginning of last season he opted to go with the no-tie look while strolling the sidelines because he thought he "might hang himself" at some point during the year.
At that point in time, it should have been clear the Buckeyes could be in for a frustrating, up-and-down season.
That's exactly what happened, as Ohio State went through a year filled with inconsistencies, finishing the season 21-14 overall and in seventh place in the Big Ten. But more importantly, the Buckeyes missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008, ending a streak of seven-straight trips which was the seventh-longest stretch in the nation.
Playing in the NIT was unfamiliar territory for Ohio State — a program which has achieved so much success under Matta, specifically from 2010 to 2013. So it begs a couple of questions: Will the Buckeyes get back to the NCAA tournament next season? And will Ohio State soon return to the level it was at just a few years ago?
"We're excited about the guys we have coming in, the guys we have returning and we are really excited about the direction that we are heading in," Buckeyes assistant coach Greg Paulus said recently. "I just know as a staff and a program, we like where we are."
With its top-six scorers returning, Ohio State certainly has the tools to make a return to the big dance next season. The Buckeyes bring back their entire starting five, plus their top bench player, and will also add a four-man recruiting class that will arrive on campus early next month.
The pieces are in place, but there also needs to be a progression from Ohio State's core. Remember, this is a team that did miss the NCAA tournament last year and just because the Buckeyes bring back their top-six scorers does not guarantee a successful season or a tournament berth.
But the likelihood is that there will be some progression and Ohio State will, as a result, return to the NCAA tournament.
Although possible, it's probably not realistic to think the Buckeyes will compete for a Big Ten championship next season like they did during the 2010-13 seasons. Ohio State is still behind teams like Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan State for next season. They still have a bit of work to do to get on that level.
But there's certainly a chance the Buckeyes can finish as one of the league's top-four teams. And provided Ohio State only loses Marc Loving — the team's lone senior next season — there's a strong possibility the Buckeyes return to contending for a league title in 2017-18.
But again, a lot of this all depends on the progression and development of the current group of players on Ohio State's roster.
"With this group that we have coming back with the returning guys and the incoming guys, we want to get back to that old-school feel and we want to put responsibility on them to come in in June as better players and come in in October as better players and better people," assistant coach Dave Dickerson said. "We understand that there’s a sense of development from the coaching aspect, too, but guys who want to get better, get better.”
It'd be quite disappointing for Ohio State if it did not return to the NCAA tournament next season. But the hope is that the current core will do enough to get the Buckeyes back to a place Matta and Co. are quite familiar with.
