Last year marked the first time since 2008 that Ohio State failed to make the NCAA tournament.
It was a weird year in Columbus as an inexperienced team with no seniors and only one junior went through a non-conference schedule with more lows than highs, then wound up winning 11 games in the Big Ten. When it was all said and done, however, the Buckeyes were NIT bound.
So, the biggest burning question surrounding Ohio State ahead of its season-opening game Friday: Will the Buckeyes return to the NCAA tournament field?
With its top-six scorers returning and a true freshman good enough to find a spot in the starting lineup, Ohio State should be improved enough to find itself in the NCAA tournament when the season comes to an end. That’s the simple, rational answer a lot of fans talk themselves into.
It’s probably fair to a certain extent, too. The Buckeyes’ core returners should be improved enough to make the team good enough to win the necessary number of games to make the NCAA tournament.
“I think we’re a lot further than we were last year in terms of offensive and defensive chemistry,” junior forward Keita Bates-Diop said. “From that standpoint, I feel like we’ve come a long way.”
But as we all know, sometimes it doesn’t work like that.
Player development has been a big discussion point in recent years with Ohio State. If the core returners don’t improve enough, the Buckeyes could miss the NCAA tournament again.
Ohio State needs to stay healthy, too, as that’s a key for every team in college basketball. Just when the Buckeyes had some momentum toward the end of last year, sophomore Jae’Sean Tate — the team’s emotional leader — suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. It was Tate’s second major surgery in three years and he spent most of this summer rehabbing. He is 100 percent now, but his health — and the health of the rest of the team — is crucial to Ohio State’s potential success.
The four newcomers could provide the Buckeyes with some much-needed depth beyond their core six. Ohio State lost four of the five members of its 2015 class due to transfers, but Micah Potter, Derek Funderburk, C.J. Jackson and Andre Wesson might fit in with what this team needs a bit better.
Potter started at center in the Buckeyes’ exhibition victory over Walsh. Jackson backed up JaQuan Lyle at the point guard position and had six assists and zero turnovers in 16 minutes. Funderburk and Wesson give Ohio State some depth on the wings behind Tate, Bates-Diop and Marc Loving.
On the surface, the pieces seem to fit quite well together.
“The young guys have done a nice job,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said. “I think they’re getting more and more comfortable with the roles that they have on this basketball team.”
Ohio State has plenty of chances to earn quality wins both in the nonconference and the Big Ten. The Buckeyes play Providence, Virginia, Connecticut and UCLA before league play begins. The Big Ten, per usual, figures to be one of college basketball’s top conferences.
Non-conference losses to mid-majors and the inability to get marquee Big Ten wins hurt Ohio State a year ago. The hope, of course, is to reverse that this season with a more experienced team.
If that happens, the Buckeyes should find themselves comfortably back in the NCAA tournament. If they don’t, though, and miss it for the second-straight season, things could get awfully interesting in Columbus.
