Ohio State's NCAA Tournament hopes are all but gone.
The Buckeyes entered Friday among the next four teams out of the tourney per ESPN's Joe Lunardi and made just one of the 105 bracket projections aggregated by Bracketmatrix.com. There are clear separators, be they Q2 record, NET ranking or even a head-to-head win in Texas A&M's case, between Ohio State and the last teams in in those same projections.
With those projections and résumé differences in mind, Ohio State's hard-fought 77-74 loss to No. 13 Illinois killed what chance the Buckeyes had to make up ground and make the Big Dance.
None of that is to downplay OSU's late-season run, which saw the Buckeyes win five straight games and six of seven under interim head coach Jake Diebler before falling to the Fighting Illini.
The spirit Ohio State showed during that run is why Diebler is open to an NIT bid, assuming the Buckeyes don't make the NCAAs and are offered one.
“I’ve had a lot of fun with this group and these guys are a joy to coach,” Diebler said. “I think, if we do play, there’s a championship to be won. And I know the competitive spirit of this group. So I would anticipate, if that’s the case, they’ll be ready to go.”
If it is indeed the case that Ohio State misses the NCAA Tournament and is invited to the NIT, the decision of whether to play or not is one that it will make later as a team. That said, several Buckeyes expressed a desire to keep playing.
“Definitely. I feel like there’s a lot more basketball to be played with this team,” sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr. said. “I feel like I’m not ready for it to be over, especially with this group of guys. Next year may not look the same, so I feel like I just want to take advantage of the time I have left with these guys. I feel like we are amazing competitors, and I feel like – if it is the NIT – I feel like we could make a really good run and show the world what we’re capable of.”
Gayle's top running mate in the backcourt, sophomore point guard Bruce Thornton, shared a similar sentiment.
“Selection Sunday, we’re gonna see what happens, but at the end of the day we all want to play in the postseason,” Thornton said. “That’s just for any team. But I’m very proud of my guys for fighting each and every day and to get to where we are at right now.”
There's a larger sense of pride that Thornton added he feels whenever he plays for Ohio State, and he wants the opportunity to do that as many times as possible.
“I definitely want to represent Ohio State across my chest,” Thornton said. “It doesn’t matter how many games I play, as long as I have Ohio State across my chest I’m gonna play my hardest, 100 percent each and every time because it’s bigger than me. It’s about my guys, it’s about the program and Buckeye Nation.”
Count sophomore center Felix Okpara among those willing to play in the NIT as well, as he stated “yeah, for sure” after the loss to the Illini.
No Buckeyes expressed an open unwillingness to accept a spot in college basketball's second-most prestigious tournament, but a few kept their personal thoughts on the matter quiet while awaiting a team decision. Most notably, fifth-year forward Jamison Battle, who scored a combined 41 points in Ohio State's two Big Ten Tournament games. He simply called it a “team decision.”
“I’m not gonna answer any questions because I’m not the one who makes that decision, but we’ll see,” Battle said.
Freshman forward Devin Royal answered in the same vein, leaving it open as the team weighs its options over the coming days. Fellow freshman Scotty Middleton stated he’s waiting to process the result against Illinois, rest and then come back together with his teammates as they discuss.
“I feel like there’s a lot more basketball to be played with this team. I feel like I’m not ready for it to be over, especially with this group of guys.”– Roddy Gayle Jr. on why he's open to an NIT bid
Regardless of the team's tournament future or the potential of a lack thereof, Diebler is glad his squad got to showcase the potential he always felt was there. When head coach Chris Holtmann was fired on Feb. 14, the Buckeyes clearly didn't fold.
“I’m just happy everybody else got to see what was in this locker room, what they’re capable of, because my belief in them has never waivered,” Diebler said. “We understand that things may not have gone the way any of us anticipated, certainly, a stretch of the season, but we have great players in here who care so much about this program.”
Ohio State will officially find out whether or not it made the NCAA Tournament during the Selection Show at 6 p.m. Sunday. The NIT Selection Show follows at 9:30 p.m. the same day. CBS will broadcast the NCAA bracket reveal while ESPN2 will host the NIT unveiling.
Interview quotes courtesy of Bucknuts
