Selection Sunday confirmed what has felt official since Wednesday for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes have been left out of the 68-team NCAA Tournament field by the selection committee, failing to secure one of 37 at-large bids to the Big Dance for the third consecutive season. Ohio State will now be invited to FOX's College Basketball Crown tournament as one of two automatic qualifiers from the Big Ten.
THE BRACKET #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/fo6lA8hJ7g
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 16, 2025
It's the first time since the 2003 through 2005 NCAA Tournaments that Ohio State has failed to make the tourney three years in a row.
The Buckeyes were projected as a No. 9 seed for the Big Dance less than a month ago, but losses in five of their final seven games to close the season left them outside the bubble. While Ohio State holds a solid NET ranking of 41st with six Quad 1 victories and played the 20th-most difficult schedule in the country, a 17-15 overall record and struggles down the stretch were enough to keep it from a bid. OSU finished as the third team out.
The Last Four In and First Four Out: pic.twitter.com/xvo7L61v88
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) March 16, 2025
Eight other schools from the Big Ten made the NCAA Tournament: Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Purdue, Maryland, UCLA, Illinois and Oregon. Indiana, which beat Ohio State 66-60 in the final game of both teams' regular seasons, joined the Buckeyes in being left out despite multiple projections that had the Hoosiers in.
The College Basketball Crown is expected to announce its field Monday morning. The Buckeyes can decline an invite to the tournament if they choose.
An Ohio State spokesperson told Eleven Warriors that the Buckeyes are still weighing their options on whether or not to participate in the Crown. If they decline, they would be contractually forbidden from playing in any other postseason tournament.
