Ohio State’s performance in men’s basketball has fallen well below its program standard in recent seasons, and Ross Bjork knows that.
The Buckeyes have gone three straight years without making the NCAA Tournament. They’ve gone 12 years without making it past the second round of the NCAA Tournament. It’s been 13 years since Ohio State has won a Big Ten championship, which was also the last time the Buckeyes made the Final Four.
That’s led some to wonder if Ohio State has become complacent with mediocrity in basketball, given that competing for national championships in football is OSU’s top athletic priority. But Ohio State’s athletic director says his expectation is for OSU to be elite in basketball, too.
“We don't want to tiptoe around Ohio State basketball,” Bjork told Eleven Warriors at Ohio State’s athlete award banquet on Monday. “I'm challenging our staff to think of it differently internally. We're not going to tiptoe around Ohio State basketball. We know what the standard is. We have blue-blood elements in our history, and we need to be more consistent.”
Ohio State’s most recent NCAA Tournament miss prompted plenty of calls for Bjork to fire Jake Diebler, along with plenty of critiques that Ohio State should have hired Dusty May or John Calipari instead after they led their respective new teams to Sweet 16 berths this year. Bjork, however, believes Diebler is capable of turning the Buckeyes into a contender.
That said, he believes Ohio State can do a better job institutionally of supporting Diebler – as well as women’s basketball coach Kevin McGuff – to ensure they have all the resources they need to compete at the highest level.
“I think with football, obviously, we have such a great foundation. With basketball, we really need a strategic approach with Jake at the helm, so we need to help him with some of the messaging,” Bjork said. “Obviously, roster retention and building is part of that. Gameday atmosphere in the Schott, what can we do to, you know, you can't really downsize the Schott, but how do we make it a tighter feel? Is that lighting? Is that seating sections that we look at? How do we get the students more involved? What's our messaging around the program?
“Jake's the right guy. He's got the right energy. He relates to the players. He's building this in the modern era. And now we just have to put all of our resources behind him, too, and the same thing goes with Kevin McGuff. Basketball should be more at the forefront, and so there's a lot of elements that we're working with both programs on, but in particular with Coach Diebler.”
“We're not going to tiptoe around Ohio State basketball. We know what the standard is. We have blue-blood elements in our history, and we need to be more consistent.”– Ross Bjork on his expectations for Ohio State basketball
It’s certainly not unreasonable to expect Ohio State’s basketball programs to compete for national championships. Even with its recent struggles, Ohio State men’s basketball has the seventh-most Final Four appearances all-time, behind only the blue-blood sextet of North Carolina, Duke, UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas and Michigan State. Ohio State women’s basketball has only made one Final Four in the briefer history of the NCAA women’s tournament, and none since 1993, but those Buckeyes have made 18 of the last 23 NCAA Tournaments.
Even though Ohio State has one of the nation’s largest football budgets while funding the most varsity sports programs of any school in the country, there’s still plenty of resources to go around for the basketball teams, as Ohio State’s athletic department generates the most revenue in the NCAA. According to a recent study by Indiana University Columbus professor Ryan Brewer, Ohio State’s men’s basketball program has the fourth-highest financial value of any college basketball team in the country – behind only UNC, Duke and Indiana – despite its recent struggles.
Pair that with the talent available to Ohio State throughout the Midwest, and both OSU teams should be capable of building championship-caliber rosters.
“I remember talking to (former Ohio State men’s basketball coach) Thad Matta at one point in time, and I said, ‘Hey, what was the secret sauce at Ohio State?’ He goes ‘Six hours.’ He goes, ‘If we got the best players within a six-hour radius, we're a Final Four team,’” Bjork said.
Given that both are from Ohio, Bjork believes Diebler and McGuff know what it takes for Ohio State basketball to compete at the highest level. That’s his expectation for both programs, and he remains confident in their ability to do so even though both programs – especially the men – fell short of expectations this past season.
“They've seen it at the highest level. They know Ohio. They know recruiting in this area,” Bjork said. “So not that it's ever easy, but I think we've got to drill down on, ‘Here's the formula that makes us successful.’ McGuff knows that. Diebler knows that. So that's what we're really focused on.”
