It’s NCAA Tournament week, which means basketball takes center stage on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.
Ohio State will play its first game of the NCAA Tournament at 12:15 p.m. Friday in Pittsburgh, where the seventh-seeded Buckeyes will face No. 10 seed Loyola in a matchup that has many calling for a first-round upset. Will the Buckeyes’ late-season skid continue with a first-round NCAA Tournament loss for the second straight year, or will they make the most of their talent advantage against the Ramblers? We discuss where Ohio State should have the edge over Loyola and what makes Loyola a dangerous first-round opponent.
As Ohio State’s recent struggles have had many Buckeye fans questioning whether Chris Holtmann is the right man to lead the program, we also discuss (beginning at 11:55) whether Holtmann should be on the hot seat if Ohio State loses to Loyola, even though it doesn’t appear likely that he actually will be regardless of what happens this weekend.
Since our next podcast won’t be until after the first two rounds of the tournament, we take a look at a hypothetical second-round matchup with Villanova (starting at 23:05) and what the Buckeyes’ chances of upset against the Wildcats could be if they can get past Loyola.
We also zoom out and make some predictions for the NCAA Tournament as a whole (beginning at 32:20), including which Big Ten teams we expect to make the deepest run, how we think the conference will fare as a whole and ultimately, who we have making the Final Four and winning it all in each of our brackets.
The Ohio State football portion of this week’s show begins at the 44-minute mark, where we talk about the impact of Harry Miller’s mental health message and the stark reminder that comes with that. We also discuss our biggest takeaways from last week’s interviews with Ohio State wide receivers and running backs, including the growing hype around Jayden Ballard and the potential for Kamryn Babb to make a real impact even after four ACL tears.
Finally (beginning at 58:43), Dan tells you why you should take some time to watch Ohio State women’s hockey play this weekend and take a look at Ohio State women’s basketball’s draw in the NCAA Tournament – and predict whether the men or women will go further in the Big Dance.
You can listen to Real Pod Wednesdays in the audio player above or wherever you listen to podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
