Ohio State Basketball: Big Ten conquering performances proves danger

Ohio State is off to a strong start in the Big Ten but it’ will still be a long climb.

Last year’s 7-11 conference play record is seemingly out the book, as the Ohio State basketball team has made quick work of defeating the Big Ten hoops hierarchy.

On Thursday, Ohio State smoked a Maryland team who’d bettered them twice in the prior season, delivering a 91-69 home victory. In their first game since their statement victory last Sunday against the No. 4 Spartans, the Buckeyes held court. Perhaps, their emphatic stand was the biggest testament of all.

In route to a 5-0 start in conference play, Ohio State knocked off No. 4 Michigan State, plus recent conference front-runners Maryland, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Tack on a 92-81 victory at Iowa and you’ve got yourself most of your tough Big 10 games out of the way without a scratch.

I can’t overstate the importance of this for a basketball team questing towards the NCAA tournament for the first time in 3 years; The Buckeyes put themselves in position to run the conference until the Big 10 tournament.

Remaining opponents aren’t exactly daunting. The lone ranked opponent is a very tough road trip to see the No. 5 Purdue Boilermakers. This game should be circled for any college hoop fan, let alone your run-of-the-mill Buckeyes aficionado. If Ohio State wins that game, they can almost cruise control to a conference championship, but the same goes for Purdue.

However, the team still has a glaring weak spot, but it might be able to cover.

Until then, the meat of the Big Ten will test the depth of a young Ohio State bench. Considering the impressive play from the starting five, younger Buckeyes’ have yet to see many meaningful minutes.

Promising freshman forwards Musa Jallow and Kyle Wright are combining for just 5.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, sophomore Micah Potter’s lack of progression between of the seasons has the center playing himself out of the rotation.

This season, Ohio State starters are scoring 79.9-percent of the team’s points. Going forward, it’ll be important to see a bump in scoring from the bench in case of any situation that’d force a starter to miss minutes.

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Due to the quality of the conference, there’s enough talent on any Big 10 team to expose a hole in their opponent (just ask the Ohio State football team how their trip to Iowa went in November).

However, it’s important to note how well the starting five have meshed. Credit Keita Bates-Diop with the opening of the offense; the junior gives the team a ‘best player’, giving others someone to play off of, an underrated factor in at the college level. This is the same Bates-Diop leading the Big 10 with 20.3 points per game.

Guards Kam Williams, CJ Jackson, and forward Jae’Sean Tate are playing up to the Buckeyes star, thus creating a truly dangerous Buckeyes basketball team.

This team, as is, has enough firepower to win any game; it’s only a matter of proving they can play consistently. This hasn’t been an issue in the Chris Holtmann era, but it haunted the end of Thad Matta tenure.

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After all, as Ohio State proved to Michigan State, the Big Ten conference can be treacherous territory.

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