Ohio State Basketball: Buckeyes look like Top 10 team

The Ohio State football team is on a roll and now the basketball team is off to a fast start. The win over Villanova was quite impressive.

It’s a good time to be a Buckeye! Deep into the season, the Ohio State football team is on its way to another Big Ten title and looks like a national championship contender. As a result, it can be easy to overlook the early stages of the basketball season.

But last night the No.16 ranked Buckeyes ran No. 10 Villanova out of the building in an all-around dominant performance.

Ohio State started out fast scoring three shots from behind the arc to jump out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back. The Buckeyes never trailed in this one and ended up winning by 25 points.

Rave reviews came in for the Buckeyes after the blowout win with Jeff Goodman saying this on Twitter:

"Ohio State is a potential Final Four team: Good young guards and wings, one of the best big men in the country in Kaleb Wesson and a terrific coach in Chris Holtmann."

John Gasaway of ESPN had interesting things to say about the win and here is a sample:

"The Buckeyes delivered a masterful performance on both sides of the ball, as Chris Holtmann’s men made 62% of their 2s while holding the Wildcats to 28% shooting inside the arc. Ironically, it was a Villanova-style display of lethal and, above all, collective efficiency on offense: Duane Washington Jr. took home leading scorer honors with 14 points. Ohio State spread out the Wildcat D, made the correct reads and spotted opportunities both on the perimeter and in the paint."

It’s this kind of national acclaim that has long been missing for an Ohio State basketball team over the course of a full season. I know it’s still early but this team has looked different. They have shown they can win a physical defensive battle against Cincinnati, and now they showed they can win a high-scoring contest.

Ohio State now has four games that should be considered tune-up type matchups (Stetson, Fort Wayne, Kent State and Morgan State) before a huge clash on the road against North Carolina.

We will obviously know a lot more about this Buckeye team after the game against the Tar Heels, but for right now this is a dominant team. Coach Chris Holtmann has created a roster that can adapt and gel together, which should serve them when Big Ten play comes around.

This team looks like a potential player late in March even with Ohio State missing two of their top players last night.

Even though it’s football season, take some time to watch this Ohio State basketball team this winter because you may be watching a lot more of them in March. It’s a good time to be a Buckeye.