Ohio State Basketball: Don’t give up on the Buckeyes yet

The Ohio State men’s basketball team has hit some rough terrain, and while it seems the struggles may not let up it eventually will. It has to.

I have been an Ohio State and college basketball fan for almost as long as I can remember. From the moment I learned how to write I was filling out “March Madness” brackets with my eyes glued to multiple TVs during the NCAA tournament.

I loved college basketball and especially and especially those intense games in March, but I loved Ohio State basketball even more. I have watched nearly every game since and I have for sure kept up with every single Buckeye team as well.

I have never seen a more mind-boggling stretch than what I am seeing from Ohio State right now.

I guess in some ways, I should have seen it coming. This has been one of the most upset-frenzied college basketball seasons I can remember.

It has been nearly impossible to get a grasp on which teams are actually for real, and ones that just had a few good games but really weren’t all that good. But as I watched the Dukes and Kentuckys of the world go down in flames, I had myself convinced that Ohio State was different.

They were winning the games they were supposed to, and even games that they weren’t supposed to. But the loss to Minnesota showed they weren’t invincible, and the recent stretch has shown they are much more vulnerable than we all thought.

Three losses in a row to West Virginia, Wisconsin and Maryland have the Buckeyes reeling and holding a putrid 1-3 record inside the Big Ten. That is not exactly what we expected when Ohio State bounced back from the loss against Minnesota with a win against Kentucky and surged to the No. 2 ranking.

But that win against the Wildcats should still give Buckeye fans hope. We know how good this team has the potential to be despite the struggles that we have seen on offense in the last three games.

Kaleb Wesson is still one of the best players in the country and defenses have become more aware of this. They are centralizing their game plan on stopping the big man. because let’s face it, if you stop him you have a shot at beating the Buckeyes.

In the last three games, that strategy has worked but Ohio State has talent all over the floor, it’s just a matter of getting that talent to perform. Even more importantly, it’s just a matter of getting them healthy.

Andre Wesson was the first to go down but has since returned. Then it was Duane Washington, the Buckeyes’s second leading scorer at the time and best three-point shooter who went down next.

He has returned but hasn’t been the same. Finally, Kyle Young went out and his rebounding as well as ability to do the dirty work has been sorely missed.

But injuries aren’t an excuse, the Buckeyes shouldn’t be losing these games even not being at full strength. It’s frustrating to see them slide like they have, and all we as fans can do is sit back and trust that Chris Holtmann and his staff can get it fixed.

They took a program that couldn’t get invited to the NIT and have won two NCAA tournament games since. They had the Buckeyes all the way up to No. 2 in the country earlier this season.

All is not lost, because we know that Chris Holtmann is a good coach, and this team has plenty of very good players, it’s just a matter of finding an identity on offense. An identity that shouldn’t take long to find considering the wins they had earlier in the season.

So take a breath Buckeye fans and don’t panic just yet. The beginning of this season might have been a bit of a mirage, I don’t even think that Holtmann even thought they would be that good so quickly. But this team is still a top 25 team, and a contender to make a deep run in the tournament.