Why the Ohio State basketball team will stay in the top five

Ohio State basketball has played tremendously lately in Big Ten play, and they could just be at the brink of something even bigger.

Ohio State basketball is back at the national stage, and with a group easy to root for. I predicted Star Sophomore E.J Liddell would become the next great Buckeye player before the year, and I was right. The southern Illinois native is currently averaging a team-high in both points (15.4) and rebounds (6.9) while also factoring in a combined two blocks/steals a night.

The combination of Duane Washington and C.J Walker handling the ball has started to pay off, and while they are not the most efficient shooters, they are excellent facilitators. Kyle Young has kept his glue-guy role and is perhaps the piece that holds the group together, Justice Sueing has seen improvement throughout the year and can do a little bit of everything.

Then you have the guys off the bench in sharpshooter Justin Ahrens, Zed Key who has played brilliantly down low as a freshman, Seth Towns who has been eased back into minutes off a major injury, Musa Jallow who can really play tough defense, freshman Eugene Brown III who has the makings of a 3 and D player, and Meechie Johnson, who should still be a senior in high school. All around, the Buckeyes are a tough bunch who play coach Chris Holtmann’s style, and I think they haven’t come close to their peak yet.

The Buckeyes have now won four in a row, and 7 out of their last 8 in Big Ten play. The most recent win came in a back and forth affair Thursday night in Iowa City against the Hawkeyes. They grinded until the end, and Justin Ahrens was huge down the stretch, nailing three-pointers near the end of the game.

The Buckeyes face off against Maryland in College Park Monday night, and it is certainly no pushover. But if they get through the contest clean, they have six games left and have a real shot of being a top-2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

After Maryland, the Buckeyes host Indiana, then to Penn State, then home against Michigan, then at Michigan State before rounding off the schedule with two home games against Iowa and Illinois. It’s a tough stretch, with three top-15 opponents, and how they do in those games could tell you how deep this team lasts into March.

The Michigan game is obviously the one to circle, as the Wolverines sit at the top of the standings in the Big Ten with an 8-1 record, but they have been going through a two-week athletic break due to a breakout of a new COVID-19 strand within the Michigan athletic program.

The Buckeyes would have to have a ton of help to beat Michigan out for the Big Ten title, but a win over the hated Wolverines would certainly suffice Buckeye fans. Looking at the other two ranked teams, they beat #6 Illinois in Champaign and then the #15 Hawkeyes in Iowa City already, so both contests are certainly winnable.

Ohio State could make a deep run into March, and I truly do believe that. They already have an established scorer in Liddell, and starting lineup outside of Liddell that has been good, but could be even better, and now with new additions Seth Towns and Meechie Johnson, a very deep and versatile bench.

A lot of what the Buckeyes do in March could be hinged on seeding though, and I think if you win 6/7, or possibly even 5/7 of their remaining games that they will be a top 2 seed in the tournament.

Being a top 2 seed guarantees that you’ll face a 15 seed first, and then either a 7/10 seed. If they’re lower, let’s say a four seed, they would have to win their first-round game against a 13 seed and then face a test in the second round with a potential game against a 5 seed, which would be much better than the 7/10 seed.

The Ohio State basketball team needs to just focus on staying healthy and roll through those first couple rounds, and if they can make it to the sweet sixteen cleanly, I like their final four odds. This team is really deep and they have been able to find secondary scorers and knockdown shooters outside of Liddell.

Defensively, despite not having a giant inside presence, they are as tough as they come and Holtmann has them playing with extra effort down there. I like this Ohio State basketball team to make a run deep into March.