Grading the 2021-22 Ohio State basketball season

With the 2021-2022 Ohio State basketball season over, how do we grade the overall year?

The Ohio State basketball team ended their season on Sunday with a 10-point loss to Villanova. It was a game that the Buckeyes tried to make a run at late, but they put themselves in too big of a hole early on in the game. It will be the fifth straight season Ohio State is bounced in the first weekend of March Madness.

With that being said, the Buckeyes finished with an overall record of 20-12. Chris Holtmann has won 20 games every year he’s been with the program. They beat #1 ranked Duke, Wisconsin, Seton Hall, Illinois, Rutgers, and other tournament teams.

But, the Buckeyes also had some bad losses, namely at the end of the season. Ohio State lost games to TTUN, Nebraska, Maryland, and Penn State. They almost lost to Akron to start out the year as well, only squeaking by in a one-point win after a Zed Key buzzer-beater.

So how would we grade this season overall? Ohio State had to deal with a rash of injuries from the start. Justice Sueing played just two games and Seth Towns didn’t play at all. Kyle Young missed several games at the end of the season with a concussion. Key missed games with an ankle sprain. Meechie Johnson broke a bone in his face.

All of that adversity was real. That doesn’t change the fact that the Buckeyes were yet to play to the full potential of the roster when it was mostly healthy. They knew they weren’t going to have Sueing and Towns back by the beginning of February. They weren’t factored into how far this team would go by then.

Final Ohio State basketball grade: C+

The late-season slide really did the Buckeyes in. They lost games they shouldn’t have and it cost them valuable seeding in the NCAA Tournament. Because of that, they had to face a 2-seed in Villanova and are now sitting at home watching the rest of the games.

I know injuries were a big part of this year, but Holtmann should have done better with this group. I’m not saying a Final Four run was in the cards, but getting to the second weekend for the first time certainly was.

Holtmann needs to do that next season with a top-five recruiting class. Otherwise, he could be gone.