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Ohio State basketball: Can Chris Holtmann turn it around?

By Ryan Stano

Jan 5, 2023; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Chris Holtmann reacts during the second half of the NCAA men's basketball game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Value City Arena. Purdue won 71-69. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus DispatchBasketball Purdue At Ohio State
Jan 5, 2023; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Chris Holtmann reacts during the second half of the NCAA men's basketball game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Value City Arena. Purdue won 71-69. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus DispatchBasketball Purdue At Ohio State /
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If you’ve read this site at any point in the last three years, you know my thoughts on Chris Holtmann. He seems like a nice guy and good for the community, but he can’t coach when it matters. That is once again resurfacing with this Ohio State basketball team.

Once again, the Buckeyes are sliding in January. They have now lost four-straight games. The worst part is that they had an opportunity to win all of those games. They had the lead in all of the games late in the contests. Yet, they weren’t able to close and seal the deal.

So now the Buckeyes sit at just 10-7 and 2-4 in Big Ten play. They are playing their way out of the NCAA Tournament. In Joe Lunardi’s most recent Bracketology on ESPN, he had Ohio State as a 9-seed. That was before they lost at Rutgers in overtime. Now, they might be on the outside looking in.

Can Chris Holtmann turn this Ohio State basketball season around?

The good news for Ohio State is that they have plenty of resume-building win opportunities left on their schedule. They still have games against Illinois and Michigan, another one against Purdue, and two against Michigan State. Winning those games would really help their case.

On the other hand, all of those teams have proven to be better than the Buckeyes. They currently sit tied for 10th in the Big Ten standings. Only Minnesota and Nebraska are worse. Minnesota already beat the Buckeyes and they take on Nebraska tomorrow.

I have very little faith in Holtmann being able to turn it around. Even if the Buckeyes do make the NCAA Tournament, this team has all the makings of yet another first-round loss. He just signed an extension, so Buckeye basketball fans are stuck with mediocrity at least for a couple more years unless boosters cough up enough money for the buyout.

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Holtmann brought in a top-five recruiting class. The roster is entirely made up of players he brought in. He’s out of excuses. A year that started out with so much promise is once again on the path to crashing and burning.

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