Ohio State basketball needs road wins to bump up resume

The Ohio State basketball team is in an unfamiliar position under head coach Chris Holtmann. Every year that there has been an NCAA Tournament since he has been head coach, the Buckeyes have been in it. Getting to the postseason hasn’t been the problem. Winning in it has.

Now, the opposite is true. After the Buckeyes went on a five-game losing streak, they are now in real danger of missing the tournament. Stopping their slide by beating a pretty good Iowa team on Saturday is a good start, but now the Buckeyes are behind the eight-ball.

The Ohio State basketball team needs some road winds to help offset those losses. Losing to teams like Nebraska and Minnesota looks terrible on their resume. Wins on the road against teams like IU and Illinois, who they play this week, would help offset some of those losses.

Holtmann knows this more than anyone. He is not dumb. He knows that if the Buckeyes want to make the NCAA Tournament, they have to start a big winning streak. Ohio State sits at 12th in the Big Ten right now. They need some wins to turn that around quickly.

The good news for them is that besides Purdue, there is no dominant team in the conference right now. They can rattle off some road wins to get themselves a chance to make it. The double-edged sword to that is they won’t get a ton of ranked win opportunities either.

Right now, Joe Lunardi has Ohio State as one of the last four teams in in his latest bracketology. They are hanging on by a thread right now. Winning some games can give them the breathing room that they need. It’s not like this Buckeye team is void of talent either.

We’ll see what they can do starting tomorrow night in Illinois.