Ohio State basketball: Who they have to beat to make March Madness

There have been a lot of problems with the Ohio State basketball team once they have gotten into March Madness under Chris Holtmann. They have yet to make it past the first weekend of the tournament in the first five years under Holtmann. Getting there was never an issue though.

In fact, perhaps one of Holtmann’s best teams never got a chance to see how good they were. In 2020, the Buckeyes were playing their best basketball late in the season but never got a chance to show it because of the pandemic. Now, they have an issue getting into the Big Dance.

Holtmann is having the worst stretch of his Ohio State basketball career, having led his team to six losses in their last seven games. Just last night, they barely scored 60 points. This is a team heading in the wrong direction so far in 2023. And yet, they still have time to make amends.

Despite the fact that the Buckeyes now sit at just 11-9 overall, they still have a slight chance to make the NCAA Tournament. They have some good resume boosters still on their schedule. There are 11 total games left in the regular season, plus the Big Ten Tournament for them to build their case.

Of those 11 games, five of them are on the road. Ohio State needs to win all at least 3 of them to give themselves a shot, especially at top-ranked Purdue. A win in Mackey Arena against the number-one team in the country gives them a heck of a boost.

Ohio State needs to beat the bad teams they play at home too. That means beating TTUN, Maryland, and Penn State. They also would get a nice boost from beating Michigan State at home too. That would give them seven more wins in their final 11 games.

They also would need to at least make the semi-finals in the Big Ten Tournament. If they are able to do all that, they should have enough to make the NCAA Tournament. That’s certainly a tall order, but it’s what has to happen if the want to go dancing.