The Ohio State Buckeyes' opening round matchup with the TCU Horned Frogs from Greenville, South Carolina, the East Region's No. 8-No. 9 game, has opening odds that accurately reflect how close this matchup will be.
Busting Brackets' Rodney Knuppel believes Ohio State's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2022 has the chance to be March Madness's most intense first-round matchup this coming Thursday.
"Another 8-9 game that could deliver serious drama is Ohio State facing TCU in the East region," Knuppel wrote. "The Buckeyes opened as a narrow 2.5-point favorite. Ohio State’s late-season push helped secure its tournament spot, and the team enters March with confidence and momentum. TCU, meanwhile, has spent the season grinding through a brutal conference schedule.
"Games like this often turn into physical battles where every possession matters. It would not be surprising if this matchup becomes one of the most intense games of the opening round."
Ohio State and TCU enter March Madness on hot streaks
Ohio State's 4-0 start to the month of March sealed the Buckeyes' bid to the NCAA Tournament. A signature win over the eventual Big Ten champion Purdue Boilermakers, plus a 32-point obliteration of the Penn State Nittany Lions, set the stage for consecutive B1G tournament wins over the Indiana Hoosiers and Iowa Hawkeyes. It definitely helped their case that Ohio State played TTUN close in the tournament.
The Horned Frogs are pretty hot, too. TCU enters the matchup having won six of its last seven games and eight of its last 10, most recently suffering a five-point loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in the Big 12 Tournament.
We'll see which traditional football school will show up on the hardwood this Thursday.