Bench play has been key for the Ohio State basketball team in its resurgence

The Ohio State basketball team finished the season on a four-game winning streak and has won five of the six games since Jake Diebler took over for Chris Holtmann. They are one of the hottest teams in the Big Ten heading into the Big Ten Tournament. Diebler's approach to the bench is one of the reasons for it.

In the six games that Diebler has coached, the fewest amount of points the Buckeyes have scored is 60. They won that game at Michigan State and broke the franchise-record road losing streak that Holtmann gave them. Ohio State has scored at least 73 points in every other Diebler-led game.

His trust in the bench is one of the reasons. He has not been reluctant to go deep into his bench. In fact, he's embraced it. The rotation is now up to a solid nine players on a nightly basis, but as many as 11 players can play on any given night. Diebler has confidence that his guys will be ready for the moment.

That was apparent from the first game that Diebler coached against Purdue. Zed Key had his best game of the season, putting in nine points and ripping five steals from the Boilermakers. His defensive effort on Zach Edey was a large part of why the Buckeyes were able to upset Purdue.

Devin Royal has become a bigger part of the rotation as well. He came into the Rutgers game on Sunday just two minutes into the game. Even though he got called for two travel violations soon after, it's good to know that Diebler thinks he's a a guy that they need on the court.

So far, Diebler has been able to press the right buttons with this team. He has to keep doing that in the Big Ten Tournament. They have only one more guaranteed game against Iowa. They must win that to keep their season alive. If they can do that and then beat Illinois on Friday, that might be enough to get them in.

No matter what happens, Diebler has turned this Ohio State basketball program into one that's fun to watch again. That's something to be thankful for.