Ohio State’s men’s basketball team is peaking at the right time. As the season ends, the Buckeyes have won three straight games for the first time since some easier nonconference games to begin the season. And while the NCAA Tournament resume is still not perfect, the last three wins have certainly moved the Buckeyes to the right side of the bubble.
Ohio State has been struggling all year with a very bland resume. The Buckeyes had no elite wins but no bad losses. Not only was the win over Purdue an important Quad 1 win that gave Ohio State’s resume some juice it was lacking, but some earlier-season wins improved as well. Wisconsin’s recent success has turned that win from mid-February into a Quad 1 win as well, as has the Northwestern win from back in December. All of a sudden, a resume that was 0-8 in Quad 1 games when March started is now 3-10. Not a great number by objective standards, but better than what’s currently going on in this bubble.
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We don’t yet know who the Buckeyes will face in the Big Ten Tournament, but two of the three possibilities are potential bad losses. A neutral site loss to Iowa wouldn’t hurt this resume much, but losing to USC or Oregon would. That’s a blemish that the Buckeyes have avoided so far this season. Ohio State has exactly one loss outside Quad 1–a one-point road loss to Pitt back in November.
A potential loss to USC or Oregon would be just about the only thing that can harm this resume. However, there are still potential other pitfalls. Ohio State’s current NET ranking is No. 30, which is better than most of the mid-major bubble teams. But some of those teams have better wins than the Buckeyes, so a few bid thieves in the Atlantic 10 or Mountain West could make the Buckeyes nervous. Winning two games in the NCAA Tournament would end all doubts for sure. Winning even one is probably more than enough. And just look for chalk in the other conference tournaments.
This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Buckeye Bracketology: Ohio State NCAA Tournament bid almost locked up
