Ohio State entering critical stretch on right side of NCAA Tournament bubble
COLUMBUS — Ohio State is entering its most critical stretch of basketball of the Jake Diebler era in the coming days.
The Buckeyes will do so clinging to one of the last available spots in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Ohio
According to ESPN Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi, the Buckeyes are barely hanging on to an NCAA Tournament spot. They’re on the bubble entering February, an all-too-familiar place to be for this program that hasn’t made the Big Dance since 2022 and hasn’t made a Sweet 16 appearance since 2013.
Lunardi current has Ohio State as a No. 11 seed and heading to the First Four in Dayton to face fellow No. 11 seed Texas, with the winner moving on to face No. 6 seed Louisville in Buffalo, New York. The Buckeyes are, according to Lunardi, one of the last four teams in the field.
The BracketMatrix, which rounds up all of the bracket projections and puts them into one database, also has Ohio State as a No. 11 seed and making the NCAA Tournament as of Feb. 4.
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Ohio State currently sits at 14-7 and 6-5 in Big Ten play.
Of course, Ohio State can change that in the coming weeks. The Buckeyes will face No. 2 Michigan at home on Sunday. They’ll also face No. 18 Virginia in Nashville next week. Other games at No. 10 Michigan State and at home against No. 12 Purdue on March 1 give Ohio State plenty of chances to earn resume-boosting wins.
Other potential resume-boosters could come against fellow bubble teams USC, Wisconsin and Indiana. All three of those games are at home across the next month.
The remaining Ohio State basketball schedule can be found below:
Feb. 5 — at Maryland (8:30 p.m., FS1)
Feb. 8 — vs. No. 2 Michigan (1 p. m., CBS)
Feb. 11 — vs. USC (6:30 p.m., Big Ten Network)
Feb. 14 — vs. No. 18 Virginia in Nashville (8 p.m., FOX)
Feb. 17 — vs. Wisconsin (8:30. p.m., TBD)
Feb. 22 — at No. 10 Michigan State (1 p.m., CBS)
Feb. 25 — at Iowa (9 p.m., BTN)
March 1 — vs. No. 12 Purdue (1:30 p.m., CBS)
March 4 — at Penn State (7:30 p.m., Peacock)
March 7 — vs. Indiana (5:30 p.m., FOX)