The Ohio State Buckeyes will be leaving their dancing shoes in the closet for a second-straight year, despite ending the season on a high note.
Each of the matchups for the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament were announced Sunday night. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes and their fans, those aforementioned pairings did not involve the Scarlet and Gray.
Things started off great for Ohio State, with 11 wins in their first 13 games. Everything came off the rails after that, with the Buckeyes dropping nine of their next 12 contests.
With just six games remaining in the regular season, athletic director Gene Smith fired former head coach Chris Holtmann and named assistant Jake Diebler as the interim manager for the remainder of the season.
Under Diebler, the Buckeyes went 6-2, picking up that win over Purdue, road victories over Michigan State and Rutgers and a home win over rival Michigan. In addition, Ohio State defeated the seven-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes by 12 in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament before losing by three to the national No. 13 Illinois Fighting Illini.
Diebler did such a good job in fact, that he was named the program's new full-time head coach on Sunday morning, officially replacing Holtmann as the team's leader. Incoming athletic director Ross Bjork penned the former assistant to a five-year contract, locking Diebler in as the 15th head coach in the history of Buckeyes men's basketball.
Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, however, Diebler will not tip-off his official tenure at the helm of Ohio State in March Madness.
The only remaining hope for the Scarlet and Gray to play post-season basketball is in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), which announced its pairings at 9:30 p.m. eastern later tonight.
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