Suddenly, Ohio State Surging, Looking to Steal Tourney Bid

They entered this season with high expectations, as coach Chris Holtmann and his staff put together a great recruiting and transfer class. Things started well but they ran into a long losing streak when the Big 10 season started. 

Now the Buckeyes are peaking and beating teams that they lost to during their long losing streak. Could this team make the tournament? There are still a number of games that need to be played but Holtmann clearly has his team in the position to fight to the end. 

It has not been a great year for Holtmann, that’s for certain. The season started off well — as the Buckeyes were ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press poll on Jan. 2. Then came the rest of the month … and the month after that. What happened next is something not many Buckeye fans want to talk about. From Jan. 5-March 9, OSU went 5-15. That is the bad news. 

The good news is that they picked up three of those wins in their last four games. Now add the win on Thursday in the BIG 10 Tournament opener and Ohio State has won four of five. The Buckeyes out muscled the higher-seeded Hawkeyes to win. 

Every team wants to be playing their best basketball at this time of the year and despite how bad this season has been for Ohio State, they appear to be playing well.

Can the Buckeyes actually be a bid stealer?