Can the Ohio State basketball team make a miracle run?

Heading into their matchup with Purdue on Sunday, the Ohio State basketball team was on life-support. Their season has not gone well. They haven’t won a road game in over a year and Chris Holtmann was fired last week. They now had to take on the second-ranked team in the country with an interim head coach.

And yet, the Buckeyes won the game. They took down the Boilermakers 73-69 in a massive upset. It’s the first Big Ten win the Buckeyes have had of relevance in over two years. It now has jolted some life into this once lifeless team. It now opens the door for a crazy question: Can this Ohio State basketball team make a miracle run to end the year?

The Ohio State basketball team has the talent to make a run

It’s clear by Sunday’s upset that this Buckeye basketball team still has talent. Bruce Thornton is still one of the best players in the Big Ten and they can clearly play some defense, even if they haven’t most of this season. Is it so crazy that they could make an undefeated run the rest of the year and sneak into the NCAA Tournament?

Let’s look at their schedule. They already beat the toughest opponent on their schedule in Purdue. They have five games left. None of them are against ranked opponents. In fact, the best team remaining is Michigan State, who is 17-9 overall and 9-6 in the Big Ten. They also face Minnesota, Nebraska, Michigan, and Rutgers. Three of those games are on the road.

If Ohio State wants to have any miracle shot at the tournament, they have to go undefeated the rest of the way. That means actually winning a road game for the first time since January of last year. They likely would have to win a couple of games in the Big Ten Tournament as well in order to get in.

I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s not likely either. At the same time, who thought the Buckeyes would knock off Purdue? For the first time in two years, there is actually some hope surrounding this basketball program.