The road to the bubble for the Ohio State basketball team

If any Ohio State basketball fan thought that the Buckeyes would be in the conversation to even be on the bubble a couple of weeks ago, they’d be lying. The Buckeyes were dead to rights when Chris Holtmann was fired on Valentine’s Day. Since then, Jake Diebler has taken over and done some remarkable things.

Ohio State won again on Thursday night, taking down Nebraska. They are now 3-1 since Holtmann was fired and hold a 17-12 record. Winning their final two games would get them to 19 wins. Those games are extremely winnable too as they come against a terrible Michigan team and a bad Rutgers team. It is not unrealistic for the Buckeyes to finish the year winning five of their last six.

How the Ohio State basketball team can get to the bubble

Now that we are in the month of March, it’s time to look at how Ohio State can play their way onto the bubble. They don’t have any Quad 3 or Quad 4 losses, so that helps their resume immensely. Of course, losing to TTUN would give them one of those and put any hopes they have of dancing straight to bed.

The Ohio State Buckeyes have to win those two games. That’s a given. Secondly, they need to win at least two games in the Big Ten Tournament. That would give them a record of 21-12 and some high-quality wins late in the year. Their victories over Purdue and Alabama are held in high regard in the NET rankings. They’d at least be on the bubble.

Of course, being on the bubble doesn’t guarantee that Ohio State would make the NCAA Tournament. It just guarantees that they’re on the bubble. That in itself would be a major accomplishment for Diebler and this team though. If they do get to the bubble, they’d be a shoo-in for the NIT, which is a lot better than it looked for this team a month ago.

March is the time when miracles happen in college basketball. Hope springs eternal. It’s time for Ohio State basketball fans to believe in hope again. The season is no longer the disaster it once was.