Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann calls out to referee after a blocking charge on the Buckeyes in the first half of the game against Penn State in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals on Mar. 2 in Madison Square Garden. Ohio State lost 68-69. Credit: Jack Westerheide | Photo Editor
The Ohio State men’s basketball team will await its placement in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 17 team in the final Associated Press Top 25 Poll before the bracket is unveiled Sunday.
The Buckeyes dropped four spots from No. 13 in last week’s poll after it fell 69-68 to Penn State in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament on Friday. No. 7 Michigan won the tournament, beating No. 10 Purdue 75-66 on Sunday.
No. 4 Michigan State is the only other team from the conference ranked inside the top 25.
While the Big Ten tournament ended Sunday, no other Power Five conference has begun its respective tournament yet. The ACC tournament begins Tuesday, while the Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC tournaments all begin on Wednesday.
Ohio State will not know where it is headed to play its next game until the bracket is released on Selection Sunday. In an early release of the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s bracket on Feb. 11, the Buckeyes were listed as a No. 4 seed in the east regional with Villanova as the No. 1 seed. No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Texas Tech rounded out the regional.
The bracket was an early look at how the committee viewed the teams at the time and does not reflect how the final 68-team bracket will look Sunday.
