By the time you read this, official basketball practices may already be happening for the Ohio State men’s basketball program. That’s right – practice starts on Monday for the Buckeyes, meaning the season is only six weeks away. Over those six weeks, Ohio State will get 30 practices, as limited by the NCAA.
Now, Jake Diebler’s second Ohio State team has been “practicing” for months now, in an unofficial capacity. Individual workouts, summer conditioning, and the very limited number of full squad workouts allowed
in the summer aren’t considered “official practice.” Starting Monday, the Buckeyes will begin their preparations in hopes of winning their first Big Ten title in 14 years and making their first NCAA Tournament since the 2021-22 season.
Last week, Connor and Justin each pitched their ideas for a stat or rule change that would make college basketball better. Connor argued that fouls drawn should show up in the box score, since it can be necessary context for a player’s stat line and production. Justin argued that FIBA goaltending should be adopted in college basketball, allowing players to swat a ball off the rim that is rolling around, hovering, or sitting on the iron.
With the Big Ten schedule finally released on Thursday afternoon, Ohio State (and every Big Ten team) has its full schedule on its website and out for the public. The Buckeyes will jam 20 conference games plus one non-conference game (Virginia) into what is essentially a three-month window, hoping to improve on last year’s 9-11 conference record that left them just short of the NCAA Tournament.
This week’s question: What is the toughest Big Ten game on Ohio State’s schedule?
Connor: At Michigan (Jan. 23)
Ohio State has actually played decently well in Arbor over the past decade or so, going 3-4 at the Crisler Center in its last seven trips up north. The Buckeyes’ most recent trip to Ann Arbor was a 73-65 loss to Michigan on January 15, 2024. That was an Ohio State team in the middle of a tough stretch that would see them lose eight out of nine games, followed by the firing of head coach Chris Holtmann shortly after.
The reason this game will be the toughest on the schedule has far less to do with the 13,000-seat venue and more to do with the juggernaut roster that Dusty May has constructed at Michigan. The Wolverines are currently projected to finish second in the Big Ten behind Purdue, but they could absolutely end up winning their 16th Big Ten title in program history.
Dusty May hit the portal hard this spring, and with big-time assistance from Champions Circle — the NIL collective supporting Michigan Athletics — he was able to add arguably the best transfer available in former UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg. Lendeborg is a 6-foot-9, 240-pound forward who scored over 1,100 career points in two seasons as a Blazer and shot nearly 36% from three-point range last year as well. Michigan also added former Illinois forward Morez Johnson Jr., a 6-foot-9, 230-pound forward who scored 14 points and grabbed 15 rebounds against Ohio State last season. If that’s not enough size, former UCLA center Aday Mara, who is 7-foot-3 and nearly 260 pounds, also transferred to Ann Arbor.
The Wolverines didn’t just add talent in the paint — they also opened their arms to former five-star recruit and North Carolina point guard Elliot Cadeau, who will run the show in Ann Arbor.
All of that aside, Ohio State vs Michigan is still one of the best brand rivalries in all of sports. The basketball rivalry pales in comparison to the football rivalry, but Jake Diebler has not hidden his feelings about Michigan and has repeatedly stressed that beating Michigan is a game that absolutely has to be won. Last year, in his first chance, he did not win that must-win game. He’ll have two more chances this season, but the first meeting will be much harder.
Justin: At Maryland (Feb. 5)
There are plenty of places that are tough to play at in the Big Ten. Anytime a team has to go to Purdue, Michigan State, Illinois, Indiana, just to name a few, you know the home court advantage is going to play a major role.
However, the biggest house of horrors for the Buckeyes over the last decade has been the XFINITY Center in College Park, Maryland.
Ohio State is 1-7 since 2015 at Maryland, and the only win came in a 73-65 win in the 2020-21 season, which happened to be the COVID season, and fans were not in the building.
Also, Maryland won’t be at the top of the conference this season, but they do have a solid team. Myles Rice comes in from Indiana, David Coit is a graduate student from Northern Illinois and Kansas, Pharrell Payne is a good center, and Darius Adams will play immediately as a freshman.
Also, the game after this for the Buckeyes is at home against Michigan, then at home against USC, and then they go to Nashville to play Virginia. So they could get caught looking past a decent Maryland team to a huge next week coming up, starting with Michigan at home, which could easily end up as the game of the year. It is also right after they are in Wisconsin, so it is the end of a tough road trip.
It is not the toughest game on paper, but the Buckeyes can’t win at Maryland, and it falls on a weird part in the schedule.
