They’re undefeated and on a roll. Guard David Lighty is currently the player with the most victories in college basketball. They are ranked first in every poll, and will lay claim to possibly the Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and even Player of the Year honorees. They are the Ohio State Buckeyes basketball team, and while they currently have many great accolades, they have yet to prove that they are the best team in the nation.
Thus far, the Buckeyes have garnered 24 victories, and stand alone among college basketball’s 346 schools with zero losses. Only one other team in the past five seasons was undefeated this late in the year, that being the 2007-2008 Memphis Tigers. This stat alone is reason enough for a successful season, but are the Buckeyes the nation’s best?
The main reason that the Buckeyes are not the clear-cut No. 1 team in the nation is that they have yet to prove it with multiple statement victories. I stress the word multiple because the only major triumph for OSU this season was a home victory over a Purdue team that struggles on the road.
Statement opportunities have been few and far between for the Buckeyes, who played what Dick Vitale would call a “cupcake” non-conference schedule, with few legitimate tests. While OSU is beating up on teams like Tennessee-Martin and Florida Gulf Coast, a team like Texas is playing both on the road and at home against bigger conference teams like Connecticut, North Carolina and Pittsburgh. Even though Texas dropped a few of those games, those teams are all bound for the NCAA Tournament come March. Only one, maybe two, of OSU’s non-conference opponents will receive an at-large bid come Selection Sunday.
Those tough non-conference slates will prove vital for the Longhorns as they venture into the big dance. Texas’ out of conference schedule prepared them for an overachieving Big 12 Conference with four teams in the AP Top 25. Texas is undefeated within the Big 12, rolling through each victory by double digits.
On the other hand, Ohio State has won only four of its 11 conference games by double digits. OSU should be able to win by ten or more in most conference games, considering only two other Big Ten schools are ranked in the top 25.
It may seem unfair to downgrade Ohio State based on their underachieving conference, but it is fair to upgrade a team like Pittsburgh for playing in the Big East. The Big East is quite possibly the best conference in basketball for yet another season, with seven teams ranked in the top 16. Week in and week out Jamie Dixon’s Panthers need to be on top of their game or they will quickly find themselves out of the conference race. Finishing the Big East season with a single loss, like the Panthers are trying, is as daunting of a task as there is in college basketball. While their non-conference schedule difficulty parallels that of OSU, the constant tests provided within their conference proves Pittsburgh deserves a spot among the nation’s elite.
If the Buckeyes can get through the next few tests, they too will prove worthy of that No. 1 spot. It will not be an easy journey for those Buckeyes, however. Two of their next three matchups include stops at Madison and West Lafeyette, where few come and go with anything other than a defeat. The Buckeyes squeaked by the bottom half of the Big Ten and having already trounced the Boilermakers at home, their matchup at Wisconsin this Saturday looms as their biggest remaining test.
OSU is undefeated on the season, but so is Wisconsin when playing at the Kohl Center; something has to give. History resides in the fact that the Buckeyes are winless in their last eight trips to Madison. Couple that with the Badgers playing their best basketball of the season and we have an upset on our hands.
At the moment, there seems to be no one in the conference that can guard either Jordan Taylor or Jon Leuer, and Bo Ryan has the Badgers surrendering just 59 points per game in conference. The Badgers will have another advantage if the game is decided by free throws, as they average 82 percent from the stripe while the Buckeyes shoot just 68 percent.
One thing OSU has going in its favor is the six day break in between games. If that isn’t enough time to prepare for Wisconsin’s methodical and unbelievably efficient swing offense, well then once again the Buckeyes are not the best squad in college hoops. It may take more than an undefeated team and a long rest to defeat the Badgers at home, but no one can be sure. What is for sure, however, is that the Kohl Center will be rocking this Saturday, with fans anxious to see the basketball team follow in the path of the football team and knock off an unbeaten, No. 1 Ohio State squad.
