Jake Diebler was the least qualified head coach in the NCAA Tournament -- was that a good sign or a bad one?

Diebler's lack of experience was unmatched by any major coach in March Madness.

Jake Diebler lost his first NCAA Tournament game as a head coach. (Photo courtesy of Ohio State)

COLUMBUS — Jake Diebler was unlike any head coach in March Madness. That’s just a fact. Now we can debate whether that’s a good or bad thing.

You could look at Diebler’s lack of experience compared to his cohort of fellow tournament coaches and marvel at his ability to get his team there.

The Buckeyes dug a hole in their season and in their tournament opener against TCU on Thursday and rallied both times.

First, the Buckeyes went from 17-11, 9-8 in Big Ten play, and outside the tourney bubble to a four-game winning streak that included wins over two tournament teams (Purdue and Iowa) and another they knocked off the bubble (Indiana). Ohio State looked done, and Diebler and his team came back to push No. 1 Michigan to the wall in the Big Ten Tournament and secure a tourney 8 seed.

Then the Buckeyes trailed by 15 against TCU while looking shell-shocked, but figured it out after halftime and eventually took a 5-point lead before losing in the final minute. Again, that’s some guts. Credit all around.

But, as Bill pointed out in his story from Thursday, Diebler and this program have some lessons to learn from this experience. That was the first tournament game for the 39-year-old Diebler as a head coach. The only player on the OSU roster who had been to the tournament was a 25-year-old on his third school who sued for a sixth year of eligibility and then didn’t play Thursday.

Bunch of new guys, doing something for the first time.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — Ohio State is not a place for people in charge to do things for the first time.