The Sweet 16 drought for Ohio State men's basketball is unprecedented, unacceptable and a little embarrassing
This was one of the topics on a basketball edition of Around the Shoe, which became Around the Schott this week.
COLUMBUS — The NCAA Tournament expanded the men’s basketball field to 16 teams in 1951.
The tournament was started in 1939 with an eight-team bracket that culminated with a championship game between Ohio State and Oregon at Northwestern University. It was contested in a little place called Patten Gym that still stands on campus. I played intramural basketball there. Swing by sometime.
Ohio State lost that first title game 46-33 to an Oregon team nicknamed The Tall Firs. Back then, a sports columnist could just write, hey, basketball players are tall and so are trees, here is a nickname, and people would think that writer was a genius. I miss those times.
From the jump, the Buckeyes were integral to the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State made three straight Final Four appearances while the tourney was still eight teams from 1944 to 1946. The Buckeyes made the last eight-team tourney in 1950 as well.
Then came the expansion to 16, and eventually beyond. The Buckeyes didn’t return to the tournament until 1960, when Ohio State won its only men’s basketball national title in a field of 25 teams.
When the games matter most and the competition intensifies at the end of the NCAA Tournament, Ohio State has been been in the thick of things in every generation. The Buckeyes’ 15 appearances in the Sweet 16 since the 1951 expansion never had a gap of longer than a decade … until now.
Ohio State made it that far in 1960, 1961, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1980, 1983, 1991, 1992, 1999, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Now? The Buckeyes are mired in their longest Sweet 16 drought in program history.
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COLUMBUS — Devin Royal toed the line for a pair of inconsequential free throws with 4:04 left in Sunday’s matinee against Michigan, Ohio State trailing by 20. A “Let’s Go Blue” chant started making its way around The Schottenstein Center, growing in volume with each turn, echoing off the seats that had started to empty, rendering the once-packed arena back to its natural, cavernous state.
The Buckeyes last made it that far in the tournament in 2013, losing to Wichita State in the West Regional Final when most of us were booking the Buckeyes for the Final Four. That team of Shockers (Wichita State’s actually nickname) brought future NBA All-Star Fred VanVleet off the bench.
The upset by the No. 9 seed over the No. 2 seed Buckeyes was, yes, shocking in the moment, but in hindsight, maybe it shouldn’t have been. None of the eight Buckeyes who took the floor at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in that loss played in the NBA.
Three of Wichita State’s players did make the league. Beyond VanVleet’s $190 million in NBA earnings, Ron Baker (96 games in three years) and Cleanthony Early (56 games in two years) both played in the NBA.
The true shock? That was Ohio State’s last NCAA Tournament game in the second weekend of the tournament. The Buckeyes are 4-6 in their NCAA appearances between 2014 and 2022.
We are 12 seasons and 11 NCAA Tournaments (the 2020 tourney was canceled by COVID) removed from the last time the Buckeyes made it to the Sweet 16 or beyond.
Since then, the Ohio State women have reached the Sweet 16 four times.
Since then, 10 of the other men’s programs currently playing in the Big Ten have reached the Sweet 16. Ohio State is one of the eight that hasn’t along with Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Rutgers, Penn State and Washington.
Nebraska has never even won an NCAA Tournament game, but the Cornhuskers are currently ranked No. 7 and have a legit shot at breaking that streak and making the Sweet 16 this season.
The other teams have more success than the Cornhuskers, but far less than the Buckeyes. Ohio State’s 15 Sweet 16 appearances doubles every other team that is part of this drought other than Iowa, which has eight Sweet 16 trips.
No Big Ten team with a men’s basketball history this strong has been absent this long.
Ohio State stands alone. The blame is shared — the Sweet 16 drought includes the last four seasons of the Thad Matta era, seven years of Chris Holtmann, and one full season of Jake Diebler so far.
I’m still not sure exactly what Ohio State basketball should be. But it should be better than this.
Ohio State is part of a group to which it shouldn’t belong.
If the Buckeyes aren’t quite Indiana (22 Sweet 16s), Michigan State (22) or Michigan (20), and maybe not even Purdue or Maryland (also with 15 Sweet 16s), they shouldn’t be hanging out with Rutgers, Minnesota and Penn State.
Attempting to define the standard for Ohio State basketball is one of the truly enduring discussions around OSU sports. With football, everyone knows the deal. Winning is assumed, titles are pursued.
With basketball, it’s never been that clear.
In the NIL era, when the battle for resources in on, the question only gets murkier. That was part of what we discussed on our latest YouTube episode of Around the Shoe, which turned into Around the Schott this week as we welcomed in two basketball guests.
Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch and Connor Lemons of Land-Grant Holy Land joined us for a great discussion.
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Have to move on from Diebler, bring in an experienced coach like Josh Schertz, and supply him with everything he needs to succeed
It's so disappointing to see the program fail to inspire enthusiasm. I used to be a season ticket holder, starting in St. John Arena and then for the first ten or so years in the Schott. Eventually, the prices kept rising and it was hard to justify the expense. Now it's been several years since I've been to a game. And when I have gone, the atmosphere is just not great. The building could be rocking back in the early Thad years, but the combination of facility and product on the court just leaves a lot to be desired right now. I wish it were different.