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Big Ten Basketball: Buy or sell on Ohio State, Minnesota, Nebraska and IU

By Austin Walther

BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers walks down the court after a turnover in the 66-51 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers walks down the court after a turnover in the 66-51 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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EAST LANSING, MI – FEBRUARY 17: Kaleb Wesson #34 of the Ohio State Buckeyes drives past Thomas Kithier #15 of the Michigan State Spartans in the second half at Breslin Center on February 17, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – FEBRUARY 17: Kaleb Wesson #34 of the Ohio State Buckeyes drives past Thomas Kithier #15 of the Michigan State Spartans in the second half at Breslin Center on February 17, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

Ohio State Buckeyes – Buy

Ohio State felt the same way the three teams above about a month ago. The Buckeyes were sliding on a five-game losing streak with one coming to Rutgers. They managed to snap it at Lincoln. Ohio State won three out of the next four. The one loss came in Ann Arbor. They got a revenge win over Rutgers, knocked off Penn State and Indiana. Now it’s back to struggle city for the Buckeyes.

The win over the Hoosiers brought them back to .500 in the Big Ten. They had a chance at really going on a big winning streak in the final full month of the regular season. Instead, they blew one to Illinois and lost three out of the next four. They had chances to beat Michigan State and Maryland but failed to capitalize. They did get a win over Northwestern but that is more of a “survival game” than a great win.

Ohio State has been consistently in the KenPom top-40 all season. The AP poll means nothing and this is the only time I’ll bring it up. During their great non-conference run, Ohio State was ranked for eight weeks and peaked at No. 13. Now they’ve slid way down and are going to be lucky to land a single-digit seed.

The Buckeyes put their names on the bracketology map in the first couple weeks when they beat Cincinnati and Creighton on the road. The Bearcats are hanging around fine in the American Athletic Conference, but the Jays are struggling to stay on the bubble. The loss against Syracuse was a blown opportunity at home. The neutral court win over UCLA means fairly little at this point.

dark. Next. Complete Bubble Watch

They started out 2-0 when the Big Ten season started in December. One was to Minnesota while Nebraska and Indiana are their only two other top-55 wins. Three ranked opponents remain for these Buckeyes. There’s certainly plenty of chances for all four of these teams to rack up quality wins before the Big Ten Tournament starts.

Ohio State needs to beat Northwestern again. Then win at least one against either Iowa, Purdue or Wisconsin. That might be enough for them to dance.

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