NCAA Basketball: Ranking the top 25 programs of all time
By Brian Rauf
Best NCAA Basketball programs of all-time: 13. Ohio State basketball
Fitting that Ohio State and Michigan are right next to each other on this list, and it’s the Buckeyes that get the slight nod over the Wolverines.
They also have a national championship (1960), have been to more Final Fours (11, though their 1999 appearance was vacated) and more NCAA Tournament appearances. The Buckeyes are one of just seven programs to reach the Final Four at least 10 time, and they also hold the head-to-head advantage between the two rivals by a mark of 97-78.
Ohio State has also been a consistently relevant program. They have 22 Big Ten regular-season titles (two of which – 2000 and 2002 – have been vacated) with at least one in every decade going back to 1920’s, with the exception of the 1980’s.
Most of OSU’s tournament success came earlier in the program’s history. Eight of the Final Four appearances came prior to the 1970’s, and they went 31 seasons without making an appearance until 1999 (though that appearance has been vacated).
Since then, the Buckeyes have experienced something of a rebirth. They have made three Final Four appearances since then, along with 15 NCAA Tournament appearances and seven Big Ten regular-season titles.