NCAA Basketball top 25 power rankings: Tennessee and Villanova rise, Alabama falls

14. Ohio State (8-2)

Ohio State is trending in the right direction and Chris Holtmann has this team looking like a national contender once again. EJ Liddell has really broken out and looks like a legitimate contender for national player of the year. The Buckeyes offense has come alive and the defense has done enough to pick up some nice wins to start the year.

First and foremost, those two losses were a tough road game at Xavier and a buzzer-beating defeat against Florida. Both of these games were over a month ago and both were forgivable, especially considering what the Buckeyes have done since then. At the end of November, they knocked off #1 Duke and have since gotten off to a 2-0 start in Big Ten play, getting double-digit wins at Penn State and against Wisconsin. Throw in a very nice win against Seton Hall and this is a pretty sweet resume already building for the Buckeyes.

Sitting at 8th in offensive efficiency, there’s no doubt that this Buckeyes offense is in great shape for the upcoming season. The Buckeyes have come up big in some of these marquee matchups and their shooting in particular has been stellar down the stretch. Though they have been on COVID pause for two weeks, their best defense effort came against Wisconsin in their last outing, perhaps a sign of great things to come on that side of the ball.

Either way, Ohio State will contend for the Big Ten title and could certainly make some noise in the postseason, hoping to leave last year’s loss to Oral Roberts in the past.