NCAA Basketball: Way-too-early ranking of 2022 Maui Invitational field

7. Ohio State Buckeyes

Chris Holtmann has had a strong tenure with the Ohio State Buckeyes. The program will be fine again this season, but some significant losses cap the team’s ceiling.

Meechie Johnson transferred. E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham both went to the NBA. Jamari Wheeler exhausted his eligibility.

The team is relatively young and inexperienced this year. Five of them are first-year players while another three are transfer additions, so Holtmann will have his work cut out getting them ready for the regular season.

That being said, some of the new guys are far from scrubs. The transfers include Isaac Likekele and Sean McNeil, two Big 12 battle-tested guards who should bring an immediate veteran leadership presence to the program.

Justice Sueing is in line for a big role too, as long as he can stay healthy. He may be one of the team’s primary scorers.

That prospect, unfortunately, probably won’t scare many people at the start of the season. It certainly won’t scare any of the other teams in Hawaii.

The Buckeyes have played their first Maui Invitational opponent, San Diego State, three times. They’ve lost twice, most recently during the 2003 Maui Invitational.

They could very well pull an upset over the Aztecs in the first round, but it would be a major upset for the Buckeyes to cut down the nets in Maui.