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Big Ten Basketball: Ranking all 18 programs after adding Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington

By Joey Loose

Jan 29, 2023; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Michigan State Spartans forward Joey Hauser (10) dribbles the ball while Purdue Boilermakers forward Mason Gillis (0) defends in the second half at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 29, 2023; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Michigan State Spartans forward Joey Hauser (10) dribbles the ball while Purdue Boilermakers forward Mason Gillis (0) defends in the second half at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Purdue Boilermakers forward Trey Kaufman-Renn (4) is guarded by Ohio State Buckeyes guard Eugene Brown III Purosu031123 Am18397
Purdue Boilermakers forward Trey Kaufman-Renn (4) is guarded by Ohio State Buckeyes guard Eugene Brown III Purosu031123 Am18397 /

9. Ohio State

After making trips to the Final Four in 2007 and 2012, Thad Matta stepped away briefly from basketball in 2017 and Chris Holtmann has led the Buckeyes ever since. While Ohio State has maintained a standing as one of the better programs in the Big Ten, there’s been a postseason problem under Holtmann. The Buckeyes haven’t advanced beyond the second round since he took over the program, not to mention the more recent issues.

Ohio State is coming off a 16-19 season, one in which they won just 5 games in conference play. If we went back 15 years, you could certainly call this one of the very best Big Ten programs, but that same level of success just hasn’t happened in recent years. The Buckeyes have been nationally ranked in the Top 5 multiple times in recent years, but they always seem to lack that consistency to stay up there.

Make no mistake, Ohio State is a great basketball program with a high ceiling, but we just haven’t seen that ceiling yet during Holtmann’s tenure. Ohio State isn’t going to be directly affected by these new additions to the Big Ten, but you can bet that a few of those schools (from Los Angeles) are sitting in a better position than today’s Buckeyes.

Does the recent inconsistency have anything to do with the coaching or recruiting taking a step back? While it’s possible, Ohio State hasn’t taken a step back with their talent on the court and you should expect that bad years like last season will not be regular occurrences. The most important question is if making a run towards a title will ever be a regular occurrence under this current regime.

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