The Ohio State men’s basketball team is not participating in any postseason tournaments.
The Buckeyes finished 17-15 in their first full campaign under Jake Diebler. When the NCAA Tournament bracket was unveiled Sunday night, OSU was the “Third Team Out” behind West Virginia and Indiana. It’s the third year in a row the Buckeyes won’t be dancing after making four tourney appearances in five years from 2018-22, with the only exception being when COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 NCAA Tournament.
As it turns out, Ohio State did have an opportunity to play in the postseason, but turned it out. According to Eleven Warriors, Ohio State was invited to the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament in Las Vegas, but declined the offer.
The Crown, which is run by FOX, is a 16-team event that will begin on March 31. Billed as a competitor for the NIT–or perhaps the death knell of it–The Crown will feature two Big Ten programs, USC and Nebraska.
Other major conference programs participating include Georgetown, DePaul, Utah, Arizona State, UCF, Cincinnati, Colorado and Villanova.
The main issue with The Crown is the fact that it starts one week after the NCAA transfer portal opens, meaning rosters for participating teams could be atrophied by the time play begins.
Additionally, programs may be better off spending time recruiting the portal or retaining current players than preparing for a tournament that isn’t the Big Dance. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if The Crown tweaks its schedule, assuming the transfer portal window remains unchanged.
Getting back to Ohio State, the pressure will certainly be on Diebler to deliver a trip to the NCAA Tournament next season. An important offseason awaits.
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