29 points from a guy who barely played most of the year until getting a bit more time due to CJ getting hurt? Yeah, I wouldn't have expected that. At the least, Ahrens looks to be a guy who can hit threes and this team needs a bit more competence from long range, given how much they shoot from there.

The win was a great one for the team's postseason chances, as their resume beforehand was essentially "Cincinnati and a few other Quad 1 teams". Home against a ranked opponent is a huge boost to their chances.

I know Vball has said they probably need to be 10-10 in the conference with making it to the B1G tournament semis and I'm not saying that isn't the case, as there's a chance that because the bubble is filled with so much mediocrity -- just look at the "barely in/barely out" group in Lunardi's (used due to being the more prominent of the guessers) projection and see the outright mediocrity on display -- that the committee could lean towards good small conference teams (ie: hope that the favorites win the more prominent of those tournaments to keep them at 1 bid). But it does seem that coming into last night, most bracket guesses had OSU in around a 10 (according to Lunardi, still not even in the "last 4 in" or "last 4 not in the play-in round") and ESPN's Bubble Watch basically is insinuating that something in the vicinity of "one more good win" to "just don't collapse, lose out in the regular season and then get dumped immediately in the conference tournament" should at minimum have them in the mix.

My 100% off the top of my head guesses:

Lose out -- need to make B1G finals if not win it.

Beat NW, lose the other two -- definitely win one B1G tourney game, probably 2 to be reasonably secure.

Beat either Purdue/Wisc, lose to NW -- win one B1G tourney game, as the blah loss would somewhat offset the good win. Might get in regardless, but the tournament win would make it more secure.

Beat either Purdue/Wisc, beat NW -- likely in

Beat both Purdue/Wisc, regardless of what happens vs. NW -- in.

It's nice to see that Ahrens finally got tired of his brother over in East Lansing getting all the pub and said "screw that, I can score too!"-lol....seriously, though, great game for him, nice W for the team, and excellent breakdown, Heretic--reps!

Kaleb Wesson suspended......no timeline on return.

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-basketball/2019/03/102754/kaleb-wesson-suspended-for-violation-of-ohio-state-athletics-department-policy

posted by wkfan

Kaleb Wesson suspended......no timeline on return.

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-basketball/2019/03/102754/kaleb-wesson-suspended-for-violation-of-ohio-state-athletics-department-policy

 

 

NIT, baby

posted by vball10set

NIT, baby

It might depend on how long Wesson is out for. I'm not sure they were going to beat Purdue with him. If they get him back for Northwestern then we'll see what happens. 

Ohio State might be fine even losing both. The backend is awful. There are really about 55 “tournament teams”, but 68 still have to make it.

posted by FatHobbit

It might depend on how long Wesson is out for. I'm not sure they were going to beat Purdue with him. If they get him back for Northwestern then we'll see what happens. 

Personally, I had Purdue as a near-definite (ie: unless someone like Ahrens goes absolutely batshit crazy again) loss regardless of who was on the floor. The keys are (1) beating NW with or without him (and they are playing horribly right now) and (2) getting him back sooner rather than later, so that it isn't some "he served three games, we lost all of them; better kick ass in the B1G, guys!!!!" situation.  

While I expected that result, the actual margin was a bit disheartening, as that made it look like the sort of game they'd still have lost by 20+ with Kaleb.

I do find it funny-weird that the top scorers in each of the last two games are guys who've spent most of the season buried on the bench and getting 5-or-fewer minutes per game most of the time, though. By this point in the season, you really don't see that sort of thing happening hardly ever.

I'll just leave this right here...

Ohio State was 4 of 27 (14.8 percent) from the field in the first half for a season-low 17 points.

 https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/ohio-state/2019/03/06/northwestern-snaps-10-game-skid-beats-ohio-state-buckeyes/stories/20190306178

Last night's loss to Northwestern was like a bad middle school basketball game.......

posted by wkfan

Last night's loss to Northwestern was like a bad middle school basketball game.......

lol--amazingly I texted my son almost the same thing, only I said a bad CYO game...that was embarrassing--by both teams

It might have been the worst-played college basketball game of the season (disclaimer: I did NOT watch that 47-24 VT-NC State game a month or so ago).

FunFact: Take out Woods and Young (combined 6-for-12) and their shooting was so bad it makes their overall 24% for the game look tolerable.

FunFact 2: Losing to a team that hadn't won in a month or so, regardless of circumstance, pretty much HAS to mean they'll need a legit run in the B1G tournament to be anywhere but the NIT. The bubble might be soft as hell, but they showed themselves to be softer than the softest bubble out there last night.

FunFact 3: Just the simple fact that virtually everyone on NW was in foul trouble for most of the first half and they STILL couldn't do anything was just plain sad.

FunOpinion: I guess Dakich said during the Purdue game that he didn't think that suspended Wesson should be allowed on the bench with the team while suspended. After last night, I completely disagree. If he deserves one thing at all right now, it's to have a front row seat to an utter debacle like that while knowing that whatever he did is a massively huge part of the reason things are that atrociously bad.

posted by Heretic

FunOpinion: I guess Dakich said during the Purdue game that he didn't think that suspended Wesson should be allowed on the bench with the team while suspended. After last night, I completely disagree. If he deserves one thing at all right now, it's to have a front row seat to an utter debacle like that while knowing that whatever he did is a massively huge part of the reason things are that atrociously bad.

Rub the dog's nose in his own shit......

Have they said what Wesson is suspended for?

Also, you guys are crazy if you don’t think OSU is “comfortably” in right now. I put parenthesis, because if they happen to lose their first game to a bad team, they might be on the bubble. But losing to anyone but bottom 4 of the B1G in the BTT shouldn’t hurt them much.

posted by Laley23

Also, you guys are crazy if you don’t think OSU is “comfortably” in right now. I put parenthesis, because if they happen to lose their first game to a bad team, they might be on the bubble. But losing to anyone but bottom 4 of the B1G in the BTT shouldn’t hurt them much.

It’s crazy to think that they’re about in the same bubble position (maybe a little better) than IU is. 

Would not have thought that 2 weeks ago. 

posted by SportsAndLady

It’s crazy to think that they’re about in the same bubble position (maybe a little better) than IU is. 

Would not have thought that 2 weeks ago. 

Indiana needs to win out though, and probably needs Marquette to remain a Q1 win (they are down to 29 in NET). 

But yeah, pretty crazy they could both be on the bubble in a week and a half.

posted by Laley23

Indiana needs to win out though, and probably needs Marquette to remain a Q1 win (they are down to 29 in NET). 

But yeah, pretty crazy they could both be on the bubble in a week and a half.

 

I don’t think IU has to win the big ten tourney to get in. They have enough tier 1 wins, where if they win out and lose in the B1G finals or even semis they’ll be feeling good. 

posted by SportsAndLady

I don’t think IU has to win the big ten tourney to get in. They have enough tier 1 wins, where if they win out and lose in the B1G finals or even semis they’ll be feeling good. 

I meant at Illinois and home vs Rutgers. Ohio State can lose to Wisconsin and still be in heading to the BTT.

posted by Laley23

I meant at Illinois and home vs Rutgers. Ohio State can lose to Wisconsin and still be in heading to the BTT.

 

Oh yeah, IU can’t lose to Illinois and Rutgers lol that’s for sure

posted by Laley23

Have they said what Wesson is suspended for?

Nope, one of those things that they're just using vague "detrimental conduct"-like terms, but not actually saying anything.

posted by Laley23

Also, you guys are crazy if you don’t think OSU is “comfortably” in right now. I put parenthesis, because if they happen to lose their first game to a bad team, they might be on the bubble. But losing to anyone but bottom 4 of the B1G in the BTT shouldn’t hurt them much.

I can see them in, but I can't see them being remotely comfortably in for three reasons.

1. If they lose to Wisky, that's 18-13, 8-12 and a loss in the B1G (either in the 8-9 or 7-10 game, since I don't think they could go lower than 10th, as they'd have a tiebreaker over Indiana if both are 8-12), that's 18-14.

2. Of those wins, how many are impressive? Cincinnati for sure and even if they're slumping now, Iowa is still good. But after that, you have wins over bubble teams like Indiana and Minnesota and the win over Nebraska, who was good until Copeland went down (in that OSU win) and they completely collapsed. Not a horrible resume, but not a great one.

3. Bid thieves. Both in the concept of the favorites not winning certain tournaments, allowing an extra team from their conference to steal a bid (Washington, Buffalo, Wofford are three teams that should probably be considered safely in who would have to win their tournament to avoid thieves, for example) and the concept of other bubble teams surpassing them. I'd have to think Minnesota's win over Purdue probably moved them in front of OSU and if Indiana finishes 8-12 in the conference and 17-14 overall, I'd have to put them in front simply due to having more high-quality wins.

Now, IF (1) K. Wesson comes back either Sunday or in the B1G tournament and (2) the team can look good and hopefully win a game or two with him, I could see the committee more or less disregarding their losses without him as not being representative of what the team really is like. But overall, they've fallen to the point where their resume and record just aren't that impressive.

Yeah, assuming an L to Wisconsin, they can’t go lose the first game of the BTT. That was my quotation “comfortably”. If they win that game, and in theory advance to the quarterfinals (actual seed pending), they will be good.

Only thing would be bid stealers. But as of now, even losing to Wisconsin, I’d have them an 11 seed and NOT one of the “last 4 in”.

posted by Laley23

Yeah, assuming an L to Wisconsin, they can’t go lose the first game of the BTT. That was my quotation “comfortably”. If they win that game, and in theory advance to the quarterfinals (actual seed pending), they will be good.

Only thing would be bid stealers. But as of now, even losing to Wisconsin, I’d have them an 11 seed and NOT one of the “last 4 in”.

Right now, I'd say you and Lunardi agree (he still has them as a 10 after NW, I think), but Schwab has them as "last 4 in", so I think that ties into what you've said about how weak the bubble is this year, where you have a couple dozen flawed, mediocre teams going for a certain number of spots and different people have different takes on which of those teams can most say they have a legit case while keeping a straight face.

The Buckeyes didn't give up, but I sure did when they were down 44-21

Potential play-in game Thursday.