COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A new era of Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball is upon us and they will have to get off to a hot start if they want to be ranked nationally.

For the third year in a row, Ohio State has not been voted into the Associated Press preseason top-25 poll heading into the new college basketball season. Despite missing out on the top-25, the Buckeyes earned 29 votes from the poll voters, placing them as the eighth-best team outside the rankings.

Kansas tops the preseason poll after receiving 30 first-place votes, 16 more than No. 2 Alabama. Two-time defending national champions UConn will start the season at No. 3. Defending national runners-up Purdue are the highest ranked Big Ten team at No. 14 with Indiana (17), UCLA (22), and Rutgers (25) joining them.

Ohio is represented in the first 2024-25 rankings as Cincinnati comes in at No. 20 to begin the new season.

Associated Press Poll (Preseason)

This will be the first full season for the Buckeyes under head coach Jake Diebler, who was hired for the full-time after serving as the interim at the end of last season. Diebler was put into the interim role after the firing of head coach Chris Holtmann.

In the first game under Diebler, the Buckeyes upset No. 2 Purdue at Value City Arena and followed that up by winning five of their last six regular-season games. The late momentum carried as Ohio State made the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. Diebler then was hired full time and is the first Ohio native to coach the Buckeyes in 35 years.

The team will be led by guards Bruce Thornton and Meechie Johnson and will expect production from sophomore forward Aaron Bradshaw, who transferred from Kentucky. The Buckeyes begin the season on Nov. 4 against No. 19 Texas in Las Vegas.

Among Ohio State’s other notable non-conference opponents are No. 13 Texas A&M, Pittsburgh, No. 11 Auburn, and No. 23 Kentucky.