COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — It’s a tale of two brackets for Buckeye basketball fans heading into Selection Sunday.

The Ohio State women’s basketball team will wonder how much harder their path to a Final Four will be after suffering back-to-back losses. Meanwhile, Jake Diebler and the Buckeyes men’s basketball team will be lucky to hear their name called at all by the NCAA tournament selection committee despite a strong finish to the season.

Here’s a look at how Selection Sunday will likely unfold for both teams when the brackets are unveiled tonight, starting with the men at 6 p.m. followed by the women at 8 p.m.

Women likely to host, but what seed will they get?

The Ohio State women had all the momentum heading into the final week of the regular season. The Buckeyes hadn’t lost in 2024 and were ranked No. 2 in the country when they won the Big Ten regular season title. But then OSU fell to Iowa in a highly anticipated rematch in Iowa City. Then the Buckeyes unexpectedly lost to Maryland in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament in Minneapolis.

By the time Kevin McGuff and his team return to the floor, they’ll have had at least two weeks since their last game. The selection committee will certainly consider the Buckeyes’ entire body of work when determining seeding and their 25-5 overall record has certainly earned OSU the right to host the opening weekend of the tournament.

The question will be how hard will Ohio State’s road to the Final Four be? Based on talent alone, the Buckeyes are certainly deserving of a No. 2 seed and no worse than a No. 3 seed in a regional. But it wouldn’t be a surprise if the committee places Ohio State in a tough region that includes the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks.

Men likely headed to the NIT after Big Ten quarterfinal loss

The Buckeyes certainly turned things around after letting Chris Holtmann go from his head coaching position. Under interim head coach Jake Diebler, Ohio State went 6-2. That run included five straight wins and two victories on the road, not to mention a memorable upset over then-No. 2 Purdue in the wake of a coaching change.

But with many teams on the bubble, OSU needed to at least make it to the weekend of the Big Ten tournament in Minneapolis to be in the conversation. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, they fell just short, losing to Illinois in the quarterfinals.

It’s hard to read the minds of the people in charge of putting together a 68-team bracket. But it would be a shocker if they decided to include Ohio State in that field. It’s more likely that the Buckeyes will be one of the first four out and end up in the NIT. And a deep postseason run would give Diebler a chance to continue his audition for a head coaching role. Whether that’s at Ohio State or elsewhere is a question for new athletic director Ross Bjork that may already be answered.