COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Ohio State men’s basketball team will miss the NCAA Tournament for a third straight season, marking the first time since the late 1990s that the program missed three consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
The 68-team men’s March Madness field was announced Sunday night and the Buckeyes were among the first four teams out. Ohio State was listed as the third team among the group of four alongside West Virginia, Indiana, and Boise State.
Despite resume boosting wins over Kentucky, Purdue, Maryland, and Texas, head coach Jake Diebler’s side finished 10th in the Big Ten standings with a 9-11 record and fell in the opening round of the conference tournament to Iowa.
NCAA men’s basketball bracket
Click here to download a printable bracket to fill out.
Because Ohio State is near the top of the NCAA’s NET rankings among teams that missed out, they were invited for the new Crown tournament but declined to participate.
The Big Ten has eight teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament while the Southeastern Conference got a record 14 schools. The No. 1 seeds are Auburn, Duke, Houston, and Florida.
Big Ten teams in March Madness (8 teams)
- No. 2 Michigan State
- No. 3 Wisconsin
- No. 4 Purdue
- No. 4 Maryland
- No. 5 Oregon
- No. 5 Michigan
- No. 6 Illinois
- No. 7 UCLA
The tournament begins on Tuesday in Dayton with the First Four round. Cleveland is also scheduled to host tournament games with first and second round contests on March 21 and 23 at Rocket Arena. The teams playing in northeast Ohio are Marquette, New Mexico, Michigan State, Bryant, Saint Mary’s, Vanderbilt, Alabama, and Robert Morris.
The tournament concludes on April 7 with the national championship game in San Antonio, Texas. Connecticut will enter March Madness as the two-time defending champions.
