Michael Cohen
Faculty Soccer and Faculty Basketball Author
For the second consecutive yr, Ohio State entered the postseason on the unsuitable aspect of the NCAA Match bubble. The 2022-23 squad knew it wanted to win the Massive Ten Match to obtain an computerized berth. And the 2023-24 group traveled to Minneapolis keenly conscious that it most likely wants to succeed in the semifinals if the choice committee goes to take the Buckeyes severely.
Final yr’s group gained three video games in three days earlier than the wheels got here off towards Purdue within the semis, ending the season at 16-19 general. This yr’s group stored its March Insanity dream alive by knocking off seventh-seeded Iowa, 90-78, to succeed in the quarterfinals, the place second-seeded Illinois is ready.
Interim coach Jake Diebler continues to defy expectations since taking up for Chris Holtmann final month, this time orchestrating a wire-to-wire win for a fifth victory in as many video games and a 6-1 mark general. Veteran ahead Jamison Battle scored all 23 of his factors within the second half to fend off an Iowa group that by no means obtained nearer than 9 factors over the ultimate 10 minutes. The Buckeyes shot 51.7% from the sector and buried 11 3-pointers in a continuation of the improved offensive efficiency Diebler has fueled. Â
Listed here are three takeaways from the sport:
Youth motion
Ohio State blazed via the primary half of Thursday’s second-round matchup with Iowa by taking pictures 17-for-28 from the sector (60.7%) and 8-for-11 from 3-point vary (72.7%) to take a 43-38 lead into the break. The Buckeyes by no means trailed from the opening tipoff to the halftime horn.
That the majority of their early scoring got here from underclassmen speaks to the potential former head coach Chris Holtmann, who was ultimately fired final month, noticed on his roster earlier than the season started. No one throughout the program anticipated the Buckeyes to wrestle as a lot as they did, in the end sinking to 5-15 in Massive Ten play earlier than the teaching change was made.
One of many gamers whose position has expanded since Holtmann departed is true freshman Scotty Middleton, a four-star recruit who was rated the No. 50 general prospect within the 247Sports Composite for the 2023 recruiting cycle. Middleton performed 10 mixed minutes within the three contests previous to Holtmann’s firing, however he is averaging 17 minutes per recreation ever since. And on Thursday night in Minneapolis, Middleton was red-hot.
Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Iowa Hawkeyes 2024 Massive Ten Match Highlights
Middleton led all Buckeye scorers with 11 first-half factors towards Iowa after taking pictures 4-for-4 from the sector, together with 3-for-3 from past the arc. He launched from 3-point vary with confidence to return inside two factors of his season-high 13 towards Oakland on Nov. 6 regardless of solely taking part in 9 minutes within the opening stanza.
The extra scoring punch got here from sophomores Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle Jr., who mixed for 14 factors on 5-for-7 taking pictures within the first half. Then Battle took over to seal a win within the second.
Determination to make
When Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith made the mid-season choice to fireside Holtmann, who’d gained 9 of his final 34 Massive Ten video games courting to final season, it appeared fairly far-fetched that Diebler would turn into a official candidate for the full-time job. The 37-year-old Diebler had been a member of the Buckeyes’ employees since 2019 and was elevated to affiliate head coach three years in the past, however standard knowledge urged his lack of head-coaching expertise would possibly rule him out at a faculty with the pedigree and monetary sources of Ohio State. Put merely, the Buckeyes have the means to pursue extra established — and costlier — choices than Diebler.
With one other noteworthy win on his résumé, it is honest to marvel if Diebler has accomplished sufficient to be taken extra severely when the teaching search begins in earnest. The Buckeyes entered the Massive Ten Match having gained 5 of six video games with Diebler on the helm, together with a monumental win over Purdue on Feb. 18. In addition they knocked off Michigan State, Nebraska, Michigan and Rutgers to shut the common season on a four-game successful streak that nudged Ohio State towards the NCAA Match bubble — an concept that felt unthinkable the day Holtmann, who on Thursday accepted the head-coaching job at DePaul, was relieved of his duties. Â
An attention-grabbing wrinkle in Ohio State’s eventual hiring course of is that Smith will not be making the choice given his impending retirement this summer time. As an alternative, the duty of choosing Holtmann’s everlasting successor belongs to incoming athletic director Ross Bjork, who’s at present in the identical position at Texas A&M. Bjork’s penchant for swinging massive on teaching hires within the marquee sports activities could possibly be at odds with Diebler’s candidacy.
No matter the way it unfolds, Diebler has definitely accomplished sufficient to be thought of for vacancies at each Ohio State and different applications across the nation.
Extra of the identical
Whereas it appears unlikely that Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery shall be on the new seat if the Hawkeyes fail to earn an at-large bid within the NCAA Match, conversations that start to evaluate the trajectory of this system are greater than honest amid what appears like a plateau.
From 2012 via 2022, McCaffery racked up eight 20-win seasons to determine the Hawkeyes as probably the most dependable applications within the Massive Ten. He reached the NCAA Match six of the seven occasions it was performed throughout that stretch, with the 2019-20 version canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Iowa gained the Massive Ten Match as not too long ago as two years in the past.
However even when the Hawkeyes have been at their finest, postseason success eluded McCaffery, who has by no means superior past the Spherical of 32 in 27 years of head-coaching expertise at Iowa, Siena, UNC Greensboro and Lehigh. His seven NCAA Match appearances with the Hawkeyes have ended with three first-round exits — one in every of which was the First 4 in Dayton — and 4 second-round departures. This yr’s group, which fell to 18-14 general, appears unlikely to interrupt that pattern even when Iowa sneaks into the sector.
A change in athletic director earlier this yr is without doubt one of the causes McCaffery’s standing is value inspecting. Longtime Iowa AD Gary Barta, who employed McCaffery forward of the 2010-11 marketing campaign, retired final August. He has since been changed by Beth Goetz, a relative newcomer to Iowa Metropolis after being employed because the Hawkeyes’ deputy athletic director in 2022.
Michael Cohen covers school soccer and basketball for FOX Sports activities with an emphasis on the Massive Ten. Observe him on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.
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