You’re Nuts: Where will Ohio State men’s basketball finish in the Big Ten?

College basketball is exactly 31 days — one month — away, with Ohio State scheduled to take on the mighty Jaguars of IU Indy on Nov. 3 in Columbus.

This is the second year of the 18-team Big Ten conference, which includes schools from the west coast, east coast, and everything in between. Winning a Big Ten title is now tougher than it’s ever been, and finishing in the middle of the conference now means finishing top 10 or so.

A decade ago, finishing in top “top 10” of the Big Ten didn’t mean jack squat.

Last week, Connor and Justin looked at what should be a pretty favorable opening stretch for Ohio State, and predicted how many consecutive wins the Buckeyes would start the season with. Unless you’re doomsday prepper keeping rations and gasoline in the basement, you’re probably pretty confident in the Buckeyes beating IU Indy, Purdue Fort Wayne, and App State at home to be 3-0, but how many more can they rip off after that?

Connor said that the Buckeyes will start the season 10-0, finally losing to North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 20. Justin said the Buckeyes will likely start 8-0, with their first loss coming at the hands of Illinois at home on Dec. 9.

Jake Diebler’s second season could be a make-or-break year for him. He probably doesn’t need to make it to the Final Four to keep his job, but it would be in his best interest to at least make the NCAA Tournament this season.

A top-four finish in the B1G would be appreciated by the fans, but finishing in the top half and playing in the postseason would probably check the box and earn him a “satisfactory” grade.

With that said, where do you think Ohio State will finish in the B1G this season? Last year Ohio State finished 10th and was the second-best team in the conference (by record) to not make the NCAA Tournament.

They will have to be better than that this season, or things might be changing come April.

Connor: 8th-place

I think Ohio State will finish around or slightly above .500 in the Big Ten, which will be enough to make the NCAA Tournament, but not nearly good enough to be a serious threat to win the conference.

There’s just too many dominant teams this season, and until I see Ohio State hang with the big dogs, it’s tough to give them the benefit of the doubt. Here’s how I think it will shake out:

1ST: Michigan 

2ND: Purdue

3RD: UCLA

4TH: Illinois

5TH: Oregon

6TH: Michigan State

7TH: Wisconsin

8TH: Ohio State

9TH: Nebraska 

10TH: Washington 

11TH: Maryland

12TH: Indiana 

13TH: Iowa

14TH: USC

15TH: Northwestern

16TH: Minnesota

17TH: Penn State

18TH: Rutgers

When the pre-season media polls come out, I don’t think Ohio State will be picked to finish this high, but the Buckeyes have one of the better starting fives in the league this year.

My concern is the depth — A’mare Bynum should be really good as a sixth man type off the bench, but after that I’m not sure if anyone else can be trusted to play major minutes if called upon.

In a perfect world, everyone stays healthy and out of foul trouble, and you don’t need to lean on your bench for very much. But what happens if Christoph Tilly gets hurt? What if John Mobley picks up two quick fouls? Can Ivan Njegovan step in and give you 25 effective minutes? Will teams respect Taison Chatman or Gabe Cupps defensively the way they do Mobley?

I don’t know the answers to these questions yet, and we may not know until January.

In my opinion, the top four teams in the Big Ten – Michigan, Purdue, UCLA, and Illinois — are in a bubble all on their own. Oregon, Michigan State, and Wisconsin would be my “Tier B” behind them. Ohio State, Nebraska, Maryland, and Washington — yes, Washington — would be my third tier of teams.

Finishing in eighth place in this conference should be enough for Ohio State to get into the NCAA Tournament. Should fans be satisfied with an eighth-place finish in the conference and slipping into the tournament with a low seed?

Maybe not, but one of these years, Ohio State has to plant its feet on the ground and stop sliding. For Diebler’s sake, he’d better hope that happens this year.

Justin: 6th-place

I realize I am higher on this team than a lot of people are, but I have been that way for the past three years, so I might as well go down with the ship.

I think Purdue is on a tier of their own at the top, with Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer returning to lead the Boilermakers. The also added 6-foot-11 center Oscar Cluff from South Dakota State who averaged 17.6 points per game and 12.3 rebounds per game. They are one of the top three teams in the country.

In the second tier, I would put UCLA and Michigan. They added the best transfers in the conference with Donovan Dent (UCLA) and Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan). However, Michigan does a have a tall task (literally) replacing Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin.

After that, I think it is pretty wide open.

Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State, Iowa, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Oregon are all in the third tier to me and all could be anywhere from fourth to eleventh in the conference.

The thing I think that will go a long way for the Buckeyes is the connectivity of the three best players returning and that can give them an edge over some of the teams relying on transfers to mesh early on.

Plus, trust in Bruce Thornton.