The Ohio State basketball team is ready to tip the season off next Wednesday against Cincinnati. It’s most likely the most talented roster Chris Holtmann has had, but the expectations are being tempered a bit because of the tough-as-nails non-conference schedule and youth that will need to mix in with the veterans.
Here at Buckeyes Wire, we’re looking to take it a step further and predict every game on the schedule for 2019-2020. Will Ohio State get to the magical 20-win plateau? Will it make it be able to win enough of the big-time challenges in the non-conference to put together a resume that’ll result in a decent seed in the NCAA Tournament?
Let’s see where this goes.
Next … The predictions on all the games
Ohio State basketball 2019-2020 game-by-game predictions
11/16 – Cincinnati – Win (1-0)
11/10 – UML – Win (2-0)
11/13 – Villanova – Loss (2-1)
11/18 – Stetson – Win (3-1)
11/22 – PFW – Win (4-1)
11/25 – Kent State – Win (5-1)
11/29 – Morgan State – Win (6-1)
12/4 – At North Carolina – Loss (6-2)
12/7 – Penn State – Win (7-2) (1-0)
12/15 – At Minnesota – Win (8-2) (2-0)
12/17 – SEMO – Win (9-2)
12/21 – Kentucky – Loss (9-3)
12/29 – West Virginia – Win (10-3)
1/3 – Wisconsin – Win (11-3) (3-0)
1/7 – At Maryland – Loss (11-4) (3-1)
1/11 – At Indiana – Win (12-4) (4-1)
1/14 – Nebraska – Win (13-4) (5-1)
1/18 – At Penn State – Win (14-4) (6-1)
1/23 – Minnesota – Win (15-4) (7-1)
1/26 – At Northwestern – Win (16-4) (8-1)
2/1 – Indiana – Win (17-4) (9-1)
2/4 – At Michigan – Loss (17-5) (9-2)
2/9 – At Wisconsin – Loss (17-6) (9-3)
2/12 – Rutgers – Win (18-6) (10-3)
2/15 – Purdue – Win (19-6) (11-3)
2/20 – At Iowa – Loss (19-7) (11-4)
2/23 – Maryland – Win (20-7) (12-4)
2/27 – At Nebraska – Win (21-7) (13-4)
3/1 – Michigan – Win (22-7) (14-4)
3/5 – Illinois – Win (23-7) (15-4)
3/8 – At Michigan State – Loss (23-8) (15-5)
When I first went through this exercise, I was a bit more bullish on the Big Ten schedule, but it didn’t feel right, and I think it’ll be a larger effort to get some wins on the road against some of the middle to top of the Big Ten.
So … I adjusted a bit — especially knowing how hard it is to win on the road in the conference. Based on the record though, you’d expect a 15-5 record in the Big Ten to be somewhere around third place with a seed in the NCAA Tournament as a three to five seed.
Do you agree? Am I being to optimistic or too conservative. I really think this team has the possibility of springing an upset or two not identified here, but time will tell.
