After a complete demolition of North Carolina on Wednesday night, the Ohio State men’s basketball team continues to rise in all sorts of rankings. Most notably–and useful because it updates daily–the Buckeyes are now up to the No. 3 team in the country in ESPN’s BPI analytics ratings.
Much like its football counterpart, FPI, BPI also underrated the Buckeyes at the start of the season. And, much like in FPI, Ohio State’s rise has been meteoric. Ohio State’s rise from the start of the season, where BPI placed it at No. 25, has been steady. The Buckeyes have moved up after each game, as they outperformed BPI’s expectations in each of them.
Ken Pomeroy’s major analytic KenPom ratings currently have the Buckeyes at No. 2, trailing only Louisville. It’s still early in the season, though, so metrics ratings don’t always have enough data to properly gauge how efficient a team was relative to its competition.
It’s still very early, but BPI really likes Ohio State’s long-term prospects, as well. It gives the Buckeyes a 22.5% chance of reaching the Final Four, and a 7.8% chance of winning the National Championship. Only Duke and Michigan State have better outlooks so far. It’s a long season, but the Buckeyes are certainly off to a very strong start.
Now 8-0, the Buckeyes will face BPI’s No. 17 team and KenPom’s No. 23 team, Penn State, on Saturday. Win that game in blowout fashion as well, and the metrics will start looking at Ohio State as the No. 1 team in the country.
