Ohio State has dropped in Joe Lunardi’s latest NCAA men’s basketball tournament projection, but the Buckeyes are still safely included in the projected field.
Roughly one month ago, Ohio State was listed as a No. 4 seed in Lunardi’s projection at ESPN. Now in a June 24 update, the Buckeyes are projected as a No. 6 seed playing in the West region.
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In that update, the Buckeyes would face No. 11 seed VCU for the right to play the winner of a game between No. 3 seed Arizona and No. 14 seed Troy. Those games would all be played in San Diego.
Lunardi projects 11 Big Ten teams to make the NCAA Tournament, second only to the SEC with 14 teams. In addition to Ohio State, Lunardi has Purdue (No. 1 seed), Michigan (2), Michigan State (4), Illinois (4), UCLA (4), Wisconsin (6), Oregon (7), USC (7), Maryland (10) and Iowa (10) in his his bracket. The Hawkeyes are listed as one of the last four teams included and would play in a First Four game in Dayton.
Four more Big Ten teams are on the cusp. Indiana and Washington are the Nos. 2 and 3 teams among the first four out, while Nebraska is first and Northwestern fourth among the next four out.
Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Jake Diebler talks to his team during offseason practice at the Schottenstein Center on June 18, 2025.
Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork said expectations are that the Buckeyes are annually in the top quadrant of the Big Ten and making deep NCAA Tournament runs. Ohio State has missed the past three tournaments, spending much of the 2024-25 season on the bubble only to miss out after losing to Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.
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Under second-year coach Jake Diebler, the Buckeyes are vying a return to March Madness by building around a core group of returners including Bruce Thornton, Devin Royal and John Mobley Jr. On June 23, Thornton detailed his decision to return to the Buckeyes, citing loyalty to the program and downplaying NCAA Tournament expectations.
Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: ESPN’s NCAA Tournament projection has Ohio State safely in the field
