BITTER END
Another shot at Sweet 16 falls short as Villanova tops OSU
PITTSBURGH — The vocal gathering of Ohio State fans inside PPG Paints Arena watching their team play Villanova grew quiet after Sunday’s 71-61 loss to the Wildcats. But much of Buckeye Nation just got louder.
The uproar is because the Buckeyes got bounced from the NCAA Tournament before reaching the Sweet 16. Again.
Ohio State knows how to crack the NCAA Tournament but can’t make an omelet once it gets there. The four consecutive trips to March Madness — five if you credit OSU for making the 2020 tournament that was canceled by COVID-19 — deserve a pat on the back. Only 11 other teams have similarly made the past four.
That’s good.
But 11 of those 12 teams advanced past the second round at least once over that stretch. The lone exception? Ohio State.
Not so good.
Keep going? Seven of those 11 schools reached the Final Four at least once over the past three tournaments. Most of them are “basketball schools,” including Villanova, Gonzaga and Kansas. Some are at least as strong at basketball as football, including Michigan State and Houston.
And then there is Michigan, which just reached its fifth consecutive Sweet 16 and would have played No. 7 Ohio State Thursday in San Antonio if the Buckeyes had upset No. 2 Villanova.
Woulda, coulda … but shoulda? That is the million-dollar question. Or multimillion, if you’re one to equate coaching salaries with NCAA success.
Should Ohio State be advancing deeper into March Madness? Absolutely. Do the Buckeyes belong in the same category as Kansas, Duke and Arizona? Absolutely not. I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I’ve written that football factories such as Ohio State — toss Alabama, Clemson and Georgia in there if you want — do not produce Grade-a basketball products. At least not consistently. They just don’t.
And yet … Ohio State can be better. Holtmann’s three immediate predecessors — Thad Matta, Jim O’brien and Randy Ayers — each had at least one Sweet 16 appearance by this point in their tenures. All three also had at least one Big Ten title. Holtmann has neither.
Does that mean his job is in jeopardy? Not even close. It’s actually more likely he receives a contract extension from OSU athletic director Gene Smith than a job security warning. Why? Because those four/five consecutive NCAA berths show Holtmann knows how to make the dance with a variety of different roster configurations. Plus, it’s not like tournament disappointment is tied all to him. The inability to advance out of the second round goes back to 2013, four seasons before Holtmann arrived.
And yet … fans don’t want their team stuck in neutral. They either want an all-time winner, so they can count on consistent trips to the Elite Eight and Final Four, or they want a total loser who swings and misses so often they feel no guilt in calling for his head.
Holtmann is much closer to John Wooden (UCLA) than John Candy (Cool Runnings), but boy oh boy could he use guards who penetrate and score. A topnotch point guard also would help.
Villanova has those guards. The Buckeyes need them. The Wildcats (28-7) made hay Sunday with a backcourt that backed down Ohio State’s smaller and less physical guards into the paint. It seemed every time the
Buckeyes cut the deficit to single digits in the second half the Wildcats answered with a scoring drive by 6-foot-3 guard Collin Gillespie or 3-pointer by 6-4 guard Justin Moore.
Simply put, teams need strong guard play to advance deeper into March.
“The ball is in their hands so much, and it dictates so much of the game in general,” Holtmann said last week, explaining why guards become especially important during the NCAA tournament. “It’s hard to start offense with a big guy.”
Ohio State was hurt all season by the absence of 6-7 guard Justice Sueing, who missed every game with an abdominal injury. He would have been a consistent scoring threat. Instead, opponents chose to back off certain players so they could double up on E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham.
Help may be arriving next season when the No. 5-ranked recruiting class, including 6-4 shooting guard Roddy Gayle Jr. (ranked No. 4 nationally at his position), 6-1 point guard Bruce Thornton (No. 8), 6-11 center Felix Okpara (No. 11) and 6-6 forward Brice Sensabaugh (No. 16).
Of course, that only raises expectations and puts more pressure on Holtmann. But pressure comes with the job. Especially in March. roller@dispatch.com @rollercd