After a successful trip to the Hawaiian islands to take part in the Maui Invitational, the Ohio State basketball team has broken into both the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll as well as the AP Top 25.
The Buckeyes have an overall record of 5-1, and that includes a 2-1 trip in Maui that resulted in the Buckeyes manhandling Cincinnati and then upsetting a ranked Texas Tech team. The lone loss came to another ranked San Diego State team in the first game of the tournament.
Still, it was a good trip all things considered and it sure looked like Ohio State was starting to figure out a bit of an identity and start to understand some roles, rotations, and effort.
And for a parting gift from the island, Ohio State is now ranked No. 25 in both major polls. It might barely be ranked, but that’s better than the Buckeyes started out the season. Even more interesting is that some of the analytics and metrics like what the team is doing as evidenced by what the ESPN BPI has for OSU’s final record in its game-by-game matchup predictions.
A slew of holiday tournaments throughout the men’s college basketball landscape produced wholesale changes in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, including a new No. 1.
Welcome to the top spot @UHCougarMBK @UHCougars https://t.co/PNiwovU4lS pic.twitter.com/PFQIpjdByI
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) November 28, 2022
The top ten of the USA TODAY Coaches Poll has Houston at No. 1, followed by Texas (2), Virginia (3), Arizona (4), Purdue (5), Connecticut (6), Creighton (7), Indiana (8), Kansas (9), and Baylor (10).
The top ten of the AP Poll looks similar with Houston again at No. 1, followed by Texas (2), Virginia (3), Arizona (4), Purdue (5), Baylor (6), Creighton (7), Connecticut (8), Kansas (9), and Indiana (10).
Ohio State will have a huge challenge up next when it travels to Cameron Indoor to take on the Duke Blue Devils in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday.
