{"id":579770,"date":"2026-02-03T15:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/579770\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T15:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:29:18","slug":"ncaa-tournament-resume-study-which-wins-losses-could-influence-ohio-states-chance-to-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/579770\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Tournament resume study: Which wins, losses could influence Ohio State\u2019s chance to dance?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">For the third consecutive season, the Ohio State men\u2019s basketball team is inching closer to the NCAA Tournament time and finds itself firmly on the cut line. In college basketball, the gray area many middling teams exist in from February to early March is affectionately known as \u201cthe bubble.\u201d The NCAA Tournament bubble is purgatory for fans \u2013 one win or loss can flip your position from \u201cin\u201d to \u201cout\u201d or vice versa, and that can persist for the entire final five weeks of the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Even now, with at least 11 games remaining, Ohio State fans are feeling the heat \u2013 every loss, regardless of opponent, feels like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. A loss to a ranked team in February \u2013 even if it was a close loss \u2013 feels like the final straw to fans who are starving for the tiniest taste of the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">For Ohio State fans, it\u2019s been four years since the Buckeyes last reached the big dance. There\u2019s a possibility that the entire 2026 graduating class at Ohio State could graduate without ever getting to see their school\u2019s name on an NCAA Tournament bracket. Fortunately, there\u2019s still plenty of time for the Buckeyes to strengthen their position in the NCAA Tournament. Plus, other teams can help out, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Back in 2018, the NCAA debuted the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncaa.com\/rankings\/basketball-men\/d1\/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NET rankings<\/a>, which breaks each team\u2019s wins into \u201cquads.\u201d This system gives us a more tangible way to compare resumes, especially when deciding between several middle-of-the-pack teams for the final few at-large bids. Those wins and losses can move back and forth between Quads, too, based on how a team\u2019s opponents perform over the course of the rest of the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">For example, if Ohio State beats a team in December on the road, that win could be a \u201cQuad-1\u201d win at the time. But if that team goes on a 10-game losing streak, they\u2019re likely going to fall in the NET rankings, and that win will be devalued as the season goes on. Conversely, if Ohio State beats a team in December at home who is not playing well at the time, but goes on a 10-game winning streak later, that win could start as a \u201cQuad-2\u201d or \u201cQuad-3\u201d win. but later upgrade if that team is playing well. College basketball resumes are fluid, and at the end of the season, a bunch of people in suits behind closed doors will be comparing Ohio State\u2019s resume to several others, trying to figure out who deserves those final few spots in the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">So, for the convenience of all, I\u2019ve put together a quick outline of Ohio State\u2019s schedule this season, and broke it down into four categories:<\/p>\n<p>Wins that aren\u2019t going to reclassifyWins that could potentially reclassify (Keep an eye on these teams)Losses that aren\u2019t going to reclassifyLosses that could potentially reclassify (Keep an eye on these teams)<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The categories are subjective. If I don\u2019t think a team is going to change drastically, I\u2019m leaving it. Sure, Illinois could go on a six-game losing streak and cause Ohio State\u2019s home loss to the Illini to reclassify to Quad-2, but I\u2019m willing to bet that doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The NET rankings used were as of 8:30 P.M. ET, Monday, February 2, 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">If you want a refresher on the classification requirements in the quad system, you can check that out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.landgrantholyland.com\/2024\/1\/3\/24023019\/how-the-net-rankings-work-and-why-ohio-state-mens-basketball-is-lagging-behind-in-it-buckeyes-hoops\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Wins that aren\u2019t going to reclassify<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">These teams aren\u2019t going to move enough in February for these wins to change at all. Lock them in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">IU Indy (November 3) \u2013 QUAD 4<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Purdue Fort Wayne (November 7) \u2013 QUAD 4<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Appalachian State (November 11) \u2013 QUAD 4<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Western Michigan (November 20) \u2013 QUAD 4<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Mount St. Mary\u2019s (November 25) \u2013 QUAD 4<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Grambling State (December 23) \u2013 QUAD 4<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Rutgers (January 2) \u2013 QUAD 3<\/p>\n<p>Wins that could reclassify<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">These teams\u2019 NET rankings could rise or fall enough to change how the win is classified, which could help or hurt Ohio State\u2019s NCAA Tournament resume.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Notre Dame (November 16) \u2013 QUAD 3\u2026. but could become QUAD 2?<br \/>Notre Dame is currently 85 in the NET rankings. If the Fighting Irish climb to 75 or higher, this win will upgrade to a Quad-2 win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Northwestern (December 6) \u2013 QUAD 1\u2026. but could become QUAD 2?<br \/>Northwestern is currently 71 in the NET rankings. If the Wildcats fall to 76 or lower, this win will downgrade to a Quad-2 win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">West Virginia (December 13) \u2013 QUAD 2\u2026. but could become QUAD 1?<br \/>West Virginia is currently 66 in the NET rankings. If the Mountaineers climb to 50 or higher, this win will upgrade to a Quad-1 win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Oregon (January 8) \u2013 QUAD 2\u2026. but could become QUAD 3?<br \/>Oregon is currently 116 in the NET rankings. If the Ducks drop to 136 or lower, this win will downgrade to a Quad-3 win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">UCLA (January 17) \u2013 QUAD 2\u2026. but could become QUAD 1?<br \/>UCLA is currently 44 in the NET rankings. If the Bruins climb to 30 or higher, this will upgrade to a Quad-1 win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Minnesota (January 20) \u2013 QUAD 3\u2026. but could become QUAD 2?<br \/>Minnesota is currently 83 in the NET rankings. If the Gophers climb to 75 or higher, this win will upgrade to a Quad-2 win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Penn State (January 26) \u2013 QUAD 3\u2026. but could become QUAD 4?<br \/>Penn State is currently 130 in the NET rankings. If the Nittany Lions drop to 161 or lower, this win will downgrade to a Quad-4 win.<\/p>\n<p>Losses that aren\u2019t going to reclassify<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">These teams aren\u2019t going to move enough for these losses to change. They are will remain on Ohio State\u2019s resume.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Illinois (December 9) \u2014 QUAD 1<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">North Carolina (December 20) \u2014 QUAD 1 <\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Nebraska (January 5) \u2014 QUAD 1 <\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Michigan (January 23) \u2014 QUAD 1 <\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Wisconsin (January 31) \u2014 QUAD 1 <\/p>\n<p>Losses that could reclassify<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">These teams\u2019 NET rankings could fall enough to change how the loss is classified, which could hurt Ohio State\u2019s NCAA Tournament resume.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Pitt (November 28) \u2013 QUAD 2\u2026. but could become QUAD 3?<br \/>Pitt is currently 111 in the NET rankings. If the Panthers drop to 136 or lower, this loss will downgrade to a Quad-3 loss.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Washington (January 11) \u2014 QUAD 1\u2026. but could become QUAD 2?<br \/>Washington is currently 47 in the NET rankings. If the Huskies drop to 76 or lower, this loss will downgrade to a Quad-2 loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the third consecutive season, the Ohio State men\u2019s basketball team is inching closer to the NCAA Tournament&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,231,772,1544,27],"class_list":{"0":"post-579770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-basketball","12":"tag-ncaab","13":"tag-ohio-state-mens-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116007414262058862","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}