Ohio State found itself on the outside-looking-in in the 2024-24 AP men’s basketball preseason poll released on Monday, but they were close to making the cut.
The Buckeyes and first-year head coach Jake Diebler received 29 top-25 votes, the eighth-most out of any team outside of the rankings who received votes, to put them in a tie with Michigan State for 32nd in the country by voters to open the season. Only Illinois (92), St. John’s (91), Xavier (73), Texas Tech (58) Wake Forest (37) and Kansas State (30) received more.
The Spartans and Buckeyes nearly joined a group of four Big Ten teams who are ranked within the top 25 of the AP Poll to open the year. Leading that quartet is No. 14 Purdue, who dropped 12 spots from their No. 2 finish last year after making it all the way to the National Championship Game against UConn — who is No. 3 in the preseason poll — while Indiana returns to the top 25 at No. 17, Big Ten newcomer UCLA opens at No. 22 and Rutgers, led by 2024 five-stars Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper sits at No. 25, just the third time they are ranked to open the season in program history.
The new-look SEC dominates the preseason poll with nine ranked teams, the most by any conference, including No. 2 Alabama, No. 11 Auburn, No. 12 Tennessee, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 16 Arkansas, No. 19 Texas, No. 21 Florida, No. 23 Kentucky and No. 24 Ole Miss.
That proves to be a good opportunity for Ohio State to tack on some resume-boosting wins this season, as the Buckeyes play four of those ranked SEC teams, including Texas to open the season on Nov. 4 in Las Vegas, Texas A&M on Nov. 15 on the road, Auburn on Dec. 14 in Atlanta and finally Kentucky on Dec. 21 at Madison Square Garden as part of the CBS Sports Classic.
The Big 12, however, dominates the top 10 with five teams, with No. 1 Kansas leading the polls, followed by No. 4 Houston, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 8 Baylor and No. 10 Arizona. Also filling out the top 10 is defending-champion UConn at No. 3, Gonzaga at No. 6, Duke at No. 7 and North Carolina at No. 9.
Ohio State’s tied for No. 32 ranking is an encouraging sign for a 2024-25 Buckeyes team that features eight new players, including likely starters and transfers Aaron Bradshaw (Kentucky) and Sean Stewart (Duke), Micah Parrish (San Diego State) and Meechie Johnson (South Carolina) potential impact true freshmen Juni Mobley, Ivan Njegovan and Colin White
The Buckeyes do return a great amount of talent, however, led by preseason All-Big Ten guard Bruce Thornton and returning forward Devin Royal, among others.
