After a loss to Indiana, the Buckeyes fall to the final No. 4 seed, coming close to losing out on hosting in March
On Feb. 15, the NCAA tournament committee revealed their top-16 seeds for the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Ohio State women’s basketball came in at No. 14 in the initial rankings. On Thursday, the committee announced the final top-16 rankings until the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on March 16 and after an up and down 12 days, the Buckeyes fell two spots to No. 16.
That means the margin for error for the Scarlet and Gray is thin if they hope to host the first and second rounds of March Madness, beginning March 19 with the First Four.
A day after the initial reveal, the Buckeyes faced the Iowa Hawkeyes in Columbus and gave up a double-digit lead in the final 1:38 of the game, sending it to overtime. Ohio State responded to pull away from Iowa, but questions surrounded the team’s ability to compete for 40 minutes.
Then, on Thursday, the Buckeyes headed to Bloomington, Indiana to face the Hoosiers in a quad one game. This season, the women’s tournament mirrors the men’s in how seeding is decided. Combining NET rankings with the quad system, quad one games are the most difficult, when a team either faces a top-25 NET team at home, a top-35 NET team at a neutral site or a top-40 NET team away from home.
The Buckeyes stumbled against the Hoosiers, and found themselves down 18 points at the start of the fourth quarter. Ohio State battled back but still lost 71-61, the likely reason for dropping two spots.
However, the Scarlet and Gray responded on Sunday and Wednesday. While facing the Purdue Boilermakers, 16th in the Big Ten standings, resulted in a 52-point rout, it didn’t do much for the tournament resume considering the Purdue currently sits with a 9-18 record.
On Wednesday, the Buckeyes helped their cause against the No. 23 ranked Michigan Spartans. More importantly than Sparty’s AP ranking was their No. 21 spot in the NET, turning the game into a quad one contest.
Ohio State responded, playing their most complete game of the conference season, against a tough opponent that never quits in the Green and White. The Buckeyes won 89-78 behind a career high 33 points from freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge.
Now, the Buckeyes have one more regular season game to help reinforce earning a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament when they head to College Park, Maryland to face the Terrapins. At publishing, the Terps sit at No. 27 in the NET rankings and they play tonight against the Indiana Hoosiers, in Bloomington.
Then, on Friday, March 6, Ohio State begins their Big Ten Tournament run. While the Big Ten won’t officially announce seeds until after all games finish on Sunday afternoon, the Buckeyes are slated to be the No. 3 seed. Maryland can’t surpass them in the standing, even if they beat the Buckeyes, and Ohio State holds the second tiebreaker, after head-to-head record, of beating a higher ranked team in the standings than Maryland. That came when Ohio State defeated the Illinois Fighting Illini to start the Big Ten season on Dec. 8.
The Buckeyes hosted the last two NCAA Tournaments at home, making it to the Elite Eight in 2023 and getting upset in the Second Round last year against the Duke Blue Devils. The only other Big Ten teams in the top-16 are the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins, who sit in No. 1 and No. 3, respectively. Click here for the full list.