Will Ohio State Make March Madness 2025? Odds of Buckeyes’ Men’s Basketball Making The NCAA Tournament

The Ohio State men’s basketball program has a more difficult road than ever to reach the NCAA Tournament in an expanded 18-team Big Ten. Can the Buckeyes get back to the Big Dance in 2025?

OSU hoops followers and Ohio sports betting customers are on the edge regarding that question, as the Buckeyes are 14-10 overall, 6-7 in the league.

At BetOhio.com, we explore the possibilities and assign odds for whether Ohio State will make its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2022.

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Will Ohio State Make March Madness 2025?

 

Percentage Chance

Odds

Yes

85.2%

-575

No

14.8%

+575

These odds are offered solely at BetOhio.com, where we cover college sports and their pro counterparts as well as giving you the best Ohio sportsbook promo codes when you sign up with an operator.

The Buckeyes Season So Far

Ohio State, befitting a team on the March Madness bubble, has had an up-and-down season. Last week they played two games against Big Ten opposition and split them. Thursday's 73-70 victory at home over then 18th-ranked Maryland was followed by Sunday's 79-71 defeat at Nebraska.

The two best wins for the Buckeyes were an 85-65 rout of Kentucky on Dec. 21 at Madison Square Garden in New York and a 73-70 stunner at Purdue. The Boilermakers are ranked seventh in the current Associated Press poll and the Wildcats are No. 15. 

The bad news is, the Buckeyes are 0-5 against the other currently ranked opponents that they have played: Texas A&M, Maryland, Auburn, Michigan State and Wisconsin. According to stats.ncaa.org, Ohio State is 5-7 in Quad 1 games, including the two games last week. OSU’s current NET ranking is No. 28.

With seven conference losses, Ohio State is no longer on the board to win the Big Ten regular-season title at bet365 Ohio Sportsbook. Purdue is the favorite at +115 odds, followed by Michigan at +240 and Michigan State at +250.

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How OSU Stacks Up As Tournament Contender

The bracketmatrix.com website complies dozens of bracket projections from various sources and averages them to see where various teams stand in the big picture as far as qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.

As of Feb. 11, Ohio State is listed as a No. 10 seed, with wildly diverging projections. Among the 88 bracket projections currently aggregated at the website, the Buckeyes are as high as a No. 8 seed and as low as a No. 12 – then there are two projections that omit OSU entirely.

But our board gives OSU an 85.2% chance of making the field (-575 odds) against a 14.8% chance (+575) that the squad misses out. There is a long way to go before Selection Sunday and Coach Jake Diebler’s team has four current Quad 1 opponents ahead, including the lone meeting this season against archrival Michigan, on Sunday in Columbus (1 p.m. Eastern, CBS).

OSU’s odds of winning the national title are +15000 at BetMGM Ohio Sportsbook.

USA Today photo by Joseph Maiorana

Author

Jim Tomlin

Ohio native Jim Tomlin has 30 years of experience in journalism, mostly in sports. He lends his expertise to BetOhio.com as a writer and editor after previous experience at the Tampa Bay Times, FanRag, Saturday Down South and Saturday Tradition.

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