Buckeyes Now

Ohio State Projected as No. 2 Seed, Regardless of Sunday's Big Ten Championship Result

ESPN Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi says the Buckeyes can't play their way on to the No. 1 line with a win over Illinois Sunday.
Brendan Gulick|
Ohio State Projected as No. 2 Seed, Regardless of Sunday's Big Ten Championship Result
Ohio State Projected as No. 2 Seed, Regardless of Sunday's Big Ten Championship Result

Ohio State and Illinois meet for the Big Ten Championship on Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis. Neither team has won the league title recently and both are NCAA Tournament locks, so all eyes are on today's game.

But ESPN's Joe Lunardi says that no matter what happens Sunday, Ohio State can't play it's way on to the No. 1 line when the national selection committee reveals the bracket at 6 p.m. eastern.

"Illinois and Michigan have traded places on the top line," Lunardi said, "locking in the No. 1 seeds in order regardless of any additional Sunday results."

Lunardi has the Buckeyes currently listed as the No. 7 team in his Bracketology, which puts them in Baylor's region. Gonzaga, Baylor, Illinois and Michigan are projected to be the No. 1 seeds in this year's national tournament.

If that's true and the Buckeyes can't earn a No. 1 seed by beating Illinois today, that's certainly disappointing for the Scarlet and Gray. But it also speaks to the fact that the regular season resume matters far more than the conference tournament results. And while Ohio State has a fabulous resume from the 2020-2021 season, Illinois' is viewed as slightly better.

That's also not to say Ohio State is definitely going to be in Baylor's region either - perhaps that gets altered a bit and Ohio State plays in a different group. But it seems extremely unlikely that a loss today to Illinois would somehow knock the Scarlet and Gray down to a No. 3 seed.

Nevertheless, OSU will try to clinch the automatic bid for winning the Big Ten Tournament. The Buckeyes haven't won the conference title since 2013, while the Illini haven't earned the crown since 2005. Here's a full preview for today's game and here's how you can watch.

-----

You may also like:

Kyle Young Unlikely to Play in Big Ten Title Game on Sunday

INSTANT ANALYSIS: Ohio State Heading to the Big Ten Title Game

Ohio State Slips Past Michigan, Will Play for Big Ten Championship on Sunday

WATCH: Chris Holtmann Reacts to Ohio State's Win Over Michigan

Buckeyes Historically Own Michigan in Big Ten Tournament

Game Preview: Ohio State vs. Michigan, Big Ten Semifinals

-----

Be sure to stay locked into BuckeyesNow all the time!

Join the BuckeyesNow community!
Subscribe to the BuckeyesNow YouTube channel
Follow Brendan on Twitter: @brendangulick22
Follow BuckeyesNow on Twitter: @BuckeyesNowSI
Like and follow BuckeyesNow on Facebook

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Brendan Gulick
BRENDAN GULICK

Brendan Gulick is the publisher for BuckeyesNow, Cleveland Baseball Insider and Cavs Insider on the FanNation Network. He is also an accomplished host and play-by-play voice on TV and radio, including on Big Ten Network and NCAA.com where he's called 45 NCAA national championships. Gulick is an update anchor and fill-in host at 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, Ohio.

Share on XFollow brendangulick22
Home/Basketball