Yes, Chris Holtmann saw your tweets. All of them, he said. It was a bad time for the #Buckeyes but now, as winners in 8 of their last 10, it’s a turnaround unlike anything the coach has seen. New story in today’s @DispatchAlerts. https://t.co/rbacekXpP3
— Adam Jardy (@AdamJardy) March 3, 2020
They’re gone because this team has turned it around, and done so in miraculous fashion. Carton is still doing what he needs to in order to be mentally healthy. Kyle Young is out again, this time recovering from a high ankle sprain that is only mildly getting better with time.
A guy that could have provided a little depth, Alonzo Gaffney, is now also out with an unknown ailment. There’s no telling when any of them will be back. And that’s before we even remind everyone that the team lost the services of Musa Jallow to injury before the seal was even broken on the season.
Yet somehow, someway, Ohio State continues to win. It continues to win with a very thin bench, some unproven players, and juggled pieces that have had to fit into places they weren’t supposed to go. The team has now won nine of its last eleven games in the toughest conference in America.
During that stretch, the Buckeyes have won three games on the road in a conference that surrenders them about as often as Jim Harbaugh gets a bowl win up at Michigan. Okay, maybe it happens a little more than that, but you get the idea.
Ohio State has also beaten four ranked teams (Michigan twice), including a victory over No. 7 Maryland just a couple of weeks ago. It also just spoiled Illinois’ chances of a league title with a dominating second half and subsequent 71-63 win.
It’s been the turnaround of all turnarounds in Columbus, and it’s hard to figure out how it’s all happened. The team is turning the ball over less, is shooting much better, and all the pieces seemed to have settled into their roles. The reality is that this team has banked the odds with what it has done over the last five weeks or so.
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