Projecting the NCAA Tournament field for college basketball has become a year-round event. Especially if you are a guy that goes by the name Joe Lunardi.
ESPN’s resident expert bracketologist is obviously a busy man right around February and March, but truth be known, he’s always working on things and revising what teams might be a part of all the dancing. So much so that he’s already published his first NCAA Tournament projections for this coming basketball season.
And of course, you are here because you want to know where Lunardi has Ohio State well before any pumpkins get tipped into the air.
But before we go there, what we saw last season with Chris Holtmann’s crew isn’t going to resemble anything our eyes see this coming season. There have been a boatload of defections with the transfer of guards Luther Muhammad and D.J. Carton, and with the loss of forward Alonzo Gaffney to whatever he decides to go for his next stop.
Add that with the reality that OSU is getting two transfers as well with Seth Towns and Jimmy Sotos, and many will have to get acclimated with the DNA of this team again.
But obviously, Lunardi has high regard for what those pieces will ultimately become. That’s because he has Ohio State making the tournament as a No. 5 seed in the East playing No. 12 seed Vermont. That would project similar to the season the Buckeyes just finished up.
But who are the No. 1 seeds according to Lunardi? He has Gonzaga in the West, Villanova in the East, Kentucky in the South, and Creighton in the Midwest. The Big Ten leads all conferences with ten projected bids, with the Pac-12 and Big 12 with seven each.
It goes without saying that this is just a rough sketch and that things will change greatly, especially when the season kicks off this winter (hopefully).