According to the widely-respected Ken Pomery ratings, the Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball team is the top team in the country. The Buckeyes were No. 2 behind Louisville after thumping North Carolina last week. Now, though, after another decisive victory over a solid team (KenPom has the Nittany Lions at No. 26 currently), the Buckeyes are the top team in the country.
Pomeroy has the Buckeyes as the fifth-best offense in the country (opponent-adjusted efficiency) and the second-best defense. The Buckeyes are the only team in the Top 5 in both metrics, and trail only overall No. 10 Virginia in defensive efficiency. (It should not surprise anyone that Virginia is the best defense in the country, and by a decent margin.) It’s might be a mild surprise to Ohio State fans, but KenPom does think that the Buckeyes play one of the slowest paces in the country–as his ratings have Ohio State outside the Top 300 in opponent-adjusted Tempo.
The Buckeyes still trail Duke in ESPN’s BPI ratings, though that should change shortly as well. Ohio State was No. 6 in the human rankings coming into this week, but it will be shocking if the Buckeyes are anything less than No. 2 (potentially behind Louisville) when the new polls come out in a few days.
Ohio State’s next major test is against KenPom No. 7 Kentucky in Las Vegas on Saturday, December 21st.