Through Oct. 31, Sports Illustrated will count down its preseason college basketball Top 25 with overviews of each team. Here are the full rankings so far.
The first full season of the Jake Diebler era in Columbus, Ohio, was a bit of a roller-coaster ride. The highs, like blowing out Kentucky at Madison Square Garden and winning at Mackey Arena against Purdue, were high. The lows (losses in five of seven to close the season and a few ugly home defeats) were just too low to get the Buckeyes into the NCAA tournament. That sets the stage for a critical second season for Diebler, who was a surprising internal hire after energizing the Buckeyes as an interim coach following Chris Holtmann’s midseason dismissal. It’d be premature to put him on the hot seat, but similarly to Rodney Terry’s hiring (and firing) at Texas, it’s hard to feel like Diebler has the benefit of the doubt of a splashier external hire should Ohio State underachieve again this season.
