The Ohio State basketball team has enough talent to race deep into March. They are good enough to beat some strong teams in the NCAA tournament. They have E.J. I have two stud players. Liddell and Malachi Branham. However, there is a key to scoring a deep run for this team.
That key is rebounding. Rebounding has been an issue in some of Ohio State's losses. When they lost to Iowa, it was the rebounding that killed them. Specifically, allowing a high volume of aggressive rebounds. Buckeyes should avoid doing this in March.
Right now, the Buckeyes are ranked 201st in the country with 39.4 rebounds per game. This is enough for only 10th place in the Big Ten. That rate has to increase if the Buckeyes want to do well in the NCAA tournament against some of the best teams in the country.
Ohio State has had a few moments of good rebounding. The Minnesota game comes to mind. In that match, he dominated the board from start to finish. The Ohio State basketball team is not a particularly tall team, so they must be good at boxing out opponents.
That's what he did well against Illinois. The rest they have to do in the regular season. Good rebounding now will be good practice for what he will have to do in the tournament. Ohio State is good enough offensively and defensively to remain in most games.