Ohio State preaches embracing NIT opportunity as Georgia arrives for quarterfinal round
There could be a trophy waiting at the end of this. It’s not the trophy Ohio State opened the season hoping to play for, and it’s one the Buckeyes don’t seem to have kept the last time they won it, but it’s a trophy nonetheless.
It’s that sort of approach that is fueling Ohio State as it enters Tuesday night’s NIT quarterfinal game against Georgia. Two weeks ago, the Buckeyes held onto hope against hope that their late-season surge under interim coach Jake Diebler would be enough to get them into the NCAA Tournament, only to wind up accepting a bid to play in the NIT instead.
There are benefits for a program to make a deep postseason run, even in a secondary tournament. After winning the NIT in 2008, Ohio State returned to the NCAA Tournament the following year and stayed there for the next seven seasons, reaching a Final Four, an Elite Eight and two Sweet 16s.
That’s just not what the Buckeyes are thinking about right now.
“It’s really good opportunity for us,” sophomore center Felix Okpara said after Saturday’s 81-73 win against Virginia Tech. “We’ve got older guys on the team and each game we play right now might be the last time I play with them. We’re just trying to keep the family going for as long as we can.”
That focus on the present has been a rallying cry for the Buckeyes as Diebler has been elevated from interim to head coach. His battlefield promotion was officially announced on Selection Sunday approximately eight hours before Ohio State was announced as a No. 2 seed in the NIT. Since then, the Buckeyes have taken down Cornell 88-83 and then Virginia Tech to set up Tuesday night’s game with the Bulldogs.
Monday morning, Diebler stood inside the practice gym at Value City Arena and credited the buy-in of his players for the fact that the Buckeyes are still playing games.
“It says a lot,” he said. “I think the way we finished this season, the way we finished in the postseason says a ton about who they are as people. It says a lot about the chemistry within this team and program and it speaks to their pride for what’s on the chest of their jersey but also playing for guys who this is the end of their college basketball career and playing for each other.”
Two scholarship players are in their final seasons of college basketball. Whenever the final whistle is blown on the 2023-24 season, fifth-year players Jamison Battle and Dale Bonner will have exhausted their collegiate eligibility. Both players have embraced the chance to continue their season, Diebler said, and Battle has repeatedly said that this is the most enjoyable team he’s been a part of.
“We’re looking at it like there’s opportunities out there,” Battle said. “Each one is an opportunity for us to have another go-round with these guys. That’s the beauty of college basketball and also the harsh reality of it, that no team is ever going to be the same. That’s what a lot of people take for granted and I don’t.”
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Georgia presents a balanced scoring attack and a coach who knows how to beat the Buckeyes. While at Florida, Mike White ended Ohio State’s 2015-16 with a second-round NIT win at Value City Arena and handed the Buckeyes a 71-68 loss in the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Nov. 24, 2021. The game will be personal for Ohio State sophomore guard Bruce Thornton whose parents both played collegiately for the Bulldogs: his mother, Tiaunna Briggans, played women’s basketball at Georgia and his father, Bruce Sr., played football.
The winner advances to the semifinal round of the tournament, which will be played April 2 at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse.
“We’ve talked about it: come Tuesday night, there are not going to be very many teams playing college basketball,” Diebler said. “We’ll be one of them. Our guys have earned that.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: As Georgia arrives, Ohio State preaches appreciating NIT opportunity
