Ohio State Drops in Rankings for Second Straight Week

The Ohio State Buckeyes will try to turn things around come NCAA Tournament time.

After going undefeated the last two months, Ohio State has slid in the rankings yet again.

The Buckeyes made it up from No. 18 to No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings before dropping back-to-back games to Iowa and Maryland — the latter in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals — and placing at No. 7 in the Week 19 poll.

On their 15-game win streak from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28, the Buckeyes upset then-No. 2 Iowa and defeated then-No. 10 Indiana. 

Despite keeping several of their other games closer in the first half, they ended up beating teams with their third-quarter full-court press.

Head coach Kevin McGuff was named the conference's Coach of the Year but said Wednesday in media availability he wasn't concerned with the award but rather focused on a very good Maryland team.

Perhaps, then, it came as more of a shock the Buckeyes lost to the Lady Terps Friday by 21 points.

Once again, Ohio State remains just one of three Big Ten teams in the rankings, the first one after the conference tournament.

McGuff's squad was the only top-10 team to not make a league semifinal and joined UCLA as the only top-10 team to not make the final of the conference tournament.

Ohio State, however, has still likely locked up a top-2 seed and will be projected to host the first two rounds of the tournament. 

They will find out overall seedings and matchups on Selection Sunday, March 17.