Eric Boggs
The Big Ten is getting ready for some changes as it grows from 14 schools to 18. This will affect all the sports played in the conference, including the men’s basketball team, which will enter the 2024/25 season with Jake Diebler at the helm. Diebler took over in February for the fired Chris Holtmann. Diebler went on to win eight of 11 games, earning him the full-time gig.
With Diebler on the sideline, hopefully Ohio State won’t have their traditional January/February slide, which became a famous signature of a Holtmann led Buckeye basketball team. The Big Ten decided to keep the current schedule of 20 conference games despite the four new additions, meaning Diebler will have to face the same gauntlet Holtmann did. The difference is that now each team will play three opponents twice, once at home and once away. The other 14 schools will be played only once, with seven games at home and seven away.
The Big Ten announced the schedule for all 18 schools. Teams from the Eastern and Central time zones will have a two-game trip to the West Coast to play either USC and UCLA in California or Oregon and Washington in the Pacific Northwest. Ohio State will visit USC and UCLA for their first trip out West, while Oregon and Washington will come to Columbus to play.
Ohio State’s home-and-away games for 2024-25 will be against Indiana, Maryland, and Nebraska. They will only play away games against Illinois, Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue, UCLA, USC, and Wisconsin. Their home games will only be against Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Oregon, Rutgers, and Washington. The dates, times, and TV channels for Ohio State’s Big Ten games will be announced later.
Ohio State will play an 11-game non-conference schedule. They’ll begin the season with a game against Texas in Las Vegas. They’ll also play a game at Texas A&M and might host a big non-conference opponent at home. The Big Ten tournament will be held from March 12-16, but the location hasn’t been announced yet. Only the top 14 teams in the standings will get to play in the tournament.
