One day after the men’s team ranked in at No. 23 to start the season, Ohio State women’s basketball found itself in a similar position, ranking at No. 20 in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll.
The Buckeyes finished last season with a 21-12 record, including an 11-7 record in the Big Ten. With five of the contributors on the team being true freshmen at the end of the season, Ohio State pulled together a string of three wins in the Big Ten tournament, making it all the way to the championship game before falling to top-seeded Maryland.
Despite more success than expected in 2019-20, Ohio State was never ranked within the top 25, but did end the season receiving 10 AP votes, good for No. 27 in the country.
The preseason ranking in the AP poll comes after coming in at No. 21 in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 on Sept. 28, which placed the Buckeyes there much in part to the return of all five starters from the season prior, including First-Team All-Big Ten forward Dorka Juhasz.
ESPN did a later ranking on Nov. 9 and took Ohio State out of the way-too-early top 25, replacing the Buckeyes with Texas.
Ohio State is one of five teams ranked in the AP top 25, along with Maryland at No. 12, Indiana at No. 16 Northwestern at No. 17, and Michigan at No. 25. Rutgers received one point in the rankings, placing No. 36.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
For four free issues of the print edition of Buckeye Sports Bulletin, no card required, sign up at the link here: http://www.buckeyesports.com/subscribe-4issue-trial/
