Back in the Dance
Ohio State men’s basketball makes its first NCAA Tournament in four years as a No. 8 seed and will play TCU in Round 1.
Ohio State women’s basketball is a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Buckeyes, who will host first- and second-round games at the Schottenstein Center for the fourth straight year, will play No. 14 seed Howard in the first round on Saturday. If they win their first-round game, they’ll face No. 6 Notre Dame or No. 11 Fairfield in the second round.
UConn is the No. 1 seed in Ohio State’s bracket, followed by Vanderbilt as the No. 2 seed. Ohio State is in the Fort Worth 1 region, so its Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games will be in Fort Worth, Texas, if the Buckeyes advance that far.
Region 1 in Fort Worth.#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/Clft4IozwA
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 16, 2026
Ohio State is a No. 3 seed for the first time since 2023, when the Buckeyes made a run to the Elite Eight. That’s also the last time Ohio State made it to the second weekend of the tournament, as the Buckeyes lost in the second round on their home floor despite being a No. 2 seed in 2024 and a No. 4 seed last year.
The Buckeyes enter the NCAA Tournament with a 25-7 overall record for the season. Led by unanimous first-team All-Big Ten point guard Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State is one of the nation‘s top offensive teams, averaging 81.7 points per game (13th in Division I), but must now prove it can string together wins against some of the top teams in the country to make an NCAA Tournament run.
