Ohio State came up short in its bid to make a deep-enough run in the Big Ten Tournament to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but that shouldn’t overshadow what Jake Diebler accomplished in his month as interim coach.
The NCAA Tournament wasn’t a thought on anyone’s mind outside the program when Diebler took over for Chris Holtmann on Feb. 14, but Diebler led the Buckeyes back into the conversation as they won five of their final six games of the regular season as well as a Big Ten Tournament game against Iowa before dropping a 77-74 heartbreaker against Illinois on Friday.