Ohio State Football Doubles Down On Bold Claim That It Could Beat Buckeyes Basketball After Blowout Loss

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Ohio State basketball is very, very bad this year. The Buckeyes are 11-14 during the 2022/23 season with losses in 11 of their last 12 games.

Chris Holtmann, currently in his sixth year as head coach in Columbus, has led his team to the NCAA Tournament in every year at the helm, but has not made it out of the second round. This year is different.

Barring an unbelievable, undefeated run through the rest of the regular season and Big Ten Tournament, Ohio State will not make March Madness. The Buckeyes are in second-to-last place in the conference standings and will probably not make the postseason in any capacity.

Holtmann is on the hot seat, at least to some extent.

If Holtmann is wanting to improve his roster, he may want to turn his focus from the hardwood to the gridiron. The football team is apparently better than the basketball team— or so it says.

Over the summer, at Big Ten Media Days, quarterback C.J. Stroud claimed that a group of Ohio State football players could beat the Ohio State basketball team in five-on-five. His teammates Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Dawand Jones and J.T. Tuimoloau stood by their quarterback and backed his declaration.

At the time, Buckeyes basketball was coming off of a 20-12 season and a Round of 32 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. It was bold for Stroud to say what he said and it sent shockwaves across Columbus.

Now, more than six months later, the claim isn't quite as crazy. Ohio State basketball is floundering, and after losing to Michigan State by 21, Jones doubled down.

The 6-foot-8 tackle, who is expected to hear his name called in the first round of the NFL Draft, said that the football team can still beat the basketball team at their own sport. Plain and simple.

Stroud endorsed Jones' tweet with a retweet of his own. Smith-Njigba joined in to say that he would be in the football team's starting five.

The discourse between Buckeyes football and Buckeyes basketball is sure to continue over the next few days, months and years. Even though Ohio State would never be able to recover if its basketball team did in fact lose, it is now officially a thing in Columbus and it's time to get the game set up.