"Battle for Ohio" Needs to Become a Reality for Ohio State Basketball

The Battle for Ohio needs to become a constant member of the NCAA basketball season. 

It will never happen because Ohio State likely knows that on the hardwood, it would be tough for them to consistently compete with the other Ohio Schools, but from a fan perspective, it would be incredible. 

Each and every year, the first basketball weekend outside of football season should be a three-day tournament that consists of a four-team bracket between Ohio State, Dayton, Cincinnati, and Xavier. 

These are the four biggest schools in Ohio and the four that would likely equally compete with each other equally year in and year out. Not only that, it would get the fan bases for each school bought in almost immediately.

That latter part is mostly just for Ohio State fans who are always so bought into football season and then parachute into basketball season midway through it. While it is probably annoying to players and coaches, it's just the reality of the fanbase. 

If this bracket were the first thing on the docket the moment that football season shut down, the buy-in would be amazing. 

The first round could be played at one campus, round two could be played at another and then round three at a third. 

Or, every year, the host team rotates, and each fanbase gets to experience the Battle for Ohio firsthand.

For Ohio State, something like this would not only spark immediate interest in their team but would also add three very competitive and meaningful games to their schedule.

As if the Big Ten wasn't competitive enough, these matchups would be awesome. Each team from Ohio has aspirations of making it into the tournament by either winning their respective conference or being an at-large selection.

These would not only be incredibly fun, but incredibly competitive basketball games.

Could it happen? Absolutely. 

Will it happen? Probably not.

A risk like this is almost too much to take on for the Buckeyes. From a basketball perspective, the Buckeyes don't hold the pedigree that those three other programs do. It fluctuates yearly, but it is always a conversation.

If Ohio State were to go and lose those games, it would be a terrible look for them and hard to recover from. If they win those games, they don't get too much positive out of it. 

It's a pipe dream for now, but if the opportunity presented itself, I would be front row for the battle of Ohio.

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