Big Ten Basketball Conference Schedule: Where Ohio State Ranks In 2024-25

The 2023-24 NCAA basketball season only ended a few weeks ago, but people wagering at Ohio sportsbooks can already get futures odds on next season.

So BetOhio.com decided to grade the difficulty of each men’s basketball schedule next season in the Big Ten – with the league now expanding to 18 schools after adding Washington, Oregon, Sothern California and UCLA. Her are the results, followed by an explanation of our methodology:

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Hardest To Easiest Big Ten Basketball Conference Schedules

BetOhio.com, where you’ll find the best Ohio sportsbook promos, used a point system to rank Big Ten conference basketball schedules for the upcoming 2024-25 season, from easiest to hardest.

Points were given for the following:

• 1 point – home vs. ESPN Top 25
• 1 point – home vs. On3 Team Transfer Portal Rankings (Top 25)
• 1 point – home vs. 24/7 Team Recruiting Rankings (Top 25) 
• 2 point – away vs. ESPN Top 25
• 2 point – away vs. On3 Team Transfer Portal Rankings (Top 25)
• 2 point – away vs. 24/7 Team Recruiting Rankings (Top 25)
• 2 point – away vs. 75%+ Win Rate at Home Since 2021

For a glance at upcoming conference games, check out the Big Ten website list. At this point, only home and away opponents within the conference are listed; full schedules with non-conference opponents and final dates will be issued later.

BetOhio.com offers reviews of the best sports betting apps in Ohio as well as up-to-date sports coverage.

Analyzing 2024-25 Ohio State Basketball Schedule

Ohio State finished the 2023-24 season 22-14 overall, 9-11 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes made a run to the NIT quarterfinals, but the NIT isn’t where this program aims its postseason ambitions, as reflected in the fact that OSU fired coach Chris Holtmann in February. Jake Diebler took over on an interim basis and was named full-time coach in short order.

Still, this is a program long on tradition and has had some recent success – see our Ohio State team of the decade from 2014 to 2024 for some of the most recent standouts to come through Columbus.

The Buckeyes enter the 2024-25 season looking for their first NCAA Tournament bid since they lost to Villanova in the second round in 2022. Next season, the B1G slate includes a Final Four team (Purdue) and six other programs that made the 2024 NCAA Tournament, including league newcomer Oregon.

Of the 20 B1G games on Ohio State’s schedule, four are against former Pac-12 teams: Home against Oregon and Washington, on the road against UCLA and USC. The Buckeyes play home and away against 2024 NCAA Tournament team Nebraska, plus Indiana and Maryland. OSU travels to play the two best league teams last season, Purdue and Illinois, but does not host either. We rate OSU’s in-conference schedule as the second-most difficult with 43 points, behind only Penn State (44).

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Ohio State 2024-25 Basketball Odds

At Caesars Ohio Sportsbook, Ohio State has +6000 odds to win the 2025 national title, as of May 3. Purdue, Illinois and Michigan State all have the best odds among Big Ten teams at +4000, followed by PSU, Indiana and Rutgers at +6000.

Depending on which sportsbook you check, especially this early, you can get some very different prices on various teams. This is why we recommend shopping around for a line if you have multiple sports betting accounts and wish to place a futures wager. For instance, the Boilermakers have +3000 odds to win the 2025 national title, putting them in a tie for 11th nationally, for folks using the BetMGM bonus code Ohio. BetMGM has two-time defending national champion Connecticut as a co-favorite with +1000 odds, alongside Kansas. OSU’s odds are still +6000 there.

USA Today Network photo by Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch