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Ohio State basketball to face premier SEC program in Emerald Coast Classic
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Ohio State basketball is heading to Florida for the 2023 Emerald Coast Classic early in the coming basketball season. On Tuesday, the bracket for the tournament was released with the Buckeyes drawing a prominent SEC program.
Per the Emerald Coast Classic’s press release, Ohio State will face Alabama in one semifinal while Oregon and Santa Clara will face off in the other semifinal. The Buckeyes are set for a 7 pm ET on Friday, Nov. 24.
The championship game will be played Saturday, Nov. 25 at 7 pm ET. Losers of the semifinal matchups will play in a third-place game at 4 pm ET on Nov. 25.
This should be a great early-season test for Chris Holtmann’s Buckeyes, even with some key departures to the NBA from Nate Oats’ Alabama squad. A season ago, the Crimson Tide captured the nation’s No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, and Oats will try to reload his program for another run at the SEC title.
A season ago, Ohio State went just 16-19 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Holtmann’s watch (the 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID-19). We’ll see if the Buckeyes can rebound and get back into March Madness in the season ahead.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.