After three straight early NCAA Tournament exits, Ohio State faces tough questions
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As Notre Dame’s players walked to their postgame news conference, All-America guard Hannah Hidalgo was heard laughing and joking with her teammates. Fresh off an upset win over No. 3 seed Ohio State, she had reason to be in a good mood.
“Everybody’s bracket is messed up,” she said to her teammates. She followed that up with a comment on the postgame news conference podium: “Nobody believed in us. ” Though not completely true , that comment is not new to Ohio State fans.
Coming into this NCAA Tournament, Ohio State fans have heard plenty about how the Buckeyes were one of just six teams to host the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four years. Now they are on the opposite side of history. Monday’s 83-73 second-round loss to the sixth-seeded Irish made Ohio State the first team, since the NCAA Tournament format went back to hosting in 2015, to lose at home in the opening rounds in three consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
It is also the only team with four home losses in the span, adding in the 2018 loss to Central Michigan. Final | Buckeyes 73, Notre Dame 83 pic. twitter.
com/OhEE17kikv — Ohio State Women’s Basketball (@OhioStateWBB) March 23, 2026 It’s become an unfortunate tradition for a program that is just three years removed from an Elite Eight appearance, which included a Sweet 16 win over Geno Auriemma and UConn. That win over UConn is the only time in the last 17 years that UConn didn’t reach the Final Four. It was supposed to be the building block for Ohio State and coach Kevin McGuff.
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