It certainly has been an up-and-down week for the Buckeyes as they are fresh off of National Signing Day last week for football and then hit with the news of serious crimes alleged against two (now former) football players.

On the basketball side of things, the Buckeyes were able to head to Michigan and get a big win last week before going to Wisconsin and looking like the same team that they were in January in a horrible loss against the Badgers before coming back home and running out to a 20-point margin against Rutgers before seeing it all almost come crashing down as the margin was cut to three in the final minute before holding on for a six-point win.

Spring practice can't get here soon enough on the football front and as for basketball, it is anyone's guess from game-to-game which team is going to show up and maybe even more accurately, from four-minute segment to four-minute segment.

In this week's edition of the 3-2-1 brought to you by our friends at Hague Water Conditioning, we take a look at the week that was, sharing a couple of things that we either learned or think that we learned along with asking a couple of questions and making a prediction.

1- Two steps forward, two steps back

Well, that may be a little simplistic when it comes to explaining the complex situation that is the Ohio State men's basketball team. They have some games where they play 30-plus great minutes of basketball and other games where that number is much, much smaller.

Even if you flush the game in Madison (Wisc.) down the toilet, you can even look at the game at home against Rutgers and see a game where Ohio State played some inspired basketball for much of the game only to have bad shot selection, bad execution and mental lapses on defense almost cost them a game that they had no business losing.

Credit goes to the Scarlet Knights, that team does not give up. Greg Schiano should really find what Steve Pikiell is feeding his team and give it to his football team because the Rutgers basketball team are a bunch of fighters, even against huge odds.

But this is not a piece to talk about the 180 that Rutgers basketball is doing, but more of how Ohio State is running out of games to figure out how to play more complete 40-minute games.

The Buckeyes have fallen in love with the three-point shot again and after the Rutgers game even Chris Holtmann commented that they took "a few too many" from beyond the arc. This team is better when they can run the offense through Kaleb Wesson but for whatever reason, that has not been something that Ohio State has been successful in doing.

It certainly does not help losing one of their point guards with the temporary loss of DJ Carton for this unspecified amount of time but a lot of it too goes beyond that. Other Buckeyes are missing Wesson in the paint and blame can be put on Wesson as well for not finishing near the bucket.

It is not fair to put much on Wesson as he has been about as consistent of a player as the Buckeyes have had game-in and game-out but it is definitely something that looks different from when Ohio State came out and started the season on fire to today, where the Buckeyes have become a perimeter team and don't have the consistency to sustain that.

Later in this piece, we talk a little more about the remaining schedule for Ohio State and make a prediction on how we see their B1G record will stand when the season is over.

2- The Buckeyes are looking really good in 2021 recruiting

We will probably talk about this a lot down the stretch just because it is something that is really timeless and will get us through the dog days of summer. But currently, there is snow on the ground and summer seems to be an eternity away.

The reason that this is timely at this point is that Rivals.com just released its updated class of 2021 rankings earlier this week and Ohio State is still holding the No. 1 class in the nation with its 10 commits, nine of them in the Rivals250.

Jack Sawyer still leads the way as a five-star commit for the Buckeyes from neighboring Pickerington (Ohio) and while he is the only current five-star in the class, it sure seems as if the Buckeyes could be sitting on another one with quarterback Kyle McCord, who could really go out and earn it on the field this upcoming season.

It is way too early to crown the Buckeyes the recruiting champion of the cycle, something that has never occurred during the RIvals.com recruiting rankings era, something that has never been accomplished by a "northern school" through all of the years, but with the start that the Buckeyes have, they certainly have the base to build upon and try to hold off the rest of the field.

3- Sticking to football

There is plenty of coverage out there about the issues that (now) former Ohio State players Amir Riep and Jahsen Wint are facing, and we are not going to get into the legal aspects here in this segment.

The question that many have asked, even if it seems a bit insensitive in light of the gravity of the alleged incident is 'What does this mean in terms of the 2020 depth chart?'.

With spring practice and fall camp left to still sort things out, it is difficult to speak in absolutes here but speaking from strictly a football viewpoint, the loss of Riep from the team will create some ripples if you are one to buy into way-too-early projected depth charts.

Riep appeared to be the front-runner for the slot cornerback position in 2020 as the Buckeyes should be moving Shaun Wade into a higher leverage role in the secondary and then the other cornerback position appears to be a battle between Sevyn Banks and Cameron Brown at this early date.

With Riep out of the mix, Marcus Williamson should get the first look at the spot, especially with the return of Kerry Coombs to run the secondary. Coombs was a huge advocate for Williamson and you have to figure that affinity is still there as long as Marcus continues to put in the work. This does not mean that the position will just be handed over to him, there will be some talented corners coming in with the recruiting class and someone like Lejond Cavazos could make a push but the reminder needs to be put out there that Cavazos only has one year of corner under his belt but is a freak athlete and could enter the argument as a player who might not have bad habits that have developed yet.

As for Wint's role? He was slated to be in the mix for that 'bullet' position that was often talked about but rarely seen in 2019. The truth of the matter was that he was a transfer candidate in our eyes after completing his degree coursework. There will be plenty of time to figure out if the 'bullet' position is a real position in the future of this defense or just a detailed red herring, much like the diamond formation on offense that was talked about at length by armchair quarterbacks several years ago.

Now, all of that is really of little consequence as both are in the system, attempting to exonerate themselves from a horrible situation that everyone is struggling to fathom.

1- Can the Buckeyes pull off the upset

In the Horseshoe Lounge, we have a dedicated group of Ohio State wrestling fans and while we admittedly don't give Tom Ryan's team the coverage that we probably should, we are grateful to have this group of fans that keep everyone informed on how the team is doing, and some of their words are even sticking with me as I learn more about the team from year-to-year.

There is going to be a big match-up this weekend in State College (Pa.) as the No. 6 Buckeyes go to take on the No. 2 Nittany Lions in the last dual of the regular season.

Ohio State brings seven ranked wrestlers into this match, including three who are ranked No. 1 at their weight class while the Nittany Lions have seven of their own who are ranked.

Even with Ohio State having several, who at least on paper, should have the edge, Penn State has been a tough out for anyone to face and the Buckeyes appear to be a decided underdog in this one.

The Buckeyes are going to need to get bonus points in the matches that they win because this Penn State team is just so deep and wrestling away from the Covelli Center is going to pose a big challenge for this squad.

We will be sure to check in on how this match goes in our next 3-2-1.

2- Purdue or Purdon't?

You can tell it is basketball season as we talk about the team in each section of the piece.

The Boilermakers have won three of their last four with the lone loss coming at Penn State, a place the Buckeyes would prefer to avoid as well with the Nittany Lions really showing that they are a team to be reckoned with.

Even in that loss, the Boilers scored 76 points and have averaged 84 points over their last three games and are 31-67 from three-point range over those last three games (granted, 104 points and 19 made threes against Iowa kind of skew the numbers).

The Buckeyes are not built to get into a track meet, the Buckeyes are not a great team in transition either. Ohio State is going to need to slow the game down to get the win, even with the Boilermakers being quite beatable on the road.

So the question is there, can the Buckeyes "steal one" even though the Big Ten season has shown much more of an edge to the home team? The Boilers won a huge rivalry game at Indiana in their last road game, but that is a game where Bobby Knight made his long-awaited return to Assembly Hall and had all of the emotion in the world. This game against Ohio State won't have any of that and the Buckeyes honestly could catch a flat Purdue team, ripe for the taking.

Will Ohio State seize on that? Nobody knows.

Ohio State currently sits at 6-7 in league play and has seven games left on the schedule with home games against Purdue, Maryland, Michigan and Illinois. The road games are at Iowa, Nebraska and Michigan State to end the season.

Obviously, the Buckeyes would need to go 4-3 in those final seven games to get to the .500 mark in conference play. But it won't be as easy as just going chalk in terms of winning the home games and then losing the games on the road.

The good news is that the game at Nebraska is a completely winnable game. The Huskers have been bad this season, like really bad. The Huskers do have two home wins in conference play, against Purdue and Iowa of all teams, but those were early in the year and the bottom has dropped out of the Nebraska season since then. Let's just call that one a win for the sake of arguments.

On the flipside, Iowa is 12-1 at home and while the Hawkeyes have proven to be just as mortal as any other team in the Big Ten, that game seems to be a tough ask and we will pencil that into the loss column.

With those two games off the table, Ohio State now sits at 7-8 in our hypothetical situation with five games to go.

Purdue is 3-6 away from Mackey Arena and that is the next game up, that really could go either way. If the Boilermaker team shows up that drains threes and threes and threes, Katie bar the door. But you never know what you are going to get from Matt Painter's group on the road. Maryland is 3-4 away from its home court and despite being near the top of the league, they certainly have not set the world on fire either.

Ohio State will get a return visit from Michigan, a team that is 2-5 away from home but should have Isaiah Livers back. That one could be a real grudge match and could go either way. Illinois is 4-4 away from its home floor and that will be senior day, the last game for at least Andre Wesson at home.

Michigan State to wrap up the season is always going to be a tough pull, it really just comes down to what each team has left to play for. Is Michigan State back into a position to play for a regular season title? Is Ohio State in a position to get better seeding in the Big Ten Tournament? The Spartans are currently 10-2 on their home floor but Ohio State has overcome longer odds in the past in this series.

While we won't map out exactly how this team will get to 10-10 to end the Big Ten season, we just feel that is where they will end up, they will avoid that dreaded first-day of play in the conference tournament and then all bets are off in the B1G Tourney as this is the type of team that could lose on the first day or get all the way to Sunday.