Post by mhbruin on Mar 28, 2024 9:13:07 GMT -8
CHANGES
5/3 Added transfer Sean Stewart
5/30 Scotty Middleton withdraws from the draft, but is headed to Seton Hall.
====================
Next are the Ohio State Buckeyes, who finished in a 3-way tie for 9th place in the Big Ten. They fired Chris Holtman midseason. In seven seasons he had a 51% record in the B1G, and a 3-4 record in the NCAA tournament.
Holtmann was fired on February 14, 2024, and Jake Diebler was named the interim head coach for the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes went 5-1 under Diebler to finish the regular season, including a win over #2 Purdue in Diebler's first game as interim head coach. As the #10 seed in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament, Ohio State beat #7 seed Iowa, before falling to #2 seed Illinois in the quarterfinals. They went on to win two games in the NIT.
On March 17, Diebler was officially named Ohio State's head men's basketball coach. It is his first head coaching job.
The Buckeyes had decent ranks at #39 on offense and #61 on defense. They had excellent wins over Purdue and Alabama, and no terrible losses. They beat UCLA by 7 in December.
GRADUATING
Jamison Battlewas a 43% three-point shooter. He was one of their two best shooters. The other great outside shooter was Scotty Middleton, who is also leaving.
Dale Bonner was a Baylor transfer who seems to have left his shot in Waco. 33%/29%/65%
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
Scotty said "Beam me up, out of Columbus."
Middleton couldn't get more than 15 minutes per game as a freshman, even though at 45% he was the team's best three-point shooter. He was a 4-star, #50 prospect. He was projected as a second-round pick, but chose to return to college.
He will be going to Seton Hall, next season. He is saying "Goodbye Columbus". (10 points to anyone who understands this reference.)
TRANSFERRING OUT
So far, promoting Jake Diebler for continuity is not paying off. Five players are transferring out, including two starters.
The big loss is Scotty Middleton, their best outside shooter.
Starting shooting guard Roddy Gale probably didn't win any hearts in Columbus when he transferred to arch-rival Michigan. Maybe it isn't so bad. He was a shooting guard who only shot 28% from the arc. He was still the starter, even though they had a 45% shooter coming off the bench.
Starting center Felix Okpara (who may be the only major college player named "Felix") led OSU in rebounds and blocks, while shooting 59% from the floor. With 5-star center Aaron Bradshaw on his way from Kentucky, he might have seen the writing on the wall. (I hear someone wrote "Aaron Bradshaw is coming" on the locker room wall.)
Bowen Hardman and Zed Key don't have to cross state lines to reach their new schools. They do have to live in Akron and Dayton, however.
Hardman was another excellent outsider shooter at 43% who seemed to be stuck on the bench.
RETURNING
Ohio State may be losing 7 scholarship players, but they return a decent amount of production. Their biggest issue is rim protection, but they could use some rebounding and 3-point shooting, too.
Check out the 3-point shooting. The returning guys aren't very good shooters.
Coach Diebler returns two starters and a couple of guys from fairly deep on the bench.
Bruce Thronton is an elite point guard, who led the Buckeyes in scoring, assists, steals, and minutes played. He was #2 in the nation in A/TO ratio and 3rd-team All-Big-Ten.
Evan Mahaffey has limited offensive skills (which is a nice way of saying he shot 12% on three-point shots), but must be a solid defender and "glue guy". There has to be a reason to start a guy who scores 4 points per game.
Devin Royal and Taison Chatman played a bit. They also return Austin Parks (who has nothing to do with recreation spaces in the Texas capital) and Kalen Etzler who barely played. 6-10 Parks is the only size they have other than transfer center Aaron Bradshaw. Stay healthy Aaron!
RECRUITS
(#46 class, #10 in BiG)
Maybe Mobley will turn out to be the three-point shooter they need. It's a lot to ask of a freshman point guard.
TRANSFERRING IN
In this episode of "The SEC Comes to Columbus", two players are transferring in from SEC schools, and they are good ones.
The big name in this class is McDonald's Alll American Aaron Bradshaw. He was the No. 1 center and the No. 5 overall prospect in the 2023 class. "The 7-footer can step out and hit 3-pointers and is more mobile as a perimeter defender than most college centers," CBS' David Cobb wrote.
Bradshaw missed the start of the season for Kentucky with a foot injury. His 0.7 blocks in 14 minutes is decent. Bradshaw is the highest-rated player to play for Ohio State since Jared Sullinger was the No. 3 national recruit in the 2010 class.
With Sean Stewart, the Buckeyes may be the only team in America (other than perhaps Arkansas and John Calipari) to get two former McDonald's All Americans in the same transfer class. He ended up buried pretty deep on the Duke bench. He played in 33 games and made double figures twice.
Meechie Johnson played 2 seasons at Ohio State, then transferred to South Carolina for two seasons, land now is returning to the Buckeyes. He's from Cleveland, so he is kind of heading home. He led the Gamecocks in scoring, mostly because he led them in FG attempts. He wasn't a great shooter.
Michal Parrish was a key reserve for the San Diego State team than went to the national championship game. Last season he was a starter for the Aztecs. He's not a great shooter, but he is an excellent defender. He is likely a lot better than the #332 transfer in the country.
This is a very good transfer class, but it doesn't seem to address Ohio State's lack of returning three-point shooting.
CONCLUSION
Another view: 2024-25 Big Ten offseason at a glance: Ohio State Buckeyes
This is a talented roster with a 5-star and five 4-star players. However, there are some issues First, there is the lack of outside shooting.
Then there is the common problem with many college teams these days. Only three guys on the roster played many minutes for the Buckeyes last season. They are going to have to integrate a lot of new players. They have to develop team chemistry and learn to play with each other. It can be done, but it is not easy.
The other big unknown is Coach Diebler. We have seen this story before. The team rallies around an interim head coach, and he is promoted to head coach. Sometimes it works out and sometimes you end up with Steve Lavin.
There are a lot of unknowns about OSU, but I suspect they once again end up just on the wrong side of the bubble.
Torvick projects the Buckeyes as the #35 team in the country and the #11 team in the B1G. He projects 19-12 (10-10) record.
247 picks Ohio State to finish 10th.
Lunardi predicts a #8 seed.
Vrooman picks Ohio State to finish 6th. He writes:
6. Ohio State Buckeyes
Projected Adjusted Efficiency Margin: +19.41 (+15.19 last year)
Coaching Info: Jon Diebler +0.0 (t-45th)
5 Highest Rated Players: 6’2 G Bruce Thornton (15.7 pts, 4.8 ast), 7’1 C Aaron Bradshaw (Kentucky- 4.9 pts, 3.3 reb), 6’2 G Meechie Johnson (South Carolina- 14.1 pts, 4.1 reb), 6’9 F Sean Stewart (Duke- 2.6. pts, 3.2 reb), F Devin Royal (4.7 pts, 2.4 reb)
This one is an interesting circumstance. Normally, I give coaching credit for a season to whichever coach started out the year. They put together the roster and usually they coach the majority of the games even if they get fired midseason. But Ohio State was 14-11 when Chris Holtmann was fired and then finished the year 7-2 to climb 22 spots at KenPom with Jon Diebler as the interim coach. Diebler was then retained. I don’t have a built-in way to give him credit for that 9-game stretch and it might not even be right to do so but if Ohio State is great again this year then it will look like that was the wrong decision.
The roster seems set up for instant success. Diebler’s best job as head coach so far was getting star PG Bruce Thornton to stick around and not enter either the draft or the portal. He will be a preseason 1st team all-B1G selection. Joining him in the backcourt will be South Carolina transfer Meechie Johnson who helped lead the Gamecocks to a surprise NCAA tournament berth and now transfers back to his original school.
The frontcourt is a bet on elite talent. Both Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart were former 5-star recruits playing reserve roles on Kentucky and Duke respectively. If both were simply boxed out by other 5-star talent then this roster has a chance to be special. If it turns out that they weren’t playing much because they’re not nearly as good as that 5-star label suggests then suddenly there’s a major hole on the roster.
======================================
JAKE DIEBLER, OHIO STATE
Profile: Diebler, 37, got one of the Big Ten’s top jobs after going 6-2 — with a win over Purdue in his first game — as interim coach following the in-season firing of Chris Holtman.
Style of Play: It’s too early to know what Diebler’s first team of his own will look like, but important to note that Ohio State played with real energy for him. Was that adrenaline on the Buckeyes’ part or something more?
Recruiting Profile: No matter who the coach is, Ohio State is the big dog in talent-rich Ohio, one of the biggest brands in the Midwest, a national player and one of Nike’s favored sons. They will always have players. Purdue has won a lot of head-to-head recruiting battles with the Buckeyes in recent years, but on very specific types of player who’ve been inclined to commit early to the Boilermakers.
5/3 Added transfer Sean Stewart
5/30 Scotty Middleton withdraws from the draft, but is headed to Seton Hall.
====================
Next are the Ohio State Buckeyes, who finished in a 3-way tie for 9th place in the Big Ten. They fired Chris Holtman midseason. In seven seasons he had a 51% record in the B1G, and a 3-4 record in the NCAA tournament.
Holtmann was fired on February 14, 2024, and Jake Diebler was named the interim head coach for the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes went 5-1 under Diebler to finish the regular season, including a win over #2 Purdue in Diebler's first game as interim head coach. As the #10 seed in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament, Ohio State beat #7 seed Iowa, before falling to #2 seed Illinois in the quarterfinals. They went on to win two games in the NIT.
On March 17, Diebler was officially named Ohio State's head men's basketball coach. It is his first head coaching job.
The Buckeyes had decent ranks at #39 on offense and #61 on defense. They had excellent wins over Purdue and Alabama, and no terrible losses. They beat UCLA by 7 in December.
GRADUATING
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Notes |
| Jamison Battle | 35 | 35 | 31 | 15 | 5 | 1.4 | Minnesota transfer |
| Dale Bonner | 36 | 2 | 20 | 5 | 2 | 1.2 | Transferred from Baylor |
| . |
Jamison Battlewas a 43% three-point shooter. He was one of their two best shooters. The other great outside shooter was Scotty Middleton, who is also leaving.
Dale Bonner was a Baylor transfer who seems to have left his shot in Waco. 33%/29%/65%
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Can Return? |
Scotty said "Beam me up, out of Columbus."
Middleton couldn't get more than 15 minutes per game as a freshman, even though at 45% he was the team's best three-point shooter. He was a 4-star, #50 prospect. He was projected as a second-round pick, but chose to return to college.
He will be going to Seton Hall, next season. He is saying "Goodbye Columbus". (10 points to anyone who understands this reference.)
TRANSFERRING OUT
So far, promoting Jake Diebler for continuity is not paying off. Five players are transferring out, including two starters.
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Notes | Destination |
| Scotty Middleton | 30 | 1 | 15 | 4 | 1.4 | 0.7 | Seton Hall | |
| Bowen Hardman | 18 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | Akron | |
| Zed Key | 36 | 2 | 15 | 7 | 4.1 | 0.5 | Dayton | |
| Roddy Gale | 36 | 35 | 31 | 14 | 4.6 | 3.1 | Michigan | |
| Felix Okpara | 35 | 34 | 24 | 7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | Tennessee | |
The big loss is Scotty Middleton, their best outside shooter.
Starting shooting guard Roddy Gale probably didn't win any hearts in Columbus when he transferred to arch-rival Michigan. Maybe it isn't so bad. He was a shooting guard who only shot 28% from the arc. He was still the starter, even though they had a 45% shooter coming off the bench.
Starting center Felix Okpara (who may be the only major college player named "Felix") led OSU in rebounds and blocks, while shooting 59% from the floor. With 5-star center Aaron Bradshaw on his way from Kentucky, he might have seen the writing on the wall. (I hear someone wrote "Aaron Bradshaw is coming" on the locker room wall.)
Bowen Hardman and Zed Key don't have to cross state lines to reach their new schools. They do have to live in Akron and Dayton, however.
Hardman was another excellent outsider shooter at 43% who seemed to be stuck on the bench.
RETURNING
| STAT | RETURNING |
| Starts | 39% |
| Minutes | 34% |
| Points | 32% |
| 3-Pointers Made | 26% |
| Rebounds | 28% |
| Assists | 49% |
| Steals | 45% |
| Blocks | 2% |
Ohio State may be losing 7 scholarship players, but they return a decent amount of production. Their biggest issue is rim protection, but they could use some rebounding and 3-point shooting, too.
| Player | Size | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG% | 3Pt% | A/TO | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
| Bruce Thornton G | 6-2 215 | 35 | 35 | 34 | 16 | 3.7 | 4.8 | 43% | 33% | 4.0 | Jr | 4 | 51 |
| Devin Royal F | 6-6 210 | 33 | 0 | 11 | 5 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 51% | 15% | 0.4 | So | 4 | 49 |
| Evan Mahaffey G | 6-5 200 | 35 | 35 | 22 | 4 | 4.2 | 1.7 | 43% | 12% | 1.8 | Jr | 3 | 187 |
| Taison Chatman G | 6-4 175 | 17 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 33% | 27% | 0.6 | So | 4 | 39 |
| Austin Parks C | 6-10 250 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | So | Unranked | ||||
| Kalen Etzler F | 6-8 190 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | Jr | Unranked |
Check out the 3-point shooting. The returning guys aren't very good shooters.
Coach Diebler returns two starters and a couple of guys from fairly deep on the bench.
Bruce Thronton is an elite point guard, who led the Buckeyes in scoring, assists, steals, and minutes played. He was #2 in the nation in A/TO ratio and 3rd-team All-Big-Ten.
Evan Mahaffey has limited offensive skills (which is a nice way of saying he shot 12% on three-point shots), but must be a solid defender and "glue guy". There has to be a reason to start a guy who scores 4 points per game.
Devin Royal and Taison Chatman played a bit. They also return Austin Parks (who has nothing to do with recreation spaces in the Texas capital) and Kalen Etzler who barely played. 6-10 Parks is the only size they have other than transfer center Aaron Bradshaw. Stay healthy Aaron!
RECRUITS
(#46 class, #10 in BiG)
| Player | Size | Position | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank | Offers |
| Juni Mobley | 6-2 185 | PG | 4 | 41 | Creighton, Arizona St, LSU |
| Colin White | 6-6 180 | SF | 3 | 124 | Northwestern, Akron, Butler |
Maybe Mobley will turn out to be the three-point shooter they need. It's a lot to ask of a freshman point guard.
TRANSFERRING IN
| SOURCE | NATIONAL CLASS RANK | BIG TEN CLASS RANK |
| 247 | 15 | 5 |
| Evan Miya* | 18 | 4 |
| Player | Size | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG % | 3-Pt % | A/TO | From | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank | Transfer Rank |
| Meechie Johnson | 6-2 180 | 33 | 33 | 29 | 14 | 4 | 2.9 | 40% | 32% | 1.8 | South Carolina | Sr | 4 | 100 | 81 |
| Aaron Bradshaw | 7-1 225 | 26 | 10 | 14 | 5 | 3.3 | 0.3 | 58% | 29% | 0.8 | Kentucky | So | 5 | 5 | 39 |
| Sean Stewart F | 6-8 225 | 33 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 3.2 | 0.2 | 57% | -- | 0.5 | Duke | So | 5 | 17 | 54 |
| Micah Parrish | 6-6 194 | 37 | 36 | 28 | 9 | 4.1 | 1.9 | 39% | 29% | 2.3 | San Diego St | Sr 5 | Unranked | 332 |
In this episode of "The SEC Comes to Columbus", two players are transferring in from SEC schools, and they are good ones.
The big name in this class is McDonald's Alll American Aaron Bradshaw. He was the No. 1 center and the No. 5 overall prospect in the 2023 class. "The 7-footer can step out and hit 3-pointers and is more mobile as a perimeter defender than most college centers," CBS' David Cobb wrote.
Bradshaw missed the start of the season for Kentucky with a foot injury. His 0.7 blocks in 14 minutes is decent. Bradshaw is the highest-rated player to play for Ohio State since Jared Sullinger was the No. 3 national recruit in the 2010 class.
With Sean Stewart, the Buckeyes may be the only team in America (other than perhaps Arkansas and John Calipari) to get two former McDonald's All Americans in the same transfer class. He ended up buried pretty deep on the Duke bench. He played in 33 games and made double figures twice.
Meechie Johnson played 2 seasons at Ohio State, then transferred to South Carolina for two seasons, land now is returning to the Buckeyes. He's from Cleveland, so he is kind of heading home. He led the Gamecocks in scoring, mostly because he led them in FG attempts. He wasn't a great shooter.
Michal Parrish was a key reserve for the San Diego State team than went to the national championship game. Last season he was a starter for the Aztecs. He's not a great shooter, but he is an excellent defender. He is likely a lot better than the #332 transfer in the country.
This is a very good transfer class, but it doesn't seem to address Ohio State's lack of returning three-point shooting.
CONCLUSION
Another view: 2024-25 Big Ten offseason at a glance: Ohio State Buckeyes
This is a talented roster with a 5-star and five 4-star players. However, there are some issues First, there is the lack of outside shooting.
Then there is the common problem with many college teams these days. Only three guys on the roster played many minutes for the Buckeyes last season. They are going to have to integrate a lot of new players. They have to develop team chemistry and learn to play with each other. It can be done, but it is not easy.
The other big unknown is Coach Diebler. We have seen this story before. The team rallies around an interim head coach, and he is promoted to head coach. Sometimes it works out and sometimes you end up with Steve Lavin.
There are a lot of unknowns about OSU, but I suspect they once again end up just on the wrong side of the bubble.
Torvick projects the Buckeyes as the #35 team in the country and the #11 team in the B1G. He projects 19-12 (10-10) record.
247 picks Ohio State to finish 10th.
Lunardi predicts a #8 seed.
Vrooman picks Ohio State to finish 6th. He writes:
6. Ohio State Buckeyes
Projected Adjusted Efficiency Margin: +19.41 (+15.19 last year)
Coaching Info: Jon Diebler +0.0 (t-45th)
5 Highest Rated Players: 6’2 G Bruce Thornton (15.7 pts, 4.8 ast), 7’1 C Aaron Bradshaw (Kentucky- 4.9 pts, 3.3 reb), 6’2 G Meechie Johnson (South Carolina- 14.1 pts, 4.1 reb), 6’9 F Sean Stewart (Duke- 2.6. pts, 3.2 reb), F Devin Royal (4.7 pts, 2.4 reb)
This one is an interesting circumstance. Normally, I give coaching credit for a season to whichever coach started out the year. They put together the roster and usually they coach the majority of the games even if they get fired midseason. But Ohio State was 14-11 when Chris Holtmann was fired and then finished the year 7-2 to climb 22 spots at KenPom with Jon Diebler as the interim coach. Diebler was then retained. I don’t have a built-in way to give him credit for that 9-game stretch and it might not even be right to do so but if Ohio State is great again this year then it will look like that was the wrong decision.
The roster seems set up for instant success. Diebler’s best job as head coach so far was getting star PG Bruce Thornton to stick around and not enter either the draft or the portal. He will be a preseason 1st team all-B1G selection. Joining him in the backcourt will be South Carolina transfer Meechie Johnson who helped lead the Gamecocks to a surprise NCAA tournament berth and now transfers back to his original school.
The frontcourt is a bet on elite talent. Both Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart were former 5-star recruits playing reserve roles on Kentucky and Duke respectively. If both were simply boxed out by other 5-star talent then this roster has a chance to be special. If it turns out that they weren’t playing much because they’re not nearly as good as that 5-star label suggests then suddenly there’s a major hole on the roster.
======================================
JAKE DIEBLER, OHIO STATE
Profile: Diebler, 37, got one of the Big Ten’s top jobs after going 6-2 — with a win over Purdue in his first game — as interim coach following the in-season firing of Chris Holtman.
Style of Play: It’s too early to know what Diebler’s first team of his own will look like, but important to note that Ohio State played with real energy for him. Was that adrenaline on the Buckeyes’ part or something more?
Recruiting Profile: No matter who the coach is, Ohio State is the big dog in talent-rich Ohio, one of the biggest brands in the Midwest, a national player and one of Nike’s favored sons. They will always have players. Purdue has won a lot of head-to-head recruiting battles with the Buckeyes in recent years, but on very specific types of player who’ve been inclined to commit early to the Boilermakers.