You’re Nuts: Which recruit does Jake Diebler need to be on the phone with first?
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Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
The 2025 and 2026 classes are full of talent, and Jake Diebler has more than a few top recruits on speed dial already.
For a team that missed the NCAA Tournament, it sure seems like an exciting time to be following the
Ohio State men’s basketball team. Not only did the team name Jake Diebler its 15th head coach in program history on Monday afternoon, it is also in the middle of a 7-2 stretch under its new coach and has advanced to the second round of the
NIT. That game will be played on Saturday evening against
Virginia Tech in Columbus.
Last week, Connor and Justin debated the biggest key to beating Illinois in the
Big Ten Tournament — which Ohio state did not do, ultimately. Connor said bench production would be crucial, while Justin said it would be transition defense. 67% of the readers agreed with Connor, but Illinois’ bench did wind up outscoring Ohio State’s 23-20. The other 33% of the readers went with Justin.
After 144 weeks:
Connor- 72
Justin- 53
Other- 15
(There have been four ties)
When Diebler was first elevated to interim head coach and was asked about recruiting, he said his loyalties had to remain with players currently committed to play for Ohio State. In essence, recruiting of future Buckeyes stopped for about a month, because none of the coaches knew if they would still be at Ohio State when the season ended. Now that Diebler is the head coach, we know that at least he will still be here. That means recruiting is going to pick back up ASAP.
Diebler already got Colin White and Juni Mobley to confirm their commitments in the class of 2024 — he did that in his first six hours on the job. But when he resumes recruiting the 2025 and 2026 classes, where should he begin?
Connor: Niko Bundalo
Photo Courtesy Travis Branham/247Sports
Since I know which way Justin is going to zig, I’m going to zag on this one. Every year, Ohio State fans complain about lack of size.
“If only we had a big man who could *
insert pretty much anything here*”
It comes as a surprise to some people that uber talented post players do not grow on trees, and Ohio State is not one of the premier programs that tend to snatch them up. However, there is a very talented post player in the state of Ohio in the class of 2025 in four-star power forward/center Niko Bundalo.
Bundalo is a 6-foot-11, 195-pound power forward that plays for Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio. He is the No. 26 player in the class of 2025, the No. 7 power forward in the class, and the No. 1 player in Ohio for that cycle. He’s lanky at nearly seven feet but not quite 200 pounds, but is mobile and can slash to the basket or knock down outside shots.
He’s shown the ability to hit shots off the dribble or off the pass, and is continuing to progress as a shot blocker and rebounder. Bundalo averaged 12.5 points and 6 rebounds per game at Green High School in Uniontown as a sophomore.
While there are more highly-touted recruits out there than Bundalo (guards, mostly), it seems to me that his position and skillset fill a need more than any of the given guards still available. In 2025, Roddy Gayle and Bruce Thornton will be seniors, Taison Chatman will be a junior, and Juni Mobley will be a sophomore. Is there really much room for another guard to slide in?
However, in 2025 Felix Okpara will be a senior and Austin Parks will be a junior. To this point, Parks has not shown he is ready to contribute in the Big Ten. That may change next season, but for now his path to consistent minutes looks murky at best and non-existent at worst. Bundalo is the type of talent who may be able to pass him quickly. Even if he doesn’t slide past Okpara or Parks as a freshman, Okpara will graduate before Bundalo’s second season.
Ohio State offered Bundalo last summer, and he has taken multiple unofficial visits as well as participate in the Buckeyes’ team camp. He is also being recruited heavily by
Michigan State, Illinois, Iowa, and Xavier. He listed Michigan State as the team most aggressively pushing for him.
Diebler has been somewhat of a guard whisperer since leaving Vanderbilt and coming back to Ohio State several years ago, but adding a quality center to the program feels like a safe and wise thing to do in the transfer portal age. There’s no guarantee the depth at that position will look the same in two years, and even if he was to sit in a backup role for one season, is that so bad?
Plus, it already is looking like 2026 guard Marcus Johnson is very interested in Ohio State and playing for Jake Diebler. If they are already locking in on a 2026 guard, does Ohio State really need to find another scholarship to throw at a guard? I think locking up a commitment from Bundalo and showing off the recruiting prowess Ohio State is going to get with Diebler would be a great start.
Justin: Darryn Peterson
Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK
When it comes to recent Ohio recruits, not many in the last 20 years have had as much hype as Darryn Peterson.
I would still consider Peterson an Ohio recruit since Peterson started his high school career at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in Cuyahoga Falls, and transferred to Huntington Prep High School in West Virginia this season. Huntington Prep has produced talents such as Andrew Wiggins, Miles Bridges, Keldon Johnson, and Jonathan Kuminga, among others.
Peterson is currently ranked as the No. 3 recruit in the 2025 class and the top shooting guard in the country. The only players ranked ahead of him are AJ Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer, since Cooper Flagg reclassified to the 2024 class.
The 6-foot-5, 195-pound guard has been hailed as the best recruit in the state since he was a kid from Akron, and he has backed up the hype with his play on the AAU circuit and his play on Team USA. Peterson has narrowed his list to Arkansas, Indiana, Baylor, Ohio State, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan, and North Carolina, and that is a list of a guy that has his pick.
He also became the first high school athlete to sign an NIL deal with Adidas, but it is unknown how much that will affect his recruiting since only two of those eight schools are Adidas schools.
There is a world where you can bring in this five-star freshman phenom, and Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle, and Felix Okpara are all seniors, with Scotty Middleton, Devin Royal, and Taison Chatman as juniors. That is a top-five team in the country.
Do anything you can to bring Peterson to Columbus.
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