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2025 scUM Shenanigans, Arguments, etc.

Well Underwood they just straight up overpriced and bought him. He didn’t want to be there if all things were equal.
Key word in that statement is “they”

Who is “they”

It’s not the university; by definition NIL money comes from elsewhere

Would that NIL money still have been there if their string of 4 and 5 loss seasons had continued through 21-23?
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2025-2026 Ohio State Men's Basketball

The real competitive programs at the top of college basketball have been well ahead of OSU the last several years. We're just not on that level of competitiveness, organization and cohesion right now. Coaches like Izzo, Pearl, Sampson, Scheyer have a plan for the talent they need to build their type of team, a plan that they have had success with & know how to coach, and execute it. It seems to me like our plan for building a team hasn't had success, but we keep trying to stick with the plan.
I was never sure what Holtman’s plan was or if he had one. Did he just not get the right players for his plan or did he not know how to integrate his players? It all seemed very helter skelter.

I think Diebler is going to have to mold his plan to whoever he can bring on at this point.
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LGHL One last lap: Bruce Thornton announces return to Ohio State

One last lap: Bruce Thornton announces return to Ohio State
Connor Lemons
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


NCAA Basketball: Maryland at Ohio State

Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

The soon-to-be four time captain will finish his career having only played at Ohio State.

Even in the age of name, image, and likeness, a player announcing that they will return to play for the same team that they signed a letter of intent to play for may seem redundant, but this was an announcement Ohio State fans have been nervously waiting for.

Bruce Thornton will start and end his collegiate career as a Buckeye.


Today, Thornton announced that he would, in fact, be returning to Ohio State for his senior season. Already sitting in 21st all-time on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,487 points, Thornton will have an opportunity to become Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer next season.

The soon-to-be four-time captain led Ohio State in scoring for the second consecutive season this year, averaging 17.7 points per game and playing 36.2 minutes per contest. He set a career-high in three-point shooting at 42.4%, and scored 20+ points 14 times. Thornton was named All-Big Ten Second Team at the conclusion of the season.

There were options for Thornton this off-season. Nearly 2,000 players have entered the transfer portal since last week, and Thornton would have been one of the most sought-after players had he entered. The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman reported on Monday that the premier players in the transfer portal have been seeking deals worth upwards of $2.5-million dollars. Even though Thornton did not enter the transfer portal, it’s feasible that he or his family could have received calls and inquiries this spring about entering the transfer portal and cashing in on a substantially large payday.

Instead, credit goes to the Ohio State men’s basketball program and Ohio State’s NIL collectives for helping keep the face of the program in Columbus for his final year. NIL deals aren’t public information, but on top of loyalty, Thornton’s return also could’ve been incentivized by a large raise in compensation from his various NIL agreements. Last fall, an anonymous poll of over 100 college basketball coaches put Ohio State in the top 20 of all men’s basketball programs in terms of NIL resources.

He also could have entertained other options that would’ve given him better odds to play in the NCAA Tournament after not making it to the Big Dance in each of his first three seasons. His decision to stay put reflects not only Bruce’s confidence in himself, but also in head coach Jake Diebler to make that leap this season and play in the NCAA Tournament.

Thornton talked about how important winning games, specifically at Ohio State, was to him in the fall, at Ohio State’s media day, saying:

“That’s the whole reason I came here. I’m just trying to win – there’s just no other way. You see like, the banners and the 20 Big Ten championships, 10 Final Fours, like, they put a lot of work in. This probably wasn’t the plan I wanted for myself, but these are the cards I was dealt. My last two years were a learning curve, learning each and every day. Now I’ve grown. I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of college basketball. And I’ve learned to tell these guys, like ‘It’s going to be a long season. No one practice, no one game is going to define who we are as a team.’ But what we do each and every day to better ourselves as a team (and) as a program. To win at Ohio State means way more than any other program.”

Thornton also could have entered the NBA Draft to test his draft stock and get feedback from pro teams, but he was not projected to be taken in the 2025 NBA Draft, even if he had entered his name. Technically, he still could do that, but with this announcement, it seems unlikely.

Loyalty is a big thing for Bruce Thornton, who spoke at length about it last year after Chris Holtmann was fired.

“I just never felt it was okay just to go separate ways, especially being a captain, you have a responsibility,” he said. “Especially as a man, you don’t just quit... that’s the thing my mom always taught me, just to finish things out.”

Ohio State now has verbal commitments from John Mobley Jr. and Bruce Thornton for the 2025-26 season. Unlike last year, it doesn’t look like every single returning player — there could be up to 11 — will make a full-throated announcement that they’re coming back.

However, Mobley and Thornton were two-thirds of a pivotal core that Diebler needed to retain. The third — Devin Royal — has not made any formal commitment or comment, but his public lobbying for former Xavier forward Dailyn Swain (who transferred to Texas) and former Indiana guard Gabe Cupps (who did transfer to Ohio State) to come to Ohio State this spring seem to indicate which way he is leaning.

There will be immense pressure on Diebler, Thornton and this Ohio State team to not only make the NCAA Tournament in 2026, but to win games in said tournament. The roster churn will continue throughout the spring, but with the biggest piece of the puzzle deciding to run it back will certainly put Diebler and his staff at ease.

Continue reading...

DC Matt Patricia (Official Thread)

I’d have to agree regarding the surround sound on him. It seemingly is very positive.

It’s a bit ponderous how different that seems to be compared to some of the talk when he was announced. NGL, if there’s going to be some kind of delta here, I’ll take ‘better than what we were hearing at hire’ than the alternative.
It was always going to be this way. Early reactions are "bad hire", but the closer we get to football and WANTING it to be a home run, the more people just decide it's a home run.
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2025 scUM Shenanigans, Arguments, etc.

How many pieces of the ‘23 team would’ve still been there if the ‘21 and ‘22 teams had not cheated?

Would Underwood be there without the cheating?

They benefited from cheating not just all the way through ‘23, but all the way through ‘24 and even into this season

The hammer has a lot of work to do to restore balance
Well Underwood they just straight up overpriced and bought him. He didn’t want to be there if all things were equal.
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