2025-2026 Ohio State Men's Basketball

[ScriptOhio]

Close the books and throw it away. Officially on to next year…

Let’s start on the roster turnover now.

If all 3 or even 2 of our best 3 players are hitting the portal, then I’d say we need to move on from Jake. He can’t reasonably turn it around next year if our talent isn’t better than it was this Year. And by turning the Crown Tourney down I’d say Jake knows that a critical mass of our current starters aren’t going to be here in 2 weeks.

Hopefully they stay and we can give Jake another year to figure it out and win next year.

From the players perspective I can see why they wouldn't want to stay. The lack of care for the program from the Athletic Department surely trickles down to them.

I'd say Thornton and Mobley are walking for sure. I could see Royal sticking around but would not be shocked if he left as well.

Just sayin': Well, for starters Micah Parrish (Senior), Ques Glover (Senior), and Meechie Johnson (quit team) definitely won't be back. I'll also say Kalen Etzler (who has been here 4 years; but redshirted one) won't be back either.

Can Ohio State return the "core players", i.e. Bruce Thornton, Devin Royal, Evan Mahaffey, and John Mobley? I'll say that they also want to keep Ivan Njegovan, Colin White, Taison Chatman, and Austin Parks all who have potential to develop and be significant contributors.

Just the fact that they finished 2024/2025 2-5 and declined the Las Vegas tournament leads me to believe that there was some unhappiness/disenstion on the team. Does Bruce thornton go pro? Do any of the above transfer out?

The other big questions are:

1) What about Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart. They were major disappointments considering the amount of NIL money they probably received, etc. I'm guessing that they just hit the transfer portial again this year.

2) Can Diebler get some impact players for 2025/2026 out of the portial?

Ohio State Buckeyes Roster 2024-25​

Team Roster

Name	POS	HT	WT	Class	Birthplace
	Colby Baumann	G	6' 3"	185 lbs	JR	Houston, TX
	Aaron Bradshaw	F	7' 1"	215 lbs	SO	Rahway, NJ
	Taison Chatman	G	6' 4"	175 lbs	SO	Minneapolis, MN
	Kalen Etzler	F	6' 8"	185 lbs	JR	Van Wert, OH
	Ques Glover	G	6' 0"	185 lbs	SR	Knoxville, TN
	Meechie Johnson Jr.	G	6' 2"	185 lbs	SR	Cleveland, OH
	Evan Mahaffey	G	6' 6"	200 lbs	JR	Cincinnati, OH
	John Mobley Jr.	G	6' 1"	175 lbs	FR	Reynoldsburg, OH
	Braylen Nash	G	6' 4"	180 lbs	FR	New Albany, OH
	Ivan Njegovan	C	7' 1"	250 lbs	FR	Otocac, Croatia
	Austin Parks	C	6' 10"	260 lbs	SO	Saint Marys, OH
	Micah Parrish	G	6' 6"	205 lbs	SR	Detroit, MI
	Devin Royal	F	6' 6"	220 lbs	SO	Pickerington, OH
	Sean Stewart	F	6' 9"	220 lbs	SO	Windermere, FL
	Bruce Thornton	G	6' 2"	215 lbs	JR	Fairburn, GA
	Colin White	F	6' 6"	205 lbs	FR	Ottawa, OH

Update: Austin Parks transferring.

 

[buckeyemania11]

Just sayin': Well, for starters Micah Parrish (Senior), Ques Glover (Senior), and Meechie Johnson (quit team) definitely won't be back. I'll also say Kalen Etzler (who has been here 4 years; but redshirted one) won't be back either.

Can Ohio State return the "core players", i.e. Bruce Thornton, Devin Royal, Evan Mahaffey, and John Mobley? I'll say that they also want to keep Austin Parks, Ivan Njegovan, Colin White, Taison Chatman, and Austin Parks all who have potential to develop and be significant contributors.

Just the fact that they finished 2024/2025 2-5 and declined the Las Vegas tournament leads me to believe that there was some unhappiness/disenstion on the team. Does Bruce thornton go pro? Do any of the above transfer out?

The other big questions are:

1) about Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart. They were major disappointments considering the amount of NIL money they probably received, etc. I'm guessing that they just hit the transfer portial again this year.

2) Can Diebler get some impact players for 2025/2026 out of the portial?

Ohio State Buckeyes Roster 2024-25​

Team Roster

Name	POS	HT	WT	Class	Birthplace
	Colby Baumann	G	6' 3"	185 lbs	JR	Houston, TX
	Aaron Bradshaw	F	7' 1"	215 lbs	SO	Rahway, NJ
	Taison Chatman	G	6' 4"	175 lbs	SO	Minneapolis, MN
	Kalen Etzler	F	6' 8"	185 lbs	JR	Van Wert, OH
	Ques Glover	G	6' 0"	185 lbs	SR	Knoxville, TN
	Meechie Johnson Jr.	G	6' 2"	185 lbs	SR	Cleveland, OH
	Evan Mahaffey	G	6' 6"	200 lbs	JR	Cincinnati, OH
	John Mobley Jr.	G	6' 1"	175 lbs	FR	Reynoldsburg, OH
	Braylen Nash	G	6' 4"	180 lbs	FR	New Albany, OH
	Ivan Njegovan	C	7' 1"	250 lbs	FR	Otocac, Croatia
	Austin Parks	C	6' 10"	260 lbs	SO	Saint Marys, OH
	Micah Parrish	G	6' 6"	205 lbs	SR	Detroit, MI
	Devin Royal	F	6' 6"	220 lbs	SO	Pickerington, OH
	Sean Stewart	F	6' 9"	220 lbs	SO	Windermere, FL
	Bruce Thornton	G	6' 2"	215 lbs	JR	Fairburn, GA
	Colin White	F	6' 6"	205 lbs	FR	Ottawa, OH

Do we really want Mahaffey back? lol guy plays ok defense but he's gotta be one of the worst offensive players on a power program team.

I think Stewart might be salvageable still, he had some good moments. Bradshaw though would not be sad to see walk, he wasn't even close to being even a average B1G player.

Diebler needs to go hard after mid major/smaller school players with proven production. No more of these former 5* types who only still get hype based on their past HS recruit rankings. There's a reason Kentucky and Duke weren't sad to see Stewart and Bradshaw go.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Do we really want Mahaffey back? lol guy plays ok defense but he's gotta be one of the worst offensive players on a power program team.

I think Stewart might be salvageable still, he had some good moments. Bradshaw though would not be sad to see walk, he wasn't even close to being even a average B1G player.

Diebler needs to go hard after mid major/smaller school players with proven production. No more of these former 5* types who only still get hype based on their past HS recruit rankings. There's a reason Kentucky and Duke weren't sad to see Stewart and Bradshaw go.

I was surprised to see Mahaffey's shooting percentage ( i.e. 49 of 73 for 67%......

) for 2024/2025:

Stats
2024-25, Ohio State
2023-24, Ohio State
2022-23, Penn State

GP	MIN	FG%	3P%	FT%	REB	AST	BLK	STL	PF	TO	PTS
32	18.0	67.1	50.0	38.5	3.1	0.8	0.9	0.7	2.2	0.6	3.6
36	22.0	43.2	11.8	61.9	4.2	1.7	0.7	1.0	2.4	0.9	4.3
34	9.3	56.9	33.3	57.1	1.7	0.4	0.2	0.3	1.7	0.4	2.8

The guy shots 67% from the field, maybe he just needs to shot more. Regardless he definitely needs to work on his FT% which is probably what kept him out of the game a lot during end of the several games when Ohio State was trying to hold on to the lead and the opponents were fouling. If I had to guess (and this is just a guess) I'd say he lacks confidence, he doesn't want the ball in his hands (or to take the critical shot) when the game is on the line.

 

[brodybuck21]

and here we go...........

 

[brodybuck21]

Ohio State Point Guard Commit Marcus Johnson is “Definitely Locked In” With the Buckeyes, Undecided Whether He Will Reclassify to 2025 Class​

By Josh Poloha on March 17, 2025 at 9:05 am @jorshp

• OSU Basketball Recruiting

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On the same night Ohio State's NCAA Tournament hopes officially ended, Marcus Johnson's season came to a close as well.
After Garfield Heights’ Division III state semifinal loss Sunday night in a sold-out Canton Memorial Field House, the 2026 four-star point guard and Ohio State commit didn't hold back when it came to praising Ohio State's coaching staff, a group he is extremely close with.
"I just got off the phone with (Jake) Diebler today. He's a really good coach, a really good guy," Johnson said. "Definitely locked in with Ohio State."
While he is fully committed to the Buckeyes, Johnson has yet to decide whether or not he will reclassify to the 2025 class, though he said it is an option.
"It's an option right now, but I don't know yet. It's a decision for sure," Johnson said.

Ohio State Point Guard Commit Marcus Johnson is “Definitely Locked In” With the Buckeyes, Undecided Whether He Will Reclassify to 2025 Class

While Ohio State point guard commit Marcus Johnson is “definitely locked in” with the Buckeyes, he's unsure whether he will reclassify to the 2025 class or stay in the 2026 cycle.

www.elevenwarriors.com

 

[WhoDeyForever]

If we can get Marcus to reclassify., that would be huge. I'm hopeful Bruce stays .

Bruce/Mobley/Johnson/Chatman/Jones would be a nice backcourt.

 

[Thump]

No one is a scared cow on this roster.

 

[DZ83CK]

No one is a scared cow on this roster.

Indeed. Hopefully no "scared cow" is on this roster.

 

[ScriptOhio]

No one is a scared cow on this roster.

Bruce Thornton is the one guy you would hate to see transfer. Opting for the NBA would be understandable; but I sure hope he doesn't just transfer to another school.

Bruce Thornton: Academic All-Big Ten (2024)

Besides it would be great to see him stick around and graduate too.

 

[DZ83CK]

Do we really want Mahaffey back? lol guy plays ok defense but he's gotta be one of the worst offensive players on a power program team.

I think Stewart might be salvageable still, he had some good moments. Bradshaw though would not be sad to see walk, he wasn't even close to being even a average B1G player.

Diebler needs to go hard after mid major/smaller school players with proven production. No more of these former 5* types who only still get hype based on their past HS recruit rankings. There's a reason Kentucky and Duke weren't sad to see Stewart and Bradshaw go.

I agree that it is critical to get productive players from the portal to add to this team. The one benefit of ending this season early is it helps give Diebler a head start on the portal. He's got to find the right guys to add to this team, that should be his main focus for the next couple of months. Stewart is a good role player, ideally he should be coming off the bench (or play with 4 guys who can score) but he is not a bad fit for this program. Bradshaw is fine as a supporting depth player, but we need someone to be the alpha in the post & he just wasn't able to fill the shoes of Okpara.

 

[DZ83CK]

Bruce Thornton is the one guy you would hate to see transfer. Opting for the NBA would be understandable; but I sure hope he doesn't just transfer to another school.

Bruce Thornton: Academic All-Big Ten (2024)

Besides it would be great to see him stick around and graduate too.

I agree, he is the heart and soul of this team, you don't want him to leave, but then again I always say everyone is replaceable. You just have to know what you're doing in recruiting.

 

[DZ83CK]

It will be interesting to see what happens. My guess is Bruce will make the jump to the NBA - he does seem to me like a guy who could be a good backup point in the league. Oftentimes we see guys spend 3 years, make the most out of themselves and then make the jump - I think that's Bruce in a nutshell. I just don't see where he improves his game with another year in college.

If Bruce leaves, perhaps that will motivate Meechie to try and return. His first year, 2020-21, was the COVID freebie, so that doesn't count & this past year he could use as a redshirt year since he only played in 10 games. That means Meechie could be eligible to play this upcoming season at OSU. If he does, maybe that motivates Marcus to come a year early. Obviously we need Mobley to come back. I'm thinking that ultimately we will be OK in the backcourt, it's really the frontcourt (particularly the 5 position) that concerns me. I really hope Royal and Stewart return, Bradshaw it would be good if he returns too, but they need a true 5 man as none of those 3 are true posts. Parks it seems they do not want to really rely on, and Ivan didn't seem like they had too much confidence in, either.

At this point, I'm thinking we will want to get 2 players from the portal, a scoring wing and a big man. If we don't have any of Bruce, Meechie or Marcus, we'll need a PG also.

 

[otisu]

If Bruce leaves, perhaps that will motivate Meechie to try and return. His first year, 2020-21, was the COVID freebie, so that doesn't count & this past year he could use as a redshirt year since he only played in 10 games. That means Meechie could be eligible to play this upcoming season at OSU. If he does, maybe that motivates Marcus to come a year early.

I’ve wondered if this was the plan all along.

 

[otisu]

Stewart is a good role player, ideally he should be coming off the bench (or play with 4 guys who can score) but he is not a bad fit for this program. Bradshaw is fine as a supporting depth player, but we need someone to be the alpha in the post & he just wasn't able to fill the shoes of Okpara.

Concern is how much NIL money is tied up in these two. They’re both role players. Is that the money they’re getting? Nice thing about NIL is you can offer what you think a player is worth to the program year-by-year. If they don’t like it…

 

[NFBuck]

Need a completely overhauled roster. Honestly have zero attachment to any of these guys.

Hit the portal hard based on actual production, not outdated recruiting rankings.