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2025-2026 Ohio State Men's Basketball

With Jones de-committing I am afraid we have an old fashioned dumpster fire on on our hands
If you thought Dorian Jones was the key to the future, you've mis-evaluated. No one was saying Jones was the key to lead this team to the tournament or a B1G title next season - in fact, it was doubtful that he would have been in the playing group in big games.

Clearly we have not gotten the big fish in basketball recruiting, that's the bigger issue. Transfer rankings are like other rankings and only of modest value for projection, but you would like to think OSU would be able to snag somebody who's a top-20 transfer and not just guys who are borderline top-100 transfers.

At the end of the day, this team will go as far as Thornton, Mobley and Royal can take it. They will need Ojianwuna to be healthy and playing well. I'm still kind of suspecting this team will add another transfer at the wing who could start. Maybe this is another NIT-level team, but with a good wing starter added, they can be a decent team that makes the tourney. I realize that's not satisfying after 10 years of mediocrity for the men's hoops program, but Rome wasn't built in a day and I feel like fans are unfairly impatient with Jake Diebler. The guy has had one year and people want to hang the last 10 years all on him like he's the real reason we've not been winning. I believe the main reason is NIL, OSU has not been on par with the top college hoops programs - we actually lose hoops recruits to BYU because of NIL, a guy who could start for OSU & really make a difference for how good this team would have been literally chose BYU for NIL. We lost 2 starters last offseason to non-blue blood programs and I blame NIL. If the money is consistently higher elsewhere, it's going to take a Hall of Fame-level coach for us to have a perennial contender in hoops.
 
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If you thought Dorian Jones was the key to the future, you've mis-evaluated. No one was saying Jones was the key to lead this team to the tournament or a B1G title next season - in fact, it was doubtful that he would have been in the playing group in big games.

Clearly we have not gotten the big fish in basketball recruiting, that's the bigger issue. Transfer rankings are like other rankings and only of modest value for projection, but you would like to think OSU would be able to snag somebody who's a top-20 transfer and not just guys who are borderline top-100 transfers.

At the end of the day, this team will go as far as Thornton, Mobley and Royal can take it. They will need Ojianwuna to be healthy and playing well. I'm still kind of suspecting this team will add another transfer at the wing who could start. Maybe this is another NIT-level team, but with a good wing starter added, they can be a decent team that makes the tourney. I realize that's not satisfying after 10 years of mediocrity for the men's hoops program, but Rome wasn't built in a day and I feel like fans are unfairly impatient with Jake Diebler. The guy has had one year and people want to hang the last 10 years all on him like he's the real reason we've not been winning. I believe the main reason is NIL, OSU has not been on par with the top college hoops programs - we actually lose hoops recruits to BYU because of NIL, a guy who could start for OSU & really make a difference for how good this team would have been literally chose BYU for NIL. We lost 2 starters last offseason to non-blue blood programs and I blame NIL. If the money is consistently higher elsewhere, it's going to take a Hall of Fame-level coach for us to have a perennial contender in hoops.
Not saying Jones was going to save the progrum by himself but it's symbolic. They don't get any good transfers and if you are now losing a 4 star kid from fargin Cleveland, that is a sign something is not right. Also a Hall of Fame level coach wanted the job and they chose Chris Holtmann's lead assistant over him
 
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Not saying Jones was going to save the progrum by himself but it's symbolic. They don't get any good transfers and if you are now losing a 4 star kid from fargin Cleveland, that is a sign something is not right. Also a Hall of Fame level coach wanted the job and they chose Chris Holtmann's lead assistant over him
You say that, but have you considered Calipari wanted it at first, then found out OSU didn't want to invest in NIL at the right level? That ship sailed pretty quickly. IMO, most roads are leading back to the conclusion of NIL not being sufficient to make OSU a national power in men's basketball. Also, can't really blame OSU for Jones not qualifying academically - that's on the player moreso than the program.
 
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Overanalyzing Ross Bjork’s recent comments about the Ohio State men’s basketball program

Here’s what Bjork said are his expectations for the program, broken down bit by bit. Now that we’ve got this on record, we know exactly where the bar is that the second-year AD expects the second-year head coach to clear.

“Finish in the upper quadrant of the Big Ten”

“To me, you want to finish in the upper quadrant of the Big Ten,” Bjork said. “That means you’re competing for a championship.”

By definition, a “quadrant” is one of four spaces on a grid when the x and y axes dissect a grid. Finishing in the “upper quadrant” probably means finishing in the “upper fourth” based on the mathematical definition of the term.
With 18 teams in the Big Ten, that means finishing in the top four or five of the Big Ten every season. It’s been four years since Ohio State finished in the top five of the Big Ten. A top-four finish means getting a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament, so Bjork thinks the Buckeyes should be fighting for that double-bye every season, based on his comments.

Be an NCAA Tournament team

“You want to be in the conversation all year long as an NCAA Tournament team.”

The unspoken part there is to be in the conversation for a Big Ten title all year long as an NCAA Tournament team, but the part I think is most important is the NCAA Tournament part. Bjork expects Ohio State to be playing in the NCAA Tournament every year going forward. Not making the big dance means the season was a failure — end of story.

The Buckeyes have missed the NCAA Tournament each of the past three seasons, although they came close this past season, finishing as the third team left out of the tournament this past season. Of the four teams who were left just on the outside (Ohio State, West Virginia, Indiana, Boise State), the Buckeyes had the highest NET ranking of the group.

Bjork thinks the Buckeyes were close, too, saying, “Did we want to win last year? Yeah, we did. We were maybe one game away from making the NCAA Tournament and being a good seed.”

“Make a run in the NCAA Tournament”

“And then you want to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.”

Diebler won’t be fired if he fails to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament next season — although failing to make the tournament at all might be a different story. Bjork is basically saying here that once every couple years, simply making the NCAA Tournament isn’t going to be enough at Ohio State.

Making it to the NCAA Tournament will be a given, but every once in awhile Bjork expects Ohio State to string some wins together in the tournament, too, resulting in a Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, or better. The last time Ohio State won more than one game in the NCAA Tournament was 2013.
 
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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, was in the business world. Learned (most likely the hard way), that in order to expect success, one must give their staff the tools to complete their tasks to the highest and best quality possible. If that's a given, then is Diebs being given the best tools to complete his tasks? AKA win the B10, beat Xichigan (and Indiana) twice, and make a deep run into the NCAAs. Is tOSU, Bjork, etc putting it's collective money where their mouths are? If yes, then it falls upon Diebler to 'buy' the tools with which to complete his appointed task(s). First to recruit these players (Ohioans still appear to be fleeing the state), and then turning them into a cohesive, effective team. We all know this. And if this approach isn't working, then one must work their away through the 'pipeline' to remove/rework the bottlenecks to achieving this goal. Go Bucks!
 
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Gabe Cupps, Brandon Noel and Christoph Tilly Acclimating to Ohio State Quickly, Buckeyes Hold Open Practice​



Former Wright State power forward Brandon Noel and Santa Clara center Christoph Tilly will start in the frontcourt, while Gabe Cupps arrives to be a team leader off the bench in the backcourt.

Each man met with Ohio State's media for the first time on Tuesday, all speaking for around eight minutes on what went into their decisions and what they'll bring to the Buckeyes on the court. Noel and Tilly are confident their games can translate to the Big Ten after playing weaker competition the past few seasons, while Cupps is eager to tap into his potential after losing most of his 2024-25 campaign to injury.

Just sayin': Click on the link to get the individual interviews.
 
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