2025-2026 Ohio State Men's Basketball

[CMic]

In the NIL age, you need full buy-in from the AD and a war chest to compete with the big boys. We don't get that, we will be stuck in 15-18 win purgatory most years and I fear that's what's happening.

Does anyone know the going NIL rate for a 15 pt a game PF/C?
I heard what Bradshaw and Meechie were making (not sure if the numbers were correct) and my thought was they were very competitive amounts.
So, I don’t know if the issue is $ or talent evaluation??

 

[OHSportsFan]

Here’s a (not so) fun exercise now that all coaching vacanies are filled in the league. Rank the Big Ten coaches.

Very good chance Diebler is the bottom. Probably the lowest paid, least experienced, and worst (non-existent) resume.

That said, I’m with bm11. The investment starts at the top. Diebs clearly has to still overcome some Holtmann tendencies on the court (late collapses, droughts, playing style) and off the court (roster construction, transfer portal).

But you need serious investment to compete. With smaller rosters and what kid’s expect compared to NBA contracts, the price of basketball talent is high. The current AD has shown no interest in doing what it takes and that’s just sad.

Rough list off the top of my head

1. Izzo - MSU
2. Painter - Purdue
3. May - Ttun
4. Gard - Wisc
5. Cronin - UCLA
6. Buzz - Maryland
7. Underwood - Illinois
8. Altman - Oregon
9. Hoiberg - Nebraska
10. Mussleman - USC
11. Collins - Northwestern
12. McCollum - Iowa
13. DeVries - IU
14. Medved - Minny
15. Rhoades - PSU
16. Sprinkle - Wash - not going to lie, I don’t know anything about this guy or Washington basketball anymore. Looks like he’s been COY in 2 conferences though.

17. Diebler - OSU
18. Pikiell - Rutgers - somehow managed to screw up 2 lottery picks this year so he gets the last spot

 

[NFBuck]

Rough list off the top of my head

1. Izzo - MSU
2. Painter - Purdue
3. May - Ttun
4. Gard - Wisc
5. Cronin - UCLA
6. Buzz - Maryland
7. Underwood - Illinois
8. Altman - Oregon
9. Hoiberg - Nebraska
10. Mussleman - USC
11. Collins - Northwestern
12. McCollum - Iowa
13. DeVries - IU
14. Medved - Minny
15. Rhoades - PSU
16. Sprinkle - Wash - not going to lie, I don’t know anything about this guy or Washington basketball anymore. Looks like he’s been COY in 2 conferences though.

17. Diebler - OSU
18. Pikiell - Rutgers - somehow managed to screw up 2 lottery picks this year so he gets the last spot

I'm not even sold on a coach being as important as it was a few years ago. CBB is becoming an "assets" business. It used to be about systems and culture, but that is seriously de-emphasized in today's world of mercenaries playing for 2-3-4 different schools in their career. It's a pro game now. I'm not saying it's not at all important, but not what it was. Buy the best roster you can and roll the dice from year-to-year. At a school with tOSU's athletics department, they should absolutely be in the game.

 

[OHSportsFan]

I'm not even sold on a coach being as important as it was a few years ago. CBB is becoming an "assets" business. It used to be about systems and culture, but that is seriously de-emphasized in today's world of mercenaries playing for 2-3-4 different schools in their career. It's a pro game now. I'm not saying it's not at all important, but not what it was. Buy the best roster you can and roll the dice from year-to-year. At a school with tOSU's athletics department, they should absolutely be in the game.

Fair point. Certainly need coaches that can motivate and draw up the right play at the right time (Izzo, Sampson). But yeah. Gotta go acquire talent like the “Big 3” era of pro ball.

Watching the Sweet 16/Elite 8 games and it looked like a different sport/athletes compared to what I watched with OSU this year.

 

[Bestbuck36]

Basketball sucks

 

[DZ83CK]

Fair point. Certainly need coaches that can motivate and draw up the right play at the right time (Izzo, Sampson). But yeah. Gotta go acquire talent like the “Big 3” era of pro ball.

Watching the Sweet 16/Elite 8 games and it looked like a different sport/athletes compared to what I watched with OSU this year.

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.

 

[RuGettinIt]

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.

 

[ScriptOhio]

NO	Player	POS	HT	WT	CLASS	Hometown
10	Colby Baumann	G	6-3	185	Soph	Houston, TX
.	.	.	.	.	.	.
xx	A'mare Bynum	F	6-8	225	Fr	Branson, MO
3	Taison Chatman	G	6-4	175	redSoph	Minneapolis, MN
xx	Gabe Cupps	G	6-2	180	redJr	Dayton, OH
.	.	.	.	.	.	.
xx	Dorrian Jones	G	6-4	160	Fr	Cleveland, OH
0	John Mobley Jr.	G	6-1	175	Soph	Reynoldsburg, OH
14	Braylen Nash	G	6-4	180	Soph	New Albany, NY
17	Ivan Njegovan	C	7-1	250	Soph	Otocac, Croatia
.	.	.	.	.	.	.
21	Devin Royal	F	6-6	220	Jr	Pickerington, OH
13	Sean Stewart	F	6-9	220	Jr	Windermere, FL
xx	Christoph Tilly	C	7-0	240	Sr	Berlin, Germany
2	Bruce Thornton	G	6-2	215	Sr	Fairburn, GA
20	Colin White	F	6-6	205	Soph	Ottawa, OH

Just sayin': The NCAA limit for men's basketball is 15 players. We still could add at least 2 more.

 

[DZ83CK]

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.

Good question. Holtmann brings up a lot of question-marks. Like why was Zed Key his target for a high school recruit when we needed help in the post, what was it that Zed brought that was a particular fit for Ohio State? He's a good player, don't get me wrong, but undersized, below-the-rim posts don't work out really well long-term in big boy college basketball. I'm not sure Holtmann ever appreciated the level he needed his team to be at in order to be a success at Ohio State.

 

[ScriptOhio]

The Ohio State men’s basketball team got better on Thursday

Jake Diebler added a starter via the portal and returned a starter on the same day.

www.landgrantholyland.com

The Ohio State men’s basketball team got better on Thursday​

Jake Diebler added a starter via the portal and returned a starter on the same day.

Things have been a little tense for Ohio State fans over the past 10 days. They’ve watched a few great players with Columbus roots enter the transfer portal, consider Ohio State, and then go elsewhere. They’ve watched their biggest rival swipe a player that was also considering Ohio State, and the status of the team’s best player was up in the air as well, as he weighed staying, transferring, or going pro.

Meanwhile, teams all across the country like UConn, Baylor, Miami, and Louisville were walking down the aisles of the transfer portal supermarket and throwing anything they wanted into their shopping cart without even checking the price.

Well take a deep breath, Ohio State fans. Your favorite team got a whole lot better on Thursday.

It started with head coach Jake Diebler announcing that Bruce Thornton, the team’s leading scorer for the past two seasons and a three-time captain, would be returning for his senior season. He expects Thornton to enter the 2025 NBA Draft and work out for teams to get feedback on his game, but ultimately expects Bruce (who is not projected to be a draft pick) to return to Ohio State.

It goes without saying that Bruce Thornton’s return is massive for not just the team, but the program and the fanbase. Aside from the fact that Thornton is a phenomenal player, he’s a rare occurrence — someone who stayed at the same school all four years. It’s tougher and tougher these days for kids to grow up and have a “favorite player” in college, because players are constantly changing teams. Thornton is one of the few exceptions.

Later Thursday afternoon, former Santa Clara center Christoph Tilly — a 7-foot tall, 240-pound center who was born in Germany but spent much of his childhood in Chile, transferred to Ohio State. He averaged 12.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game last season, playing for Herb Sendek at Santa Clara.

Ohio State’s pursuit of and commitment to Tilly is a complete 180 from last year’s transfer portal strategy. Last spring, Jake Diebler swung high for the uber-talented sophomores who didn’t perform as freshmen, and it blew up in his face.

Aaron Bradshaw fell marvelously short of expectations, and this week he entered the transfer portal once again looking for a fresh start elsewhere. Sean Stewart showed more promise than Bradshaw and the arrow is pointing up for the soon-to-be junior, but ultimately 5.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in 18.4 minutes per game did not meet the expectations that anyone had for the former McDonald’s All-American.
.
.
continued
.
.
What happened on Thursday isn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, but the bottom line is that Ohio State got better yesterday. For a team that was probably one win away from making the NCAA Tournament last year, that’s all that matters.

 

[buckeyemania11]

 

[ScriptOhio]

Holes that the Ohio State basketball team still need to fill in the transfer portal

The Ohio State basketball team still has a lot of work to do in the transfer portal.

scarletandgame.com

Holes that the Ohio State basketball team still need to fill in the transfer portal​

The Ohio State basketball team still has a lot of work to do in the transfer portal.

The Ohio State basketball program has been in offseason mode for almost a month now. After deciding not to play in The Crown, they have been trying to figure out how to improve their roster. They have grabbed a couple of players from the transfer portal, including a solid big man.

That doesn't mean that these Ohio State Buckeyes are not anywhere close to being good enough for next year yet. There are still plenty of holes that they have to fill using the transfer portal. While a lot of good players are already gone from the portal, there are still plenty of guys who could help them.

So far, the Buckeyes have added just two players from the portal. They have had four players decide to enter the portal already, so they are at a net negative when it comes to numbers on the roster. There are several spots that need to be improved before the portal closes.

Where the Ohio State basketball needs to improve in the transfer portal​

While the Buckeyes did get a big man from Santa Clara, they need more of a starting-caliber center. They don't have a dominant big man and haven't for quite a while. That would be the biggest issue that they have as they look to next year, but it's not the only one.

Ohio State needs a small forward who they can count on to put the ball in the hoop and guard players on the perimeter. Now that Micah Parrish has graduated, they need someone who can help fill that void. It doesn't look like that player is currently on the roster.

Adding another power forward who can rebound is something else they have to get. Rebounding has been a major issue for them over the last few years. Adding another rebounder who can box out well should be high on their priority list.
.
.
.
continued

 

[calibuck]

Never understood how/why the Buckeyes keep getting gashed on the boards. Had the heighth, but maybe not the will? When you look at the shooting percentages, chances are very good that the shot misses, and ergo, means there will be a rebound. Seems like four (sometimes five) players backed up to the defensive end, and an easy board went to the opponents. Heck, doesn't take a mathematician to figure that if a player shoots 35%, that 6 out of ten times there'll be a rebound. "Crashing the boards" by sending two or three to try and corral the board isn't that bad a play. Especially if there's two good defenders hanging back. Won't spend any time discussing angles of the rebounds from the shot.....

 

[Tanner]

Agree with NIL being the most important thing in the sport now. But your coach has to also be able to go in a room and command the room with the money people and help to work out deals. All due respect I just don't think Diebler has that kind of cache. I wanted them to hire Calipari personally.

 

[Mike80]

Agree with NIL being the most important thing in the sport now. But your coach has to also be able to go in a room and command the room with the money people and help to work out deals. All due respect I just don't think Diebler has that kind of cache. I wanted them to hire Calipari personally.

The hand-wringing and pretending to care about Calipari's NCAA history would be hilarious - at least until he started winning. But I think he's vastly overrated as a coach myself.

Personally, I think the entire roster needs to be rebuilt. The recruiting strategy needs to be refocused instead of trying to find quick fixes all the time. Yes that might mean taking lumps intentionally (instead of taking them unintentionally), but clearly there's no patience for that, so we'll just keep repeating the same cycle over and over and over again when Deibler gets fired and the next coach comes in.