2025-2026 Ohio State Men's Basketball

[Mike80]

According to a post yesterday from @OSUHoopsInsider on X, Josh Ojianwuna is expected to redshirt this season due to injury. Devastating for this team. I do not project this team to be able to make the NCAA tournament without Ojianwuna.

I didn't think they were going to make it with him either....sucks for the kid though, I'm beyond certain he'd rather be out on the court.

 

[DZ83CK]

Reporters covering this team need to be really focusing on NIL, getting more info about where the resources are being allocated and how, and exactly what happened this past offseason. That's the real story behind the story of this team and its struggles, but Jake Diebler is going to take all the flack for it. Did OSU's hesitance to use collectives hold back this team with NIL? I think that there may be some truth to OSU having one hand behind their back compared to other programs, but we don't get much info on that.

Whatever they spent, it would make no sense if there was not a major decrease in the amount allocated on this team overall. They lost four guys that they had to commit significant NIL funds to (Meechie, Bradshaw, Stewart and Parrish) and added guys who mostly would not command much NIL (Cupps, Noel ... Tilly I believe as a non-American-born player was not eligible for substantial NIL anywhere). Ojianwuna had a season-ending injury and was obviously going to have a delayed start to this season, so it's doubtful there was any kind of bidding war for him. Bynum is the only guy that they brought in that might be getting some decent NIL, but even he was not a super high profile recruit. Where is the money? Is it all going to football? Did the impending Commission cause OSU to go overboard and prevent substantial NIL from being used? Clearly if they are investing in this team, it does not appear to be managed well at all. IMO, only Bruce Thornton and Devin Royal are worthy of high NIL deals, and everyone else should be getting near the minimum or not very much above it.

We may have to wait until next year to see if OSU is actually committed to using substantial NIL in basketball.

 

[OHSportsFan]

Pitt lost to Hofstra at home tonight. That is going to be a bad loss, if it matters later.

 

[buckeyemania11]

Reporters covering this team need to be really focusing on NIL, getting more info about where the resources are being allocated and how, and exactly what happened this past offseason. That's the real story behind the story of this team and its struggles, but Jake Diebler is going to take all the flack for it. Did OSU's hesitance to use collectives hold back this team with NIL? I think that there may be some truth to OSU having one hand behind their back compared to other programs, but we don't get much info on that.

Whatever they spent, it would make no sense if there was not a major decrease in the amount allocated on this team overall. They lost four guys that they had to commit significant NIL funds to (Meechie, Bradshaw, Stewart and Parrish) and added guys who mostly would not command much NIL (Cupps, Noel ... Tilly I believe as a non-American-born player was not eligible for substantial NIL anywhere). Ojianwuna had a season-ending injury and was obviously going to have a delayed start to this season, so it's doubtful there was any kind of bidding war for him. Bynum is the only guy that they brought in that might be getting some decent NIL, but even he was not a super high profile recruit. Where is the money? Is it all going to football? Did the impending Commission cause OSU to go overboard and prevent substantial NIL from being used? Clearly if they are investing in this team, it does not appear to be managed well at all. IMO, only Bruce Thornton and Devin Royal are worthy of high NIL deals, and everyone else should be getting near the minimum or not very much above it.

We may have to wait until next year to see if OSU is actually committed to using substantial NIL in basketball.

It's possible for two things to be true here. The NIL Issue and Diebler just not being very good overall as a basketball coach. He's yet to show us anything to give confidence that he's not just a continuation of holtmann

 

[DZ83CK]

It's possible for two things to be true here. The NIL Issue and Diebler just not being very good overall as a basketball coach. He's yet to show us anything to give confidence that he's not just a continuation of holtmann

He's yet to show YOU anything. The truth is Diebler is starting to get elite recruits, they're just not here yet. He also did coach the team well during his time as interim coach - there was an immediate turnaround and it was a breath of fresh air compared with Holtmann coaching the exact same team. So to say there's nothing to show he's not a continuation of Holtmann is objectively false. While not a 5-star, Bynum looks like a recruiting hit, and Mobley was an OK recruit as well, so perhaps the high school recruits are becoming more hits and less misses. Holtmann never got a 5-star recruit to commit to OSU, not once. I do believe wholeheartedly that NIL has been hampering this program, and that - along with Meechie Johnson's flake-out & Ojianwuna not recovering quickly from injury - has helped torpedo Diebler's first couple of seasons.

 

[buckeyemania11]

He's yet to show YOU anything. The truth is Diebler is starting to get elite recruits, they're just not here yet. He also did coach the team well during his time as interim coach - there was an immediate turnaround and it was a breath of fresh air compared with Holtmann coaching the exact same team. So to say there's nothing to show he's not a continuation of Holtmann is objectively false. While not a 5-star, Bynum looks like a recruiting hit, and Mobley was an OK recruit as well, so perhaps the high school recruits are becoming more hits and less misses. Holtmann never got a 5-star recruit to commit to OSU, not once. I do believe wholeheartedly that NIL has been hampering this program, and that - along with Meechie Johnson's flake-out & Ojianwuna not recovering quickly from injury - has helped torpedo Diebler's first couple of seasons.

As a recruiter sure he's clearly better than Holtmann, But as an actual basketball coach? we still see a lot of the same problems that plagued the last couple years of Holtmann going on way too often.