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2025-2026 Ohio State Men's Basketball

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Four Former Ohio State Players Will Play in 2026 NCAA Tournament

In addition to the current Buckeyes, this year’s NCAA Tournament will also feature four Ohio State transfers: Roddy Gayle Jr., Felix Okpara, Evan Mahaffey and Bowen Hardman.
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Four Former Ohio State Players Will Play in 2026 NCAA Tournament​

Michigan G Roddy Gayle Jr.​

It’s unlikely many Ohio State fans have forgotten about Gayle, considering where he transferred. They won’t be rooting for Gayle for the same reason, but the former Buckeye has a real chance to win a national championship in his final season of college basketball.

Gayle’s role has decreased a bit in his second season at Michigan, as he’s started just one game this year, but he’s still been a key player in the backcourt rotation for the Wolverines, who earned the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region with a 31-3 record. They enter the NCAA Tournament with the second-best odds (+370) to win the national championship.

A senior who played two years at Ohio State before transferring up north, Gayle is averaging seven points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 0.8 steals per game on 45.1% shooting.

The Wolverines will open NCAA Tournament play at 7:10 p.m. Thursday (CBS) in Buffalo, New York, vs. the winner of the First Four game between No. 16 seeds UMBC and Howard.

Tennessee C Felix Okpara​

Another member of Thornton’s Ohio State recruiting class who left the Buckeyes in 2024 after Chris Holtmann’s firing, Okpara helped lead Tennessee to a 22-11 record this season and the No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region.

In his second year at Tennessee after two years at Ohio State, Okpara has averaged a career-high 7.7 points per game with 6.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per contest. Among all of Ohio State’s transfers in the NCAA Tournament, he’s the one the Buckeyes would most like to still have on their roster, as his size (6-foot-11 and 242 pounds) and defensive presence inside would provide a big boost to an Ohio State frontcourt that faces a daunting potential second-round matchup with No. 1 seed Duke and its superstar power forward, Cameron Boozer.

Instead, Okpara will play in his second straight NCAA Tournament with Tennessee, who’s made each of the last two Elite Eights. The Volunteers will be challenged right out of the gates in this year’s tournament, however, as they’ll play the winner of Wednesday’s First Four game between No. 11 seeds Miami (Ohio) and SMU at 4:25 p.m. Friday (TBS) in Philadelphia.

Akron F Evan Mahaffey and G Bowen Hardman​

The only team in college basketball with two former Buckeyes on its roster is also going dancing after winning the MAC Tournament.

Former Ohio State forward Evan Mahaffey has had a career year in his senior season after transferring to Akron last offseason. He’s started all 34 of the Zips’ games and tallied 10.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.7 steals per game, all career-highs. He earned MAC All-Defensive Team and All-MAC honorable mention status for his regular-season play, and scored 34 points with 21 rebounds, nine assists and six blocks in their three-game run to a conference tournament title.

Bowen Hardman – who, like Gayle and Okpara, transferred from Ohio State in 2024 after two years with the Buckeyes – has also had his best season of college basketball as a senior, averaging career-highs of 7.9 points and 1.6 rebounds on 18.3 minutes per game, including 11 starts. The sharpshooter enters the NCAA Tournament with momentum, having made 18 of his 33 3-point shot attempts for an average of 12.2 points in Akron’s last five games.

Buckeye transfers who didn’t make the tournament​

  • South Carolina G Meechie Johnson Jr.: After transferring from Ohio State to South Carolina for the second time, Johnson led the Gamecocks with career-highs of 17.2 points and 4.3 assists per game this season, but South Carolina went just 13-19 for the season.
  • Memphis C Aaron Bradshaw: Bradshaw, who transferred to his third school in three years after one year at Kentucky and one year at Ohio State, averaged career-highs of 8.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game for Memphis, but the Tigers also went just 13-19 on the season to fall well short of the NCAA Tournament.
  • Oregon F Sean Stewart: Stewart, who also transferred to his third school in three years after one year at Duke and one year at Ohio State, saw a slight increase in production with a career-high 6.5 points per game for the Ducks to go along with 5.2 rebounds per game. His team went just 12-20, however, and tied for 15th in the Big Ten.
  • Toledo C Austin Parks: Akron’s MAC Tournament win came at Parks’ expense, as Toledo suffered a heartbreaking 79-76 loss to the Zips in the conference championship game. That loss kept the Rockets out of the NCAA Tournament, but it was still a career year for Parks, who started all 34 of Toledo’s games and averaged 10.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 blocks per game.
  • Tulane F Scotty Middleton: Middleton, another former Buckeye who played for his third school in three years this season after one year at Ohio State and one year at Seton Hall, had his most productive season of college basketball to date with 6.9 points, four rebounds and 1.2 assists per game for Tulane. The Green Wave ended the season with an 18-15 record and a second-round loss in the American Athletic Conference tournament.
Just sayin': A few of these guys (i.e. Bradshaw, Okpara, Stewart, Gayle, and Meechie) definitely would have given the Buckeyes more depth, height, and/or scoring off the bench; however, I don't think any of them would have started over Thornton, Mobley, Royal, Tilly, and Bynum/Noel.
 
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Ok, my bet tonight was either Grayson Allen hits 3 3's or the Buckeyes beat Duke to get to the Sweet 16. He had 2 at halftime and made no other 3's to help Phoenix beat Boston. The universe abides. (Call it a Dude thing)

Buckeyes get to Sweet 16. Here we f'n go.
 
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That's what the Dance is all about. Playing the games. Upsets are legendary. What, #1 Arizona was upset by #16? Historically, some of the biggest upsets have been #12 rising up to smite #5. (nothing scientific, just my fuzzy recollections). Probably why the term "Cinderella Team" was coined. Assuming tOSU beats TCU, going up against #1 Duke will certainly be a challenge. Not enough of a chance for me to bet cash, but if everyone plays their best game, certainly possible. But let's beat TCU first, then scheme the Duke game after.....
 
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calibuck said:
That's what the Dance is all about. Playing the games. Upsets are legendary. What, #1 Arizona was upset by #16? Historically, some of the biggest upsets have been #12 rising up to smite #5. (nothing scientific, just my fuzzy recollections). Probably why the term "Cinderella Team" was coined. Assuming tOSU beats TCU, going up against #1 Duke will certainly be a challenge. Not enough of a chance for me to bet cash, but if everyone plays their best game, certainly possible. But let's beat TCU first, then scheme the Duke game after.....
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Records for every seed in March Madness from 1985 to 2025

These are the all-time, round-by-round records for every seed in the March Madness men's tournament from 1985 (when the field expanded) to 2025.
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Records for every seed in March Madness from 1985 to 2025​

The all time seed-vs-seed records in the first round:​

Seed vs. Seed. W-L Pct.
1 vs. 16 158-2 .988
2 vs. 15 149-11 .931
3 vs. 14 137-23 .856
4 vs. 13 127-33 .794
5 vs. 12 103-57 .644
6 vs. 11 98-62 .613
7 vs. 10* 97-62 .610
8 vs. 9 77-83 .481
*The 2021 first round match-up between No. 7 Oregon and No. 10 VCU was considered a no contest due to COVID-19 protocols.
 
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DZ83CK said:
Alright. The season is over. Would you say the overall performance was below, met, or exceeded expectations?

I would say this was a "meets expectations" season based on preseason projections, but certainly you'd like to have seen a little more success.
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I think it was about the bare minimum of the met expectations scale. They needed to make the tournament and they did but they flopped big time and were completely unprepared out of the gate in a game they probably shoulda won in the 1st round.

Diebler needs more signature wins outside of Purdue next season for one. That's still his whole resume at the moment. Clear progress in the xs and os and having guys consistently prepared aspect as well. If we are in the same spot or worse after next year I think it's time to move on but I get the feeling the AD will be ok with bare minimum expectations and get the bad feeling we end up with another Holtmann type extension fiasco.
 
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DZ83CK said:
Alright. The season is over. Would you say the overall performance was below, met, or exceeded expectations?

I would say this was a "meets expectations" season based on preseason projections, but certainly you'd like to have seen a little more success. Ideally, you get a couple real assets in the portal and take a step forward next season.
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With NIL at 12-14th in the B1G, an 8th place finish is probably a 75 percentile result. Obviously, not where I want the program to be, but we’ll likely be worse next year unless NIL is increased.
 
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CMic said:
With NIL at 12-14th in the B1G, an 8th place finish is probably a 75 percentile result. Obviously, not where I want the program to be, but we’ll likely be worse next year unless NIL is increased.
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Yeah, that's what worries me the most, NIL. The best players are expensive, and I don't think OSU is going to provide NIL that allows for them to get those types of players. So the coaches have to outsmart the competition - you could say maybe they did that with Amare Bynum, but no one else they added a year ago was really the type of player that helped them win more than a hypothetical average replacement player would have. The hit rate on transfers needs to go way up, I realize they need to have a certain quantity of players for practice & emergency depth reasons, but that can't be more than half the roster.
 
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I still think the NIL thing is without some context. That's money spent not funds available. We were reportedly in on guys like Swain Peterson and Williams until the end. Who knows how much money ended up going unspent because we got burnt waiting on those guys and had to settle for scraps by the time they decided for elsewhere. I'm not saying we have a scUM money at all but I don't think the situation is as awful as some want to think.

This is why we need to be better at highlighting the best more realistic options Instead of hoping and waiting on those high high level types.
 
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buckeyemania11 said:
I still think the NIL thing is without some context. That's money spent not funds available. We were reportedly in on guys like Swain Peterson and Williams until the end. Who knows how much money ended up going unspent because we got burnt waiting on those guys and had to settle for scraps by the time they decided for elsewhere. I'm not saying we have a scUM money at all but I don't think the situation is as awful as some want to think.

This is why we need to be better at highlighting the best more realistic options Instead of hoping and waiting on those high high level types.
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Well, I don’t know if we left money on the table or not. But I do know we weren’t able to entice a top forward to OSU last year, which limits my expectations for getting a top PG this year.
 
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