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Buckeyes playing waiting game for elite transfer portal target Darrion Williams
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Ohio State is playing the long game in hopes of landing an elite Texas Tech transfer.
April was a good month for the Ohio State men’s basketball program. After missing the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season, Jake Diebler and his staff set out to make sure they were able to bring back the most productive players from last season’s team and then reinforce it with experienced transfer players that addressed weaknesses from last season.
In about a two-week span, they were able to check both of those boxes.
From March 27 to April 15, Ohio State was able to make public the returns of Bruce Thornton, Devin Royal, and John Mobley Jr. – a trio of starters who combined to score 44.4 points per game last season. In addition, former Wright State forward Brandon Noel and former Santa Clara center Christoph Tilly both announced that they would transfer to Ohio State. That pair of frontcourt transfers combined to score 31.5 points per game last season at their respective schools.
Since then, it’s been pretty much radio silence from the men’s basketball program. Sean Stewart hit the transfer portal hours before the deadline, but the soon-to-be junior forward was not projected to retain his starting spot he had last season. His departure isn’t nothing, but it does seem negligible if Noel and Tilly prove to be as good as expected.
Ohio State’s inactivity in the transfer market over the past three weeks could be the result of an inability to “land the big one.” The Buckeyes are rumored to be on the lookout for a starting-caliber guard as well a backup center, and had been involved with multiple big-time backcourt pieces, including former Southern Illinois guard Kennard Davis Jr. and former Howard guard Blake Harper.
Davis Jr. announced last week that he would be transferring to BYU, while Harper announced that he would transfer to Creighton for the upcoming season.
While Ohio State may have just whiffed on each of those recruits, it’s starting to look more likely that Diebler and his staff are actually waiting out another player – former Texas Tech forward Darrion Williams.
At 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds, Williams was listed as a forward on Texas Tech’s official roster but has racked up nearly 300 assists in his collegiate career and was second on TTU last season with 3.6 assists per game. He’s also a 37.9% three-point shooter and averaged 15.1 points per game as a junior. He is allegedly considering Ohio State, Kansas, and North Carolina State for next season, as well as possible other suitors that have yet to be publicly linked.
The only issue – well, the biggest issue – is that Williams is hoping that he’ll be playing in the NBA next season, not college.
Williams entered the NBA Draft on April 6, and put his name into the NCAA Transfer portal the same day. On Friday afternoon, Williams, along with 74 other players, was invited to participate in the NBA Draft Combine from May 11-18 in Chicago.
A combine invite is promising for a player’s draft stock, and will give the two-time All-Big 12 honoree ample opportunity to improve his draft stock. At the moment, Williams is looking like a mid-to-late second round pick – Tankathon has him going 47th overall, The Athletic has him at 39, and Yahoo Sports has him pegged as the 41st overall pick.
If Williams doesn’t get a first-round guarantee from a team at the NBA Combine next week, there’s a good chance he decides to play one more year of college. He would almost be guaranteed to earn more in NIL compensation at the college level (anywhere from $2-$4 Million) than he would as a middle of the second round selection.
Last season, the 39th pick in the draft – Jaylen Wells – signed a 4-year, $7.9-million dollar deal with the Grizzlies, with an average salary of $1.9-million.
The 47th pick in last year’s draft – Antonio Reeves – signed a 3-year, $5.4-million dollar contract with the Pelicans.
In 2023, the 47th overall pick – Mojave King – was drafted by the Lakers and traded to the Indiana Pacers, where he played a partial season for the G-League Indiana Mad Ants. The average salary for a G-League player is $40,000 If they aren’t on a two-way deal.
Ohio State has not been publicly linked with any other guards/small forwards over the last few weeks, making it seem like the program may be waiting out Williams as he goes through the draft process. On April 25, Diebler told Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch that fans may need to be “prepared to wait a bit” before any more players are added to the roster.
Is this the smart move? The NBA Draft Combine ends May 18, but Williams will have until June 15 to make a decision if he wants to stay in the draft or not. The Buckeyes could come up completely empty-handed if they wait, but is Diebler flipping the old idiom and deciding that two birds in the bush is worth more than the one in his hand?
In other words – is it worth the risk of not recruiting any other starting-caliber players and selling out for someone who (statistically speaking) is more likely to end up on some other team—whether that’s an NBA or college team — come June?
It seems like the answer to that – at least as of now – is yes. They can afford to gamble because Ohio State is returning more production from last year’s team than basically any other Big Ten program.
With Thornton, Royal, and Mobley back, Ohio State is one of just two Big Ten teams – along with Purdue – that will return at least three double-digit scorers. It’s also one of just three Big Ten teams – Purdue and UCLA being the other two – to return three of its top four scorers from a season ago.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25983738/usa_today_25592725.jpg "NCAA Basketball: Colorado at Texas Tech")
Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images
If the Buckeyes wait out Williams and don’t get a commitment, they seem fairly comfortable with what they’ve assembled to this point. But adding an All-American caliber player like Williams would be a huge boost to the team and should make them a consensus top-25 squad next season, as well as a serious contender in the Big Ten.
At this moment, it looks like if Ohio State is going to add another starter to the team via the transfer portal, it will be Darrion Williams. If that doesn’t shake out the way Diebler and his staff hope it does, many of the other available options will likely be off the board by the time he makes a decision. It looks like the coaching staff is fine with that.
And so we wait.
Continue reading...
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Ohio State is playing the long game in hopes of landing an elite Texas Tech transfer.
April was a good month for the Ohio State men’s basketball program. After missing the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season, Jake Diebler and his staff set out to make sure they were able to bring back the most productive players from last season’s team and then reinforce it with experienced transfer players that addressed weaknesses from last season.
In about a two-week span, they were able to check both of those boxes.
From March 27 to April 15, Ohio State was able to make public the returns of Bruce Thornton, Devin Royal, and John Mobley Jr. – a trio of starters who combined to score 44.4 points per game last season. In addition, former Wright State forward Brandon Noel and former Santa Clara center Christoph Tilly both announced that they would transfer to Ohio State. That pair of frontcourt transfers combined to score 31.5 points per game last season at their respective schools.
Since then, it’s been pretty much radio silence from the men’s basketball program. Sean Stewart hit the transfer portal hours before the deadline, but the soon-to-be junior forward was not projected to retain his starting spot he had last season. His departure isn’t nothing, but it does seem negligible if Noel and Tilly prove to be as good as expected.
Ohio State’s inactivity in the transfer market over the past three weeks could be the result of an inability to “land the big one.” The Buckeyes are rumored to be on the lookout for a starting-caliber guard as well a backup center, and had been involved with multiple big-time backcourt pieces, including former Southern Illinois guard Kennard Davis Jr. and former Howard guard Blake Harper.
Davis Jr. announced last week that he would be transferring to BYU, while Harper announced that he would transfer to Creighton for the upcoming season.
While Ohio State may have just whiffed on each of those recruits, it’s starting to look more likely that Diebler and his staff are actually waiting out another player – former Texas Tech forward Darrion Williams.
At 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds, Williams was listed as a forward on Texas Tech’s official roster but has racked up nearly 300 assists in his collegiate career and was second on TTU last season with 3.6 assists per game. He’s also a 37.9% three-point shooter and averaged 15.1 points per game as a junior. He is allegedly considering Ohio State, Kansas, and North Carolina State for next season, as well as possible other suitors that have yet to be publicly linked.
The only issue – well, the biggest issue – is that Williams is hoping that he’ll be playing in the NBA next season, not college.
Williams entered the NBA Draft on April 6, and put his name into the NCAA Transfer portal the same day. On Friday afternoon, Williams, along with 74 other players, was invited to participate in the NBA Draft Combine from May 11-18 in Chicago.
A combine invite is promising for a player’s draft stock, and will give the two-time All-Big 12 honoree ample opportunity to improve his draft stock. At the moment, Williams is looking like a mid-to-late second round pick – Tankathon has him going 47th overall, The Athletic has him at 39, and Yahoo Sports has him pegged as the 41st overall pick.
If Williams doesn’t get a first-round guarantee from a team at the NBA Combine next week, there’s a good chance he decides to play one more year of college. He would almost be guaranteed to earn more in NIL compensation at the college level (anywhere from $2-$4 Million) than he would as a middle of the second round selection.
Last season, the 39th pick in the draft – Jaylen Wells – signed a 4-year, $7.9-million dollar deal with the Grizzlies, with an average salary of $1.9-million.
The 47th pick in last year’s draft – Antonio Reeves – signed a 3-year, $5.4-million dollar contract with the Pelicans.
In 2023, the 47th overall pick – Mojave King – was drafted by the Lakers and traded to the Indiana Pacers, where he played a partial season for the G-League Indiana Mad Ants. The average salary for a G-League player is $40,000 If they aren’t on a two-way deal.
Ohio State has not been publicly linked with any other guards/small forwards over the last few weeks, making it seem like the program may be waiting out Williams as he goes through the draft process. On April 25, Diebler told Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch that fans may need to be “prepared to wait a bit” before any more players are added to the roster.
Is this the smart move? The NBA Draft Combine ends May 18, but Williams will have until June 15 to make a decision if he wants to stay in the draft or not. The Buckeyes could come up completely empty-handed if they wait, but is Diebler flipping the old idiom and deciding that two birds in the bush is worth more than the one in his hand?
In other words – is it worth the risk of not recruiting any other starting-caliber players and selling out for someone who (statistically speaking) is more likely to end up on some other team—whether that’s an NBA or college team — come June?
It seems like the answer to that – at least as of now – is yes. They can afford to gamble because Ohio State is returning more production from last year’s team than basically any other Big Ten program.
With Thornton, Royal, and Mobley back, Ohio State is one of just two Big Ten teams – along with Purdue – that will return at least three double-digit scorers. It’s also one of just three Big Ten teams – Purdue and UCLA being the other two – to return three of its top four scorers from a season ago.
If the Buckeyes wait out Williams and don’t get a commitment, they seem fairly comfortable with what they’ve assembled to this point. But adding an All-American caliber player like Williams would be a huge boost to the team and should make them a consensus top-25 squad next season, as well as a serious contender in the Big Ten.
At this moment, it looks like if Ohio State is going to add another starter to the team via the transfer portal, it will be Darrion Williams. If that doesn’t shake out the way Diebler and his staff hope it does, many of the other available options will likely be off the board by the time he makes a decision. It looks like the coaching staff is fine with that.
And so we wait.
Continue reading...