Connor Lemons
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How much did the mid-season coaching change impact Devin Royal? Quite a bit, it turns out.
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
Royal’s stats spiked across the board, but the biggest difference? His confidence.
Devin Royal’s recruitment – and subsequent commitment – to Ohio State was a big deal two years ago.
A top-50 prospect in the 2023 recruiting class and a local product out of Pickerington Central High School, Royal was a player that Chris Holtmann and Jake Diebler put a full-court press on for about 10 months after formally offering him a scholarship in October 2021. Despite a strong push from Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans, Holtmann and Diebler were able to keep Royal in-state, and in August of 2022 he committed to Ohio State.
Royal was an unranked recruit for most of high school. He didn’t crack the top 100 until the summer before his senior year. He did not transfer to a prep school or move out of state to finish playing high school basketball like so many of the nation’s most talented players do.
He stayed the course and then stayed home for college. But his freshman year wasn’t going as smoothly as he hoped through the first three months.
Through the first 25 games of the season, Royal was averaging 3.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per game and was playing just under nine minutes per contest. Ohio State was 4-10 in the Big Ten through 14 games, and Royal had logged three DNPs as well. He was clearly not part of Holtmann’s circle of trust during the first half of the season. His playing time and his performances were sporadic.
And then on Valentine’s Day — not even 12 hours after losing to Wisconsin, Ohio State’s sixth loss in a stretch of seven games — Holtmann was fired by former athletic director Gene Smith. Jake Diebler was installed as interim head coach, and he made it clear that he planned on playing a long bench as well rotating guys in and out frequently.
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Brooke LaValley / USA TODAY NETWORK
Diebler expressed in February that Ohio State’s depth was a strength of the team, and rotating players in and out would help maximize their performance when they were in the game. Basically, he was asking each player to exhaust themselves and empty the tank, knowing that as soon as they needed it, they would get a breather.
The player that benefited most from this philosophical shift may have been Royal. His minutes immediately shot up. After playing double-digit minutes in just eight of the first 25 games, he played 13 or more minutes in 10 of the final 11.
After averaging three points per game under Holtmann, Royal finished the season by averaging 8.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game over the final nine. That included a 14-point, two-rebound, two-steal performance against Michigan State on February 25, in a game Ohio State won 60-57 on a buzzer-beater by Dale Bonner. However, that shot to win the game may not have happened if Royal, a freshman at the time, wasn’t able to inbound the ball from the opposite end of the court with six seconds left.
Royal was able to find Bruce Thornton just before his five seconds were up. Thornton then advanced the ball down the floor to Bonner, who knocked down the game-winner over top of former MSU guard Tyson Walker.
“I was like oh my God, nobody is open, right?” Royal recalled at Ohio State’s media day last week.
“So I’m just looking at Bruce and I’m like ‘Bruce, get open. Get open!’ And I’ll be honest, I laid it to him and I was just so happy he got it. And then seeing Dale hit that shot I was just like, ‘Great play, great play.’”
Royal led Ohio State in scoring for the first time that day on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting. He didn’t attempt a three — instead, he found cushy spots near the elbow and repeatedly knocked down smooth mid-range jumpers to keep Ohio State, which trailed by 10 at halftime, in the game.
He followed that up with a 13-point, five-rebound performance in a win against Nebraska four days later, and finished his freshman season averaging 4.7 points per game. All in all, Royal saw his minutes, opportunities, and production spike once Diebler took over. He went from averaging 3.2 points per game under Holtmann to 7.6 under Diebler. He averaged just under nine minutes per game playing for Holtmann but played 16.5 minutes per game for Diebler.
His defense, shot selection, and poise got better as the season went on, but there was no magic switch or button that was pressed when Holtmann was fired. For all intents and purposes, Royal was the same player in early March he was a month prior. The major difference was his confidence, which grew as he was given more opportunities.
“I feel like at the beginning of the year my confidence kind of went down a little bit, but Diebs definitely helped me get it back up by just letting me go out there and play, and not putting me on a string where like, if I do one thing wrong I come straight out,” he said last week.
“Like, (he’s) just letting me play and get better.”
Royal said he appreciates the way that Diebler lays down non-negotiables for his players, and is clear about what those non-negotiables are. The biggest thing Diebler demands — no questions asked — is effort. The first-year coach isn’t asking for perfection from anyone — including Royal — but nobody is taking a play off, and nobody is walking.
“I love that,” Royal said on media day. “Because I’m gonna give effort all the time. So you know, being able to mess up one time but if I’m giving a full effort, I’m not just going to get taken out for that. And then coming back next play and (I’ll) do it right that time, giving me the chance to do it right that next time.”
With his new head coach in his corner and his eyes on the prize rather than looking over his shoulder, Royal has been picked by several national and Big Ten media members to be a breakout player for the Buckeyes this season.
Former Purdue guard and current Big Ten studio analyst Rapheal Davis thinks Royal is going to have a breakout season. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, within his Big Ten Offseason Breakdown article, has listed Royal as one of 10 “Breakout Players.”
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Will Royal blossom into a First-Team All-Big Ten player this season? Probably not, but never say never. There are times when the sophomore gives pointless fouls, and conditioning in Diebler’s new up-tempo offense is a work in progress for everyone, including Royal. There was also a time this summer when Diebler said that Royal was “starting to get away from what made him great” last season, as he tried to implement some more perimeter offense to his game.
Diebler wants Royal to shoot more three-pointers this year, but that cannot come at the expense of being the best offensive rebounder on the floor. Threes can’t take the place of consistently being in the right place at the right time or knowing when to step in and take that little eight-foot jumper that he’s perfected. All of those things have to remain. The shooting will hopefully be a new tool added to the toolbox, but it cannot replace what’s already there.
If he can bottle that production from the final third of last season over more minutes and add a little bit of shooting, then Davis, Rothstein, and Diebler might be on to something here with this sophomore version of Devin Royal.
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
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
Royal’s stats spiked across the board, but the biggest difference? His confidence.
Devin Royal’s recruitment – and subsequent commitment – to Ohio State was a big deal two years ago.
A top-50 prospect in the 2023 recruiting class and a local product out of Pickerington Central High School, Royal was a player that Chris Holtmann and Jake Diebler put a full-court press on for about 10 months after formally offering him a scholarship in October 2021. Despite a strong push from Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans, Holtmann and Diebler were able to keep Royal in-state, and in August of 2022 he committed to Ohio State.
Royal was an unranked recruit for most of high school. He didn’t crack the top 100 until the summer before his senior year. He did not transfer to a prep school or move out of state to finish playing high school basketball like so many of the nation’s most talented players do.
He stayed the course and then stayed home for college. But his freshman year wasn’t going as smoothly as he hoped through the first three months.
Through the first 25 games of the season, Royal was averaging 3.2 points and 1.8 rebounds per game and was playing just under nine minutes per contest. Ohio State was 4-10 in the Big Ten through 14 games, and Royal had logged three DNPs as well. He was clearly not part of Holtmann’s circle of trust during the first half of the season. His playing time and his performances were sporadic.
And then on Valentine’s Day — not even 12 hours after losing to Wisconsin, Ohio State’s sixth loss in a stretch of seven games — Holtmann was fired by former athletic director Gene Smith. Jake Diebler was installed as interim head coach, and he made it clear that he planned on playing a long bench as well rotating guys in and out frequently.
Diebler expressed in February that Ohio State’s depth was a strength of the team, and rotating players in and out would help maximize their performance when they were in the game. Basically, he was asking each player to exhaust themselves and empty the tank, knowing that as soon as they needed it, they would get a breather.
The player that benefited most from this philosophical shift may have been Royal. His minutes immediately shot up. After playing double-digit minutes in just eight of the first 25 games, he played 13 or more minutes in 10 of the final 11.
After averaging three points per game under Holtmann, Royal finished the season by averaging 8.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game over the final nine. That included a 14-point, two-rebound, two-steal performance against Michigan State on February 25, in a game Ohio State won 60-57 on a buzzer-beater by Dale Bonner. However, that shot to win the game may not have happened if Royal, a freshman at the time, wasn’t able to inbound the ball from the opposite end of the court with six seconds left.
Royal was able to find Bruce Thornton just before his five seconds were up. Thornton then advanced the ball down the floor to Bonner, who knocked down the game-winner over top of former MSU guard Tyson Walker.
“I was like oh my God, nobody is open, right?” Royal recalled at Ohio State’s media day last week.
“So I’m just looking at Bruce and I’m like ‘Bruce, get open. Get open!’ And I’ll be honest, I laid it to him and I was just so happy he got it. And then seeing Dale hit that shot I was just like, ‘Great play, great play.’”
Royal led Ohio State in scoring for the first time that day on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting. He didn’t attempt a three — instead, he found cushy spots near the elbow and repeatedly knocked down smooth mid-range jumpers to keep Ohio State, which trailed by 10 at halftime, in the game.
He followed that up with a 13-point, five-rebound performance in a win against Nebraska four days later, and finished his freshman season averaging 4.7 points per game. All in all, Royal saw his minutes, opportunities, and production spike once Diebler took over. He went from averaging 3.2 points per game under Holtmann to 7.6 under Diebler. He averaged just under nine minutes per game playing for Holtmann but played 16.5 minutes per game for Diebler.
His defense, shot selection, and poise got better as the season went on, but there was no magic switch or button that was pressed when Holtmann was fired. For all intents and purposes, Royal was the same player in early March he was a month prior. The major difference was his confidence, which grew as he was given more opportunities.
“I feel like at the beginning of the year my confidence kind of went down a little bit, but Diebs definitely helped me get it back up by just letting me go out there and play, and not putting me on a string where like, if I do one thing wrong I come straight out,” he said last week.
“Like, (he’s) just letting me play and get better.”
Royal said he appreciates the way that Diebler lays down non-negotiables for his players, and is clear about what those non-negotiables are. The biggest thing Diebler demands — no questions asked — is effort. The first-year coach isn’t asking for perfection from anyone — including Royal — but nobody is taking a play off, and nobody is walking.
“I love that,” Royal said on media day. “Because I’m gonna give effort all the time. So you know, being able to mess up one time but if I’m giving a full effort, I’m not just going to get taken out for that. And then coming back next play and (I’ll) do it right that time, giving me the chance to do it right that next time.”
With his new head coach in his corner and his eyes on the prize rather than looking over his shoulder, Royal has been picked by several national and Big Ten media members to be a breakout player for the Buckeyes this season.
Former Purdue guard and current Big Ten studio analyst Rapheal Davis thinks Royal is going to have a breakout season. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, within his Big Ten Offseason Breakdown article, has listed Royal as one of 10 “Breakout Players.”
Will Royal blossom into a First-Team All-Big Ten player this season? Probably not, but never say never. There are times when the sophomore gives pointless fouls, and conditioning in Diebler’s new up-tempo offense is a work in progress for everyone, including Royal. There was also a time this summer when Diebler said that Royal was “starting to get away from what made him great” last season, as he tried to implement some more perimeter offense to his game.
Diebler wants Royal to shoot more three-pointers this year, but that cannot come at the expense of being the best offensive rebounder on the floor. Threes can’t take the place of consistently being in the right place at the right time or knowing when to step in and take that little eight-foot jumper that he’s perfected. All of those things have to remain. The shooting will hopefully be a new tool added to the toolbox, but it cannot replace what’s already there.
If he can bottle that production from the final third of last season over more minutes and add a little bit of shooting, then Davis, Rothstein, and Diebler might be on to something here with this sophomore version of Devin Royal.
Continue reading...