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OSU Men's Basketball Recruiting/Projections/General Discussions

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Buckeye737 said:
I'm already over the Mitchell decommit, but I'll be seriously bummed if we lose Grandstaff. We've been missing the sharp shooting guards for a couple of years now.
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Yeah. But they have Kam Williams now, he will be a good one and add Austin to him (and D'Angelo & KBD of course) and then perimeter shooting shouldn't be a problem moving forward. I agree Austin is a key piece in this class, though.

A class of Harris, Grandstaff, Ahmad OR Bragg, and Giddens would be a great haul, and probably the best-case scenario for OSU (still leaving 2 openings for 2016, which I like). I doubt they would end up with both Ahmad and Bragg, although theoretically it could happen.
 
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buckeyebri said:
Such a bummer to lose out on another in-state player. We have such a great program and coach in Thad that it seems surprising.
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Well, you could say that Thad's success in landing touted out-of-state prospects like Giddens hinders his ability to get those in-state players. It's not like OSU is talent-barren in the frontcourt moving forward. Every one of their frontcourt players they've added within the past year or two, aside from Bell, was legitimately wanted by high level programs. The fact that programs like KU and KY have more turnover makes it easier for them to convince guys who are thinking 1 & done to join up.
 
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So, with Ahmad committing to West Virginia and Bragg out of the picture, here's where OSU stands in terms of roster and available scholarships for the 2015-16 season (adjusted from the scholarship projection thread HERE).

2015-2016

13 Scholarships

F Marc Loving (Jr)

G Kameron Williams (rSoph)
C Trevor Thompson (rSoph)

F Keita Bates-Diop (Soph)
F Jae'Sean Tate (Soph)
G D'Angelo Russell (Soph)

C Dave Bell (rFr) [projected redshirt for 2014-15]

PG Amos 'AJ' Harris (Fr) - commit
SG Austin Grandstaff (Fr) - commit
C Daniel Giddens (Fr) - commit

3 spots available

I think Thad and the staff can play this a few different ways. Since that spot was seemingly being reserved for a versatile forward, they can continue to pursue Mitchell after his surprise official this past weekend, drop their pursuit of Mitchell and put all their eggs in the Jaylen Brown basket (pipedream, IMO, but worth a shot), ramp up their evaluation and pursuit of Kipper Nichols, or bank the scholarships for a larger 2016 class. Will be very interesting to see where they go from here.
 
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ESPN has updated their rankings for 2015 and 2016

2015 notables:
2. Jaylen Brown - 5* SF, 96/100 grade (#1 SF)
18. Carlton Bragg - 5* PF, 90 grade (#6 PF, 1st in Ohio)
26. Luke Kennard - 4* SG, 88 grade (#5 SG, 2nd in Ohio); Duke commit
42. Austin Grandstaff - 4* SG, 87 grade (#13 SG)
43. Esa Ahmad - 4* PF, 87 grade (#8 PF, 3rd in Ohio); WVU commit
60. Daniel Giddens - 4* C, 85 grade (#12 C)
71. A.J. Harris - 4* PG, 84 grade (#10 PG, 4th in Ohio)
NR. Mickey Mitchell - 4* SF, 80 grade (#26 SF)
NR. Kipper Nichols - literally no ranking at all; I have no idea why

2016 notables:
1. Jayson Tatum - 5* SF, 97/100 grade (#1 SF)
7. Miles Bridges - 5* SF, 95 grade (#3 SF)
17. V.J. King - 5* SF, 91 grade (#4 SF)
19. Omari Spellman - 5* C, 90 grade (#3 C, 1st in Ohio)
20 Kobi Simmons - 5* PG, 90 grade (#5 PG)
31. Braxton Blackwell - 4* SF, 87 grade (#7 SF)
46 Cassius Winston - 4* PG, 85 grade (#9 PG)
53. Nick Ward - 4* PF, 84 grade (#13 PF, 2nd in Ohio)
54. Derek Funderburk - 4* C, 84 grade (#9 C, 3rd in Ohio)
57. Seth Towns - 4* SF, 84 grade (#11 SF, 4th in Ohio)
58. Matthew Moyer - 4* PF, 84 grade (#14 PF, 5th in Ohio); Syracuse commit
59. Xavier Simpson - 4* PG, 84 grade (#13 PG, 6th in Ohio)
 
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NorthCoastKid said:
I think Thad and the staff can play this a few different ways. Since that spot was seemingly being reserved for a versatile forward, they can continue to pursue Mitchell after his surprise official this past weekend, drop their pursuit of Mitchell and put all their eggs in the Jaylen Brown basket (pipedream, IMO, but worth a shot), ramp up their evaluation and pursuit of Kipper Nichols, or bank the scholarships for a larger 2016 class. Will be very interesting to see where they go from here.
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Well, that question got answered quickly :lol:
 
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I find it interesting to compare some of the players they got in these 2 classes (2014 and 2015) to guys on the 2010 team. And I'm not making this comparison from a pure talent standpoint, more of a rough comparison of the size, skills, strengths and weaknesses of the players at the various positions. So don't get bogged down trying to tell me that none of these guys is Evan Turner, I know that, I'm just saying I notice some rough similarities.

Think about the big PG role, you had ET in that role and moving forward you have a rangy 6'4" Russell and 6'6" or 6'7" Mitchell. Of course Harris can play the PJ Hill role. Then at SG you had a great catch & shoot guy in Diebler (as well as Simmons who struggled much of the year), and contrast with what they have now is a couple good catch & shoot guys with deep range in Kam Williams and Grandstaff. At SF you had the versatile Buford who could shoot from distance as well as get going in the mid-range, and those are all things that Bates-Diop especially but also Loving can do. At the 4 you had Lighty, now Jae'Sean Tate isn't likely to be that big or actually play the 4 but I see some things that remind me of Lighty in Tate. At C you had DLaud who was what they called a throwback big man who had limited offense (the joke being that his range was "a dunk and closer") and would be out there to bring defense and rebounding, and now you have Giddens who also is known as having limited offensive range and skill but whose most prominent feature is shotblocking.

Of course they also will have Bell and Trevor Thompson to help (kind of a big contrast between those guys and Kyle Madsen) and perhaps Giddens would slide down to the 4 at times but we'll have to wait and see about that.
 
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I simply love this class. Yeah I would have loved to have had Kennard or Bragg...don't get me wrong. But I love the three guys they are bringing in on the heels of the 2014 class. Haters who have wanted OSU to recruit like MSU and Wisconsin should love this class as well. If these three can reach their potential, the sky is the limit in a couple of years:

 
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Ohio State also has an offer out to 2017 shooting guard Chris Giles of Plano West (Texas), a high school teammate of Mickey Mitchell, who signed as part of the Buckeyes' 2015 recruiting class.

Giles is a four-star prospect rated the No. 6 shooting guard in the country by 247Sports' composite ratings.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State basketball has yet to secure a commitment for the 2016 recruiting class, but that hasn't stopped Buckeyes coach Thad Matta from making some moves for future classes.

The Buckeyes have offered five-star sophomore center Zach Brown from Miami Beach, Florida according to Rivals.com analyst Russ Woods.
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http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2014/12/ohio_state_basketball_offers_2.html
 
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