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Roddy Gayle discusses reason for transferring to Michigan, attitude on rivalry for first time
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The former Buckeye turned Michigan Man spoke publicly for the first time since transferring to Michigan in late April.
Earlier this week, former Ohio State guard Roddy Gayle Jr. opened up about his transfer to arch-rival Michigan for the first time since making the decision public in late April, talking to Brian Boesch on Michigan’s “Defend the Block” podcast. During the interview, Gayle talked about why he opted to transfer, what he was looking for in a new school, and the emphasis he placed on the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry while he was in Columbus.
Here are a few of the things that Gayle and discussed during the 15-minute long interview. If you want to listen to it in its entirety, you can find it here.
Gene Smith firing Holtmann on Valentine’s Day may have given Ohio State fans heart eyes when they heard the news, but it made Gayle question if Ohio State was where he wanted to be if the coach that recruited him was gone.
“Obviously, Coach (Holtmann) getting fired kind of, you know, my mind was kind of racing those last few months of the basketball season, just because it’s hard to stay in the moment. That was one thing that Coach Holtmann preached to us throughout the season, but then a dramatic change like that kind of hindered everything.” Gayle said.
New Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler was Gayle’s primary recruiter in high school, and the rising junior had perhaps the closest and most unique relationship with Diebler out of anybody on last year’s team. However, the change in leadership and direction clearly made Gayle question his future with the program.
Even after announcing on April 3 that he was transferring, Gayle told Boesch that he was considering a return to Ohio State among all of his options. That means that it is unlikely that the relationship between Gayle and Diebler soured, or that Gayle had any ill feelings towards Ohio State other than questioning his role moving forward in a quickly changing program.
“After the the season ended I decided I would like to enter the portal, with Ohio State still being one of my options.” Gayle told Boesch.
He continued, “I just wanted to have all of my options on the table to put me and my family in the best position to reach my goals, which is having a degree and hopefully having my name called on draft night.”
When Gayle announced that he was going to travel north of the border and transfer to Ohio State’s biggest rival, Buckeye fans reacted as poorly as you would expect — maybe worse. He is the only player to player to transfer between the two programs in recent memory, aside from Andrew Dakich in 2017 — although Dakich was a walk-on at Michigan and played a minor role for the 2017-2018 Buckeyes.
Gayle, on the other hand, was a foundational piece of the Ohio State men’s basketball program that first-year coach Jake Diebler was expecting to have this season. During the interview, Gayle told Boesch that he was taught to hate Michigan, but wasn’t sure why.
“At first, when Michigan was announced as a possible landing spot, it was weird for me. Being at Ohio State for two years, I was taught to hate them, not really knowing why. But Coach Dusty and his staff reached out, and it made the most sense.”
Gayle is from New York, and did not grow up with the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry. It’s understandable that a deep-rooted hatred of maize and blue hasn’t been growing inside him like it does for a lot of Ohio-born Buckeyes, but the bluntness of saying he wasn’t sure why he was supposed to hate the Wolverines did not sit well with Ohio State fans on Tuesday afternoon.
Many people pinned their frustration on former head coach Chris Holtmann, insinuating that he “didn’t recruit players who understand the rivalry.” In Holtmann and Gayle’s defense, the Ohio State-Michigan basketball rivalry pales in comparison to the same rivalry on the gridiron. Still, Gayle’s general indifference towards the Wolverines after two years in Columbus is noteworthy.
While we technically won’t see a Dusty May Michigan offense for three more months, Gayle said that he felt that May and Michigan’s style of play would allow him to show the world “who he really is” and that May and his staff put the most effort forth in recruiting him out of the portal.
“I felt like they put the most effort into recruiting me. Their style of play is what I want to (play), I feel like their style of play allows me to show the world who I really am — just the free basketball they play, the freelance. And great guys around me, not only that, but my teammates around me, I feel like we have a great system of people who can play off of each other, which is amazing.
It sounds like Gayle wants to be utilized in a different fashion than he was at Ohio State, but not necessarily in terms of quantity. Last season Gayle was second on the team in minutes per game (30.9), third in shot attempts (376), and third in points per game (13.5). He was first on the team in possession percentage at 24.5%, per KenPom. This meant that Ohio State’s offensive possessions ended with Gayle doing something 24.5% of the time — that could be taking a shot, turning the ball over, or anything else. That mark led the team.
He did not disclose when the injury first occurred last season, but Gayle did tell Boesch that he felt teams were able to scout him as a “drive-first” player as the season went on because of his wrist injury and his struggles shooting the ball from deep. This caused him to see more traffic around the basket, and forced him to take more difficult, contested shots than normal.
“Obviously, teams were going to scout me to be more of a driver. So now with a healthy wrist I feel like my capability to be a 40% shooter will really start to show, because how healthy I feel right now and the offense that Coach May has.”
As a freshman, Gayle shot 42.9% from three-point range. He shot 28.4% from deep last season on double the attempts.
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Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images
The former Buckeye turned Michigan Man spoke publicly for the first time since transferring to Michigan in late April.
Earlier this week, former Ohio State guard Roddy Gayle Jr. opened up about his transfer to arch-rival Michigan for the first time since making the decision public in late April, talking to Brian Boesch on Michigan’s “Defend the Block” podcast. During the interview, Gayle talked about why he opted to transfer, what he was looking for in a new school, and the emphasis he placed on the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry while he was in Columbus.
Here are a few of the things that Gayle and discussed during the 15-minute long interview. If you want to listen to it in its entirety, you can find it here.
Ohio State firing Chris Holtmann was the driving factor in Gayle’s decision
Gene Smith firing Holtmann on Valentine’s Day may have given Ohio State fans heart eyes when they heard the news, but it made Gayle question if Ohio State was where he wanted to be if the coach that recruited him was gone.
“Obviously, Coach (Holtmann) getting fired kind of, you know, my mind was kind of racing those last few months of the basketball season, just because it’s hard to stay in the moment. That was one thing that Coach Holtmann preached to us throughout the season, but then a dramatic change like that kind of hindered everything.” Gayle said.
New Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler was Gayle’s primary recruiter in high school, and the rising junior had perhaps the closest and most unique relationship with Diebler out of anybody on last year’s team. However, the change in leadership and direction clearly made Gayle question his future with the program.
Gayle was considering a return to Ohio State after entering the portal
Even after announcing on April 3 that he was transferring, Gayle told Boesch that he was considering a return to Ohio State among all of his options. That means that it is unlikely that the relationship between Gayle and Diebler soured, or that Gayle had any ill feelings towards Ohio State other than questioning his role moving forward in a quickly changing program.
“After the the season ended I decided I would like to enter the portal, with Ohio State still being one of my options.” Gayle told Boesch.
He continued, “I just wanted to have all of my options on the table to put me and my family in the best position to reach my goals, which is having a degree and hopefully having my name called on draft night.”
Gayle, “was not sure why” he was taught to hate Michigan at Ohio State
When Gayle announced that he was going to travel north of the border and transfer to Ohio State’s biggest rival, Buckeye fans reacted as poorly as you would expect — maybe worse. He is the only player to player to transfer between the two programs in recent memory, aside from Andrew Dakich in 2017 — although Dakich was a walk-on at Michigan and played a minor role for the 2017-2018 Buckeyes.
Gayle, on the other hand, was a foundational piece of the Ohio State men’s basketball program that first-year coach Jake Diebler was expecting to have this season. During the interview, Gayle told Boesch that he was taught to hate Michigan, but wasn’t sure why.
“At first, when Michigan was announced as a possible landing spot, it was weird for me. Being at Ohio State for two years, I was taught to hate them, not really knowing why. But Coach Dusty and his staff reached out, and it made the most sense.”
Gayle is from New York, and did not grow up with the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry. It’s understandable that a deep-rooted hatred of maize and blue hasn’t been growing inside him like it does for a lot of Ohio-born Buckeyes, but the bluntness of saying he wasn’t sure why he was supposed to hate the Wolverines did not sit well with Ohio State fans on Tuesday afternoon.
Many people pinned their frustration on former head coach Chris Holtmann, insinuating that he “didn’t recruit players who understand the rivalry.” In Holtmann and Gayle’s defense, the Ohio State-Michigan basketball rivalry pales in comparison to the same rivalry on the gridiron. Still, Gayle’s general indifference towards the Wolverines after two years in Columbus is noteworthy.
Gayle wanted to be able to show the world, “who he really is” and play in a more free-flowing offense
While we technically won’t see a Dusty May Michigan offense for three more months, Gayle said that he felt that May and Michigan’s style of play would allow him to show the world “who he really is” and that May and his staff put the most effort forth in recruiting him out of the portal.
“I felt like they put the most effort into recruiting me. Their style of play is what I want to (play), I feel like their style of play allows me to show the world who I really am — just the free basketball they play, the freelance. And great guys around me, not only that, but my teammates around me, I feel like we have a great system of people who can play off of each other, which is amazing.
It sounds like Gayle wants to be utilized in a different fashion than he was at Ohio State, but not necessarily in terms of quantity. Last season Gayle was second on the team in minutes per game (30.9), third in shot attempts (376), and third in points per game (13.5). He was first on the team in possession percentage at 24.5%, per KenPom. This meant that Ohio State’s offensive possessions ended with Gayle doing something 24.5% of the time — that could be taking a shot, turning the ball over, or anything else. That mark led the team.
Gayle attributes his shooting struggles to a wrist injury he dealt with all season
He did not disclose when the injury first occurred last season, but Gayle did tell Boesch that he felt teams were able to scout him as a “drive-first” player as the season went on because of his wrist injury and his struggles shooting the ball from deep. This caused him to see more traffic around the basket, and forced him to take more difficult, contested shots than normal.
“Obviously, teams were going to scout me to be more of a driver. So now with a healthy wrist I feel like my capability to be a 40% shooter will really start to show, because how healthy I feel right now and the offense that Coach May has.”
As a freshman, Gayle shot 42.9% from three-point range. He shot 28.4% from deep last season on double the attempts.
Continue reading...