Connor Lemons
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Welcome back, old friend: Meechie Johnson announces he will transfer back to Ohio State
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland kid is back to use his last year of college eligibility where it all started — at Ohio State.
Guess who’s back. Back again. Meechie’s back. Tell a —
Okay, you get it.
The Ohio State men’s basketball team made a big splash in the transfer portal today when former Buckeye guard Meechie Johnson announced that he will transfer from South Carolina back to Ohio State. Johnson, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound guard from Cleveland, played at Ohio State from 2020-2022, appearing in 43 games and starting five of them. Johnson will have one year of eligibility remaining.
“I am a lifelong Buckeye.” Johnson said in his announcement, which he posted on Instagram and Twitter on Tuesday night. “It was my dream to be a Buckeye since I was a little kid. My story didn’t go exactly as planned, but that’s life. I’m blessed to be able to have this opportunity to get back to where I belong and still have at least the ending I’ve always dreamed about, and I wouldn’t pass that up for anything.”
Johnson averaged 3.2 points and 1.1 rebounds per game in two seasons at Ohio State, the first of which was a mid-season call-up from high school. In November 2020, Johnson announced that he was re-classifying from the 2021 class to 2020 and would enroll at Ohio State for spring semester 2021. That turned out to be a pivotal move for the Buckeyes, as weeks later starting point guard CJ Walker tore ligaments in his hand, and backup point guard Jimmy Sotos suffered a season-ending shoulder injury one month later. This all came after Utah State transfer guard Abel Porter medically retired from basketball at the beginning of the 2020-2021 season.
Following his second season in Columbus, Johnson entered the transfer portal and wound up at South Carolina, playing for Findlay-native Lamont Paris and the Gamecocks. Johnson earned All-SEC honors this past season, averaging a team-high 14.1 points per game and leading the Gamecocks back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.
While his shooting percentages and overall efficiency didn’t change much when he moved from Columbus to Columbia, Johnson was given the chance to fail, flourish, and not look over his shoulder wondering if he will continue to get opportunities. Meechie shot 31.9% overall at Ohio State and 34.4% from three-point range. In two seasons at South Carolina, he shot 38.1% overall and 32.% from three-point range. His minutes per game more than doubled when he transferred to South Carolina.
If Johnson’s stats from last year (14.1 PPG, 39.9% FG, 32.1% 3PT, 78.8% FT) were translated to this year’s Ohio State team, he would rank third in points per game, eighth in field goal percentage, fourth in three-point field goal percentage, and fifth in free throw percentage.
With Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle both (assumedly) returning for their junior seasons, adding Johnson to the group creates a jam of minutes at the guard spots, but also the opportunity to aggressively rotate in and out, as Jake Diebler has been very vocal about doing since taking over. Both Thornton and Gayle may see their minutes tick down a bit, but it is likely Johnson who will see the most pronounced decrease in his role from the one he had at South Carolina, where he averaged 31.1 minutes per game during his two seasons.
There will be times Diebler has all three guards on the court, with Gayle playing a pseudo-three in a small ball lineup — like they did this season with Dale Bonner occasionally. There will also be moments where two of the three are playing and the third guard sits. If Johnson is fine playing closer to 20 minutes than 30, the added depth would give Ohio State one of the deepest and most talented backcourts in the nation.
While Johnson can be inefficient at times, he’s also shown the ability to single-handedly take over games when needed. Sort of like Duane Washington Jr. from 2018-2021, Johnson has games where he takes bad shots and misses some of them, but he also had performances at South Carolina where he refused to miss and put the team on his back in the closing minutes to deliver wins. Meechie showed promise at Ohio State but was a streaky, inefficient scorer his first two seasons, and extrapolated that out in a larger role at South Carolina.
Johnson was the No. 133 recruit in the class of 2020, the No. 23 point guard in the class, and the third-highest ranked player in Ohio that cycle. He attended Garfield Heights High School in Cleveland. He is also the cousin of 2026 five-star guard Marcus Johnson, who has visited Ohio State multiple times already and is very much on the Buckeyes’ radar.
Jake Diebler and staff likely aren’t done in the transfer portal, and the current players on the roster still could leave if they wish. Ohio State likely needs to add a more efficient three-point shooter this summer to offset the loss of Battle, as well as someone bigger who can play small forward and/or power forward, where Ohio State currently has a clear hole in the roster.
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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
Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland kid is back to use his last year of college eligibility where it all started — at Ohio State.
Guess who’s back. Back again. Meechie’s back. Tell a —
Okay, you get it.
The Ohio State men’s basketball team made a big splash in the transfer portal today when former Buckeye guard Meechie Johnson announced that he will transfer from South Carolina back to Ohio State. Johnson, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound guard from Cleveland, played at Ohio State from 2020-2022, appearing in 43 games and starting five of them. Johnson will have one year of eligibility remaining.
“I am a lifelong Buckeye.” Johnson said in his announcement, which he posted on Instagram and Twitter on Tuesday night. “It was my dream to be a Buckeye since I was a little kid. My story didn’t go exactly as planned, but that’s life. I’m blessed to be able to have this opportunity to get back to where I belong and still have at least the ending I’ve always dreamed about, and I wouldn’t pass that up for anything.”
Johnson averaged 3.2 points and 1.1 rebounds per game in two seasons at Ohio State, the first of which was a mid-season call-up from high school. In November 2020, Johnson announced that he was re-classifying from the 2021 class to 2020 and would enroll at Ohio State for spring semester 2021. That turned out to be a pivotal move for the Buckeyes, as weeks later starting point guard CJ Walker tore ligaments in his hand, and backup point guard Jimmy Sotos suffered a season-ending shoulder injury one month later. This all came after Utah State transfer guard Abel Porter medically retired from basketball at the beginning of the 2020-2021 season.
Following his second season in Columbus, Johnson entered the transfer portal and wound up at South Carolina, playing for Findlay-native Lamont Paris and the Gamecocks. Johnson earned All-SEC honors this past season, averaging a team-high 14.1 points per game and leading the Gamecocks back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.
While his shooting percentages and overall efficiency didn’t change much when he moved from Columbus to Columbia, Johnson was given the chance to fail, flourish, and not look over his shoulder wondering if he will continue to get opportunities. Meechie shot 31.9% overall at Ohio State and 34.4% from three-point range. In two seasons at South Carolina, he shot 38.1% overall and 32.% from three-point range. His minutes per game more than doubled when he transferred to South Carolina.
If Johnson’s stats from last year (14.1 PPG, 39.9% FG, 32.1% 3PT, 78.8% FT) were translated to this year’s Ohio State team, he would rank third in points per game, eighth in field goal percentage, fourth in three-point field goal percentage, and fifth in free throw percentage.
With Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle both (assumedly) returning for their junior seasons, adding Johnson to the group creates a jam of minutes at the guard spots, but also the opportunity to aggressively rotate in and out, as Jake Diebler has been very vocal about doing since taking over. Both Thornton and Gayle may see their minutes tick down a bit, but it is likely Johnson who will see the most pronounced decrease in his role from the one he had at South Carolina, where he averaged 31.1 minutes per game during his two seasons.
There will be times Diebler has all three guards on the court, with Gayle playing a pseudo-three in a small ball lineup — like they did this season with Dale Bonner occasionally. There will also be moments where two of the three are playing and the third guard sits. If Johnson is fine playing closer to 20 minutes than 30, the added depth would give Ohio State one of the deepest and most talented backcourts in the nation.
While Johnson can be inefficient at times, he’s also shown the ability to single-handedly take over games when needed. Sort of like Duane Washington Jr. from 2018-2021, Johnson has games where he takes bad shots and misses some of them, but he also had performances at South Carolina where he refused to miss and put the team on his back in the closing minutes to deliver wins. Meechie showed promise at Ohio State but was a streaky, inefficient scorer his first two seasons, and extrapolated that out in a larger role at South Carolina.
Johnson was the No. 133 recruit in the class of 2020, the No. 23 point guard in the class, and the third-highest ranked player in Ohio that cycle. He attended Garfield Heights High School in Cleveland. He is also the cousin of 2026 five-star guard Marcus Johnson, who has visited Ohio State multiple times already and is very much on the Buckeyes’ radar.
Jake Diebler and staff likely aren’t done in the transfer portal, and the current players on the roster still could leave if they wish. Ohio State likely needs to add a more efficient three-point shooter this summer to offset the loss of Battle, as well as someone bigger who can play small forward and/or power forward, where Ohio State currently has a clear hole in the roster.
Continue reading...