2024-25 ITH Season Preview: Ohio State Buckeyes

  • 09/19/2024 7:55 am in

With the start of college basketball season in early November, we’ll examine the conference as a whole and Indiana’s roster over the coming weeks.

Today, our team previews continue with Ohio State.

Previously: Penn State, Washington, Minnesota, USC, Northwestern, Nebraska, Iowa, Oregon, Maryland, Wisconsin

A tumultuous 2023-24 season in Columbus led to Chris Holtmann’s late-season dismissal, but it also offered Jake Diebler the opportunity to earn the Ohio State job.

Diebler did just that after captaining the Buckeyes to an 8-3 record. Ohio State’s season ended with a third-round NIT loss to Georgia, but the strong finish provided reason for optimism under Diebler.

As Diebler enters his first season as the program’s head coach, he welcomes back a strong cast of returning players coupled with one of the league’s best hauls from the transfer portal.

The Buckeyes graduated Jamison Battle and Dale Bonner and lost Roddy Gayle Jr., Scotty Middleton, Zed Key and Felix Okpara to the transfer portal. Those losses mean the starting lineup and rotation will look much different than a season ago, but Ohio State returns its best player, Bruce Thornton.

The 6-foot-2 guard is back after an excellent sophomore season in which he averaged 15.7 points, 4.8 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 33.6 minutes per game. His perimeter shooting wasn’t great – 33.7 percent – and is a clear area for potential improvement in his junior season.

Meechie Johnson Jr. will join Thornton in the backcourt. He began his career at Ohio State and played two seasons for the Buckeyes before playing the last two years at South Carolina. Johnson Jr., an Ohio native, will use his additional season of eligibility at Ohio State. Last season, he helped lead the Gamecocks to an NCAA tournament appearance and averaged 14.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 29.1 minutes per game. He’s a better ball-handler than Gayle and should allow Thornton to spend some time playing off the ball.

The Buckeyes also dipped into the portal for San Diego State transfer Micah Parrish, a 6-foot-6 wing who will use his additional season of eligibility in Columbus. Parrish played significant minutes for San Diego State’s national runner-up team in 2023 and started for the Aztecs last season, averaging 9.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals in 27.5 minutes per game. He should start on the wing alongside Thornton and Johnson.

A revamped Ohio State frontcourt will feature a pair of former five-star big men who are potential breakout candidates. Sean Stewart, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward who played at Duke last season, saw little run for the Blue Devils. Stewart played just 8.3 minutes per game in Durham behind Kyle Filipowski but should get an opportunity to crack the starting lineup for the Buckeyes.

Aaron Bradshaw was one of the centerpieces of Kentucky’s 2023 recruiting class. However, he battled a foot injury and was inconsistent in his lone season in Lexington. A legit 7-footer, Bradshaw can step out to the perimeter and has NBA-level athleticism.

The backcourt rotation off the bench should feature Kansas State transfer Ques Glover and freshmen Juni Mobley and Colin White.

The 6-foot Glover never played last season at Kansas State due to a knee injury, but the 6-foot guard averaged 14.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists in the 2022-23 campaign at Samford. Mobley was a top-50 recruit in the final 247Composite rankings for the 2024 class and will have an opportunity to learn from Thornton and Johnson in the backcourt. And White brings size – he’s 6-foot-6 – and shooting ability to the wing.

Up front, junior Evan Mahaffey returns after averaging 22.1 minutes last season. A 6-foot-6 forward, Mahaffey isn’t a scoring threat but is a solid rebounder and defender who can guard multiple positions.

Sophomore Devin Royal played more minutes late in the season under Diebler and is working to stretch his game to the perimeter. The 6-foot-6 forward is a crafty scorer in the paint and scored nearly five points per game last season in just under 12 minutes per contest.

Austin Parks, a 6-foot-10 sophomore and Ivan Njegovan, a 7-foot-1 freshman from Croatia, will provide additional post depth behind Bradshaw.

Bart Torvik’s 2024-25 season projections have Ohio State at No. 34, the eighth-highest ranking for a Big Ten team. The Blue Ribbon college basketball year and Lindy’s Sports basketball preview magazine picked the Buckeyes to finish fifth in the league, which would make them a solid NCAA tournament team.

Bottom line: Ohio State’s late-season resurgence earned Diebler the job on a permanent basis and there’s optimism the Buckeyes can get back to the NCAA tournament next spring. Thornton and Johnson will be a very good guard duo, but the play of Stewart and Bradshaw will determine this group’s ceiling. Both were top 15 players out of high school and Ohio State needs them both to put forth productive sophomore seasons. Ohio State’s 3-point shooting is a legitimate concern entering the season, as Thornton and Johnson both shot less than 34 percent from distance last seasob.

Quotable: “I want people to see an aggressive, confident, tough team. And a team that has fun, plays with a joy. That’s one of our values here is joy. When we walk through this building and we have the resources we have and everything, we’re gonna operate with a sense of joy and pride in what we do. And I think our fans will see that.” – Diebler on Ohio State’s style of play in the future.

(Photo credit: Ohio State Athletics)

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