B1G Basketball Previews 2026: THE Ohio State Buckeyes

Last Year

New coach, same result. After canning Chris Holtmann and hiring his assistant Jon Jake Diebler, the Buckeyes turned in a Groundhog Day style season. An opening win over Texas turned up hopes, but those were dimmed after they were mollywhopped by Auburn and Maryland. They flirted with the tourney down the stretch, but a loss to Indiana and a first round loss to Iowa in the BTT closed the door. Again. For the third season in a row. Yeesh.

Defectors

• Only three seniors who left in one year rentals Micah Parrish and Ques Glover as well as very lightly used career backup Kalen Etzler
• Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart were high profile additions a year ago, and now they are high profile additions for Memphis (Bradshaw) and Oregon (Stewart)
• Effort guy Evan Mahaffey took I-71 to Akron, while Meechie Johnson went back to South Carolina. Rarely used big man Austin Parks fled to Toledo

Starters

• PG Bruce Thornton, 6'2'' Senior: You know this guy. He does everything well except win games. I might literally shed a tear if he goes four years at Ohio State and doesn't play in the tourney.
• SG John Mobley, 6'1'' Sophomore: Mobley was billed as a dead eyed shooter, and he mostly didn't disappoint. He shot over 38 percent on his 200 three pointers, and he should probably increase the percentage this season. A lack of guards forced him to play a lot of minutes as a freshman - he should get more rest this year.
• SF Devin Royal, 6'6'' Junior: Royal moves from undersized power forward to the wing. He oscillated between sensational and barely present last season. He's not a great shooter and most of skills depend on being close to the basket, but the Buckeyes don't really have a natural wing guy, so here he goes.
• PF Brandon Noel, 6'8'' Senior: Sean Stewart and Aaron Bradshaw were big time athletes who were mostly unable to play the game of basketball. So Jon Jake Diebler's portal scourings went the other way. Small time athletes who have some basketball skills. In comes Noel, who was a very efficient scorer at Wright State. He can shoot outside, too, so he might flip flop with Royal.
• C Christoph Tilley, 7'0'' Senior: The second portal prize is Tilley from Santa Clara, who will hopefully provide the Buckeyes with something they didn't have last year, a Functioning Big Man. He will step out and attempt a three here and there, but mostly stays near the basket to score, rebound, block shots, and do all the things you think of when it comes to big men. The preseason chatter indicates he can pass pretty well.

Bench

• PG Gabe Cupps, 6'2'' Junior: A bit of B1G Crime as Cupps comes over from Indiana. He played quite a bit as a freshman, but missed almost all of last season with a knee injury. His biggest strengths are that he isn't a freshman and should be a pretty reliable option to spell either guard.
• SG Taisan Chatman, 6'4'' Sophomore: Chatman was going to be a starter last year but tore up his knee and missed the whole season. We'll see how he looks this year. If the Buckeyes can't sort out their wing issues, they may go to three guard lineups considering they have lots of guards and no wings.
• C Ivan Njegovan, 7'1'' Sophomore: Ivan the Terrible Croatian played a bit last season, but you need tall people to play basketball and he fits the bill. Considering the rest of the roster, he should spell Tilley pretty regularly. He struggled last year with things like holding the ball, so let's hope the offseason was kind.
• SG Colin White, 6'6'' Sophomore: Another returning sophomore is White, who probably would have been a bigger part of last season's team but for injuries. If his body is working he might be able to play some wing and is known for being a solid shooter.
• C Josh Ojianwuna, 6'10'' Senior: Ojianwuna transferred from Nigeria to Baylor and then from Baylor to Ohio State. He is still recovering from a knee injury from last season, and it's unclear if he will play at all this year. But OTR is nothing if not complete.
• Three freshman to mention. The most important is four star forward A'mare Bynum. He played 22 minutes in their exhibition against Ohio and is getting the reputation of the three and D type that NBA scouts drool over. The Bucks also brought in a Euroball German guard in Mathieu Grujicic as well as Tyler Herro's little brother Myles Herro.

Outlook

Man, I dunno. All the optimism for this program has been beaten out of me. Torvik projects them to be 19th in the country and 5th in the conference. That feels awfully high to me, mostly because they haven't been that good in forever and this roster doesn't seem like one that can defend very well. Everyone is undersized or unathletic or both. That said, hopefully no one quits the team midseason or looks like they are playing a different sport, and maybe that is enough for this team to sneak into the tourney.

BoilerUp89: I tend to agree with MaximumSam on them being projected a bit high. The talent level seems to be there to make that big of a jump but I'm very skeptical of Diebler's ability to elevate a roster beyond the annual Purdue game he keeps winning. There's good pieces but much like Washington and USC, the floor isn't that high and I wouldn't be shocked to see the bottom drop out.