As it stands in early June, the Ohio State men’s basketball team’s 2025-26 roster is rounding into form. The Buckeyes are currently rolling into the summer with another new-look roster consisting of 13 scholarship players, seven of whom have yet to suit up for the Scarlet and Gray. There still could be a late addition made but that seems unlikely at this point due to the recent moves made.
Ohio State’s roster does have a strong core of returners, led by four-time team captain Bruce Thornton and potential All-Big Ten forward Devin Royal, but it also has some players that many are unsure about heading into the heat of the offseason. Those include redshirt sophomore guards Taison Chatman and Gabe Cupps as well as junior center Josh Ojianwuna, who are all coming off serious lower-body injuries that ended their respective 2024-25 campaigns, as well as mid-major transfer forwards/centers Christoph Tilly and Brandon Noel, who are both projected to start but have little experience playing against physical Power Five programs.
When putting it all together, I am a bit skeptical of just how good this 2025-26 Buckeyes’ team can be. Making the NCAA tournament this season seems like it might be a requirement for Diebler, and the Buckeyes might — keyword, might — have enough to reach that feat for the first time since 2021-22. But I don’t necessarily see this team contending for anything important in the Big Ten and beyond.
That is for this year, at least.
With the way Diebler has constructed this roster, and specifically with the most recent roster additions he made, the Buckeyes could be set up for more success down the road.
Ohio State made a pair of interesting roster moves this past week. Instead of filling out its 2025-26 team by plucking some players out of what is currently a weak transfer portal crop, the Buckeyes decided to add two young and talented freshmen that have potential to blossom in the future.
They started by garnering a commitment from Milwaukee Whitnall guard Myles Herro — the younger brother of Miami Heat all-star guard Tyler Herro — who, despite receiving just three other scholarship offers has shown signs of stardom, averaging 21.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game as a senior. Herro is known as a pass-first guard, which is notable considering his scoring outputs this season.
Then, on Tuesday, came what I believe might be the most interesting pickup of the offseason for Diebler. They earned another commitment from an incoming freshman, this one being 18-year-old German guard Mathieu Grujicic. He excelled as a 17-year-old on the international stage for FC Barcelona II and has also appeared on the club’s top professional team, FC Barcelona, playing three games for that team. The 6-5 Grujicic, who possesses elite offensive skills, was a highly coveted prospect and was courted by elite college basketball programs such as Clemson, Tennessee and Louisville.
It is far too early to tell if these two prospects will make much of an impact on this year’s team, but when looking into the future, they could add to an already solid young core of Buckeyes that could all excel for the team if they are developed correctly. Also joining Herro and Grujicic in that group is incoming four-star freshman forward A’mare Bynum, who has been touted as a rising star in the 2025 class, currently ranked as the nation’s 59th-best prospect and 13th-best power forward.
Then you have guys like Chatman, Cupps, Ivan Njegovan and Colin White, all of whom, despite not being extremely effective in their early college years, have potential and could develop into promising players. The wild card for this future roster might be 2026 four-star guard Marcus Johnson of Cleveland Garfield Heights, who possesses great skill for his young age and is coming off winning Ohio’s Mr. Basketball Award.
When putting all those pieces together, Diebler and the Buckeyes could be building something promising for the future with a bunch of high-ceiling players, which could raise the level of play for the Scarlet and Gray in 2026-27 and beyond. But this plan only works if Diebler can retain each, or most,of those said players in future seasons, and if Diebler can survive another year with another NCAA tournament miss this year.
Those are big ‘ifs.’
But the talent, especially the young talent, is seemingly there. It’s now up to the Buckeyes to take that and run with it.
