Now that the season is officially over for the Ohio State men’s basketball team, there is likely to be some roster turnover in the coming weeks as there is for most teams during the transfer portal era.
With the portal opening on April 7, the day after the national championship game, there isn’t much time left for teams to prepare for it. But Buckeyes head coach Jake Diebler is trying to do what he can to build for a better team next year.
“We’ve got to start with retention. That’s a major, major focus for us right now,” Diebler said on ‘The Jake Diebler Show’ on 97.1 The Fan on Monday. “Then we build it out from there. After retention, we figure out, where do we go in the portal to raise our level as a team?”
Four Buckeyes are out of eligibility after this season, with Bruce Thornton, Christoph Tilly, Brandon Noel and Puff Johnson each not able to play any more college basketball. But sophomore guard John Mobley Jr., freshman forward Amare Bynum, junior forward Devin Royal and more have the chance to return, and Diebler is hoping to bring at least some of them back.
But, at least in terms of what Diebler has been able to do with building next season’s roster to this point, the head coach seems fairly confident in what OSU will be able to do in putting together its team.
“There’s a lot of good happening behind the scenes to set us up from a roster construction standpoint,” he said. “It’s been a battle to get to this point, but I’m excited about the progress that we’ve made going into this offseason. I feel like we’re in a much better place today than we were at this time last year when it comes to getting ready to build our roster.”
Also adding to next year[‘s roster will be two incoming freshman in five-star small forward Anthony Thompson and four-star power forward Alex Smith. Thompson is the first five-star recruit to sign with the Buckeyes since D’Angelo Russell in 2015, so there will likely be a lot of excitement surrounding his arrival on campus
But the toughest part of this offseason will be replacing what Thornton brought to the table. He finished his four-year Ohio State career with his best season of the four, averaging 19.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game, and he was the only four-time captain in program history.
It will be a tall task trying to replace what Thornton brought to the table for the Buckeyes, but Diebler seems to have some early confidence that, after making its first NCAA Tournament in four seasons, the program will be able to take another step forward.
