The four-year starter for the Buckeyes will go out with a bang in his final season
As preseason camp begins this week, Land-Grant Holy Land is diving into its final theme every week of the off-season. This week is all about making predictions that may or may not be reasonable, in fact, some might say they are bold. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Bold Predictions” articles here.
There were a lot of additions and departures for the Ohio State men’s basketball team heading into the upcoming season, but the biggest news fans received was that the starting point guard is finishing his career in Columbus.
Rising senior and three-year starter Bruce Thornton returns to the Buckeyes for one final season, and I am making a bold prediction that he will be a First Team All-American in his final season.
There are a couple of reasons that Thornton can climb that mountain this year. The first one is I do think the Buckeyes will be better this year and return to the the NCAA Tournament.
For players to get the ultimate national recognition, they have to play on a relevant team. The only player that made an All-American team last season whose team did not make the NCAA Tournament was Eric Dixon at Villanova, and all of the first team recipients teams made the Sweet 16. An improved Ohio State team should help Thornton’s case.
Also, last year’s All-American teams were riddled with players that have left college. There are only four players returning to college who made an All-American team last year —including honorable mention — and only one player from the first team (Braden Smith, Purdue).
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Thornton was a part of the 2022 recruiting class that was ranked No 1 in the conference and No. 8 in the country. However, he is the only player that will see an Ohio State senior day from that class, as Brice Sensabaugh moved on to the NBA and Roddy Gayle, Felix Okpara and Bowen Hardman have all transferred to new schools.
The 6-foot-2 senior is coming off a career-best year where he was named to All-Big Ten Second Team and NABC All-District. He averaged a career-best 17.7 points per game and recorded 148 assists and just 47 turnovers, leading the Big Ten and falling in the Top 10 nationally with a 3.15 assist-to-turnover ratio. He shot over 50 percent from the field and was a career-best 42.4 percent from three-point range.
According to Ohio State Athletics, he is one of just three players in Ohio State history to have 100 or more assists and fewer than 50 turnovers for an entire season, and the only player to do it twice.
There were a lot of rumors that Thornton may head to the transfer portal for his final season after missing the NCAA Tournament for three-straight years, but he has unfinished business in Columbus.
“I’ve always been a loyal guy,” Thornton told Kellyanne Stitts of WSYX. “Me being here just sticking it out just showing love back to Ohio State because they’ve been nothing but great to me this whole time since I’ve been here throughout the whole process, good, bad and ugly, so it just felt right to do it one more time.”
Thornton was a top recruit coming to Ohio State, as a consensus four-star recruit by ESPN, Rivals and 247Sports. He was the No. 42 prospect overall and No. 8 point guard, according to 247Sports, and was named Georgia’s Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior.
He knows that this is his final shot to head to the Big Dance in his collegiate career.
“I’m just trying to win games,” Thornton told Stitts. “I don’t care what else I do, just make sure I win games and put a banner up in our practice gym, that’s it.”