As Jake Diebler enters his second season as head coach, the Buckeyes need to make it back to the NCAA Tournament
The Ohio State men’s basketball team has one main goal next season: Make it back to the NCAA Tournament.
It has been three years since the Buckeyes went dancing, and that is unacceptable for a program like Ohio State. Now, as head coach Jake Diebler enters his second season leading the program, the Buckeyes have to get back to the tournament this season to avoid another possible coaching search.
So, the question is simple: Did the Buckeyes and Diebler do enough in the offseason to upgrade the roster into a tournament team?
First of all, outside of the transfer portal, they returned the three players that had to return. Bruce Thornton, John Mobley Jr. and Devin Royal are the big three that are coming back to Columbus for the 2025-26 season.
Bruce Thornton averaged 17.7 points and 4.6 assists per game. Devin Royal averaged 13.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, while rising sophomore guard John Mobley Jr. averaged 13.0 points per contest. From just those three players, the Buckeyes are returning 44.4 points, 11.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game, which is second in the Big Ten behind the possible No. 1 team in the country, Purdue.
Now, when it comes to the actual portal, they added a starting-level center, a starting-level power forward, and depth at the guard position. The one concern is the starting three spot and adding another wing, but there is a chance that they did add that.
The Buckeyes missed on Darrion Williams from Texas Tech, who would have come in and immediately jolted them into a top 15 team in the country, likely as a possible preseason All-American and one of the top players in the conference. Instead, they added international prospect Mathieu Grujicic — an 18-year-old freshman who can play multiple positions.
Barcelona’s Mathieu Grujicic has committed to Ohio State.
2007-born 6’5″ guard is one of the best European prospects of his generation. He was named MVP of BWB Europe, Spanish U18 and the ANGT Ulm. Grujicic is a 3-level scorer potential thanks to his finishing and shooting… https://t.co/JrMOhgpFTf pic.twitter.com/tMN4XXiXlp
— Can Peker Pekcan (@canpekerpekcan) June 3, 2025
The obvious concern is his adaptation to the collegiate game, but he played at the highest level of Euro ball and has a versatile enough game to adapt easily, as long as he gets enough offseason time to get comfortable with the team, the system, and college life. If Grujicic can play more than they expect and become a legitimate fixture in the lineup, he can play the role of backup wing to Devin Royal and sure up the depth for the Buckeyes, and maybe even start at times when they want to play smaller.
The Buckeyes’ season will depend heavily on whether the two mid-major transfers that are likely to be starters (Noel and Tilly) can adapt to the Big Ten and level their games up. If they can, this is a team that can be in the top five of the conference and easily make it back to the tournament.
If they don’t, this will be another season on the bubble and failing to reach expectations.