The Buckeyes enter 2025 under the radar, but with a higher floor than last year.
Ohio State looks just about done in the transfer portal after adding four players who opted to leave their old programs and come to Columbus. Jake Diebler and his staff also added three freshmen — A’mare Bynum, Mathieu Grujicic, and Myles Herro.
After missing the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season, Ohio State had no choice but to make the necessary reinforcements that will take them back to the big dance next year. Did they do enough?
Last week, Connor and Justin debated how John Mobley Jr. can improve next season as a sophomore. 53% of the readers sided with Connor, who said Mobley could be a little more consistent next season on a game-to-game basis. 44% went with Justin, who said Mobley could improve his two-point shooting percentage. The final 3% said that neither of those things are an issue for Mobley.
After 207 weeks:
Connor- 94
Justin- 87
Other- 20
(There have been six ties)
With half of the roster back from last year and the other half made up of new faces, we can assess the talent on the team, fit the pieces together, and try to figure out how good the 2025-2026 Ohio State Buckeyes might be.
The question of “did they do enough” is subjective, and depends on your expectations as a fan. If you expect Ohio State to make the Final Four, you probably have higher expectations for the offseason than someone who just wants to see the Buckeyes make the NCAA Tournament first.
If you think the team needs to be much, much better from last season, you probably expected the coaching staff to chase much better players than someone who thought the team was pretty close to making the NCAA Tournament last year.
So “did they do enough” is up to interpretation of what you think Ohio State needs to accomplish this season. But with that said….. did they do enough?
This week’s question: Did Ohio State men’s basketball do enough in the transfer portal?
Connor: No
Chris Jones-Imagn Images
Long story short, Ohio State was not an NCAA Tournament team last year, and the additions they’ve made so far this offseason are not enough to convince me that the program will take a substantial step forward this season. There’s a non-zero chance one of Ohio State’s incoming transfers doesn’t even play, another one played in four games last season, another at a small mid-major program and the final is 7-foot tall but averaged fewer than five rebounds per game.
Last season Ohio State’s biggest weakness was rebounding and post offense. Between Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart, the Buckeyes got 11.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per game from their primary centers. Both of those guys are gone now, and Christoph Tilly — a German-born center who last played for Santa Clara — has entered the fold.
While Tilly has been a pretty consistent shooter in three college seasons — he shot between 53.5% and 55.4% each year — he’s never been a great rebounder for his size. Despite being seven feet tall and weighing 240 pounds, Tilly only had three games last season with double-digit rebounds, and averaged 4.9 per game.
As a team, Ohio State finished 13th in the Big Ten with 33.7 rebounds pre game last season. With Stewart and Bradshaw gone and Tilly taking their place in the starting lineup, I’m not fully convinced that the Buckeyes got better in that area. Josh Ojianwuna is massive and also a very good rebounder, but his return from knee surgery is ongoing, and it’s possible that he doesn’t even suit up for Ohio State this season.
To sum up a long answer: no.
Ohio State could not afford to take chances on players like Gabe Cupps and Joshua Onjianwuna — but they did! If Tilly isn’t a great rebounder and Ojianwuna is not fully healed, then who steps in at center? Ivan Njegovan?
This should probably be a better team, but I’m not sure how much better.
Justin: Yes
I think the Buckeyes did enough in the transfer portal this offseason because you have to take everything into account.
First of all, they returned the three players that had to return. Bruce Thornton, John Mobley Jr. and Devin Royal are the big three that are returning to Columbus for the 2025-26 season. That is over 40 points per game in production that they can plug back into the lineup.
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, but added international prospect Mathieu Grujicic, an 18-year-old freshman who can play multiple positions. 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.