Ohio State Basketball: Holtmann quietly structuring tough bunch
By Willie Lutz
With Ohio State football at the forefront of the school’s attention, the club down the street looks ready to shake things up. After two straight misses of the NCAA Tournament, Holtmann is sailing the basketball Bucks in the right direction.
Believe it or not, Ohio State has a basketball team. Additionally, that team happens to tip off their season in about two weeks. Since the wobbly departure of longtime coach Thad Matta, the new sheriff has kept things quiet.
Those who follow Buckeyes hoops know of the tumultuous, off-the-court issues that factored into a low-moraled bunch in each of the last two seasons. Instead, new head coach Chris Holtmann pulled into Columbus toting a prized recruit in his sidecar, twisting the player’s arm from his prior commitment to Butler.
Four-star recruit Kyle Young is more than capable of making an impact as a freshman, especially as a forward, where the Buckeyes looked overpowered and overwhelmed last season.
…but you already knew a lot of that, so here’s what you likely missed.
After the Matta-to-Holtmann transition wrapped up, the 45-year-old coach took to the recruiting trail.
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With only one notable name, C Kaleb Wesson, joining the program under the Matta regime, Holtmann went ahead and pulled in the nation’s No. 23 recruiting class, one that ranked No. 1 in the Big 10. Pulling the aforementioned Kyle Young was quite the splash.
However, it was the commitment of forward Musa Jallow weathers the class into a usable product. Listed as a forward, the 6-foot-5 Jallow looks more like a shooting guard which is a better fit for the Buckeyes’ needs.
Things are really, really looking up for the Buckeyes, especially for a unit that is due for the return of Keita Bates-Diop; Bates-Diop played just 9 games in 2016-2017 after suffering a stress fracture, but was the nation’s No. 29 recruit in 2014.
Forward Jae’Sean Tate and guard Kam Williams each will return for their senior seasons; that’s a key pair of veterans on a fairly young Buckeyes roster.
It’s worth noting that Tate lead the team with 14.3 points and 1.1 steals per game last season. The next three on the list, JaQuan Lyle (dismissed), Trevor Thompson (left for NBA Draft) and Marc Loving (graduated) all left campus following the 2016-2017 campaign.
Next: Victory over Penn State one for the ages
The newness is inevitable, but so far Chris Holtmann’s 2017-2018 unit has promise.