Ohio State Basketball: Buckeyes will have hands full with Bearcats

Ohio State basketball opens its season against Cincinnati on Wednesday. The Buckeyes have a good shot at winning but they will have their hands full.

Wednesday marks the beginning of Ohio State basketball’s 2019-20 season. The Buckeyes have a ton of potential this year as they are ranked No. 18 in the nation and are loaded with talent.

Ohio State has a lot of nice pieces but none more important than Kaleb Wesson who returns after averaging 14.6 points per game last year and nearly 7 rebounds per game. They also have guys like Andre Wesson and Luther Muhammad returning in addition to some nice freshman additions in D.J. Carton, Alonzo Gaffney and E.J. Liddell.

They are going to have their hands full on Wednesday though.

Yes, Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin left and went to UCLA this offseason. They also had a few key guys from last year’s team transfer since Cronin’s departure, but this year’s team is still stacked.

Returning for the Bearcats is star guard Jarron Cumberland who averaged 18.8 points per game last year to go with 4.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists. They also had his cousin Jaevin Cumberland transfer to the program from Oakland. The redshirt senior was excellent for Oakland last year too as he averaged 17.2 points per game on 39 percent shooting from three-point range.

The Bearcats also have senior big man Tre Scott coming back for his senior year after averaging 9.3 points per game last year and 6.9 rebounds. That is in addition to athletic guard Keith Williams coming back who scored 9.9 points per game last year as a sophomore.

Oh, and they have six-foot-five freshman guard Zach Harvey on the team now too. Harvey was new head coach John Brannen’s first big recruit as the four-star guard actually had offers from the likes of Kansas, UCLA and even Ohio State, according to 247Sports.

The Bearcats’ offense will be much improved this year too as they were more focused on defense under Cronin but Brannen is more offensive-minded.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Brannen’s NKU team last year was No. 44 in D-I in points per game, while UC was 198th under Cronin. They also took 845 three-point attempts compared to UC’s 673.

I certainly think the Buckeyes can win on Wednesday. They have a ton of talent and head coach Chris Holtmann has done a great job in his first two seasons with the Buckeyes. However, I do think that they will definitely have their hands full.