Ohio State basketball: Chris Holtmann doing his best coaching job

The Ohio State basketball coach is doing the best work of his career in the most challenging season in modern history.

Chris Holtmann was hired to be the head coach of the Ohio State basketball program back in 2017. That hire was made after Thad Matta was forced into retirement due to health issues and negative recruiting associated with those issues that affected the program.

Since that time, Holtmann has gotten better and better. His teams have gotten more and more talented. He had his team playing some of the best basketball in the country at this point last season before the season was abruptly canceled.

Now, in the midst of unprecedented times and restrictions due to COVID, Holtmann is doing the best coaching of his career. He has his team playing at an elite level and doing it all without an elite 2020 recruiting class and having several players from the 2019 class transferring.

Holtmann has used a variety of players to get his team vying for a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State is versatile on offense, tough on defense, and has the ability to still get better. It’s a team that hasn’t fallen apart in January like the last couple of teams have.

Holtmann also has an immense amount of depth on his squad, something that Matta never tried to build. Matta only went 8-deep if necessary, primarily going 7-deep. Holtmann is playing 11 guys with regularity and would possibly be playing 12 had he not lost Jimmy Sotos for the season.

This depth is what makes this Ohio State basketball team different than the others coached by Holtmann. That depth gives the Buckeyes a real shot to win it all. All of these guys are guys that can be counted on to play if someone goes down with an injury.

Ohio State’s ceiling won’t be known until the Big Ten Tournament commences. That’s when the meat grinder of pressure starts. But from everything we’ve seen so far, Chris Holtmann will have his team ready.