Ohio State basketball should try to grab Walker Kessler

The Ohio State basketball team needs some big men who are taller than who they currently have on their roster. They might find what they are looking for in the transfer portal.

The Ohio State basketball team did not have their season end the way they expected it to after they lost to 15-seed Oral Roberts in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. One of the reasons they lost that game is their offense dried up at the end of regulation.

One way to remedy that is to have a big 7-footer in the middle. Ohio State doesn’t currently have a skilled guy that big. Ibrahima Diallo is large but is not skilled enough to gain minutes on this team. They might have an answer for that in the transfer portal.

Walker Kessler, a former five-star recruit and a freshman at North Carolina, has decided to enter the transfer portal. The Buckeyes would be wise to try and grab Kessler to improve the front-court depth on this team. They don’t have that for next year’s squad.

Kessler is 7’1 and averaged 4.4 points and 3.2 rebounds while at North Carolina. Not only would he help the offense of Ohio State but he would help the defense as well. Defense was the primary reason why the Buckeyes are sitting at home instead of still playing games in Indy.

A rim protector is valuable at every level of basketball. Even if Kessler doesn’t block a lot of shots, his sheer size would deter shots at the rim. It would force more teams to take jump shots instead of driving for dunks and layups.

Chris Holtmann has already used the transfer portal well, bringing in four players from other schools so far in his tenure in Columbus. It would be smart of him to see if Kessler would be interested in wearing the Scarlet and Gray.