Ohio State basketball: OSU still has best recruiting class

The Ohio State basketball program still has the best recruiting class for 2022 after adding three players to that class so far.

Chris Holtmann has had an interesting tenure as the head man of the Ohio State basketball program. He has had some great regular seasons and has also had some great recruiting classes. Those seasons have yet to result in a Big Ten title or advancement into the second round of the NCAA.

Holtmann is doing his best to fix those shortcomings. It starts with recruiting. Right now, he’s doing great in that department for the class of 2022. His program actually has the top-ranked recruiting class for that year. They have three guys in that class right now.

The top-ranked guy they have in that class is Roddy Gayle Jr. Gayle Jr. is a shooting guard from Youngstown, New York and is the best player in the state of New York. He is a four-star prospect right now and still has a chance to improve that rating this season.

Holtmann also has a commitment from Bruce Thornton, a four-star point guard from Alpharetta, Georgia. Thornton is the best player in the state of Georgia and should give the Buckeyes a true ball-handler, which is something they did not have depth with the last couple of years.

The final member of the 2022 class is Bowen Hardman. Hardman is a shooting guard from Cincinnati and is ranked as the fourth-best player in the state of Ohio. He is a three-star prospect and is the lowest-rated prospect in this recruiting class.

As you can see, none of these players are five-star superstars. Perhaps Gayle Jr. can work his way up to that rating, but it’s unlikely. Holtmann is trying to build a team that plays best as a team instead of getting players that try to win individual matchups. It’s how he coaches.

It would be nice if Holtmann can add to this class, or get these guys to play well together and actually stay there.