Ohio State basketball: Will J.T. Tuimoloau actually play?

The Ohio State basketball team may have gotten an unlikely recruit when J.T. Tuimoloau committed to the football team. 

J.T. Tuimoloau was the best football recruit in the country. He was also a really good basketball recruit and had offers to play basketball too. It seems that he talked to the Ohio State basketball program as well when he visited Columbus last month.

In fact, it seems that Tuimoloau is going to try and play basketball as well as football while he’s at Ohio State. As crazy as that seems, Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch confirmed it. So it looks like Tuimoloau will try his hand at playing power forward for the basketball team.

Tuimoloau does seem to have soft touch around the rim and can make buckets with some nice jump hooks. He uses his backside well to carve out position deep in the post and can also rebound. he averaged a double-double while he was in high school.

Would the Ohio State basketball team even need J.T. Tuimoloau?

The real question is, does he end up actually playing basketball? I can’t imagine Ryan Day is thrilled with letting his top recruit play on the hardwood and risk a catastrophic injury. Not to mention the time demands that are required by both sports to play at the highest level. It honestly just doesn’t seem feasible.

I do like that Tuimoloau is competitive enough to want to play both sports. I just don’t see it happening. If you look at the basketball roster, I’m not sure he’d even garner a lot of playing time. The frontcourt is pretty crowded at the moment with Kyle Young, E.J. Liddell, and Zed Key.

In reality, I’d be shocked if J.T. ever suited up for the Ohio State basketball team. There are too many risks for too little of a reward. He’s a decent basketball player but an excellent football player. He shouldn’t risk his football career to ride the bench for Chris Holtmann.