Ohio State basketball: Who will be the leader next season?

Not only does the Ohio State basketball team lose most of its production from this past season, but they lose some valuable locker room guys too. They lose leadership that had been in that locker room that a lot of players shared on a veteran roster.

Now, that leadership is gone. There is suddenly a void that needs to be filled. The Buckeyes need to have a leader that can help them when things get tough. More than that, they need a leader who can show what will be a very young team how to win.

The obvious choice to be the big leader is Justice Sueing. With him returning to the Ohio State basketball program, he not only adds great value on the court but off of it as well. He will be a guy that the young freshmen look up to early in the year when they are trying to get their footing.

Other than Sueing, there aren’t a lot of options left. If Seth Towns comes back, he could be looked at as a leader, even if he doesn’t have much of an impact on the court. Other than that, it will be up to a bunch of juniors to lead the team, which may not be bad.

The leader in terms of his game next season needs to be Zed Key. Key had some injury issues late in the season that hampered him. He also needs to work on his game in the offseason. Chris Holtmann has mentioned that he wants Key to start shooting threes next season.

Key needs to work on just hitting any sort of jump shot first. But if he does add that to his game, he could be a much more dangerous player that opponents need to plan for.