Ohio State basketball: Zed Key’s development big for 2022 success

The Ohio State basketball team has a lot of roster turnover from last season. They lost their two best players and only have two guys coming back who played significant minutes for this team. A lot of players are going to need to step up if the Buckeyes want to see some success.

Perhaps no player needs to have a bigger summer in terms of development than Zed Key. Key is the best player that the Buckeyes have returning from a year ago. So far, Key has shown little development on the offensive side of the court apart from scoring well in the paint.

Key has to develop into more of an offensive threat this year. He has to show a higher willingness to pass out of a double-team in the post, something that he has not done well. Typically when he gets the ball on the low block, the shot is going up no matter who is defending him.

Passing out of that double-team will help open up the Buckeyes’ offense more. That’s especially true if they can have some of their guys actually hit some open threes this year. Key’s a good enough scorer inside that he does command a defensive presence.

Key also needs to develop some sort of jump shot. Right now, Key can’t shoot any further than about five feet from the hoop. He can score with jump hooks with either hand but has no jump shot to speak of. You can’t do that in modern basketball.

Chris Holtmann has talked about the fact that he wants Key to be able to shoot threes in the future. This is something Key has been working on in the offseason. How much he’s able to improve in that area might determine how dangerous this Ohio State basketball team can be.

Key has a lot of potential as an offensive player. How he taps into that potential could determine how high this team’s ceiling is.