Ohio State basketball: Chris Holtmann focused on Ohio in recruiting

The Ohio State basketball team has historically gotten a lot of its talent from outside the state of Ohio. Ohio doesn’t have a strong tradition of producing elite basketball talent. Sure, there have been some outliers to that and the Buckeyes have grabbed some local talent. But by and large, the Buckeyes have gone elsewhere.

Not anymore. Chris Holtmann has clearly made it a priority for the class of 2023 to be filled with Ohio kids. All three prospects in the 2023 class are from the state of Ohio. Holtmann has the number one, two, and five players from the state committed right now.

There have been some good players that the Ohio State basketball team had from the state of Ohio in the past. Jae’Sean Tate, Aaron Craft, Jon Diebler, and Jared Sullinger were all Ohio kids. All were great Buckeyes and helped the program win a lot of games.

It seems that Holtmann wants to keep the talent in the state and have these kids play for him. I think it’s a really good strategy, especially since he’s yet to get a single five-star recruit since he’s been with the Buckeyes. He can accumulate a lot of great recruits to make up for not getting the elite ones.

I’ve never been super worried about Holtmann’s ability to recruit. He’s brought in E.J. Liddell, Duane Washington, and Malaki Branham. All of those guys are NBA players. How he coaches the team in big moments and develops some of the ancillary guys remains the issue.

Regardless, Holtmann has done a great job with the 2023 recruiting class so far. After landing Devin Royal yesterday, the Buckeyes now have a top-five recruiting class in the country. That sort of great recruiting is impossible to ignore.

We’ll see how he’s able to fill out the rest of the class later this year. I have a feeling it’s going to be another great class.