The Ohio State basketball team finally made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years. Unfortunately, they lost to TCU in the first round. That meant that Bruce Thornton went through his entire collegiate career without winning a postseason game.
Jake Diebler has a lot of decisions to make with the roster in the offseason. He does have a five-star recruit coming in next season, but he has to utilize the Transfer Portal in order to build around him. Diebler also can't afford to lose a few players who are already on the roster.
One of the players Deibler can't afford to lose is Devin Royal. Royal has improved in each of the seasons he has played with the Buckeyes. He was supposed to be a senior leader for the team next year. Unfortunately, Diebler was not able to keep him on the roster.
Ohio State basketball team loses Devin Royal to the Transfer Portal
According to Jonathan Givony of Draft Express, Royal will be leaving the Ohio State Buckeyes for another program. This is a crushing blow for the Buckeyes, as Royal was a key member of the program for the last three years. He's a Pickerington native and a former Mr. Basketball in the state of Ohio.
It's unclear where Royal could end up at this point, but that doesn't matter. Losing him to the Transfer Portal is a massive loss for Diebler, and might be the biggest loss to the portal he's had since becoming the head coach. The Buckeyes are going to struggle to score inside.
Royal seemed like a pretty loyal player, so it's interesting that he has decided to play somewhere else for his final season. It's clear he didn't think Diebler could help him reach his goals of playing in the NBA. Now, Diebler has work to do in order to replace him.