One of the main goals for Jake Diebler going into this offseason was to bring back Amare Bynum for his sophomore season. That box can be checked.
The return from Bynum elevates him into a much bigger role for the Ohio State basketball team than he was in during his freshman season. The big question, though, is whether he is ready to make that leap.
Diebler strives to have strong relationships with all his players through open communication. In his offseason conversation with Bynum, they both understood that this would be a huge offseason in the development process for the rising sophomore.
"We talked about the importance of this offseason, and that he's required certainly for him to accomplish his goals, but for us to accomplish ours, he's required to take a significant jump." Diebler explained on Monday morning at the Schottenstein Center. "And the reason I'm so confident in that is because I saw the consistency he operated with all year long."
"When you look at the last 10 games versus kind of the first 20 games, and where he was as a player, and the level at which he was playing, gave me great confidence going into the offseason saying, hey, like, that's a building block for us."
While showing many flashes of the impact he could make on the floor, it was a slow start to Amare Bynum's freshman season. The freshman walls do happen. But over time, it became evident that his play would help determine how far last season's Ohio State basketball team could go.
Bynum became a starter for Scarlet and Gray 10 games into the season. He averaged 9.7 points per game and 5 rebounds per game on 50.6% shooting from the field and 30.8% from three in his freshman season, and became a crucial piece to the lineup in the Buckeyes' late-season push to make the NCAA Tournament.
The level of play from Bynum down the stretch of the regular season was massive, and it helped Ohio State get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years. His play made him unquestionably a top priority for Jake Diebler to bring back for this season. In the world of the transfer portal, being able to retain a player like Bynum is a bigger win than it sounds.
"We've had tremendous success with retention in this program," Diebler said. "If John Mobley or Amare [Bynum] would have been in the transfer portal they'd be some of the best players in the country, right? There were plenty of teams that tried to push them into the transfer portal, and so them really right away saying, hey, this is where I want to be, and we're building something, and we want to take it to the next level - was awesome for us as a staff."
Bynum is one of three players who logged minutes last season that are returning. The type of energy he brings on a nightly basis on both ends of the floor can be infectious. But now he's going to be looked at as a potential leader for the program and will need to become a consistent threat offensively. That's a huge step up for a sophomore.
Knowing that Bynum is a key piece to the foundation of the program heading into the 2026-27 College Basketball season, he and Jake Diebler can attack this transition in the summer development process.
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