Freshman Amare Bynum contributed this moment of impact in the second half of the Buckeyes’ win Tuesday over Appalacian State. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
They’re winning games against props, and the Buckeyes current cast has a strange resemblance to those of the past. But if you can wait just one more year……!
Columbus, OH – No one I spoke with in Value City Arena Tuesday night seemed to know much about the prospects for the 2025-’26 Ohio State men’s basketball team.
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I asked a patron sitting in one of those cushy court-side seats, and the one I prevailed upon shrugged and said, “We like to come to four or five games a year.”
That’s it?
One of the ushers admitted not really knowing who was on the roster except Bruce Thornton. “I recognize his hair. He’s been here a while, hasn’t he?”
If you ask someone in the student section, the ‘Nut House’, and they might know less. “They’re pretty much the same guys we had last year, aren’t they?” one offered. “They look OK to me.”
Ask another member of the media and you get a more informed opinion, for sure, but heavy on the “wait and see”…just like Ohio State basketball has been since the days of Jared Sullinger, Mike Conley, or D’Angelo Russell.
It’s a program that begs head scratching. Wonder. And the question, “If a school with the resources and the brand that Ohio State has can be what they are in football annually, what happens when the snow flies and it’s time for basketball? Why do they not excite in basketball the way they do in football? Where are the expectations?”
And where are the answers? In fact, if you went to Duke and asked, “If a school with the resources of Duke can be what they are in basketball annually, what happens when it’s time for football?”
Former Ottawa-Glanford star Colin White got a start on Tuesday, and is one of three former Ohio Mr. Basketball talents on the roster.
And whatever it is is contagious, because they wonder at Michigan State, Purdue, too. “We’re pretty good in one, but why not both?”
Is it money? One can understand saving a few million on non-revenues like baseball and softball because there’s little return on investment. But with basketball, where you build those 18,000 seat arenas for much higher expectations than default convenience on graduation day? Are you scratching?
Is it leadership, where you expect winning basketball every year at Michigan State because they have Tom Izzo…at Kansas because they have Bill Self…and at UConn because they have Dan Hurley?
Or is it simply the product on the floor, itself?
And again, the comparisons with football, where there’s absolutely no question about Julian Sayin and Arvell Reese…Sonny Styles and Jeremiah Smith? As compared to the 2025 Buckeyes basketball and the annual ‘wait-and-see’ with a new cast named Brandon Noel, Christoph Tilly, Gabe Cupps and Mathieu Grujicic…compared to Meechie Johnson, Aaron Bradshaw, Evan Mahaffey, and Ques Glover – the ‘wait-and-sees’ from 2024-’25.
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First impression? Last year’s freshmen, now sophomores played hard Tuesday night against a Sun Belt school (Appalacian State). They shot poorly in the first half, but were committed to playing defense and eventually found the mark to shoot 53% in the second half after reuniting with the three-point line.
There were transition dunks and always the steady play of the Everready bunny point guard, Bruce Thornton, who sprints out of the locker room in pre-game and never seems to tire. And there’s little question that true shooters like John Mobley, Jr. (who was fighting sickness Tuesday) is going to have better nights. There’s confidence that junior forward Devin Royal will be back on Sunday from a hip bruise to add points and rebounds to the effort when they host Notre Dame…a real Division I basketball opponent.
And that’s the current trio of players that the assembled average of 10,000 hang their hopes on for another year, until the transfers and a hoped-for freshman like Amare Bynum (6’8″ F, Omaha, Nenbraska) proves that he is in basketball what freshman Bo Jackson appears to be in football.
And again, the question? Why do more of the nation’s elite not come to Ohio State to play basketball?
Lord knows there’s money.
He’s provided the facilities.
And there’s little question that if they were a #1 or #2 NCAA seed annually they’d sell all 18,000 seats…that there’d be the excitement for basketball in Columbus like there is in Dayton, where the Flyers pack 13,542 every night and you can’t hear yourself think.
Well, if you can wait a year, or at least see the glass half full when they start playing Michigan State and Purdue, we’re going to see the impact of next year’s recruiting class, projected to the be the best in the Big Ten, and a top five, nationally.
It was announced recently that five-star forward from Western Reserve Academy, Anthony Thompson, has committed, the first actual five-star to commit to Ohio State since D’Angelo Russell, in 2014. And he’ll be joined by four-star Alex Smith (Upper Arlington but now at a prep school). In particular, Thompson is projected as instant impact because he’s a scoring prodigy.
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And if it’s true..if it does work out…and they all stay for more than a year (Russell didn’t), maybe we’ll know more about future basketball studs that either do, or don’t, come to Ohio State.
Or not!
Until then, Thornton, Royal, and Mobley, with a little help from their friends, are good for at least another 17-15 (2024-’25), because remember, there’s three past Ohio Mr. Basketballs on this team (Colin White, Cupps and Royal). And the current cast has to be the foundation for any hope (and hype) that’s yet to come.
Can this be the overture to the opera?
Well, think about how patient you’d be if we were talking football.
How patient you are with Ryan Day.
Well, maybe more patient than that!
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