As preseason camp begins this week, Land-Grant Holy Land is diving into its final theme every week of the off-season. This week is all about identifying one specific thing sure to make a difference for the Buckeyes this fall. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”The One Thing” articles here.
Last year was the most enjoyable season of Ohio State basketball in a number of years. In all fairness, the bar was essentially the floor since the Buckeyes hadn’t made the NCAA Tournament since the 2021-22 season before they were one of the 68 teams to make the Big Dance in March. In his second full season as head coach, Jake Diebler led Ohio State to a 21-13 record in a season that saw the Buckeyes fall 66-64 in the first round to TCU.
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Ohio State leaned on the veteran leadership of Bruce Thornton throughout the season, as the guard became the school’s all-time leading scorer in the final home game of the regular season for the Buckeyes. Along with Thornton, Ohio State received meaningful contributions from John Mobley Jr. and Amare Bynum. While Thornton is now in the NBA, Mobley and Bynum will be back in Columbus for the 2026-27 season. Joining those two will be five-star recruit Anthony Thompson.
Now that Ohio State has ended one of its NCAA Tournament droughts by making the tournament for the first time since the 2021-22 season, next they’ll focus on advancing to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2013, when they lost to Wichita State in the Elite Eight. Since then, the Buckeyes have made the NCAA Tournament six times, winning one game four times before losing in the round of 32. Prior to losing in the first round to Dayton in 2014, Ohio State had made it to at least the Sweet Sixteen in each of the previous four seasons.
Despite having Thornton running the show, Ohio State had a lot of trouble closing out games last season. The Buckeyes suffered nine losses by less than 10 points, which included losses to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament and TCU in the NCAA Tournament. Had Ohio State won at least four of those games, they would have had a better seeding in the NCAA Tournament and likely would have had a more manageable path to the Sweet Sixteen than having to beat TCU and then Duke in the second round.
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Just look at the end of the TCU game, where, with only a few seconds left, a play was drawn up that took way too long and didn’t give Ohio State a good enough look at the basketball. The lack of imagination was even tougher to stomach when, later in the tournament, teams had even less time to operate and still found a way to get a lot better shot off than Jake Diebler’s team did.
If the Buckeyes don’t want to waste the likely one season Thompson will be at Ohio State before moving on to the NBA, they’ll need to be a lot better in crunch time. During his second full season as head coach, we did see some growth in how Jake Diebler manages a game. Hopefully we’ll see even more maturity from Diebler now that he has another year of coaching under his belt, as well as an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Along with Diebler’s coaching tactics hopefully evolving, Ohio State will also have a couple of trusted names returning. John Mobley Jr. has plenty of experience handling the basketball, as he took some of the heat off Thornton last season. It also doesn’t hurt that Mobley is one of the best three-point shooters in college basketball. After flirting with the NBA Draft in the spring, Mobley will relish having the basketball in his hands in big spots this season.
Joining Mobley as one of Ohio State’s veterans is Amare Bynum, who started 24 games and averaged nearly 10 points per game as a freshman last season. While Mobley will have opponents on notice outside the arc, Bynum will be wreaking havoc near the basket with his insane athleticism. After showing improvement in each game he played last season, this is primed to be a breakout season for Bynum.
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The x-factor for the Buckeyes is going to be Anthony Thompson, who is one of the best incoming freshmen in the country. Thompson is Ohio State’s highest-rated recruit since the Buckeyes brought in Jared Sullinger in 2010. Last year, Darryn Peterson of Kansas and BYU’s A.J. Dybantsa were highly touted freshmen who lived up to the hype and ended up being taken with the first two picks in last month’s NBA Draft. Expect Thompson to want the basketball in his hands late in tight games, as he will want to prove he is the top freshman in the country this season.
What will help Ohio State turn around some of their struggles late in games is to change their mentality. Start thinking they can pull out tight games, and then once they actually start doing it, it’ll become easier to do in the future. Much like when a shooter is struggling, the cure for what ails him is getting to the free throw line and seeing a couple of shots go through the net. If they start coming through in clutch time, then the sky is the limit for this year’s Buckeye squad.
