Previewing the 2023-24 Ohio State Basketball Season
In the month of October, The Floor Slap will be launching our College Basketball Preview. We will be previewing all 14 Big Ten Teams, making predictions, covering the biggest storylines across the country and more! Follow @thefloorslap to stay up to date on all our Basketball coverage before the season tips off on November 5th.
by Jordan Beckley
Ohio State Basketball was not fun last year.
The Buckeyes finished 5-15 in the Big Ten and 16-19 overall. Expanding conference games to 20 a year muddles historic comparisons, but last season was right there with 1997-98 as the worst season in 25 years of Ohio State Basketball.
What went wrong?
Well, the young players were young players. While Brice Sensabaugh burst onto the college level, other players like Bruce Thornton, Felix Okpara and Roddy Gayle Jr. were inconsistent.
The veteran transfer class that Holtmann brought into stabilize the youth failed to do so. Isaac Likele didn’t work next to Thornton. Sean McNeil wasn’t the prized portal addition he was supposed to be. Tanner Holden might as well not have even transferred from Wright State.
Beyond the roster, the offense was stiff and predictable.
Oh look, another isolation post touch for Sueing or Sensabaugh! Wow!
Ohio State shot the three decently well, but that might have been because nobody shot it. Ohio State were 306th out of 363 DI teams in 3PA and no player shot more than 1.8 a game. Avoiding three point shots didn’t create a lot of space inside the arc.
In almost every category, Ohio State was middle of the pack. Yet, only 6 of the 19 losses were close games of 5 points or less.
It wasn’t Ohio State just dropping more close games than they should have because they were young. The Buckeyes should have done better and it is hard to say why they weren’t.
The 19 losses last year were 4 more than the 15 in the season that forced Thad Matta out. Fans are already calling for Holtmann’s head. Again, this was the worst season in 25 years.
The Buckeyes hit rock bottom last year. Can Holtmann bring them back to the winning levels of before?
Roster Breakdown
Guards: Bruce Thornton, Dale Bonner, Taison Chatman, Bowen Hardman
Ohio State has a pretty defined backcourt. Thornton started all 35 games last season and is a candidate for a super sophomore year.
Bonner played 18 minutes a game as a backup guard in Baylor’s super talented guard rotation the past few seasons. He is one of the most underrated portal pickups of the offseason, and could compete for the starting 2 spot.
I think the 2 will go to Freshman Taison Chatman. Chatman has some serious scoring skills and will bring secondary playmaking next to Thornton. He has the potential to be the next guy to shoot up NBA boards after being a focal point under Holtmann like Sensabaugh and Malaki Branham did.
Hardman is a shooter that might hear his name called on special occasions. The bulk of the minutes will be taken by Thornton, Bonner and Chatman.
Wings: Jamison Battle, Roddy Gayle Jr, Evan Mahaffey, Scotty Middleton
This is by far the most interesting position group for Ohio State and could be the most interesting minutes to watch in the Big Ten.
Battle is a fringe All-Big Ten wing who will likely start at the 4 for the Buckeyes after transferring from Minnesota. Picture him as the new Justice Sueing except that he can actually shoot the three pretty well.
Roddy Gayle Jr. enters his sophomore season after a successful Big Ten Tournament that earned him more minutes and Holtmann’s trust. His defense, energy, cutting, etc. might be the connective tissue that the Buckeyes need.
Penn State transfer Evan Mahaffey and 4-Star freshman Scotty Middleton also have those connecting skills that the Buckeyes need. Mahaffey is a great cutter, defender and passer. Middleton could be all of those things too. Scotty’s tape is raw but he has a jack-of-all-trades aspect to his game.
The cream of this crop will rise and win the minutes at the 3. There likely will be different phases of the year where Holtmann prefers each player.
Bigs: Zed Key, Felix Okpara, Devin Royal, Austin Parks, Kalen Etzler
OSU’s depth continues to shine in the frontcourt. However, are any of these players a top half of the Big Ten center?
Zed Key was one of the best burst players at 20 minutes a game two seasons ago. He didn’t step it up with more responsibility last year. He also wasn’t healthy.
Okpara is a work in progress, but has the potential to be the best defensive center in the Big Ten and maybe beyond. Every day under Holtmann, Okpara should be sharpening his offensive skillset. Expect him to shoot threes this season, but will the Okpara touches ever be efficient?
Devin Royal is an explosive dunker who will likely get all the backup 4 minutes. The Pickerington Central product was Ohio’s Mr. Basketball last year. I am excited to see how he plays against athletes closer to his caliber.
Parks and Etzler might get some minutes every blue moon. Don’t expect much from either this season.
Overall, Holtmann has a lot to work with here. There is plenty of talent on the roster with back to back Top 10 overall classes in the country.
The new class offers plenty of optimism. Taison Chatman is a pure scorer that should excite fans. Devin Royal is a homegrown freak athlete who could bring some real verticality. Scotty Middleton shows a bit of everything, and who knows he might end up being the best of the group.
Can the sophomore’s make a a leap? Thornton, Gayle Jr, and Okpara are a year older with more muscle, more time in the gym and on the court, and the experience of last year to put a bad taste in their mouth.
Last year’s transfer class struck out. This one has to be better.
Battle has already proven himself to be a Top 30 Big Ten player. Bonner has been apart of one of the best programs in the country and will bring that energy and level of expectation. Mahaffey doesn’t have the buzz or transfer ranking that McNeil had, but his skills are more important for winning.
The challenge will be parsing through the combinations of different skill sets to formulate the most effective lineups.
Last year the talent didn’t mesh together the way it needed to. Holtmann needs to do better this season.
Will Holtmann bring the Buckeyes back?
Coach Holtmann failed last season. There is no other way to look at it.
The talent was there. The stats say that Ohio State should have been more successful.
Yes, the players were young and didn’t have the chemistry that a more traditional college team would have had.
Still, it is up to the coach to navigate issues like that. Holtmann had the tools, he just never put it all together the right way. This season will be all about nailing that balance of talent, chemistry, complimentary players, etc.
If Holtmann doesn’t get it right, he is almost certainly gone.
There have been highs in the Holtmann era.
Coach Holtmann surprised everyone with a surprisingly quick turnaround in year one winning 25 games, good enough for 2nd place in the Big Ten with Keita Bates-Diop winning Big Ten POY and Holtmann even winning Coach of the Year.
There was the Duane Washington, EJ Liddell team that almost won the Big Ten Tournament and was a no. 2 seed in 2020-21.
Holtmann has player success too putting dudes into the NBA like Bates-Diop, Washington, Liddell, Branham and Sensabaugh.
But…that no. 2 seed was upset by Oral Roberts in the first round.
Last year may have been the first tournament Holtmann has missed at OSU, but he also hasn’t made the Sweet 16 yet.
The Buckeyes have had double digit losses in every season but his first … when they had 9 losses. Holtmann hasn’t reached 25 wins since that first season either.
Ohio State has the talent to be a top half of the Big Ten team.
Thornton, Okpara and Gayle are a year older. A new crop of transfers in Battle, Bonner, and Mahaffey could all work this time. Another group of 4-star freshmen will be competing in Chatman, Middleton and Royal.
It will be up to Holtmann to craft the right offense for this team. It is up to him to figure out the rotation. What is the right mix to maximize the defense, the passing, the scoring, the rebounding, etc. Coach Holtmann will have to figure out who is ‘the guy’ on offense in the vein of Branham, Sensabaugh, and Washington.
The season is ultimately decided by Coach Holtmann.
In his first six seasons, Chris Holtmann has finished in the top 5 of the Big Ten four times.
This season we will find out if he is going to be the coach to bring them back to the top or if it will be somebody else.
Read More about Ohio State Basketball on The Floor Slap:
2022-23 Ohio State Buckeyes Basketball Exit Survey