Ohio State Buckeyes Crack The Top 25 of College Basketball Preseason Rankings

It was a long 2023-24 season for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

After relieving then-head coach Chris Holtmann with just six regular-season games remaining, Jake Diebler led Ohio State to an 8-3 finish.

Diebler seems to have been rewarded with a productive offseason. Despite losing five players to the transfer portal and graduating another three, the now full-time head coach added four from the portal and officially signed two recruits.

Per ESPN's Way-Too-Early Top 25, the Buckeyes rank No. 21 going into next season, joining four other incoming Big Ten teams in the standings. Ohio State ranks behind Purdue, Indiana and UCLA, and places two spots ahead of Maryland.

ESPN had sophomore guard Bruce Thornton joined by all four transfers — Meechie Johnson Jr., Micah Parrish, Sean Stewart and Aaron Bradshaw — in the projected starting lineup. The Buckeyes are returning Thornton and sophomore forward Evan Mahaffey among starters, but will say a tough goodbye to graduating senior Jamison Battle, sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr. to Michigan and sophomore big Felix Okpara to Tennessee.

Diebler will also bring in top-125 national recruits in guard Juni Mobley and forward Colin White — with these six incoming players, it seems the Buckeyes have addressed all needed areas and have added depth at every position.

Ohio State had a quarterfinal finish in the National Invitation Tournament, losing to Georgia by just two points at Value City Arena on March 26. The Buckeyes can hope to regain status in the NCAA Tournament next season, which would be their first appearance since 2022.