After their devastating NIT defeat to Georgia last week, the Ohio State basketball team has been in roster retention mode. Players from all over the nation have flocked to the transfer portal since it debuted in the hopes of finding better circumstances.
Jake Diebler wanted to eliminate the need for Buckeyes to use the gateway. He’s done an excellent job thus far of holding onto the majority of his guys. They did lose an important reserve guard, but they haven’t lost any starters yet. Felix Okpara even stated that he would not be moving.
The best player on the Ohio State basketball team has now made the same announcement.Bruce Thornton has declared that he would rejoin the Buckeyes for the upcoming campaign. The previous season, Thornton led the Buckeyes in steals, assists, and scoring.
For Diebler, keeping Thornton for the upcoming season is crucial. A year ago, Thronton was the most reliable player for the Buckeyes. At the end of the 2022 season, it began with a fantastic run. He’s only become more proficient as a passer and scorer since then. Next year, he’ll be the team’s best player.
A lot of credit has to go to some of the NIL collectives as well. Ross Bjork has come in and has been a big proponent of NIL going back to his previous employer, Texas A&M. Now, he has an opportunity to help all of Ohio State’s sports by embracing the different collectives that surround the university.
Thornton still has things he can improve in his game. His shooting percentages went down this past year, mostly because he had to take bad shots early in the year to generate any hope of offense. Now that Chris Holtmann is gone and Diebler runs some semblance of half-court offense, expcect those to improve.
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