You’re Nuts: What is the biggest potential weakness for Ohio State men’s basketball this year?

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Welcome back to You’re Nuts, where Land-Grant Holy Land’s basketball writers continue to grind through the summer months with riveting and thought-provoking basketball debates.

Although it feels like the season has been over for years, we’re still a solid three months away from basketball being back, so the light isn’t even at the end of the tunnel quite yet. There’s always baseball, right? -sigh-

Last week, Connor and Justin debated which game on Ohio State’s non-conference schedule will be the toughest

challenge. Connor picked North Carolina, which will be played in Atlanta as part of the CBS Sports Classic. Justin picked the Buckeyes’ February matchup with Virginia, which has not been officially announced yet but will be played in Nashville.

That game will likely be played at Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators, but don’t count out the possibility of the game being played at Memorial Gymnasium — Vanderbilt’s home arena. Jake Diebler was an assistant at Vanderbilt from 2016-2019 and is still very fond of the program and arena.

62% of the readers from last week agreed with Connor’s pick of the Tar Heels, while 22% of the readers went with Justin and the Hoos. The final 16% split the vote between the road game at Pitt and the home game against Notre Dame.

After 214 weeks:

Connor- 98
Justin- 90
Other- 20

(There have been six ties)

This week, Connor and Justin are looking at the upcoming men’s team and identifying one are that could be the biggest weakness. That weakness doesn’t necessarily have to be a player/personel-related issue, but that would make the most sense.

The Buckeyes still could add one more player to the roster late in the summer — and were rumored to be in contact with former Penn State forward Puff Johnson — but more likely than not, the 2025-2026 roster is set.

This week’s question: What is the biggest potential weakness for Ohio State men’s basketball this year?

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Connor - Depth at center

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Here’s a fun question: Who is Ohio State’s backup center? Ivan Njegovan? Josh Ojianwuna? A’mare Bynum? Do you feel particularly comfortable with any of those guys being the answer to that question?

Christoph Tilly will be the best center that Ohio State has had in five or six years, but he only averaged 22.7 minutes per game last season. When he is not in the game, Ohio State’s interior defense and willingness to throw the ball in the paint can’t disappear. I’m just not sure if the guys behind Tilly will be able to do those two things particularly well.

Njegovan is entering his sophomore season but averaged just 1.6 points and 1.5 rebounds per game last year. He looked especially undercomfortable down the stretch of the season, committing a turnover in two of the last three games of the season. Njegovan looked overwhelmed in his first taste of college basketball.

Ojianwuna is a tank and finishes around the basketball at a near-historic rate, but he’s recoving from a knee injury and his status for November (and December, January, so on) is specificied. There’s a real chance that Ojianwuna doesn’t even play for Ohio State this year, although the team remains clear that they are planning as if he’d be ready to play in September.

A’mare Bynum or Brandon Noel could slide over and possibly play some small-ball center too, but if that happens I think you’re rally tupping your hand at how short-handed you are with some positions.

Ultimately, the hope is that Tilly plays way more than the 23 minutes per game he played last season, but if he plays closer to 20, this group of merry genlemen are the ones would be called to jump into the action in his place.

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Justin - The mid-major transfers struggle to adapt

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To be fair, this is similar to Connor’s pick of front court depth, but I am specifically talking about Brandon Noel and Christoph Tilly here.

The Buckeyes brought in Noel from Wright State and Tilly from Santa Clara to start in the front court, two guys who have proven ability at the collegiate level, but at mid-majors.

In Noel’s career, he has averaged 15.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in 97 appearances. He has shot 56.3 percent from the field, 37.3 percent from three-point range and 77.2 percent from the free-throw line. Last season, he averaged 19.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 55.2 percent from the field, 35.8 percent from three-point range and 75.3 percent from the free-throw line.

At Wright State, the 6-foot-8 forward was a two time All-Horizon League member, made the Horizon League All-Freshman team and was the 2022-23 Horizon League Rookie of the Year. Last year, he scored 20 points against Kentucky, 27 points against Miami (OH), who made the MAC championship game, 24 points against Toledo and 26 points against Bradley.

For Tilly, he averaged 12.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game last season on his way to an All-WCC selection. In his career, he has averaged 9.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in 86 career contests.

Both of these guys are going to be key contributors for the Buckeyes this season. It is safe to assume the Big Three of Bruce Thornton, John Mobley and Devin Royal will lead the Buckeyes, but it will come down to the other two transfer starters to take the Buckeyes to the next level. The question is, can they?

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