After about 45 minutes, the five-star freshman ceded the ground to his coach.
It was Sept. 30, and the Ohio State men’s basketball team was wrapping up media day to preview the 2026-27 season. Scattered around the practice gym inside the Schottenstein Center were seven tables, each featuring two Buckeyes, leaving one member of the 15-man roster to fend for himself.
That honor went to Anthony Thompson, the highest-rated freshman to sign with the program since Jared Sulliner in 2010 and a projected 2027 NBA lottery pick. Nestled in the corner of the gym, Thompson held down a solitary table before making way for coach Jake Diebler. Now preparing for his third year leading the Buckeyes, Diebler spent about 25 minutes discussing his team’s depth, hopes
for the season, the early portion of practice and more.
“This time last year was different,” Diebler said. “There’s guys competing for opportunities and minutes and all that. That wasn’t the case at this point last year. Last year some things were more clearly defined. The biggest challenge is to continue to push each other and iron some things out in the meantime.”
Given all that, plus the preceding 45 minutes of player interviews, there’s a lot to unpack. Here are five quick things we learned at media day:
Buckeyes have depth, but some of it is unproven
Ohio State entered the 2025 preseason with three high-volume, proven commodities anchoring its offensive hopes: Bruce Thornton (senior), Devin Royal (junior) and John Mobley Jr. (sophomore). Those three prolific scorers were the focal points of the offensive plans, and each had already proven his abilities to consistently score at the high-major level.
Mobley is back this season. So is Amare Bynum, entering his sophomore season after emerging as a go-to option in the final games of the 2025-26 season. Around those two returnees, Diebler has assembled a roster full of players all expected to challenge for playing time. There’s a palpable belief that the Buckeyes are deeper this season after adding California transfer Justin Pippen, Kentucky transfer Andrija Jelavic, five-star freshmen LJ Smith and Thompson and a host of other players.
While it looks like Ohio State has more options on its depth chart, Diebler pointed out that they are still learning about many of their new players.
“I think the biggest question for us is we’ve got some guys we’re expecting to make a jump and they’ve got to go out and do it,” he said. “When you look at guys who have proven stuff at this level, we maybe don’t have five or six guys who have but we’re confident we have a lot of guys who will step up and do that.”
Ohio State remains healthy
Not having injuries is mostly a non-story, but after the Buckeyes saw their frontcourt thinned with lengthy or lingering injuries last season, it is worth nothing that this year’s team continues to practice with a clean availability report. All 15 members of the team are available and practicing, as has mostly been the case for the entire summer.
That includes Josh Ojianwuna, who was the only player limited during the summer while recovering from a knee injury that led to a medical redshirt season.
“I wanted to help this team last year but unfortunately my knee wasn’t ready yet,” Ojianwuna said. “I think now I’m ready and ready to give it my all.”
Rehired strength coach Dave Richardson got a lot of praise
Without specifically being mentioned in questions, Ohio State’s new strength and conditioning coach was consistently mentioned by players when asked about their summer, their personal growth or why they will be a better team this season.
Richardson, who was at Ohio State from 2005-18, returned to work for Diebler after spending the past eight seasons at Arkansas. Diebler has repeatedly praised Richardson's impact on this year’s roster, and several players brought him up unprompted during interviews.
“The conditioning part was a struggle at first because not playing for almost two years, I’m coming back in, you’re probably going to be tired pretty quick, but I also want to thank coach Rich,” Ojianwuna said, “because I was coming in doing conditioning, getting on the bike, extra stuff. That helped me to be in the better shape that I am.”
He wasn’t the only one to cite Richardson, and it left with an overall impression of a team that believes it will play with more physicality this season.
Plans for more pace are progressing
Stop if you’ve heard this one before, but Ohio State believes it is equipped to actually play with more pace this season – and that’s not just on the offensive end. The Buckeyes have been working on full-court pressure with the 6-foot-4, 190-pound Pippen spearheading some of those efforts with his defensive intensity.
“You look at our guards, you can keep putting different guys on the ball,” Diebler said. “Justin is really gifted at it. Curtis Givens can do it. LJ (Smith) is fast and athletic. (Mobley) has really improved in that area. I think we’ve got the numbers to do it.”
Teams wore Ohio State down last season by pressuring the Buckeyes full-court. This year, they are looking to turn the tables.
Anthony Thompson’s shooting is getting noticed
At 6-9, the freshman forward has turned heads with his ability to shoot at an efficient clip while also releasing his shot from a near-unguardable height. Asked if anyone has blocked his shot yet in practice, Thompson hesitated before saying that he thinks Amare Bynum (6-8, 245) might have gotten him once.
He wasn’t sure, though, and it’s clear that the freshman is making a name for himself with his scoring ability.
“Anthony’s really an outstanding talent,” Jelavic said. “His length, his size, his shooting ability, his ability to shoot over a guy where all that’s left is to see if he makes or misses it and nothing else.”
Ohio State men's basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social, on Instagram at @cdadamjardyor on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 5 quick things we learned from Ohio State men's basketball media day
