Welcome back to another college hoops edition of Land Grant’s weekly debate article, “You’re Nuts”, where two of our basketball writers pick a topic and debate it to the death, or until Ohio State makes it to the second weekend of the tournament — whichever comes first.
Last week, Connor and Justin debated who will be the Buckeyes’ leading scorer next season. All-time leading scorer Bruce Thornton has graduated, which means for the first time since the 2022-23 season, someone other than Thornton will be the Buckeyes’ top
bucket-getter.
Connor went with John Mobley Jr., who recently pulled his name out of the 2026 NBA Draft and opted to return to Ohio State after averaging 15.7 points per game and shooting 41.1% from three-point range last year. Justin picked Anthony Thompson — the No. 8 recruit in the nation and Ohio State’s most highly-rated freshman in well over a decade.
Thompson is a projected lottery pick and by season’s end may be the Buckeyes’ best player. Mobley is the team’s highest returning scorer and will likely see an uptick in shots next season. There’s a valid argument to be made for either.
An unrelated note: Congratulations to Thornton, whose plaque bearing his name and image officially went up in the Ohio State practice facility this week, celebrating his 2,164 career points — more than any other player to ever wear the jersey.
This week, we’re talking about Ohio State’s offense, which has steadily improved every year under Diebler since he took over as interim head coach in 2024.
With Thornton gone, will the offense take a step back? Could the addition of Thompson and improvements from others actually make Ohio State’s offense more potent than it was a year ago?
This week’s question: Will Ohio State’s offense continue to improve in Jake Diebler’s third season?
Connor: No, it will stay roughly the same
Ohio State’s offensive efficiency has gone up every year since Diebler got the job. If we include the 2023-24 season, which isn’t totally fair because Diebler was only in charge for the final third of the season, the Buckeyes’ offensive efficiency has jumped from 39th in the country to 30th in the country and then up to 17th in the country last season.
Bruce Thornton was a huge part of that, and his absence is going to be felt this year, especially early in the season. Most fans have forgotten what it’s like to not have a player on the team who you can give the ball to with six seconds left on the shot clock and know that he will probably put points on the board.
Thornton was a tank in the paint, had elite footwork to get to the basket, and improved his three-point shot as time went on, leaving college as an elite shooter. Ohio State is going to miss him tremendously.
Instead, Ohio State has three, possibly four or even five guys who are going to score 10+ points per game next season. But will that collective group of guys — none of which will come close to averaging 19.9 points per game like Thornton did — create a more efficient offense than last season? I’m skeptical.
The bar is pretty high, too. Ohio State had the No. 17 offense in the nation last year, better than several teams that went far in the NCAA Tournament, like UConn, Tennessee, and Iowa. I’m skeptical that Ohio State will be that crisp on offense again with so many variables hanging in the balance.
How well has Mobley evened out his game so he isn’t so reliant on only bombing threes? How much as Amare Bynum’s jump shot improved? Is Anthony Thompson strong and physical enough to have his three-level scoring translate to the college level? Will transfer additions like Curtis Givens and Jimmie Williams work out, with those guys transferring into a tougher league?
I think this Ohio State team could be pretty good, but No. 17 in offensive efficiency may be their peak.
Justin: Yes, it will improve
My opinion on this topic is very much based in my faith of Justin Pippen. Pippen is known for his defense, but he did average 14 points per game last season at California and even though his efficiency was not great, I think him being around John Mobley, Amare Bynum, and Anthony Thompson can help those numbers get better.
Pippen was not efficient at Cal, but he was also main scorer and ball handler, so his usage was always very high. At Ohio State, he will likely be the fourth option behind Mobley, Bynum and Thompson (even as a freshman he should be one of the top scorers), so it will be easier for him to get better shots and be more efficient with his shot selection.
Also, the bench is better. The Ohio State bench was the one of the worst and least productive units in college basketball last season, so adding Jimmie Williams, Curtis Givens and Andrej Jelavic will be key to add depth to the scoring.
Williams and Givens can combine to average 18 a game off the bench possibly, something that will bring relief to the starters and something Ohio State never had last season. All of those things combined I think will make Ohio State a better offense, even with losing Bruce Thornton and Devin Royal.
