As has been the case for the past several years, the Ohio State men’s basketball team has a freshman on the roster who has the potential to make a sizable impact right away. In 2021, it was Malaki Branham. In 2022, it was the duo of Bruce Thornton and Brice Sensabaugh. Last season, it was John Mobley Jr.
This year, it’s A’mare Bynum.
The difference between Bynum and the other four listed is that, unlike Branham, Thornton, Sensabaugh, and Mobley, the 6-foot-8 freshman forward from Omaha won’t need to be a key
cog of the offense for the Buckeyes to have a great season. Unlike those other freshmen — two of whom are now in the NBA — Bynum isn’t expected to be Ohio State’s first, second, third, fourth, or even fifth-leading scorer.
In 2021, Branham averaged 13.7 points per game, and there were many nights where if he was off, the Buckeyes weren’t going to win. In 2022, the freshmen duo of Thornton and Sensabaugh combined for 26.9 points per game, as Chris Holtmann leaned all the way in on living or dying with the young guys. Last season, Meechie Johnson’s absence forced Mobley into the starting lineup sooner than expected, and he turned into one of the most impressive freshmen in the Big Ten.
While Bynum certainly has the potential to follow in the footsteps of those guys, the important thing is that he won’t have the pressure or weight on his shoulders that they did, requiring him to score immediately for the Buckeyes to have any chance to win. With Ohio State returning Thornton, Mobley, and Devin Royal from last year’s team, any scoring the highly-recruited freshman is able to chip in, especially early in the season, will be a bonus.
However, Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler doesn’t want to put any kind of cap on what Bynum can or can’t do this year. When talking to Land-Grant Holy Land last week, Diebler said that he’s been impressed with Bynum’s toughness and athletic ability. He also said that while Bynum won’t be relied on as heavily as guys like Thornton and Mobley were when they were freshmen, there’s no cap on how good he can be this year.
“I think he’s built for some great stuff this year, I really do. I’ve been really excited about him and I don’t want to sit here and say, ‘Hey we’re going to cap what he can do,‘ because we’ve got some really good players. I think the sky is the limit for him, and we’ll see how that develops throughout the course of the year, but I think he’s going to be really impactful for us.”
Barring some type of unforeseen injury, Bynum is unlikely to begin the season as a starter for the Ohio State, which brought in two senior frontcourt transfer in Brandon Noel (Wright State) and Christoph Tilly (Santa Clara). While he played quite a bit of center in high school, that was more due to his size than his skillset. As a Buckeye, Bynum will play more of a true power forward position, with the ability to slide over to center if the situation calls for it. When looking at the imaginary depth chart, Bynum projects as the backup power forward behind Noel.
Diebler is excited for Bynum to be able to develop this season “at his own pace” which will be quite a bit different from how his teammates, Thornton and Mobley, developed as freshmen. His number will be called pretty much every night, but whether that’s for 10, 15, or 25 minutes remains to be seen — and could change based on how quickly Bynum adjusts to the college game.
“I think his upside creates a high ceiling for us,” Diebler said. “He gets to go at his pace and run his own race. One thing I love about A’mare, he’s tough. He’s physical, he’s smart, he’s skilled, and he just has a joy about him when he plays. Listen, he’s going to be a really good player here, and he’s going to do some really good things this year. But to your point, it’s a little different feel — but hey, he may evolve into a that type of productive player (this year), and he may not, but he’s going to have a pathway to really go out there and be aggressive. And I think it helps playing with other good players. It helps him being on the floor with veterans as well, where maybe he doesn’t have to carry that burden like we had Juni (Mobley) do at times last year, which was really hard for a freshman to do.”
When asked what specifically Bynum has excelled at this summer and fall, the head coach said that his freshman forward has been pretty good at everything so far, but now the challenge is to do it all consistently — not some things on some days and other things on other days.
“I’ve been impressed with his ability to pass and the physicality he plays with. He handles the ball well for his size, (and) his shooting keeps getting better and better. He’s been really aggressive on the offense glass. He’s had some really impressive, athletic, come-from-nowhere blocks that have been good. So, he’s going to be….. he’s just a really well-rounded player. Right now he’s just fighting for consistency, which every freshman goes through in the summer and the fall. But we’re seeing more and more (consistency), which is really exciting.”
