Happy Friday, and welcome to another heart-stopping, breathtaking edition of “You’re Nuts.” Specifically, this is the hoops-related version — despite college football being mere hours away, we at Land-Grant Holy Land will continue to sprinkle in the basketball-related content wherever we see fit, even during the lean, dark days of the off-season.
The Buckeyes are back on campus, and on top of that, the Ohio State men’s team made a late-summer addition to the roster in 6-foot-9 power forward Lee Aaliya.
Aaliya, who turns 22 in November, has played professionally in Argentina for multiple seasons, and actually was committed to play for Juwan Howard at Michigan in 2023. That never materialized for whatever reason, with Michigan coaches citing “logistical” issues, including visa problems and friction with the University of Michigan admissions office.
Aaliya is not expected to be a “project” player or someone who will take several months to acclimate to this level of basketball. He will have an opportunity to compete for minutes right away, despite not having been with the team for summer practices or the team’s trip to Puerto Rico, where they beat two local professional teams by a combined 80 points. Aaliya is considered more of a post player who is more explosive around the rim, not around the three-point line. He will likely log some minutes at power forward and center.
Last week, Connor and Justin predicted Ohio State’s record in the non-conference portion of the schedule, since that part of the schedule has officially been published on the team’s website. The guys were pretty close, with Connor picking Ohio State to go 10-2 in those 12 games, with losses to UConn and Vanderbilt. Justin picked them to go 9-3 in those 12 games, with losses to UConn, Vanderbilt, and BYU.
Full transparency — news is slow right now in the men’s basketball world, unless you’re interested in talking about lawsuits, temporary restraining orders, and 20-something’s trying to play another season when they should probably be updating their resumes.
For that reason, we’re backing up a few months and revisiting the group of players who transferred out of Ohio State in the spring. Five guys left Ohio State — Devin Royal (Villanova), Taison Chatman (Utah), Colin White (Akron), Gabe Cupps (UIC), and Mathieu Grujicic (Radford). Which guy do you think set themselves up for the most success in their new program?
This week’s question: Which outgoing Ohio State transfer will have the most success with their new team?
Connor: Taison Chatman
Unlike the other four guys, there’s a real chance that Taison Chatman becomes one of — if not the — key player in his team’s offense. Especially after the news earlier this week that former Israeli basketball star Noam Yaacov won’t be allowed to play at Utah, this Running Utes’ roster is looking pretty bleak.
Utah went 10-22 last year overall and 2-16 in conference play, and there’s not a ton of confidence that they’ll be a whole lot better this season. Chatman projects as the starting shooting guard for Utah this season, which means in his fourth year of college basketball, the 6-foot-4 guard will finally have a wide open lane to a starting role, consistent minutes, and a large role in an offense.
Last season from January 26 onward, Chatman averaged just over 7.2 points per game while playing 21.7 minutes per game in those final 13 games. He’s a career 43.8% shooter, 42.4% from beyond the arc, and better than 80% from the free throw line.
Fair or unfair, Chatman was really never given the opportunity at Ohio State to be a featured guy. Would those shooting numbers hold steady if Chatman was taking nine shots per game instead of the three per game he took last season? That question is going to be answered this season for Chatman, because nothing will be stopping him from playing a boatload of minutes for second-year Utes coach Alex Jensen. I think Chatman is going to easily score 10 points per game this year in the Big 12, and perhaps even more if Utah finds a way to get out of the basement of their own conference.
Justin: Devin Royal
Devin Royal transferred to Villanova for his senior season after spending three seasons at Ohio State. Being a kid from Columbus and a large contributor for the Buckeyes for his career, it was a bummer to see Royal hit the transfer portal, but it wasn’t unexpected.
With the emergence of Amare Bynum last season and five-star freshman Anthony Thompson joining the team. There were two starting spots for three guys, and Royal seemed like the odd man out from the jump. He only has one season of college basketball left, and I doubt he wants to spend that coming off the bench after two years of being a starter.
Last season, Royal averaged 13.7 points per game, 5.7 rebounds per game, and 1.6 assists per game. For his career, he averages 10.6 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game in 96 games played.
Things were rocky with Ohio State a couple of times, but for the most part, Royal was great for the Buckeyes and is easily the best player who hit the portal. He will go to Villanova and likely average somewhere in between 12 and 15 points per game and could be an All-Conference type player.
