Is Ohio State still in the running for a 4-star point guard?

Ohio State basketball secured, arguably, the most impressive win in the Chris Holtmann era a few days ago. After trailing by as many as 20 points to Michigan on Monday evening, the Bucks rallied—winning the game by nine, 71-62.

Now on Thursday, the Holtmann-led Buckeyes look to come back in another way: on the recruiting trail. The Scarlet and Gray currently have four members signed up in their 2018 recruiting class, but they are still in the hunt for one of Missouri’s best.

The race for the fifth visit

Courtney Ramey (St. Louis, MO / Webster Groves) is the recruit we are talking about. Ramey was once committed to Louisville, but after the FBI investigation into the Cardinal program, he’s reopened his commitment.

On Wednesday, he announced where he’ll take four of his five official visits. On Dec. 9, he will make the trek to Stillwater, Okla., to visit with the Oklahoma State program; on Dec. 28, he’ll go to the capital city of Texas to take a look at the University of Texas; Feb. 10, 2018 will be when he visits with the Villanova Wildcats, a program that won the national championship in 2016, for his third official visit; and the fourth scheduled visit will be just six days later, as he will make the trip out west to visit with UCLA.

All of the official visit dates and locations are what appear on his profile page at 247sports.

With one spot still remaining in the official visit slot, there are a few schools who are still in the running for the No. 1 player in Missouri for 2018. According to Rivals.com, Ohio State, Louisville, Clemson and Missouri are the schools who may have a chance at getting that last official visit—or at least meet with Ramey in an unofficial visit capacity.

Even though he’s penciled in four official visits, none of those schools are leading in the 247sports crystal ball. The crystal ball, which is comprised of recruiting experts and analysts, says there’s an 88 percent chance (15 of 17 casted votes) that Ramey stays in the state and goes to the University of Missouri. Ten of those votes have come since the start of November, so there’s at least a recent trend of voting—and it appears to be leaning for the Tigers.

While it may look like the Buckeyes are out of it, they recently met with Ramey after he announced his decommitment from Louisville in late September. And with the team seemingly getting better with each passing game, the Buckeyes can improve their chances in landing the PG. Since blowing a 15-point lead to Butler in the PK80 Invitational over the Thanksgiving week holiday, OSU has secured marquee Big Ten Conference wins against Wisconsin and Michigan. Against Wisconsin, they gave the Badgers one of their worst losses in the Kohl Center’s (their home venue) history.

There’s still work to be done in landing Ramey, but don’t count the Buckeyes out if they keep getting wins on the hardwood.

What does the Cox decommitment mean for Ohio State football?

In other recruiting news that happened, the football team lost a five-star commit in Brenton Cox. The defensive end verbally decommitted from the Buckeyes on Wednesday, and made a tweet about it:

So, what does this mean?

Right now, it means Urban Meyer and company will need to find a defensive end for the 2018 class. Tyreke Smith (Cleveland / Cleveland Heights), a four-star, is definitely on the radar. Smith is considered the No. 3 defensive end in Ohio, according to 247sports. However, if the Buckeyes do wind up with him, they have to go through Penn State—a team seen as a favorite to land Smith.

Rankings wise, the decommitment didn’t impact the Bucks too much. In the 247sports overall standings, they still have the No. 1-ranked class. Behind them are the Texas Longhorns. It’s a healthy lead, too, as Ohio State leads Texas, 298.00-279.37.

Recruiting is a very fluid situation, and with the early signing period happening in a little more than two weeks, we’ll have a more conclusive picture of what the 2018 recruiting class will look like at that time.