Ohio State men’s basketball signs entire 2022 recruiting class

On the football side of things, Ohio State’s next three games seem to get more and more important with each passing day. With Purdue coming into town this weekend, the Buckeyes can’t overlook them after what they were able to do against Michigan State last Saturday.

Ohio State is still an electric offense in the grand scheme of things, but it doesn’t take much to see that they haven’t exactly played lights out over the last two weeks. Sure, a lot of that can be attributed to facing tougher opponents, but this team needs to get back on track starting this weekend.

Looking at it from the big picture, all Ohio State needs to do is to win out and they’re in the College Football Playoff. Simple enough, right? Currently ranked at No. 4, if the season were to end today it would lead to another postseason berth. But again, these next three contests, plus the Big Ten Title Game if they make it, are posing to be bigger threats than you may have thought just a couple weeks ago, with Purdue probably being the biggest reason why.

On the hoops side of things, it’s been a busy 24 hours for the staff, as on Wednesday the fax machine was rolling in regards to their 2022 recruiting class. Chris Holtmann and his staff are doing a really solid job on the trail, and while the Buckeyes haven’t reached his goals on the court yet in his tenure, classes like his latest give the optimism that things could change in a hurry.

Buckeyes ink their five 2022 hoops commits

As noted, Ohio State had a huge day yesterday on the basketball side of things. After securing the signatures from all five of their guys in the 2022 class, Chris Holtmann and the rest of the coaching staff can breathe a bit more easy now after finishing the job on the 2022 recruiting cycle. Eyes are now geared towards 2023 and keeping the momentum rolling, but after notching a class that ranks No. 6 nationally and No. 1 in the Big Ten, you have to love what the Buckeyes are bringing to the hardwood in the near future.

Ohio State has a little bit of everything in this recruiting class. With one in-state player as well as four other national recruits, the Buckeyes boast a very impressive average player ranking of 0.9471, which is a very strong four-star status. From the positional standpoint, this class has it all with three guards, a true center, and a forward all included. This gives this staff key depth, which they’ll need after this season as they will lose some of the veteran pieces to the roster.

Here are the five members of the 2022 class:

• Bruce Thornton (Alpharetta, GA/Milton) — the top player in Georgia for 2022 and No. 41 player nationally, as well as the sixth-best point guard in the class.
• Felix Okpara (Branson, MO/Link Academy) — the No. 50 player nationally, Okpara is also the 11th-best center in the class as well as the No. 4 player in Missouri for the 2022 cycle.
• Roddy Gayle Jr. (Mt. Pleasant, UT/Wasatch Academy) — the No. 63 player nationally, Gayle is the sixth-best shooting guard in the country as well as the second-ranked player in Utah for the 2022 class.
• Brice Sensabaugh (Orlando, FL/Lake Highland Prep) — the No. 74 player nationally, Sensabaugh is also the No. 21 small forward in the class and the 15th-best player in a very talent-rich state of Florida.
• Bowen Hardman (Cincinnati, OH/Princeton) — the lone in-state player for the Buckeyes, Bowen is the lowest-ranked member of the class as the 297th best player nationally, but checks in as the No. 9 player in Ohio for the 2022 class.

A successful day to say the least, Holtmann and his crew are getting no rest for the weary. Fresh off their dramatic comeback win over Akron on Tuesday evening, the next day they have to close out their recruiting class and stay sharp as more non-conference games are quickly approaching. The downtime may not be there for this hoops staff, but the effort and ability to recruit this well are exactly why they were able to have a relatively stress free signing day with no surprises and kept their class fully intact.