Breaking down Ohio State MBB’s latest offer to 2023 five-star guard Simeon Wilcher

It has been a busy month — and year — for the Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball coaching staff as they prepare to load up on 2022 and 2023 recruiting visits. The latest recruit on the radar for head coach Chris Holtmann and his staff is 2023 combo guard, Simeon Wilcher.

Wilcher is one of the highest rated recruits in the class and he continues to drum up interest from the top schools in the country. Ohio State is no different in that regard, as they offered the five-star guard last week.

Wilcher is a 6-foot-4, 165-pound combo guard from Roselle Catholic High School in Roselle, New Jersey. He currently ranks as the No. 7 player in the 2023 class, and the No. 2 guard and player in New Jersey. In the state, he currently sits behind Dajuan Wagner Jr., who has already committed to Kentucky.

Ohio State now joins Auburn, Oregon, Iowa, Morgan State, Xavier, St. Johns, Miami, Georgia Tech and UConn as the schools that have officially offered Wilcher. Other perinnial powers — like Duke, Kentucky, Virginia, and Syracuse — have shown interest, but have yet to make it official.

Ohio State has been active in the 2023 recruiting class, already offering highly ranked prospects like Rayvon Griffith, Gabe Cupps, Mackenzie Mgbako, Lawrent Rice and Xavier Booker, amongst others. The 2022 recruiting class currently sits as the best in the country, so it is safe to say that Chris Holtmann and his staff have been hitting the recruiting trail strong and steadfast.

Wilcher is a fast guard with length and one who can play and guard multiple positions. He can play either the 1 or the 2, but his skillset more matches up as a point guard. His work ethic and will to improve at the game have also been lauded by his coaches in his early high school career.

An interesting piece to the Simeon Wilcher puzzle and recruitment trail will be C.J. Wilcher, his older brother.

The elder Wilcher started his collegiate career at Xavier and then transferred to Nebraska. Simeon is expected to take an official visit to Lincoln sometime this year. He may not want to play with his brother or follow in his footsteps, but if he does, it will be fun to watch how involved that makes Xavier and Nebraska.

The younger Wilcher has incredible speed and fantastic vision. A comparison could be made to Lonzo Ball in the way that he plays, which is incredibly unselfish and very kind with the thunder. Wilcher could afford to improve his shooting and shot-making ability, but that often is the case with players still early in their high school careers. Wilcher has plenty of time to refine his game, and given his athleticism as a rising junior, he almost certainly will be able to do it.

For a prospect that is this talented, the NBA is always in the picture, so it becomes even more important for Ohio State — or any other college program — to get in the mix while the pan is still hot. The Buckeyes still have some work to do on the 2022 class, but are already pulling double duty working on 2023 and beyond, and Wilcher is one of the biggest targets on their board.