Ohio State’s basketball program has felt rather quiet as of late. Once head coach Chris Holtmann was able to secure a roster for the (hopefully) upcoming season, news surrounding the program has been hard to come by.
However, don’t take that silence as a lack of work. Holtmann and the basketball Buckeyes’ coaching staff have been hitting the recruiting trail as hard as any program in the last month.
In fact, the hard work appears to be paying off, as one of the nation’s top talents included Ohio State in his top seven schools last month. Five-star center Chet Holmgren (Minneapolis, MN/Minnehaha Academy) listed the Buckeyes as one of his finalists as well as Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Gonzaga and Georgetown.
The Buckeyes seemingly are in the top of that selective group, as they are one of only two schools to host Holmgren on an official visit — the other being Gonzaga. However, homestate school Minnesota is still the team to beat at this point in his recruitment.
Holmgren recently spoke with Jake Weingarten of stockrisers.com and he talked highly of his Ohio State visit as well as provided an update on his recruitment timeline.
Speaking with Weingarten, Holmgren said with the COVID-19 pandemic currently in place, and with no end in sight, he doesn’t plan on making a decision early. With hope that he will be able to take more visits in the future, he is planning on making a commitment around spring of 2021. He also stated he is not planning on reclassifying.
Another reason Holmgren intends to wait is he does not want to be the first domino to fall. Instead, he prefers to see what happens with other commitments before making a decision.
Holmgren is the No. 1 center in the nation and is the No. 3 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite Rankings.
Quick Hits:
- An Ohio State great will soon be coaching Buckeye four-star defensive end commit Tunmise Adeleye. Pepper Johnson was announced as the new defensive coordinator for IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. In addition to being able to talk to Adeleye about his future school of choice, the move should only strengthen Ohio State’s pipeline with the program.
- Ohio State commit C.J. Hicks showed his excitement for the Buckeyes 2022 recruiting class on Twitter Monday. Hicks is the No. 15 athlete in the cycle and the No. 4 player in Ohio.