With the 2021-22 Ohio State basketball season in the books, star forward E.J. Liddell recently announced his unsurprising decision to enter the NBA Draft while a host of other guys from this year's squad will also be exiting the program.
Heavy contributors Kyle Young and Jamari Wheeler are also gone along with reserves Justin Ahrens, Joey Brunk, Jimmy Sotos and Cedric Russell.
And of course there's the huge unknown as to whether either Malaki Branham or Justice Sueing will opt for one more season in Columbus.
That means Holtmann must replace no less than seven guys and that number could swell to nine if both Branham and Sueing move on. The number could push even higher should any existing guys with eligibility decide to toss their names into the transfer portal.
Holtmann is also down two assistants after Ryan Pedon accepted the head coaching gig at Illinois State and Tony Skinn moved to Maryland in an assistant coach role.
And while losing Liddell creates a huge although expected blow, the possibility of Branham and/or Sueing leaving would be tough pills to swallow.
That said, in this day and age of college basketball where legit ready-now, collegiate-experienced players are clogging up the transfer portal, head coaches are in better position now more than ever to attract formidable replacements and avoid a drop-off in talent.
For Holtmann, the chance to remake the roster is likely viewed as a good thing, although it certainly would be huge if at least one of the Branham/Sueing tandem remains in town.
The fact is, last year's roster was by all accounts made up of great kids but there were players logging minutes that can absolutely be upgraded. And there's probably a player or two on the current roster that could be upgraded though that is certainly a much more delicate matter and Holtmann is not the type to give up on a kid. I don't say that as being a good or bad thing, I'm just not sure he's trying to be a coach that "processes" too many kids out of the program even if their ability to generate wins doesn't match the original expectation upon arrival.
Of course, the two vehicles to facilitate a talent infusion come via successful recruitment of high school kids ready to make the leap and then by identifying vets in the transfer portal that would best fit the rest of the roster's needs and then successfully selling those players on their projected role, the team culture and the school's overall offerings.
On the high school front, Holtmann hit a home run on paper with his incoming class, ranked No. 5 in the country. We'll have to wait and see which newcomers are truly ready to compete day one at the collegiate level but there's a ton of reason for optimism both in quality and variety.
Six-foot-one, 205-pound Bruce Thornton is the jewel of the class, ranked the nation's 42nd best prospect and 8th-rated point guard and someone who can likely step on the court from the jump. A scorer every bit as much as a distributor, Thornton is crafty in getting shots from all over the floor.
Ohio State needs Zed Key to take a major leap forward next season.
Holtmann's first legit true center recruit, Felix Okpara, is an athletic 6-foot-11, 210-pounder ranked No. 50 overall in the 2022 class and should help on defense right away, if nothing else. After watching Ohio State's perimeter players struggle to defend the ball leading to way too many uncontested looks at the rim, Holtmann has to be excited about bringing a rim protector. The hope is his offensive repertoire will develop over time.
Roddy Gayle, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard ranked No. 59 overall in the 247 composite, is another guy who projects as able to get his own shot from multiple spots on the floor. Whether or not he can successfully do that starting this November remains to be seen but there's a reason he was the No. 4 shooting guard in the class.
Brice Sensibaugh is a 6-foot-6 small forward ranked No. 61 overall and while he's "just" the 16th-highest rated player at his position, quite a few talent evaluators are extremely high on his collegiate ceiling and certainly fans of his 230-pound frame.
Finally, shooting guard Bowen Hardman rounds out the 2022 recruiting class. The Cincinnati product is ranked just the No. 301 overall prospect in 247's composite and while he has a low/push release on his shot, his ability to stroke it from outside is what landed him in Columbus.
Holtmann and his staff's ability to project how the new arrivals will fit with the existing pieces - as soon as the Branham and Sueing decisions are known - will then lead to what type of pieces they identify as needs to address via the portal.
Zed Key certainly figures to be a very important player for Ohio State next season but what about Gene Brown and Meechie Johnson? Can either of those two make a real leap especially if Branham or Sueing return? We heard last offseason that Meechie was going to surprise people with his development but we never saw that with any consistency during the season. Brown was initially on the floor to provide a defensive boost but over time, his prowess at that end of the floor left a lot to be desired.
Seth Towns is still on the roster too however I continue struggling to think he can give any team a ton of production at this point in a career hit hard by injuries.
To this point, I think it's fair to say Holtmann and staff haven't exactly knocked the cover off the ball in the portal. It's also fair to suggest they'll need to do much better this year if Ohio State is to return to the NCAA Tournament, particularly if Branham is one and done.
Efforting to upgrade your program through the portal is standard operating procedure in 2022 and there are teams who needed much more last year than Ohio State might need next year that have shown how useful the portal can be.
Chris Beard at Texas brought in three of the top five transfers a season ago, including Marcus Carr (11.4 ppg) and Timmy Allen (12.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg) plus Tre Mitchell (8.7 ppg) and Christian Bishop (7.0 ppg) and the Longhorns managed to finish fourth in the Big 12, earn a 6-seed in the NCAA Tournament and beat Virginia Tech in the opening round. So yeah, the program wasn't elite but it would've been in much deeper shit without Beard's work in the portal.
Mark Adams at Texas Tech took the Red Raiders to third place in the Big 12 and better yet, a Sweet 16 appearance this year on the back of having six transfers in his rotation. Bryson Williams (13.9 ppg) arrived via UTEP, Kevin Obanor (10.0 ppg) came from Oral Roberts (!!!), Davion Warren (9.4 ppg) left Hampton for Lubbock and Adonis Arms (8.6 ppg) joined from Winthrop.
I'm not advocating such a heavy reliance on the portal nor is it yet known exactly how many players Holtmann might want/need to target but the reality is talent is out there if the staff can find the right fits and land them. (Jalen Bridges, anyone?)
Suffice to say, the 2022-23 Ohio State basketball roster has more questions than answers but the optimistic view is things could fall into place in a way that makes next year an exciting if unpredictable one.
