It’s true Jake Diebler has been given plenty of opportunities to detail his vision for Ohio State basketball, and has done so at several points, not the least of which was when he was first promoted to full-time head coach. But on Tuesday, he fielded a question that called him to drill down on the specific identity he’s trying to establish.
“I want people to see an aggressive, confident, tough team,” Diebler said. “And a team that has fun, plays with a joy. That's one of our values here is joy. When we walk through this building and we have the resources we have and everything, we're gonna operate with a sense of joy and pride in what we do. And I think our fans will see that.”
Whether pushing the pace, fighting on the glass or ramping up the general intensity of practice, that’s the team that Diebler is trying to establish this summer – a vigorous, self-assured, resilient bunch.
Not everything has gone to plan this summer for Diebler and his staff.
Most of the setbacks have been in the injury department. Sophomore guard Taison Chatman, a planned important piece off the bench for Ohio State’s backcourt, suffered a season-ending ACL tear in June. Diebler added that several players have dealt with “nagging” ailments that have slowed their summer progress.
But he has seen bonds start to build between the six scholarship holdovers from last year’s team, four transfer portal additions and two incoming freshmen who comprise his first roster.
“As far as what we're doing on the court, aside from just having everybody together consistently, it's been great,” Diebler said. “We've introduced some offensive things, some defensive concepts, laying a foundation. But most importantly, I think there's chemistry being formed, which has been good to see.”
Much was made of Ohio State’s increased pace under Diebler after he took over for Chris Holtmann in February. The Buckeyes went from scoring less than six fast break points per game under Holtmann to 11.7 per contest in their 11 matchups under Diebler. But it all stems from that aggressive mindset he wants to instill.
“We're gonna be aggressive. I want guys to play with confidence,” Diebler said. “We're gonna have a toughness about us. There'll be pace involved in that, certainly. That's in my DNA. I think that's well-documented. But, yeah. We're working toward it, building toward it a little bit at a time.”
One element of playing up-tempo and aggressively is having multiple players who can make plays in the open floor, whether that’s driving to the rack, distributing or shooting from outside. Diebler’s challenged multiple Buckeyes to grow their game into new areas this summer, and it’s part of his plan to develop a 3-point threat with his team this winter.
“I want guys trying things in the summer,” Diebler said. “I want them failing a little bit and then having success and getting confidence. I think you get that through live reps.”
Another element of aggressiveness and tough play for Diebler is rebounding. It’s an area where the Buckeyes could use some improvement as they finished 92nd nationally in rebounds per game (37.1) but down at 218th in offensive rebounds allowed (10.4).
Ohio State lost its top three rebounders from last year in Felix Okpara, Jamison Battle and Roddy Gayle Jr. Evan Mahaffey, who pulled in 4.2 boards per game last year, is the leading returner. Center Aaron Bradshaw and power forward Sean Stewart should provide assistance from the transfer portal, though. Both played limited roles last year but flexed impressive rate statistics, with Bradshaw averaging 9.6 rebounds per 40 minutes while Stewart picked up 15.3, a number higher than Okpara’s rate in 2023-24. By the same token, sophomore forward Devin Royal averaged 8.4 rebounds per 40 minutes.
“We recruited to that, certainly,” Diebler said. “(Bradshaw) will help, he’ll help with that. Sean Stewart, looking at some of the analytics behind his minutes and his rebounding in his minutes is elite. ... Evan will be an important part for that moving forward. ... Some of it’s a mentality, too. We want to be aggressive offensively and rebounding as well. So we got to work on it. We got to keep getting better at it. But I think it has the potential to be a real strength for us.”
As the summer rolls along, Diebler will work to keep building both Ohio State’s identity and its chemistry with self-imposed high expectations for his first season.
“What I've been really impressed with is our group, collectively, has figured out ways to use their voice, even when maybe they're out of a drill or things like that," Diebler said. "So that chemistry is still being formed. There's ways to do that, we've talked about that. We're doing some things outside of the court to help with that. So that part hasn't been an issue.”
