A return to the NCAA Tournament and a top-five Big Ten finish are projected for Ohio State in Lindy’s annual college basketball preseason magazine.
The 2024-25 preview issue features Ohio State’s Evan Mahaffey as one of the three primary cover stars alongside Cincinnati’s Dan Skillings Jr. and Zavier’s Zach Freemantle while Dayton’s Nate Santos is related to his own spot at the top right corner. Notably, Freemantle is Xavier’s cover representative for a fourth straight year as Lindy’s has used the same photo of him for both the 2022-23 and now 2024-25 seasons.
The Buckeyes enter the season ranked No. 22 nationally with the following prediction from Lindy’s: “The Buckeyes will have a more traditional Selection Sunday this season.” Ohio State has missed the last two NCAA Tournaments and fired coach Chris Holtmann last February, leading to associate coach Jake Diebler being promoted to interim and then full-time head coach.
Ohio State is one of 10 Big Ten teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament. Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, Oregon, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC and Washington are all projected to play in March Madness, but only the Hoosiers are picked to make it to the Sweet 16, where their season is projected to end. Overall, the conference rates No. 2 nationally behind only the Big 12.
The cover of the 2024-25 Lindy’s college basketball preview magazine.
The Big Ten “legit looks like 18 good teams, and not sure there’s a single one that’s better than a 4 seed,” the magazine reads.
No Buckeyes appear on Lindy’s three All-America teams and just one player appears on the magazine’s list of the top 150 players in the sport: junior guard Bruce Thornton, who checks in at No. 100. Ohio State is not included among the nation’s top 10 frontcourts or backcourts, and Thornton is the team’s lone representative on the all-conference team as a third-team pick.
“Bruce Thornton gets to play with portal pickups Aaron Bradshaw, Sean Stewart, Meechie Johnson and Micah Parrish,” Lindy’s writes. “Roddy Gayle Jr. jumped to (Michigan) and Felix Okpara (Tennessee) was a great rim protector. If McDonald’s All-Americans Bradshaw and Stewart can handle bigger roles, then the Buckeyes are back to the big time.”
Bradshaw is cited as Ohio State’s top newcomer and freshman guard John “Juni” Mobley Jr. as one player to “keep an eye on” who is “equally proficient as a scorer and facilitator and figures to claim the minutes Thornton and Johnson don’t play.”
“I’m really excited about the versatility of this team and our overall ability to play with pace,” Diebler said. “I love the veteran experience we have at the guard position. I feel like that’s really, really important in college basketball right now, and I’m really excited about our frontcourt. We don’t have as much experience as in the backcourt, but we’re really talented.”
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Indiana is projected to win the league, ahead of No. 2 Purdue, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Illinois and No. 5 Ohio State.
Now at DePaul, Holtmann figures to have his work cut out for him. The Blue Devils went winless in Big East play last year, return no players from the 2023-24 season and are picked last in the 11-team conference.
“Chris Holtmann (is the) first coach in a while to bring hope to (this) moribund program,” it reads. “Not a single player returned from last year’s team. That could be good news. Holtmann (will begin) to turn things around, but this will take a while.”
Now at Butler, former Ohio State coach Thad Matta is picked to have the No. 7 team in the league but not make the NCAA Tournament.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State basketball picked for big things in Lindy’s preseason guide
