What Ohio State’s Basketball Teams Must Do to Improve Their Rosters as Offseason Begins

Real Pod Wednesdays

The offseason is officially underway for both Ohio State basketball teams.

Ohio State’s men’s basketball season ended Tuesday with the Buckeyes’ loss to Georgia in the NIT quarterfinals while the women’s basketball season concluded with an upset defeat to Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. While both teams had hopes of continuing their seasons further, the focus for both teams now turns to the offseason – particularly what they will do in the transfer portal to bolster their rosters for 2024-25.

After starting this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays with some shoutouts for Ohio State’s newly crowned national champions, we dive into what next year’s rosters could look like for both Buckeye basketball teams and what they both need to add in the portal. Later in the show, we talk about the latest developments for Ohio State football including Jeremiah Smith’s historically fast black stripe removal, the emergence of Jason Moore as a defensive tackle to watch and the ongoing search for a new running backs coach.

The full rundown of where you can hear us talk about a variety of topics in this week’s show:

• 0:07: Ohio State women’s hockey and pistol teams are elite
• 5:14: Ohio State wrestling’s future looks bright with national champion Jesse Mendez leading the way
• 9:20: The end of Ohio State’s men’s basketball season felt like a success despite Tuesday’s loss
• 15:11: Ohio State has a good core to build around if it can retain key juniors and sophomores
• 19:57: Adding a forward to replace Jamison Battle is Ohio State’s biggest transfer portal need
• 22:18: Meechie Johnson, Jalen Sullinger, Matt Allocco among potential transfer guard targets
• 29:12: The start of the offseason will be telling of Jake Diebler’s readiness to be a head coach
• 30:43: Jake Diebler’s hiring will be judged by if his Buckeyes outperform Dusty May’s Wolverines
• 34:34: Rebounding, lack of depth among flaws that cost Ohio State women’s basketball
• 40:05: Ohio State women need to add transfer center, guard who can make immediate impact
• 46:11: Jeremiah Smith’s black stripe removal adds more fuel to the hype train
• 49:24: Brandon Inniss, Caleb Downs and Quinshon Judkins hype also continues to grow
• 52:11: Sonny Styles and C.J. Hicks expect to be on the field together in some situations
• 53:44: Jason Moore emerges as a player to watch in defensive tackle rotation
• 55:23: Ohio State should be able to rotate more on defensive line this year, but how much should it?
• 57:18: The running back coach search continues, but Ohio State doesn’t need to make a panic hire
• 1:01:00: C.J. Stroud’s pro day appearance shows why he’s an ideal ambassador for Ohio State