Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann claps in affirmation in the second half of the game against Cleveland State on Nov. 23. Ohio State won 89-61. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Lantern File Photo
It’s been anything but a normal offseason for the Ohio State men’s basketball team.
Since its abrupt start in early March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio State has dealt with moving pieces on the roster, injuries and schedule mishaps. Despite the whirlwind offseason, head coach Chris Holtmann said that the program’s experience with the pandemic has made them more appreciative of the game — even if practices have sometimes been limited due to protocols.
“It’s the idea that we get to do this, we don’t have to do this. We get to come in and be an athlete and get better and if it’s only six of us,” Holtmann said. “We get to do this, let’s find a way to maximize the day in front of us.”
With plenty of issues still in motion, the Buckeyes have already had to deal with a devastating career-ending occurrence.
Transfer senior guard Abel Porter announced Nov. 4 that he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy — a rare heart disease in which the heart muscle becomes thicker, making it harder to pump blood — and that he’d be unable to play out his final season for the Buckeyes.
With the need to fill the void left by Porter, Holtmann said the Buckeyes looked at many options, including other graduate transfers and reclassifying high school seniors.
“We did look at a couple of different options, one of those was bringing in someone from the outside,” Holtmann said. “This has not been done much and we were questioning if it could work, but we spent about three or four days really diving into our compliance about what direction we could go with.”
The Buckeyes have had some luck in that department with 2021 recruit and four-star point guard Meechie Johnson Jr. reclassifying to the class of 2020 and joining the Buckeyes a year earlier than expected.
With Johnson expected to join the Buckeyes in December, Holtmann said that he has an opportunity to play but the team will monitor his health and development before throwing him into game action.
“He hasn’t played competitive, organized games, with the exception of AAU, for a while,” Holtmann said. “I feel like there are opportunities to help this team, but we want to understand that his health will need to be fully evaluated and it’s in his best interest here.”
Ohio State has also had senior transfer guard Jimmy Sotos earn immediate eligibility from the NCAA following his move from Bucknell.
Sotos was the Bison’s leading scorer in 2019-20, putting up 11.5 points per game while adding a team-high 3.9 assists per game.
In what was meant to be a developmental year for the Illinois native, Holtmann said Sotos will add depth to the Buckeyes’ already depleted backcourt.
“The thing he provides, most significantly, is shooting, ball handling and passing,” Holtmann said. “He’s graded out as one of our best shooters, but he’ll have an adjustment to the athleticism, the length, the speed at this level for sure. But we see him as being a guy that will play both off the ball and with the ball in his hands.”
While the Buckeyes have had to deal with moving pieces on the roster, they’ve also dealt with a changing schedule. Holtmann said it has been a challenge to fill Ohio State’s schedule with opponents leading up to the start of the 2020-21 season.
The Buckeyes were originally slated to tip off the season Nov. 25 in the Crossover Classic, but after a talk with James Borchers, Ohio State Department of Athletics head team physician, about the positivity rate in South Dakota, Holtmann and his team withdrew from the tournament Nov. 5.
“We had been tracking that pretty closely. It was a tournament we really wanted to play in, that’s kinda why we stayed in it as long as we did,” Holtmann said.
Along with replacing the season-opening tournament, Holtmann said putting together a schedule has become the focus of most of his time.
“I would say it’s probably been, right now, about 70 percent of my work, days and nights, have been scheduling,” Holtmann said. “At this point, it kinda has to be head coach to head coach when you’re talking about scheduling games to expedite the process.”
Holtmann said he is hoping to finalize the schedule within the next two weeks.
He said he is trying to fill the schedule to its 27-game maximum, but the NCAA requires participation in a multiple-team event to exceed the 25-game limit established Sept. 16.
Regardless of how many games the Buckeyes get on their schedule, Holtmann was realistic with how he felt that would translate to actual games.
“I’m putting a 27-game schedule together. I don’t think we’re going to play 27 games, but I’m putting one together,” Holtmann said.
