It’s been a healthy offseason for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
After losing three of five starters at the beginning of the offseason, Ohio State has jumped back into a conference title-contending position. The Buckeyes announced Tuesday that they filled out their roster spots by officially adding Ques Glover from Kansas State and Ivan Njegovan from Croatia.
Bringing in a big man from the Balkans 🗣️
Buckeye Nation, welcome Ivan Njegovan to Columbus all the way from Croatia 🇭🇷
Welcome to the Squad Ivan ‼️
📝 | #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/EyjOyZBbw5
— Ohio State Hoops 🌰 (@OhioStateHoops) July 30, 2024
This will be Glover’s fourth team in six years after spending two seasons at Florida, the next two at Samford and one in Manhattan, Kansas, where he didn’t see the floor at all due to a meniscus tear the previous season.
Glover, like the Buckeyes the past two seasons, has not made the NCAA Tournament in his five-year career — something both he and head coach Jake Diebler surely want to change this upcoming season.
On top of Glover, the Buckeyes rounded their roster out by adding Njegovan, a six-foot-11-inch center. The 19-year-old is coming off a season in which he posted just under nine points, five rebounds and two blocks per contest. While Ohio State said goodbye to big man Felix Okpara as he left for Tennessee, they bring in another big for paint protection and rebounding.
On top of Njegovan, Diebler added two other bigs from the portal — Kentucky sophomore Aaron Bradshaw and Duke sophomore Sean Stewart. Ohio State also brought in Micah Parrish from San Diego State and returned Meechie Johnson Jr. from South Carolina to help leading scorer and facilitator Bruce Thornton in the backcourt.
Feb 18, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton (2) shoots over Purdue Boilermakers forward Trey Kaufman-Renn (4) during the NCAA men’s basketball game at Value City Arena. Ohio State won 73-69. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
Despite sophomore Taison Chatman going down with a torn ACL, Ohio State’s backcourt depth is anything but lacking — to complement Thornton and Johnson, the Buckeyes will have freshmen Juni Mobley, Braylen Nash and point-forward Colin White, as well as Parrish and returner Evan Mahaffey.
Ohio State will also return Devin Royal, Kalen Etzler, Austin Parks and Colby Baumann.
With Diebler at the helm full time, Ohio State has the potential to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022 and contend for a Big Ten title.
Source link : https://www.si.com/college/ohiostate/news/ohio-state-buckeyes-complete-roster-with-two-key-additions-01j42a2md1wh
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Publish date : 2024-07-30 13:50:01
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