Ohio State men's basketball power rankings: No. 7 Sean McNeil
A year unlike any other is about to get underway at Ohio State.
One year after a roster bolstered by players enjoying the extra year of eligibility afforded to all who played though the COVID-19 pandemic topped out at 15 members, the 2022-23 Buckeyes will be a team facing unprecedented turnover. With coach Chris Holtmann entering his sixth season, a combination of early departures for the NBA, the exhaustion of collegiate eligibility and the allure of the transfer portal have all combined to create a roster featuring only two players who played in at least three games for Ohio State last season.
That’s not to say there aren’t familiar faces in Columbus. They are simply outnumbered by a five-man freshman class, ranked tops in the Big Ten, and a three-man transfer class that combines to comprise more than half the roster. Those new faces, combined with a few veterans, will attempt to outshoot their projected sixth-place finish in the preseason media poll and find a way to Ohio State’s first Sweet 16 since the 2012-13 season.
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Before the Buckeyes get the year underway with an exhibition against Chaminade on Nov. 1 and the season opener against Robert Morris on Nov. 7, The Dispatch will be producing its annual preseason individual power rankings list. These rankings are an educated guess at which players will have the most significant on-court impact during the course of the entire season and will feature each player on the roster.
The list continues today at No. 7 with transfer guard Sean McNeil from West Virginia.
No. 7 – Sean McNeil
Position: Guard
Eligibility: Fifth year (zero remaining)
Height/weight: 6 feet 4 / 205 pounds
Jersey number: 4
Major: Public management (graduate school)
Background
Hailing from northern Kentucky, McNeil is a product of Union Cooper High School where he graduated in 2017, finished second in career points scored (1,265) and was among the top five in eight other categories. As a senior, he helped lead Cooper to a state runner-up finish while averaging 17 points and 6.3 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to attract significant Division I interest.
“I only had two Division II scholarships out of high school,” McNeil said. “I heard from a few Division I schools but none of them ever pulled the trigger on me.”
He committed to one of the Division II schools, Bellarmine (which is now Division I), but left there before the school year started because it didn’t feel right. McNeil then spent his freshman year at Gateway Community College, which does not field athletic teams, to keep up with his academics before enrolling at Sinclair Community College in Dayton as a sophomore. There, at the junior college level, McNeil quickly made up for lost time and blossomed into a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II First Team All-American by averaging a nation-best 29.7 points and 4.3 made 3-pointers per game.
That led to a scholarship offer from West Virginia, where he spent the next three seasons playing for coach Bob Huggins and graduated with a bachelor's degree in sport management. McNeil averaged 10.1 points and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 36.8% from 3-point range, 86.1% from the free-throw line and 40.4% from the floor in 89 games.
McNeil was named honorable mention all-Big 12 and earned second-team academic all-Big 12 Men’s honors in 2020-21.
2021-22 season recap
After averaging 12.2 points per game during his second season at West Virginia, McNeil posted that exact same average while broadening his game a bit. McNeil attempted 6.1 3-pointers and 3.9 shots inside the arc during his second season, but last season those numbers changed to 4.8 and 5.3, respectively, which allowed him to get to the free-throw line more than in any other year. McNeil was 65 for 75 (86.7%) from the line after attempting 91 free throws combined during his first two seasons.
In conference play, McNeil was 40 for 43 from the line, tops in the Big 12. He was eighth in 3-point shooting percentage (.378, 31 for 82), third in fewest fouls committed per 40 minutes (1.6), fifth in turnover rate (11.3) and sixth in percentage of minutes played (86.3) according to KenPom.com. McNeil made a 3-pointer in all but three games, was co-conference player of the year Dec. 27 and repeated as honorable mention all-conference at the end of the season. He was also named first-team all-academic team.
After the season, McNeil opted to enter the transfer portal and committed to the Buckeyes while on his official visit. EvanMiya.com ranked him as a four-star transfer prospect and the No. 157 national player in the portal.
Need to know
McNeil played against Ohio State while at West Virginia. In a Dec. 29, 2019 game at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, he had 6 points on 2-of-4 shooting from 3-point range as the Mountaineers handed the No. 2 Buckeyes a 67-59 loss. After that game, Ohio State’s Kyle Young had his appendix removed after gutting out 22 minutes and pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds.
“That was Deuce’s breakout game, Deuce (Miles) McBride,” McNeil said. “Ohio State was a heck of a team. It was a physical game. It was a brawl. That’s something that I think will translate over well for me because obviously we play physical here at West Virginia.”
In two NCAA Tournament games, McNeil averaged 18.0 points and was 8 for 17 (47.1%) from 3. During the preseason, McNeil’s Ohio State teammates voted him as the team’s best shooter. He participated in the Kingdom Summer League.
2022-23 season outlook
He’s proven himself as an elite shooter in a conference that produced the last two national champions in Baylor and Kansas. Now, McNeil said he came to Ohio State in part because he believes he has more to offer.
“I feel like there’s other parts of my game I still haven’t been able to tap into yet,” he said. “I want to be able to prove on the biggest stage what I’m fully capable of, what I have in my arsenal. Obviously what I bring is shooting and scoring, but being a playmaker, being able to come off ball screens and just being a leader. I’ll have a lot of responsibility and there’s a big role to fill, but I’m ready for it.”
McNeil likely slots in as a starter on this rebuilt Ohio State team, a veteran, established presence who can help balance out some of the youth that will be deployed around him. BartTorvik.com projects him as the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.1 points per game, and his shooting capabilities will be critical to help provide some spacing for Ohio State’s wings to drive and create offensive opportunities.
“He’s gonna be really important for us,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. “Shooting becomes a premium when you come to league play because scouting becomes so good so you need spacing, you need gravity on the floor. He’s gonna be really, really important for us, and he has the ability to do some things with the ball that I think are really important so you cannot just smother him on the perimeter because he can also drive by, he can finish at the rim.”
McNeil did not shoot the ball well during Ohio State’s trip to the Bahamas. In wins against Puerto Rico and Egypt, McNeil was 1 for 5 from 3 and scored a total of nine points. In an open practice session during the preseason, he knocked down multiple 3-pointers and was a participant in the 3-point shooting contest at Ohio State’s “Buckeyes on the Blacktop” event.
His ability to score and stress opposing defenses will go a long way toward determining what the Buckeyes can become this season, and he’s not taking the opportunity lightly.
“This year is super important to me,” he said when he committed. “I only have one year left. I expressed to every team I was in contact with how crucial and how vital this year is to me. Ohio State didn’t steer away from that. I probably came off a little strong. I’m not really a selfish guy, but I wanted to get my point across of what I was looking for an Ohio State met all the expectations. They’re looking for me to come in and be a key piece, a key part of what they’re trying to accomplish.”
Additional reading
Sean McNeil: Ohio State lands West Virginia transfer guard Sean McNeil
Ohio State Buckeyes: On Bahamas trip, Ohio State's Isaac Likekele, Sean McNeil taking leadership steps
Ohio State Buckeyes: One thought on each Ohio State player to see action in the Bahamas
Ohio State Buckeyes: As practice begins, one looming question for each Ohio State player
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State basketball power rankings: No. 7 Sean McNeil
