In signing 2023 class, Ohio State basketball sees 'really special' years on horizon

Whatever Ohio State looks like in the coming years, Sean McNeil won’t be around the program to experience it.

A graduate transfer from West Virginia, the sharpshooting guard is assuming a significant role while playing his final season of college basketball with the Buckeyes. Wednesday afternoon, though, McNeil was seated to the left of freshman teammate Bruce Thornton, one of five members of a 2022 recruiting class ranked among the nation’s top 10 according to 247Sports.com as he peered into the future.

McNeil has logged one official game with that group. Wednesday, coach Chris Holtmann spent the majority of his 20-minute press conference detailing the signing of a four-man 2023 class that currently sits among the nation’s top five classes and is expected to mesh with this year’s freshmen to give the Buckeyes a deep, formidable roster.

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So when Thornton finished answering a direct question about his freshman class, McNeil jumped into the conversation.

“Being around college basketball for a while, seeing this freshman class, super talented,” he said. “Unlike anything I’ve seen before in a group of freshmen, and knowing the class they have coming in next year, the next couple years of Ohio State basketball could be really special.”

That’s the hope, anyway, and was a big part of Holtmann’s comments. While the 2023 class of combo guard Taison Chatman, wing Scotty Middleton, center Austin Parks and forward Devin Royal “looks good on paper,” as Holtmann put it, what’s more important is stacking a highly rated recruiting class on top of another one.

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“It’s back-to-back really good classes that I think fit us, fit our program, fit the kind of versatility and size that we’re looking to add,” Holtmann said. “We have a diverse group in terms of their skill sets and how they fit each other and backing that up with the current freshman class we have here is exciting for sure.”

Chatman, Middleton and Royal are four-star prospect according to 247Sports. ESPN ranks Middleton as a five-star prospect and the other three commits as four-star players. When the Buckeyes started their summer recruiting process, they were sitting on a two-man class featuring Parks and guard George Washington III, a four-star prospect who has since decommitted and will sign with Michigan.

Things changed rapidly in early August, when Royal and Middleton committed within the span of a week. Then, in early September, Washington reopened his recruitment as the Buckeyes upped their pursuit for Chatman.

“Austin was really important for us,” Holtmann said. “He kind of anchored us but we felt like we had to add to it with some versatile pieces and special guys. Then once we realized we had a chance to get a player like Taison who we felt like could add to us as a point-slash-combo, we were really excited about that possibility. We knew we were in a good place with Devin and Scotty, but once they finally committed, man, I’ve got photos in my phone of celebrating when both those guys committed.”

Holtmann said landing Parks, a 6-11, 260-pound center from St. Marys (Ohio) Memorial, was a significant recruiting battle as much of the Big Ten including Michigan State and Indiana had offered him. He will provide immediate size, and Holtmann described him as “a good vertical athlete” who can run but is working on his lateral movement.

Plus, his location made his commitment impactful.

“And (he’s) an Ohio kid,” Holtmann said. “He had basically every Big Ten school recruiting him. We’ve really tried to prioritize kids like that from our state because, there’s not a ton of those guys from your state.”

The same went for Royal, a forward from Pickerington Central whose national stature rose during the spring and summer evaluation periods. As a junior, Royal earned first-team all-state honors after averaging 19.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 while helping the Tigers capture a state title.

“We’ve been recruiting Devin for a couple years, but his growth was really obvious to us and he just kept getting better,” Holtmann said. “Obviously a guy in your backyard, you kind of build that relationship with, but he’s going to be a really good offensive player.”

His abilities and size (6-6, 210) will allow him to play alongside Middleton (6-7, 190), a team captain for his senior season at Wichita (Kansas) Sunrise Christian Academy who is ranked No. 18 nationally by ESPN.

“Scotty has the ability to be an elite defender, and we’re going to need that, but his offensive game has continued to grow,” Holtmann said. “He brings a competitiveness to him. (Devin) is a really good player in general but he brings a real offensive skill-set and Scotty just has got some real ability on both ends but a chance to be special defensively at this level.”

The final addition came in late September when Chatman, the top-rated player in Minnesota according to 247Sports who helped lead Minneapolis Totino-Grace to a state title as a junior, picked the Buckeyes. In three years, the 6-4, 175-pound combo guard has scored 1,000 career points and is viewed as a combo guard in college.

“Once we knew he was in decision-making mode, we wanted to visit him as quickly as possible and we at that point it was going to be hound him until he says yes,” Holtmann said. “Taison is a gifted scorer with an ability to create for others as well. He plays with a mature pace and provides versatility as a multi-positional guard.”

What it all ultimately looks like won’t be known until next year. Ohio State hosts Charleston Southern on Thursday, marking the second opportunity of the season for this year’s five-man freshman class to make its mark. Should they all stick around, nine members of Ohio State’s roster for 2023-24 will be in their first or second seasons of college basketball.

The Buckeyes will be young, but both McNeil and Thornton said they could be dangerous.

“I feel like we can accomplish a lot of things in the future due to our coaching staff,” Thornton said. “They lead us in the right way on and off the court. There’s no better coaching staff in the country, and they will never steer us the wrong way. I feel like we’ll stay together. (The future) is not really known like it used to be, but if we do, we can make a lot of stuff happen.”

Could Bronny James fit into the picture?

The Buckeyes have been players in the recruitment of 2023 guard Bronny James, the son of NBA legend LeBron James and a four-star guard at Chatsworth (California) Sierra Canyon. James took an unofficial visit to Ohio State when the football team opened the season against Notre Dame and sat with his father in a suite after spending time pregame on the sidelines.

With this four-man class, Ohio State is currently against the limit of 13 scholarships for the 2023-24 season. College coaches can’t talk about specific recruits until they sign their national letters-of-intent, but Holtmann was asked if they could potentially fit one more player.

“I’d want to answer that at the appropriate time,” he said. “I’m not sure right now if I could answer that. Right now, we’re at our limit. Right now, if you asked me, ‘Is it definite that you’d add another or is that your aim?’ Not necessarily. Obviously, we know how rosters in college basketball evolve and transition in the spring.

“That would be something we’d evaluate in the spring, potentially.”

James is not known to have taken any other visits. He is the No. 44 national prospect according to the 247Sports.com composite.

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State basketball 2023 recruiting class can be 'really special'