The opinions on Duane Washington Jr. during his time as a Buckeye varied greatly. Washington spent three seasons in Columbus, averaging 11.4 ppg on 36% shooting from three over the course of his career. He averaged 16.4 ppg in his final season as a Buckeye which infamously ended at the hands of Oral Roberts.

Duane received quite a bit of slander from Buckeye Nation, and I'm not accusing everyone of this. But will admit that myself I wasn't a huge fan of his game at times. But Ohio State's first season without him has opened my eyes to just how valuable Washington really was. Washington would bail you out of bad possessions, make shots nobody else on the floor could make, and from time to time even have some finishes you wouldn't expect from a perimeter threat guard.

Don't get me wrong, this years team is far from a lousy group. And I like what we have at guard. Meechie's range, Jamari's defense, Sotos' passing, etc. But Duane Washington Jr. was probably one of the more under appreciated Buckeye basketball players (from my perspective) mainly due to how his career ended. But just think about where this team would be at should you add Duane to the roster.

A six point loss against Xavier feels like a game you would win. 

The buzzer beater loss against Florida seems is one Duane could've pulled out. 

The ice cold shooting road trip to Wisconsin appears to be a game where Duane could've got you going from three.

The near comeback loss against Purdue might've never been as big of a comeback.

There's so many "if's" in sports and I'm not a huge fan of exploring those scenarios too often. But I do think this puts in perspective just how much we under appreciated Duane Washington and his game. He's now with the Indiana Pacers and doing some very good things, I'm not sure many of us expected him to be starting some games in the NBA even on a team with some COVID issues.

He's played in 20 games and started 7, averaging just under 20 minutes per game and 9.2 points per game. He's had flashes throughout the season, including setting the single game Pacers franchise rookie record for three-pointers made in a game.

I even saw someone on Twitter say that Duane was gonna take the Pacers to a ring within five years (lol). That may be a bit of a stretch. But I do remember seeing some critics saying he'd end up playing in Turkey or something like that.

Again, this isn't to attack the former (or current) Duane Washington critics. I was once one of them. This is appreciating the player that Duane was in the scarlet and grey and giving him his flowers for how valuable he was.

Go Bucks!