For a three-and-a-half-minute segment, Jake Diebler packed a lot of information about the state of his Ohio State basketball program into an update video released by the team on Tuesday.
There's no satisfaction from Diebler with the close of his first season, but between roster retention, transfer portal additions and plans for the future the coach has great ambitions for his second year.
An offseason update & whats ahead for the Buckeyes from Coach Diebler #GoBucks | #FightToTheEnd pic.twitter.com/jPXUT7NpA2
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) May 6, 2025
"We certainly took a step forward this year, but it wasn't big enough," Diebler said. "This year, our focus is taking a big jump. We don't want to take a small step forward in year two, we want to take a big jump. And I think everything we've done so far this offseason sets us up to do that."
The first thing Ohio State did this offseason to build for 2025-26 was keep the pieces it already had in place. Star guards Bruce Thornton and John Mobley Jr. plus star forward Devin Royal all stuck around Columbus for another year as Buckeyes – in Thornton's case, the final of his college career.
"We put a big focus on retention," Diebler said. "I'm really, really excited about Bruce Thornton. We have a saying in this program: Once a Buckeye, always a Buckeye. Who demonstrates and lives that out more than Bruce Thornton? A guy who is going into year four, gonna get his degree from Ohio State and is ready to lead us where we want to go."
The next step for Diebler and crew was to attack the transfer portal and patch holes in the roster.
"We needed to add size, which we did with Christoph Tilly, who's a really skilled and versatile seven-footer," Diebler said. "We added more size in Brandon Noel, who's got a ton of experience producing and can stretch the floor with his size and do multiple things with the ball in his hands and guard multiple positions. And then we added toughness, we added high basketball IQ and skill with Gabe Cupps."
Diebler added that Ohio State is "not finished" building its roster and that proved true when, hours after his update video, the Buckeyes landed a commitment from former Baylor center Josh Ojianwuna. OSU is also still in pursuit of a wing to replace star Micah Parrish, with its top target at the position being five-star portal prospect Darrion Williams.
The video from Diebler also promised a film breakdown of Ohio State's transfers at some point this offseason to highlight their skills. Reflecting on 2024-25, he delved into his reasoning for the Buckeyes not to play in FOX's College Basketball Crown tournament.
"The biggest factor in that decision was just the overall attrition we felt after going through a long season, being down some guys throughout the course of the year," Diebler said. "We had some guys that were injured and weren't gonna be able to play in that. But we also wanted to get a head start on next year, and I feel like we've been able to do that."
Lastly, Diebler wants to improve the environment in Value City Arena. Ohio State averaged 11,578 fans per home game in 2024-25, an improvement from the 2023-24 average of 10,938, but still the second-lowest average attendance in the arena's history. Before these past two seasons, the previous low average attendance for the Schottenstein Center was 12,181, set in the 1998-99 campaign.
Diebler and athletic director Ross Bjork have strategized together about ways to improve the Schott's atmosphere for 2025-26.
"He and I have met and we've discussed ways we can make the environment here better and one of the best in the Big Ten," Diebler said. "His commitment to doing that has been great. What we've been able to come up with, I'm really excited about the changes, and we can't wait for you to see that. We'll be rolling that out as we approach the season."
Since Diebler took over Ohio State's coaching job, he's maintained the same standard of where he wants his program to get to. Now it's a matter of whether the Buckeyes can reach those echelons.
"Year one we had some big goals. I have not been shy about what I think the standard of this program should be," Diebler said. "It should be competing for championships. It should be making deep runs in the NCAA Tournament and I believe that more than anybody."
