Ohio State’s first official practice of the season brought the calendar back to life, and with it came a fresh look at where the Buckeyes might make their biggest leap from last year to this one.
The timing is hard to miss. Ohio State is a little over a week from meeting Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, at the Care Source Invitational, and just over a month from opening the season against BYU in Salt Lake City, Utah. On top of that, Jake Diebler and his staff added another piece to the future on Friday afternoon when four-star point guard Jaxson Davis committed to the Buckeyes.
Davis, the son of former Illinois linebacker Brian Davis, is the No. 43 player in the 2027 class according to 247Sports and the No. 10 point guard. The 6-foot, 180-pound guard has been described by scouts as “an extension of the coach on the floor” …. sound familiar at all? He joins Deng Ngor in Ohio State’s 2027 class, which is now ranked No. 8 in the country and No. 4 in the Big Ten, according to 247Sports.
With that backdrop, Connor and Justin turned their attention to a bigger question: not just whether Ohio State will win more, but what part of the team should actually improve enough to help drive those wins.
Connor’s answer starts with the three-point line.
Ohio State was not especially dependent on the deep ball last season, getting 30.4% of its points from beyond the arc. That ranked 213th nationally and 11th in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes also averaged just 22.5 three-point attempts per game, which was again 11th in the league.
That wasn’t exactly accidental. Outside of John Mobley Jr., Ohio State didn’t really have a true green-light perimeter gunner.
Mobley led the team with 236 three-point attempts, while Bruce Thornton was second with 155. No other Buckeye even reached 100 tries from deep.
This season should look different. Thornton is gone, but Ohio State adds Anthony Thompson, whose left-handed jumper is his best weapon. Connor expects Thompson to take a heavy volume of threes and shoot somewhere in the 35-40% range during his lone college season.
Justin Pippen is another reason the perimeter profile could change. At Cal, he shot 40.7% from two-point range and 32.7% from three-point range, while attempting 5.2 threes per game.
That was more than anyone on Ohio State’s roster last season other than Mobley. The Buckeyes want that number to climb closer to 35%, but the important part is that Pippen is willing to fire.
There’s also the bench. Connor pointed to Alex Smith, Curtis Givens, and Jimmie Williams as reserve guards who should be ready to shoot, with Williams drawing a specific mention after lighting it up during Ohio State’s trip to Puerto Rico this summer.
And because Ohio State doesn’t really have a post player the offense will run through, the ball could end up moving outward even more. The Buckeyes will still take their share of shots inside the arc, but the lack of a reliable center presence could push the offense toward the perimeter.
Justin’s pick for the biggest area of improvement is on the other end.
Last year, Ohio State started Bruce Thornton and John Mobley Jr. in the backcourt, and while that pair could score with anybody, the defense lagged behind. The bench didn’t make things easier, either. Gabe Cupps defended well but struggled offensively, while Taison Chatman was not a great defender.
Now the scoring burden changes, but the defensive outlook should improve. Justin Pippen steps in as the new point guard, and Justin called him one of the best defensive guards in the conference. He described Pippen as an elite on-ball defender and said he is the best defensive guard Ohio State has had since Luther Muhammed.
Jimmie Williams gives the Buckeyes another strong option off the bench. Justin said Williams is a great defender, and there should be stretches where Pippen and Williams share the floor together. If that happens, Ohio State could have a defensive backcourt it hasn’t seen in a long time.
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Ohio State Fans Will Love The Standard Indiana Just Exposed
Curt Cignetti is already talking like a coach who knows success changes the conversation. After Indianas recent surge, the Hoosiers head coach used a message to the fan base to push back on rising expectations, pointing to the programs history of thin crowds and asking supporters not to grumble about lopsided wins. It was a blunt reminder that, around college football, a winning stretch can quickly turn into a referendum on how much winning is enough.
For Ohio State fans, the contrast lands cleanly. Ryan Day has made his own standard public and unmistakable, setting a much higher bar for the Buckeyes than simply stacking victories and keeping people content. So while Cignetti was managing the temperature in Bloomington, his comments served as a useful backdrop for what Ohio State expects of itself, and why the conversation in Columbus usually starts where other programs hope to finish. [Read more 🡒]