Chris Holtmann celebrates during a timeout in the second half of the game against Penn State on Feb. 7. Ohio State won 74-70. Credit: Ethan Clewell | Former Senior Lantern Reporter
The Buckeyes had an unceremonious end to the 2019-20 season.
As Ohio State geared up towards a postseason run, the Big Ten and NCAA canceled their postseason tournaments March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the early end to the season, the Buckeyes also took some hits during the early stages of the offseason — losing guards Luther Muhammad and D.J. Carton to the transfer portal, the brother duo of Andre and Kaleb Wesson to graduation and the NBA, and forward Alonzo Gaffney to professional pursuits.
With these losses, the Buckeyes were forced to retool in a period with strict recruiting protocols in place due to the coronavirus.
“It’s been a lot of FaceTime, Zoom calls, conference calls with our recruiting assistants and myself,” Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said April 14 in a call with media members. “You’re trying to build relationships as much you can, face-to-face, because normally that’s what we would be doing right now.”
Since March, Holtmann has turned to the recruiting trail as well as the transfer portal to fill in the gaps left by the offseason.
On his recruiting strategy, Holtmann said that he focuses on players that he’d like to coach and fit well within his system. With this outlook, Holtmann said that it’s important to not just look at the top-level recruits.
“Finding that lane is really, really important to sustaining success. What is the type of kid you want to coach and what is the type of kid that’d be great in your system,” Holtmann said in an appearance on “The Ryen Russillo Podcast” Aug. 13. “The reality is that we’re all trying to recruit a certain level and character.”
Holtmann, who coached at Butler from 2014-17, said that Ohio State’s brand also plays a factor in gaining recruits compared to his former mid-major program.
“The difference in recruiting is the name and the branding at Ohio State, it’s more significant,” Holtmann said. “Your reach potentially can go further places.”
Holtmann gained two under-the-radar recruits with freshman guard Eugene Brown III and freshman forward Zed Key joining the Buckeyes as members of the class of 2020.
Brown III, a four-star recruit, brings height to the guard position. Coming in at 6-foot-6, he is the tallest listed guard on the Buckeyes. The Georgia native put together a solid senior season at Southwest Dekalb High School, putting up 17 points per game alongside nine rebounds.
As a fellow four-star, Key adds a devastating presence in the paint for the Buckeyes. Key led Long Island Lutheran High School to a 22-3 record with per game team-highs in points with 18.0, rebounds with 8.7 and blocks with 2.0.
Holtmann has also been busy scouring the transfer portal. The biggest move came March 21, when Columbus native and former Harvard forward Seth Towns announced his intention to transfer to Ohio State.
“[I’m] eternally grateful for this opportunity and cannot wait to fight for the city of Columbus – the city I call home,” Towns said in a Twitter statement March 21. “This means everything to me, from the bottom of my heart.”
The graduate transfer averaged 14.2 points per game and was a three-point marksman, shooting 41.9 percent from beyond the arc in his first two seasons with the Crimson. However, a nagging knee injury would sideline him for both his junior and senior seasons.
“His shooting provides a real specific opportunity and need for us,” Holtmann said. “We all know that he has to get to a place of health, full health, but provided that happens we’re really excited about his addition.”
Along with Towns, the Buckeyes added a pair of experienced guards through the transfer portal.
Former Utah State Aggie and redshirt senior Abel Porter joins former Bucknell Bison senior Jimmy Sotos as the backcourt transfers.
Porter, a former one-star recruit, played a key role on back-to-back Mountain West Conference championship Utah State teams. In the 2019-20 season, Porter started every game for the 26-8 Aggies, putting up 5.6 points per game and 3.2 assists per game.
Sotos adds more scoring depth for the Buckeyes, as he is coming off a season in which he led the Bison in scoring, averaging 11.5 points per game on 40.9 percent from the field. Sotos’ accomplishments don’t just come on the offensive end; he led the Bison with 1.6 steals per game.
“I grew up watching some of the best point guards in the country wear the Scarlet and Gray,” Sotos said April 6 in a Twitter statement. “I’m going to do everything I can to live up to their legacy.”
With the new additions, the Buckeyes have gained key experience that will be important for their 2020-21 run.
“The exciting thing for us here is we have, I believe, a good blend of returning guys that have been a part of our system as well as experienced guys in our program as well as experienced guys from a couple other programs,” Holtmann said. “Now, we’ve got to blend those guys together.”
