Five Reasons to Already Be Excited for Ohio State Basketball’s 2026

Ohio State's basketball season wrapped up a little over two weeks ago with its loss to TCU in the first round of the tournament.

Although the Buckeyes didn’t win a postseason game this year, it was great to see them make it back to the Big Dance for the first time since 2022.

Here are reasons to be excited about them next season.

Build off of reaching the NCAA tournament

The biggest question mark for Ohio State heading into this past season was whether head coach Jake Diebler could lead the Buckeyes to the NCAA tournament. In Diebler's first season with the team, he fell short of reaching the big dance. However, in his second year as head coach, he finally guided the Buckeyes there.

With Diebler demonstrating that he can lead Ohio State into meaningful games come March, it sends a clear message to current players, recruits and transfer portal targets that Ohio State is the place to be.

John Mobley Jr.

Ohio State's star guard, John Mobley Jr., is set to explore his options in the NBA this summer. However, there's a strong possibility that he will return to college. If he does choose to come back, he'll rejoin the Buckeyes.

Mobley will follow the path of other college players heading to the NBA combine in May and likely discover where he might be selected. He may then decide to stick around for another year of college basketball if he doesn't like his draft position.

Ohio State should have Mobley back this season, and he’s expected to take on the starting point guard position. His experience over the last two years can greatly benefit the Buckeyes next season, as he has the potential to be the scoring point guard who steps into Bruce Thornton's role.

Anthony Thompson's heading to Ohio State

The Buckeyes don't typically secure the top high school players in the country, but this year they made a significant exception by landing forward Anthony Thompson.

ESPN has ranked Thompson as the 11th-best player in the 2026 class, and he earned a spot in the McDonald's All-American game, which took place on Tuesday night.

Thompson has the potential to become one of the standout players next season as a true freshman, and he might finally lead Ohio State back to the second weekend of the tournament.

Amare Bynum is coming back for another season

Forward Amare Bynum announced on Monday that he will be returning to Ohio State for his sophomore season. Bynum played in 34 games this past season, starting 24 of them, averaging 9.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

Bynum and Thompson could step up as the starting forwards next season, potentially forming one of the best duos in college basketball.

Diebler has a few years under his belt

Coaching basketball in the Big Ten is undoubtedly challenging, and Diebler has only had two and a half seasons as a head coach at this level.

Of course, he needed to figure things out during his first two years, but heading into his third season could be a bit easier for him, and maybe that will unleash Ohio State to get back into the Top 25 for most of this season.