How Dusty May’s Success at Michigan Raises the Stakes for Ohio State’s Jake Diebler

There is always movement this time of year. Rosters shift, players look for new opportunities, and programs reset with the transfer portal acting as the center of it all. But what is happening at Ohio State feels different.

And for Jake Diebler, it marks a moment where the tone around the program begins to change, from patience to pressure, from building toward something to needing to deliver.

That urgency has only grown as departures continue to stack. The latest is Taison Chatman, who is entering the transfer portal after three seasons in Columbus.

His exit adds to a growing list, but more than that, it reinforces a pattern that is becoming difficult to ignore. Ohio State has now seen each of the last three Ohio Mr. Basketball winners, Gabe Cupps, Devin Royal, and Colin White, all move on from the program. For a school that has long taken pride in keeping elite in-state talent home, that reality lands differently.

It is not just roster turnover. It raises questions about development, fit, and whether a once reliable pipeline is starting to crack.

At the same time, there is another side to it, even if it is not the one Ohio State would prefer to highlight. With departures comes flexibility, and in this era, that matters as much as anything. Open roster spots create options, and options create urgency. This is not a moment for a passive rebuild or a wait and see approach. For Diebler, this has to be aggressive. It has to be intentional. It has to be all in.

And the “blueprint” for that approach is, regrettably, unfolding in real time, and it is coming from a familiar place. Dusty May attacked the transfer portal and flipped a roster, landing the top ranked player in Yaxel Lendeborg and surrounding him with experienced pieces like Elliot Cadeau, Morez Johnson Jr., and Aday Mara.

Dusty May could been coaching at Ohio State.

There is context that matters, even if it has been easy to overlook throughout the tournament. Diebler was already serving as Ohio State’s interim head coach at the end of the 2023-2024 season and into the coaching search.

Dusty May was a strong candidate coming off multiple impressive seasons at Florida Atlantic, including a Final Four run. In the end, athletic director Ross Bjork chose to elevate Diebler into the full-time role. That distinction is important. May did not choose Michigan over Ohio State. The paths simply unfolded in different ways.

But right now, none of that really matters. It is about what comes next. And if Michigan ends up cutting down the nets tonight, the pressure on Diebler will only intensify.