Ohio State Basketball: EJ Liddell gives Buckeyes their third top-50 recruit in 2019 class

Ohio State Basketball has been cleaning up on the recruiting trail this summer. It continues in the fall with the commitment of top-50 forward EJ Liddell.

After a surprisingly successful 2017-18 season, Ohio State Basketball has been retooling their roster to be in a position to consistently contend at the top of the Big Ten Conference in future years.

The Buckeyes got off to a good start with a great 2018 recruiting class, including four-star freshmen Duane Washington Jr., Luther Muhammad, Jaedon LeDee and Justin Ahrens. With Wake Forest grad transfer Keyshawn Woods coming in, it’s safe to expect that the team will compete for another NCAA Tournament bid.

Ohio State will be good this upcoming season – but could be great for the 2019-20 campaign. Just looking at the projected roster, the team will only lose both Woods and senior point guard CJ Jackson. However, the Buckeyes already have his replacement in CJ Walker, who’ll be sitting out this upcoming season after transferring in from Florida State.

There are also additions coming from high school that’ll make an immediate impact as well. Ohio State already has commitments from top-50 prospects Alonzo Gaffney and DJ Carton in the 2019 class. Gaffney is a true power forward and Carton is another future quality ball handler for the program.

But the Buckeyes still needed a little more depth in the frontcourt just to put the cherry on the top. And that happened, in the form of yet another top-50 player in EJ Liddell.

A 6’7 combo forward, Liddell hails from Belleville, Illinois and decided to pick Ohio State over both Missouri and Illinois. A consensus top-50 player, Liddell is a strong and physical who can score in a variety of ways, including a solid jumpshot while defender potential bigger defenders in the post. If needed, he has the athleticism to play and defend at the three-spot if the Buckeyes want to employ larger lineups.

Liddell, Gaffney, Lee, Micah Potter, and Caleb Wesson would be a quality overall frontcourt in the Big Ten, while possibly possessing the second-best backcourt to only Michigan State for the 2019-20 season. Ohio State should have a good product for the season starting up soon but fans are already waiting in anticipation for the year after, where the Buckeyes could be a preseason top-15 team.