Recruiting the past couple of years have been brutal for Ohio State basketball. Yet, Chris Holtmann has pulled in a top-100 recruit for the class of 2018.
Head coach Chris Holtmann comes over from Butler and will restart a Buckeyes program that’s fallen off since the Mike Conley and Greg Oden days. While he did convince top-100 recruit Kyle Young to switch from Butler to stick with him, all of former head coach Thad Matta’s recruits de-committed in the spring.
With 2017 expected to be a lost year, the 2018 class is crucial for the Buckeyes to get back to the upper-echelon of the Big Ten. They got off to a great start with the commitment of Jaedon LeDee, a 6’8″, 230-pound small forward from Houston, Texas.
Lee is listed as the #59 recruit in ESPN’s top-100. They defeated both UCLA and Texas A&M for his services. While former coach Matta actually offered him a scholarship after his high school freshman season, his recruitment from the school heated up once Holtmann came to town.
#BuckeyeNation pic.twitter.com/Wk8MjIJoSL
— Jaedon LeDee (@jae_ledee) September 19, 2017
LeDee plays the 3/4 spot with a face-up game and an array of moves in the post that causes the most damage to defenders. While his shooting is above-average, his strength will be at the forward spot where he can go small and create mismatches for opponents.
This is a major recruit for Ohio State because they need to get back on track as a program. The Buckeyes are mostly known as a football school, but their basketball program has the potential to return to the force that it was in the mid-2000’s. Lee is a great start to this recruiting class and shows that Holtmann is off to a hot start with the Buckeyes.
With the previously mentioned Young, another top-100 recruit in Kaleb Wesson, and Musa Jallow coming in this season, Ohio State has a bunch of young talent.
Ohio State isn’t expected to get many victories once November comes but wins like this will go a long way to the Buckeyes coming back to prominence. Holtmann’s biggest battles this year won’t be on the court, but rather on the recruiting trail.