Ohio State Basketball: 2019 five-star DJ Carton commits to the Buckeyes
Chris Holtmann is doing his thing again. This time, five-star 2019 recruit DJ Carton is the one joining the Ohio State basketball program.
Ohio State basketball has landed another dynamite recruit. Ever since Chris Holtmann was hired to become the head coach for the Buckeyes last summer, the program’s recruiting has seen a significant uptick in talent. This is not to say that Ohio State was not a good recruiting program in the past, because it was, but it now at elite levels. Adding landing the No. 25 recruiting class in the country for 2018, Ohio State now has its second commit for the 2019 class: five-star point guard DJ Carton.
One of the most heavily sought-after players in the 2019 class, Carton comes in ranked at No. 21 in the nation. In addition, he is regarded as the No. 2 point guard in the class. Prior to his commitment to Ohio State, Carton had narrowed his list to three schools, all of which from the Big Ten: Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio State. This intra-conference battle heated up significantly over the last few weeks, with Carton taking visits to each school.
Ohio State, though, had the “advantage” of being the last scheduled visit of the group for Carton. The program obviously impressed on the official visit as Carton’s commitment came very quickly after. Carton is now the second player in Ohio State’s 2019 recruiting class, joining fellow top-50 recruit Alonzo Gaffney.
With these two players now locked up, the Buckeyes’ own the No. 4 class in the country (total score of 52.32). This puts them only behind USC, UCLA, and Kentucky with Villanova, Gonzaga, and Kansas just behind them. Not exactly a bad group to be in, if you ask me.
According to 247Sports, Carton chose Ohio State because of the relationships he built with the rest of the team:
"“The one thing that really separated it out was the relationship with the players. My relationship with them was just different. Like I said, I felt like I was already apart of the team. They brought me in. I feel like I can be myself around them. It came down to that. The other two schools had everything I liked, and it was a really hard decision, but it came down to that.”"
As a player, Carton will bring plenty of talent to Columbus. At 6-foot-2, he has solid size to play the point guard position and is a polished player. He can score from all three levels and is also a more than capable defender and playmaker. As a high school junior this past season, Carton averaged 26.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game.
He should be an immediate impact player for the program once he starts playing in 2019-20. Current starting point guard, C.J. Jackson, will graduate after this season. Grad transfer Keyshawn Woods will also be living. With these two gone, hopefully after solid seasons, the keys of the offense should be handed to Carton. Florida State transfer C.J. Walker (who is sitting out this season) will be Carton’s main competition for the starting job. This is a tremendous commitment for the future of Ohio State as Carton is extremely talented and fits a position of need for next season.
https://twitter.com/DJCarton/status/1018211848330588160
Next: Big Ten preseason 2018-19 rankings
As already stated, this is a major recruiting win for Ohio State. It is always good news for Buckeyes’ fans when they beat Michigan at anything and this recruitment can add another tally to that scorecard. DJ Carton is an outstanding recruit and his career in Columbus will be something to watch. For more on Carton’s game, check out this piece by the Des Moines Register.