NCAA Basketball: Top 25 impact freshmen classes for 2022-23 season

15. Ohio State Buckeyes

It was hard to place this class for Ohio State when factoring in next season’s impact. The five-man group collective is a top-10 class, with four of them ranked in the top 75 overall. However, the team landed several impact transfers this offseason which will likely affect how many minutes they’ll get early on.

The Buckeyes do have a pair of top-50 newcomers on the perimeter in Roddy Gayle Jr. and Bruce Thornton. Gayle is a natural shooting guard and talented scorer, while Thornton is a true point guard and most likely to start. Oklahoma State transfer Isaac Likekele is an all-around playmaker in the backcourt but isn’t a true point guard so if Thornton is good enough to take over, that would be highly beneficial for the team.

Two other perimeter players in the class are three-star shooting guard Bowen Hardman, as well as four-star wing Brice Sensabaugh. He’ll compete with Wright State transfer Tanner Holden for minutes at the wing but also has the size at nearly 240 pounds to play some undersized power forward. If Justice Sueing doesn’t fully recover from his injury from last year then Sensabaugh could be the answer.

And while returning big man Zed Key will lead the frontcourt at center, look for Felix Okpara, a four-star freshman big man to get all of the backup minutes. He’s a potential breakout star to watch once he becomes a starter down the road and could be the star of this freshmen core when it’s all said and done.