Coach Diebler Discusses Offseason & Transfer Portal Thursday Morning
4/3/2025 10:22:00 AM | Men's Basketball
On Thursday Morning, Coach Diebler joined the Sports Talk Radio Show “Morning Juice” on 97.1 to discuss the progression of Ohio State's offseason and how they are navigating the Transfer Portal while looking towards next season.
On players leaving:
“This time of year is about honest conversations and it provides a great opportunity to adjust. This time last year everything was a little rushed. This year, we’re really taking our time to make sure we have the right guys in the locker room, to get this program to where it belongs.”
On building out the roster:
“We’re working as hard as we can, to turn things around as quickly as we can. It starts with having guys who have an appreciation and love for Ohio State and the tradition of this program. It’s important to me that guys represent this program well.”
On the offense:
“We want to play with increased pace. I thought our pace was okay this year. I’d like to play faster and I’d like to raise our collective basketball IQ on the court. “
On Bruce Thornton:
“We have a saying in our program: Once a Buckeye, Always a Buckeye. Who better lives that out than Bruce Thornton.”
On roster make up:
“We’re really excited about the retention of our roster but we also have to add the right pieces. We’re looking to add size and skill in our front court.”
On this past season:
“It’s important to differentiate that this is an entirely new program. I understand there is a couple pieces still around but how we run things, what we do, and we’re about as a program are entirely different. Everything was new for us this year.”
On what he learned from last offseason:
“With retention and as we attack the portal this year, we are focused on more experience than what we did last year. For me as a head coach that was a lesson that was learned throughout the course of the season.”
On what Ohio State is looking for out of the Transfer Portal:
“I don’t think it has to exclusively be old guys we look at but on our roster there needs to be experience, there needs to be toughness, a winning first mentality. Those are the kind of characteristics we are looking for in the portal.”
On missing the NCAA Tournament:
“We had a chance to control our destiny. We grew, we raised our level and got better. We are certainly not where we want to be, missing the tournament was a disappointment for me. But, we did show some improvement and I’m happy with the growth of our young guys and how they performed.”
On the past season:
“I don’t want anybody to look at this season and say ‘we’re satisfied,’ we’re not satisfied. You guys know where I feel this program belongs. We took a step in the right direction, but we need to take a bigger step. There’s no question about it, and I think we’re going to. I feel great conviction behind that.”
“The disappointment is real for me. It’s motivating for me. But, I think it’s important to acknowledge that there was some real growth, specifically in some young guys who are coming back, and that’s going to serve us well to get us back to where we belong as we head into this upcoming season.”
