While the transfer portal doesn’t open until Monday, the Buckeyes and Jake Diebler are already looking to add to their roster, expressing interest in a few Power Four and mid-major players who have already announced they are looking for a new squad.
Perhaps the most notable name who the Buckeyes are reportedly interested in is former Iowa forward Owen Freeman (6-10), who entered the transfer portal on March 15 after the Hawkeyes decided to part ways with longtime head coach Fran McCaffrey. Freeman, who has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining, will be one of the more coveted transfers in the portal after he had two successful seasons with Iowa.
The Moline, Ill., native won the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year award in 2023-24 after averaging 10.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, and raised his numbers to 16.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game this season before missing the final six weeks of the season after getting finger surgery.
Another big man on the Buckeyes’ radar is Nevada 6-10 forward Nick Davidson, who entered the portal on March 17 after four seasons with the Wolf Pack. Davidson, a Mission Viejo, Calif., native, earned second-team all-Mountain West honors this season after averaging 15.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.2 blocks and 0.8 steals per game while shooting 50.0 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from three.
Because of these statistics, Davidson — who is averaging 11.7 points and 6.0 rebounds across his career — is also being highly sought after, with teams such as Blue Bloods Kentucky and North Carolina also reaching out to the big men.
While an interior addition will certainly help the Buckeyes, Diebler and his staff are also looking to add to the backcourt through the portal, starting with a familiar face in former Indiana guard Gabe Cupps. Cupps, who played in just four games this season while taking a medical redshirt, was Ohio’s Mr. Basketball recipient in 2022 while at Dayton Centerville, and he nearly chose to play for his hometown squad, putting Ohio State in his top three alongside Indiana and Stanford before ultimately ending up with the Hoosiers.
The former four-star prospect Cupps, who has three years of eligibility remaining, played in all 33 games for Indiana as a freshman in 2023-24, averaging 2.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Cupps is not the only former Hoosier who the Buckeyes are interested in acquiring this offseason. According to Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com, Ohio State has reached out to incoming freshman shooting guard and Bosnia native Harun Zrno after he decomitted to the Hoosiers on March 19. He averaged 20.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game on roughly 48 percent shooting while playing for Slavija Istocno Sarajevo of the First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio State is also expressing interest in Division II point guard Wes Enis of Lincoln Memorial University, a Conover, Ohio, native who was his conference’s second-leading scorer at 20.6 points per game and the league’s player of the year, as well as 6-7 Campbell forward Colby Duggan, who started 22 of 32 games for the Fighting Camels and averaged 15.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game while shooting 46.1 percent from the field and 34.0 percent from three.
The transfer portal will officially open on Monday and stay open until April 22.
