Ohio State Adds Former Kentucky Center Aaron Bradshaw Through Transfer Portal

Ohio State added a significant piece to its 2024-25 frontcourt on Monday when former Kentucky center Aaron Bradshaw announced he is transferring to the program. Bradshaw, who stands at 7-foot-1 and 226 pounds, has three years of college eligibility remaining. 

Bradshaw, a former highly covered five-star 2024 prospect out of Roselle (N.J.) Camden, entered the transfer portal on April 8 after just one season with Kentucky, one of several Wildcats to leave the program after longtime head coach John Calipari departed to take on the same role at Arkansas on April 10. Despite being at Kentucky for one season and missing the first seven games of the year while recovering from a foot injury, Bradshaw still made an impact with the Wildcats, averaging 4.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 26 games, including 10 starts. 

He reached double figures in seven contests and recorded one double-double, racking up 17 points and 11 rebounds in just his second collegiate game against Penn on Dec. 9. 

Bradshaw entered Kentucky as one the more highly touted prospects in the 2023 class, coming in as the nation’s top-ranked center, No. 1 player in New Jersey and fifth-ranked player in the country. Ohio State, then led by former head coach and current Depaul leader Chris Holtmann, was not involved in Bradshaw’s recruitment out of high school — he also received offers from LSU, Miami, Michigan and UConn, among others. But Diebler and the Buckeyes showed heavy interest in the 7-footer out of the transfer portal, hosting him on a visit for Ohio State’s football spring game on April 13. 

Bradshaw now joins an Ohio State frontcourt that already includes last season’s starting sophomore center Felix Okpara — who stands at 6-foot-11 — along with upstart rising sophomore forward Devin Royal, setting up a potentially formidable three-man lineup in the paint for the Buckeyes next season. Rising sophomore center Austin Parks and redshirt junior forward Kalen Etzler are — barring any further transfers — also set to return for the Buckeyes. 

Bradshaw is the second transfer addition the Buckeyes have made this offseason, the first being former South Carolina guard Meechie Johnson, who announced on April 2 that he is transferring back to Ohio State after spending his first two collegiate seasons in Columbus. 

Ohio State is also interested in former Princeton guard Matt Allocco, who joined Bradshaw and visited campus on April 13.