Chad Baker had a pretty good idea what Link Academy might be getting in Amare Bynum. Baker had seen Bynum on the AAU circuit and felt the power forward’s blend of size and skill would be a good fit for the Lions.
Then Baker and his coaching staff got Bynum into the gym ahead of his senior season. Initial evaluations were scrapped for higher expectations.
“I think until we worked him out, we didn’t really realize how skilled he was to be that size,” Baker said. “When we recruited him, we thought he was one of the best bigs in the country. We didn’t do it based off the rankings, we’d seen what we’d seen with our eyes, and fortunately, he had that kind of year for us.”
A 6-foot-9, 210-pound forward, Bynum hovered around No. 100 in his class’ national rankings as his senior season began, according to 247Sports.com.
When he joined Ohio State, Bynum was No. 44 – and likely would’ve been higher if not for a wrist injury that cost him roughly two months. That happened in late January, when Bynum went to finish a play at the rim, fell and hit the ground hard. The initial diagnosis was a bone bruise. In reality, Bynum had suffered a slight fracture that would sideline him until early April.
“You don’t know if guys like that will want to shut it down or not, but he was engaged during that time and it allowed him to come back later in the year when he was cleared because he kept himself in such good shape and was working on his other hand,” the coach said. “We were pleasantly surprised with how great he handled it, because that’s hard on a kid.”
His return was for Link Academy’s final game, a loss to Irving (Texas) Dynamic Prep in the Chipotle Nationals tournament in which he had two rebounds, a steal, an assist and a block in eight minutes of playing time. He attempted no shots. It was a quiet end to what had otherwise been a breakout senior year. In eight Nike EYBL Scholastic League conference games, he averaged 10.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
Those numbers don’t account for out-of-conference games like the one he had against Christopher Columbus High School (Miami, Florida) in the Jordan Holiday Classic on Dec. 29 in New York City. Matched up against five-star power forward Cameron Boozer, the overall No. 3 prospect in the 2025 class, Bynum finished with 22 points on 8-of-9 shooting that included a 5-for-6 effort from 3-point range.
Link won 57-49, taking down the nation’s top-ranked prep team.
“There was an argument leaving the game that Amare was the best player on the floor that night,” Baker said. “That was, I wouldn’t say his coming-out party, but was when he really, really exploded.”
Bynum spent practices going against two other high-major post players: Chris Cenac Jr., a Houston commit, and John Clark, a Texas commit. Cenac is the No. 7 national prospect in the final 247Sports.com rankings while Clark checks in at No. 74, and they are ranked as the Nos. 1 and 7 center prospects in their class, respectively.
“I felt like daily he was as good as everybody in the gym and probably a little bit under ranked (early),” Baker said. “With our roster, being able to pick and pop, be on the perimeter a little bit and show some different things, I think he showcased his ability and that skyrocketed him up.”
Baker said he used Bynum as an effective finisher at the rim but also ran actions to get him looks from 3. In the win against Boozer’s team, Baker said one of Bynum’s 3-pointers came on a stagger reject that led to a momentum-changing, wide-open dagger from the big man.
“I think you can play through him,” the coach said. “I think he’s a mismatch guy. If you have a really, really big guy, he can step out and shoot it; and obviously, if he gets switched on a small, he can finish around the rim. We all think he’s got a chance to play in the NBA someday.”
Now fully healthy, Bynum arrived at Ohio State during the weekend of May 31. Santa Clara transfer center Christoph Tilly is expected to arrive June 5 and recent additions Mathieu Grujicic and Myles Herro by the end of the summer as the Buckeyes prepare for year two of coach Jake Diebler’s tenure.
The expectation is that Bynum will immediately challenge for a starting spot. Baker said he wouldn’t be surprised, given how last year went.
“Being able to see him go against Chris and John and be successful in practice and being in here a lot watching us in the fall, I think that is probably where (the Ohio State coaches) felt, ‘Hey, this guy can be an impact guy right away’ and obviously why they pushed so hard to get him. It’s one thing to see him doing it, but we had two other guys on the roster who were top 10 frontcourt guys in the country. He was competitive and as good or better a lot of days, so I think that really showed us he was ready to play against anybody we played against this year.”
Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: After climbing national rankings, Amare Bynum in position for breakout year at Ohio State
Reporting by Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
