Slogans and uniforms are created with purpose within the Ohio State men’s basketball program. When Jake Diebler took over as interim coach during the 2023-24 season, the Buckeyes began to break every huddle with one word he was emphasizing above all others during that transitional time: “Family.”
The ensuing summer, Diebler had the team practice in all black and without any clothing bearing Ohio State’s logo or colors. That, too, was by design, as the 2024-25 Buckeyes had to earn the right to wear their school’s gear.
This summer, after coming up short of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Buckeyes are again opening the summer in all black. And the backs of their practice shirts say “FAMILY” in scarlet letters beneath an Ohio State logo.
The big change is on the front. On the left breast of their black T-shirts are three words, one above the other two. The word “WINNING” in white letters is situated directly above the words “ABOVE EVERYTHING” written in scarlet.
That’s not a Nike slogan. It’s something the Buckeyes started talking about at the tail end of the 2024-25 season, when March Madness hopes were going by the wayside, and it’s a mantra Diebler said that they plan to lean into this year.
“They’re reminded every time they work out of that,” he said. “That’s a mentality for us that our guys are bought into so far. It won’t always be easy to keep that mentality. We know that, but we’re building the foundation.”
During a 25-minute interview session that covered a variety of topics on June 18, a question about the meaning behind the slogan produced Diebler’s second-longest answer.
With so much competition for the attention of today’s players, Diebler said “everything” can mean any kind of outside distraction that prevents a player from focusing on winning. And at the end of the 2024-25 season, Diebler said the Buckeyes didn’t have enough focus on that goal.
Hence, this summer’s emphasis.
“Our guys are really bought into that so far,” Diebler said. “We haven’t given out minutes or shots yet or anything like that. That’s when holding true to that becomes really, really important. We’re building all that out.”
As we make our way through the next five months before the season gets underway and those words are put to the test, here are six other takeaways from Diebler’s first public press conference since the 2024-25 season ended with a loss to Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament.
Who provides post depth as Josh Ojianwuna recovers from injury?
Ohio State will enter the season with Santa Clara transfer Christoph Tilly as its clear-cut starting center. Behind him, the depth chart is a bit murky, and Diebler said there are a few options in the post should Tilly be unavailable.
“Ivan (Njegovan) is going to be really important and Amare (Bynum),” Diebler said. “Both of them are capable, no question. We feel confident in those two being able to step in and have an impact.”
As a freshman, Njegovan appeared in 21 games, averaging 1.6 points and 1.5 rebounds in 5.7 minutes per appearance. Now at 6-8, 220 pounds, Bynum climbed the recruiting rankings as a prep senior at Branson (Missouri) Link Academy and is ticketed for a role at the front end of the rotation.
While Diebler said they are expecting a jump in production from Njegovan, the wild card in the situation is Baylor transfer Josh Ojianwuna, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during the 2024-25 season and is still months from returning to the court.
“No updates as far as the end game, but I think he’s working really, really hard,” Diebler said. “We have an unbelievable (medical) team and he’s become really good friends with them and I think everything is progressing well. We’ll get a better feel going into the fall of what a timeline looks like exactly but there’s been no indication of hiccups or anything so far.”
Ohio State’s current team impressed some of their predecessors, including D’Angelo Russell
The first part of the week featured Ohio State alumni returning to spend time both on and off the court with the 2025-26 roster. The former Buckeyes practiced with, helped coach and eventually scrimmaged against the current team, and it was during the scrimmage that Diebler said Russell gave him some unsolicited feedback on this year’s team.
“D’Angelo Russell told me twice in the game, ‘Your guys are going hard,’ ” Diebler said. “That’s important. That matters to me. We want to be the hardest-playing, the toughest team out there. For a guy like D’Angelo to say that, I didn’t ask him about that, it made me really excited.”
These Buckeyes are off to a healthier start than a year ago
Ojianwuna wasn’t the only player watching his teammates play as summer workouts began. Sophomore Colin White was also on the sideline after undergoing a spring surgery to repair a left leg, high-ankle sprain he suffered early in the season never satisfactorily healed. International signing Mathieu Grujicic also can’t participate as he awaits a finalized visa situation; otherwise, the Buckeyes had 10 players on the court during the half-hour of drills open to reporters after Diebler’s press conference.
That’s an improvement on how things went a year ago.
“For starters, we’ve played more five-on-five this summer already in what is a week and almost a half than we did last summer,” Diebler said. “Availability so far, Lord-willing it continues, has been an important difference for us. I thought that was impactful for us as we tried to implement our system, both offensively and defensively, and our chemistry. Being able to play and compete and go out and execute the stuff we’ve been working on has been a good change to get started.”
Tweaks are being made to the offense
Hopes for a better-flowing, fast-paced offensive attack never quite materialized for the Buckeyes in Diebler’s first year. A lack of availability, be it due to suspension (Aaron Bradshaw), indefinite leave of absence (Meechie Johnson), injury (Colin White) or illness (at least half the team at one point), held back some development, but too often possessions simply bogged down. The ball would stick on one side or the other, movement would stagnate and scoring would prove difficult at best.
Diebler didn’t go into any great detail, but he made a few references to the Buckeyes making changes to their offensive schemes this year.
“We’re changing up some things,” Diebler said. “They’re not wholesale changes, but we’re adjusting some things offensively that chemistry’s going to be important. Take out of this what you will, but in a scrimmage (June 17) we had 26 assists. Now, it’s summer ball. Wasn’t the best defense we’ll see all year – no offense pros (alumni) – but in a short period of time we’ve been able to really work on some things offensively and it was great as a coach to see some carryover.”
On multiple occasions, Diebler referenced having a team with a higher basketball IQ than last year.
“There’s going to be a lot more space on the court, which was something we tried to do going into last season but as the season wore on, we weren’t able to do at the level we wanted to,” he said.
Mathieu Grujicic is an enigma
He’s produced at a high level while coming up through a powerhouse European club’s youth program, and now Grujicic is awaiting his chance to start working out and seeing how those skills translate to the high-major level of college basketball.
Even Diebler said he’s not totally sure what that will look like but said Grujicic provides “real positional size and perimeter versatility.” He’s listed at 6-6, 205 pounds.
“He’s got a unique, for being such a young player, blend of real, high-level experience,” Diebler said. “He just turned 18 but yet he’s also played against grown men. I’m really excited, but there’s an unknown element there.”
Taison Chatman, Gabe Cupps will be counted on in the backcourt
Knee injuries meant that while Cupps was only able to play four games at Indiana as a sophomore, Chatman missed his entire sophomore season with the Buckeyes after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament last summer. With senior Bruce Thornton and sophomore John Mobley Jr. poised to hold down the majority of the minutes in the backcourt, Diebler said both Chatman and Cupps will be expected to help take some of the load off Thornton’s shoulders.
“The one thing I know about Gabe is he’s really tough,” Diebler said. “He knows the game at a high level. His intangibles, the way he can impact a game may not always show up with stats. However, he also can produce. He can make shots. He knows how to read the game coming off of ball screens, zoom actions, which we’re going to be doing a lot of.”
Asked if Chatman has looked tentative while returning from his injury, Diebler said he didn’t have any of that while playing in this week’s scrimmage against the alumni.
“I’ve been really impressed with his commitment to working and getting better and getting ready for now our summer training sessions,” he said. “He’s not behind. He’s not apprehensive. He’s out there, he’s in the mix, he’s playing hard, he’s being aggressive, so for us, if you walked into the gym and watched, you wouldn’t see a guy out there and say, man, he looks like a guy coming off injury.”
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: “Winning Above Everything”: 7 takeaways from Ohio State coach Jake Diebler’s summer talk
Reporting by Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
