Teamwork and culture are two big things for Keonte Smith. A small forward from Dayton Northridge in the 2028 class, Smith took his first visit to Ohio State on Sept. 13 to watch basketball practice, spend time with the coaches and see the football team host Ohio University.
What he said he saw from the Buckeyes aligns with what he hopes to eventually find in a school.
“It was fun,” Smith said. “Everything was nice. It was a lot of culture. I liked how the basketball and the football teams play. It was just nice all over.”
The day began for the 6-foot-5, 180-pound Smith with getting to watch the men’s basketball team practice. As one of four recruits on unofficial visits to campus, Smith then took a tour of the facilities, went through Ohio State’s Skull Session at St. John Arena before making his way to Ohio Stadium for the game against the Bobcats. There was a photoshoot sandwiched in there as well.
This was his first college visit, and Smith said he went to practice looking to see if players are good teammates who have confidence and know how to play with each other.
At practice, Smith said, “I saw that all of them can shoot, they can all play consistent and fast. They all know how to play together and they all know how to talk.”
The Buckeyes have been recruiting him for a couple of months, Smith said. On the visit, he spent time getting to know coach Jake Diebler.
“I started building a little bit of a relationship with (him),” he said. “He was asking me questions like what’s my daily routine and stuff like that. He was telling me stuff that I should be working on to get to the next level.”
According to PrepHoops.com, Smith is the No. 2 prospect from Ohio in the 2028 class. The week before his visit, Ohio State hosted Dylan Zeigler for a second time in roughly a month. Zeigler, a 6-foot-3, 165-pound guard from Cleveland Lutheran East, is Ohio’s top-rated prospect in his class according to the website. ESPN ranks him as the No. 4 point guard in the nation.
Rivals.com lists Smith as the top Ohioan in 2028, a three-star prospect, the No. 20 small forward in the nation and No. 73 player nationally. He earned honorable mention all-Ohio in Division IV after averaging 12.6 points per game.
As he prepares for his sophomore year, Smith said he’s working on a few things.
“I’m working on my right hand, how to shoot, how to dribble,” he said. “I want to make it farther than I did last year. I want to win a (championship) in winter ball for the first time in high school. I’m just trying to go far and prove everybody wrong.”
Pepperdine is the lone school to have offered Smith. The Waves spotted him at an AAU game in South Carolina and reached out with a scholarship offer, he said. The Buckeyes have discussed offering him, Smith said, but they said they want to build more of a relationship with him first.
“I hope to find nice people around, people I can build relationships with, people who are understanding,” he said. “I just want to be around good people.”
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.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State’s culture impresses Dayton native Keonte Smith on unofficial visit
Reporting by Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
