Bronny James is going to USC. What does that mean for Ohio State?
A simple weekend Instagram post officially brought the Bronny James saga to an end.
On Saturday afternoon, not long before the annual running of the Kentucky Derby, the combo guard in the 2023 class announced his commitment to play college basketball at USC. Thus ended one of the most tight-lipped high-major recruiting sagas in recent memory, one that had featured plenty of speculation and little factual information until the day of James’ surprise announcement.
It was also a recruitment that featured Ohio State, one school James is known to have definitively visited because it included a pregame stop on the sidelines for a highly anticipated football game against Notre Dame at Ohio Stadium. There, alongside his father, Lebron, the younger James heard fans chant his name, exchanged pleasantries with multiple Buckeyes during warmups and even joyously watched parachuters land on the field.
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Now James will play for the Trojans after considering the Buckeyes as well as UCLA, Oregon, Memphis and others to varying degrees. At no point did Bronny James release a list of top schools, nor did he publicize any recruiting visits or contact from college coaches. The Buckeyes, Trojans and Bruins were listed as his top three schools in a L.A. Times story in January, but his father publicly cast doubt on the report and stated that when there was news to be announced, it would come from them.
So what does James’ decision mean for Ohio State this year? And how real was the interest between James and the Buckeyes?
Yes, there was a chance Bronny James could have become a Buckeye
The groundwork for this situation was laid years ago when Lebron James famously claimed Ohio State would have been his college of choice had he not been allowed to enter the NBA draft right out of his stellar prep career at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary. Drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, James always showed affinity toward the Buckeyes even if the state turned against him – albeit briefly – when he departed to sign with the Miami Heat.
And when a reporter asked James prior to a 2015 exhibition game at Value City Arena about the support of the program despite not being the state’s most popular person for a few years, he deadpanned, “I’ve been very popular in this state for 30 years. ‘All press is good press – John Gotti.’ ”
A Nike school, Ohio State continued to wear customized sneakers and gear bearing James’ logo even when he played for the Heat, and he has periodically been a sideline guest for football games. That included a top-five season-opening showdown against the Fighting Irish on Sept. 3, which also became an unofficial recruiting visit for Bronny James. The Buckeyes had what would become their entire 2023 class on hand for official visits – Taison Chatman, Scotty Middleton, Austin Parks and Devin Royal – and while that group spent the day together, the James family had a different itinerary.
Although they would go through a photoshoot that featured father and son along with Gloria James, Bronny’s mother, in Ohio State gear, the three watched the men’s basketball team practice apart from the rest of the recruits inside Value City Arena. As the others walked to the traditional “Skull Session” event at St. John Arena, the James family left campus for a few hours but returned roughly an hour before the 7:30 p.m. tipoff.
They watched the game from a private luxury box, separate from the current and future members of the team. Outwardly, it looked clinical, like perhaps the whole endeavor was little more than a chance for Lebron James to attend a highly anticipated college football game.
Inwardly, though, there was real interest on both sides. Ohio State’s coaching staff had an open line of communication with James’ camp and, as the offseason got underway and the transfer portal revved up, the chances of Bronny James becoming a Buckeye were quietly starting to incrementally rise. It wasn’t until the last few weeks that it became clear he wouldn’t be joining the program.
Buckeyes had been building for a life without Bronny James
Ohio State’s backcourt has largely been set since the Buckeyes signed a four-man recruiting class for 2023. Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle enter their second seasons projected to play significant minutes as the starting point and shooting guards, respectively.
The final addition to the 2023 class was Chatman, a two-time state champion at Minneapolis Totino-Grace. He’s a four-star guard ranked No. 31 nationally in the 247Sports.com rankings who will log important minutes at both guard spots, and his addition meant Ohio State would be prominently featuring two second-year guards and one first-year guard in its primary rotation. When the Buckeyes hit the transfer portal to bolster the position, they added experience by signing Baylor’s Dale Bonner, a rotation player for the Bears who will be in his sixth season of college basketball.
The signings of Chatman and Bonner showed which direction the Buckeyes were planning to go for 2023-24. Coach Chris Holtmann committed to playing Thornton and Gayle through first-year struggles, banking on the eventual upside they would both display by the end of the season. With that decided, it was unlikely the Buckeyes would add multiple young backcourt players to the mix, and once Chatman committed it significantly thinned the chances of adding Bronny James.
It also meant that Bronny James would be entering a situation at Ohio State where he might not get the type of minutes necessary to become the one-and-done player he’s become expected to be. With belief in a future backcourt of Thornton, Gayle and Chatman, plus an eventual veteran addition, it wouldn’t have made much sense for either side without the Buckeyes making a significant pivot from years of investing in the three players already in the fold.
At USC, Bronny James will be part of a backcourt that also includes first-year guard Isaiah Collier, the nation’s top overall prospect in the 247Sports composite, fifth-year guard Boogie Ellis, last year’s leading scorer, and third-year guard/forward Kobe Johnson.
There’s a little more experience to work with there than at Ohio State and easier role to slot into.
What would landing Bronny James have meant for Ohio State’s 2023-24 season?
There’s no doubt that the younger James has grown into a legitimate college player, one who could play an important rotational role at any high-major school in the country. Listed at 6-3, 190 pounds, he was ranked the nation’s No. 55 overall prospect per 247Sports entering last June and steadily climbed from there. He would average 14 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals while earning second-team all-conference honors at Chatsworth (California) Sierra Canyon and participating in the McDonald’s All-American Game.
He enters college as a four-star prospect ranked No. 26 nationally. He projects as a solid, athletic guard who can both make shots and create for his teammates, making him a meaningful addition for the Trojans. But given Ohio State’s current backcourt, it’s unclear that Bronny James would have significantly impacted the team’s final record more than a player like Chatman.
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It also means the Buckeyes won’t be under an even greater microscope as they attempt to shake off their worst season since going 8-22 in 1997-98. Ohio State finished 16-19 last season, losing 14 of 15 games at one point, and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. The addition of Bronny James would have certainly sold more tickets and impacted the buzz around the program, but it also would have added an additional level of scrutiny as Holtmann opens his seventh season facing pressure to put together a significant course correction.
Ultimately, this will remain a young Ohio State team featuring eight players in their first or second seasons of college basketball. Increasing that number would have made a turnaround even more challenging, even by adding a player as highly rated as Bronny James.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How does Bronny James picking USC impact Ohio State's season?
