I will say that the next 60 days will probably be the most important of Boals career at Ohio. As many have pointed out, he needs to find two impact gems in the portal that will be immediate contributors.

Losing Ben is a big blow, I am still bullish on the team for next season, mainly because it seems that this recruiting class is better than we have seen in a long time. At one point it was ranked in the top 50 nationally by at least 1 publication. Was the DJ/Ivo/Keely/Horne/Kinney class even rated that highly?

Obviously ratings don't mean anything until they take the court, but it does seem that we have 2-3 guys coming in that could run right into the rotation along with Sears, Roderick (hoping he finds his stroke this summer), Miles Brown, and Wilson.

I also believe Clayton and Ezuma will both take big steps forward next year. Clayton showed his skill and shooting range early in the year and in the last game of the season when Carter got hurt. He needs to add some muscle in order to rebound more consistently.

Ezuma needs to work on his footwork, but you can see the skill there. Just needs to keep working on that over the summer. DeVaughn Washington only averaged 0.9ppg and 1.1 rpg his freshman year and then became a starter the following year, bumping those averages us to 6.7 and 4.4 and 11.3 and 5.4 his junior year. I think we would all be very happy if Ezuma made a similar leap next year.

Agreed

This is what I was thinking. BVP is looking for a degree program that isn't at Ohio, or at least he's looking at it from the angle of having been here for 5 years and just wants to try someplace new with his last year. Can't blame him either way.

I also am a bit nervous about the potential of Clayton as the starting 4 next season.

Hate to do this but all the examples brought up of previous frosh that made major improvements were athletic.

I just don't see natural, fluid movement on the court with Clayton. When I watched Clayton, I saw a player that was struggling to keep up with the speed of the game but could occasionally hit a wide open 3 when the ball found him.

I'm not a scout so feel free to tell me I'm wrong.

The portal is boiling over with talent right now.

U of Memphis alone had THREE 4-star guys enter the portal today.

Talented hoopsters are there for the taking. Murray St. has 8 guys in the portal.

I agree that Ohio needs to get some talented players out of the portal. But it may not necessarily come from the pool of players you're referencing due to academics.

O.K., you are wrong, wrong on about every part of that.

BVP already knows where he is going (and has for some time). He's not entering the portal "to see" - There is a space and offer already in place. He will most likely wait until after the Final Four and also wait until players at his landing spot have entered the portal as well. Good luck young man - will forever be a Bobcat.

At first thought, because of his academic prowess I pondered whether he was considering going to the Ivy League. However, since they don't give athletic scholarship he could have already completed the process. I wonder if we are missing something. I know there is a great deal of discussion about Wisconsin. However, perhaps he is considering an elite academic school in a power conference; Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Stanford or Northwestern? Outside of Notre Dame, these aren't perennial Big Dance attendees. They just might need a muscular forward who can shoot. Just a thought.

He was the 2019 MAC Freshman of the Year (in a landslide vote).

BVP was also a freshman on a team that was NOT very good. OHIO finished 6-12 in the East and 14-17 overall. Little harder to crack the lineup for AJ, than the situation that both BVP and Carter came into.