Ohio State basketball player enters the transfer portal

It has begun. With the Ohio State basketball team losing on Tuesday, their season has come to an end. Now, players have the ability to jump into the transfer portal if they so choose. We’re trying to figure out who might stay because Jake Diebler mentioned that roster retention is at the top of his mind right now.

How many good players the Buckeyes are able to retain remains to be seen, but they should have some help on the NIL front. Ross Bjork is committed to the best NIL experience possible for all Ohio State sports. One player has already decided to enter the portal and pursue an opportunity elsewhere.

Bowen Hardman is leaving the Ohio State basketball team

Sophomore guard Bowen Hardman has entered the transfer portal. Hardman played in 25 games in his Ohio State basketball career, with 18 of them coming this season. He averaged 1.8 points per game and shot 43% from beyond the arc in the little playing time he received. He’s the first player to put his name in the portal.

Hardman is an Ohio kid from Cincinnati and was just a two-star prospect coming out of school. He didn’t get much playing time so it’s unclear how good he is. He’s likely going to transfer to a mid-major, somewhere that will give him playing time. Coming out of high school, Ohio State and Cinci were the only two programs to offer him a scholarship.

I think Hardman has the opportunity to be a good shooter off the bench for someone. He’s just not quite good enough to play in the Big Ten. Diebler went deep into his bench once he took over for Chris Holtmann and Hardman hardly even played then. Ohio State also has a lot of guards on the roster ahead of him on the depth chart already.

This isn’t a big loss for the Buckeyes. He’s a replaceable player. I certainly wish him nothing but the best moving forward though. I hope he kills it at his next destination.