Ohio State basketball: Why Meechie Johnson is an upgrade over Roddy Gayle

The Ohio State basketball program is working the transfer portal right now. They have lost three players to the portal so far this offseason. Roddy Gayle is by far the biggest loss after he announced on Wednesday that he is entering the portal. But the Buckeyes have replaced him with a better player in the backcourt.

Meechie Johnson is coming back to the Ohio State basketball program after two years away. He just led South Carolina to an NCAA Tournament appearance and will now try to help the Buckeyes do the same next year. Even though Gayle is a loss, Johnson is an upgrade as a replacement starter next to Bruce Thornton.

The Ohio State basketball team replaced Roddy Gayle with a better guard

Losing a good defender in Gayle is going to be tough. The Buckeyes struggled on defense for a large part of the season, mostly because they failed to defend the three-point line appropriately. They mostly fixed that when Jake Diebler took over though. Johnson is quick enough to go out and defend guards beyond the arc.

Johnson is definitely a downgrade on the defensive end. He’s shorter and not as bulky as Gayle is. That doesn’t mean that he’s a bad defender though. He still gives a lot of effort and does a good job with his positioning. It’s worth the trade-off for his offense. Johnson is a more consistent shooter than Gayle and can hit threes at a higher rate.

The offensive upgrade is higher than the defensive downgrade is for Johnson. He’s a net upgrade over Gayle, although keeping Gayle would have been nice. Diebler can use Evan Mahaffey as the defensive stopper on the opposing team’s best player anyway. Johnson is out there to help an offense that sometimes struggles in the half-court.

Ohio State basketball fans should be excited to have Johnson back with the team. He’s a good player who loves the Buckeyes. It’s good to have him back.