Traditionally worrying about Ohio State basketball before December would not be proper, but the schedule has evolved so that a majority of roster building now takes place right after the season ends.

To that end, Jake Diebler so far has two of the five or six transfers he needs to try to keep the program moving forward in his third season.

Scottie Pippen’s son, Justin, committed to Ohio State on Friday.

He is a 6-3, 180-pound junior from Cal (and before that Michigan) who looks like the replacement for Bruce Thornton at point guard.

The younger Pippen, whose brother Scottie Jr. is in the NBA, will not be asked to be the next Thornton, of course.

Per Bucknuts.com, he’s more of a traditional point guard who can score but is more of a facilitator:

Pippin will likely also be a better defender than Thornton, especially if he inherited any of that tenacity his father brought to that end of the floor.

A little while later, the Buckeyes picked up front court help in the form of Andrija Jelavic, most recently of Kentucky.

For the Wildcats, Jelavic was listed as a 6-11, 225-pound sophomore forward.

He started the last 20 games for UK and averaged 5.5 points and 4.0 rebounds.

He’ll be more like a senior for the Buckeyes as he played two seasons of pro ball in Europe before joining the Big Blue and will turn 22 later this year.

He also might resemble 2025-26 transfer Christoph Tilly more than fans would like to see, but Bucknuts says that is by design (sort of).

With the loss of multiple bench players, they are going to need to add at least two or three more transfers even if they are just for depth.

One candidate: Jalen Haralson, late of Notre Dame.

He was a five-star, top 20 national recruit coming out of high school in Indiana two years ago and would seem to be a home run pickup, perhaps a much better scoring wing than Devin Royal was last season.

Haralson is reportedly down to Ohio State, North Carolina and Tennessee as he mulls his future.

I’m not sure I am on board with the plan to keep playing with only one big man on the floor at a time, but then again the personnel might demand it this season with sophomore Andrew Bynum and freshman Anthony Thompson being probably the two most talented players.

I like the idea of a banger at center and a facilitator at point guard to complement Bynum, Thompson and shooting guard John Mobley Jr. (He entered the NBA Draft, but it’s hard to see him staying in it given he is nowhere near an NBA player at this point.)

The banger in this scenario is Josh Ojanwuna, who transferred from Baylor last year but did not play as he recovered from a knee injury, while the backup center figures to be Ivan Njegovan, who filled that role last season and is more of a traditional big man as well.

Thompson is a wild card. He’s a McDonald’s All-American who could come in and make an instant impact, but he’s also pretty skinny and likely will need some time to adjust to what’s quickly becoming more of an old guy game again thanks to changes in transfer and compensation rules.

Perhaps Thompson comes off the bench if Jelavic improves.

Monday Musings: College tampering, transfers and Reds opening weekend wins

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Ryan Day appeared on Cameron Heyward’s podcast recently and revealed a few interesting things.

One was that he wishes for a do-over of the loss to Clemson in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl and the 2022 Peach Bowl, but that wasn’t too surprising so I didn’t bother sharing it last week.

Over the weekend, his definition of the recruiting requirements at Ohio State did garner some reaction.

This sounds cool, but it also contradicts what Day has said over the past year about adjusting their approach to include different types of players, including the equivalent of “first rounders” and guys who are on more of a developmental track, which he likened to second- or third-day picks in the NFL Draft.

Beyond that, the past year showed that stockpiling pure talent (as they have done since Urban Meyer took over in late 2011) may be impossible in the age of annual free agency.

Now you have to pay a premium to get guys to sign out of high school then again the following season (or seasons) even if they don’t play early in their careers.

Spoiler alert: Day probably wasn’t being literal anyway.

As suggested by former Ohio State running back turned linebacker Steele Chambers, Day was likely talking about a player’s mindset more than anything.

If you are going to be an Ohio State recruit, you should plan on being good enough not only to hold down a roster spot but to start and be taken high in the NFL Draft.

The Major League Baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint, right?

Well so far this Cincinnati Reds season reminds me of a dominant distance runner I remember from my high school days. He would jog the turns then sprint the straightaways and literally lap the field at every meet we went to around Greene and Clark County at the turn of the century.

After losing on Opening Day, the Reds are similarly streaky, though not by design.

They won three in a row then lost two in a row. Then came a five-game winning streak followed by a three-game skid.

After breaking that last streak Saturday, they fell hard Sunday to drop two of three in a series against the Los Angeles Angels (who may or may not be of Anaheim?).

They are 9-7 on the season, and you don’t need advanced stats to tell you why the record isn’t better.

Until five straight disappointing starts, the rotation has mostly been lights out.

Since the start of the season, though, this team can’t hit.

They have five regulars who are hitting well below the Mendoza line, including third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes starting the season 3 for 38.

He’s not expected to add much with the bat, but that is really stretching the meaning of “not much.”

More noteworthy: T.J. Friedl (.153), Noelvi Marte (.138), Spencer Steer (.176) and Tyler Stephenson (.171) should all be at least somewhat closer to average if not better by the time hot weather is here for good. (I know batting average is not the be-all, end-all but in this case it’s still a good shorthand. Marte and Friedl have no extra-base hits, but at least Steer has shown som pop with three doubles and two home runs.)

On the bright side, their pythagorean record, which goes by how many wins they should have just based on runs scored and allowed overall, is 6-10. Their real record is much better than that thanks to an early affinity for winning close games. That’s a reverse of the David Bell days when they typically found ways to lose.

I am pretty confident the rotation will be fine — especially once Nick Lodolo and Hunter Greene join it — but will they hit?

Odds are pretty good at least three of five mentioned above will settle into a groove and become more productive.

One will have to wait his chance, though, as Marte was sent to Triple-A Louisville this morning.

He’s been replaced by Rece Hinds, who has started hot for the Bats. The 25-year-old from Florida hit .354 in 13 games for Louisville, socking five home runs, three doubles and a triple while also taking 12 walks. He has struck out 15 times, but that’s pretty typical these days. His OPS of 1.246 is… quite good.

Hinds was a second-round pick in the 2019 draft out of high school in Florida because he has great power. He’s only hit .191 in 89 big-league at-bats, but he has seven homers and 14 RBIs.

Another outfielder, JJ Bleday, is also off to a solid start down on the farm (hitting .302 with five doubles, two homers and nine RBIs) so they’ve got some insurance if others continue struggling in The Show.

Ryan Day trying to keep Ohio State from going the way of the dinosaurs