Jared Sullinger

They lost in the first round, and then his Naismith season, we only made it to the Sweet 16.

And then if you look at the following year, when Evan Turner left, that was when we got that incredible freshman class of Sullinger, Deshaun Thomas, and Aaron Kraft in there.

The ball got distributed more.

We saw four guys that year score 12 or more points per game.

And then I look at this team with Evan Mobley and Bynum giving us an elite inside-out combination.

We have the addition of freshman wing Anthony Thompson, who is our highest-rated recruit since Jared Sullinger.

And then we have guys like Justin Pippen, who averaged 14 points a game at Cal, who transferred over to help our backcourt.

And then we have so much more depth in the frontcourt than we've had at all under Jake Diebler, which has been, I think, one of our biggest weaknesses is the fact that we don't have a great center.

He announced that his new kidney would be coming from his former teammate, best friend, and Ohio State legend.

It's J.J. Sullinger, not Jared Sullinger.

J.J. gave the kidney, not Jared.

Here is the announcement.

I was in Newark, New Jersey for the NCAA tournament.

when Jared Sullinger and, uh, uh, Kraft, I think were freshmen.

I think that was 2011.

I think.

But of all the wins Thad got, two Final Fours and National Runner-up, he said this, maybe the greatest thing I've seen in my coaching career happened a few weeks ago.

A few weeks ago, J.J. Sullinger gave his kidney to his teammate Terrence Diles.

I didn't know T. Diles had kidney issues.

I covered Thad's first team.

Those guys were on Thad's first team at OSU, the team that upset Illinois when Illinois was undefeated, the team that went on to win the Big Ten Championship the following season in advance of Greg Oden and Mike Conley coming here.

J.J. Sullinger and Terrence Diles, really good dudes.

I loved covering those guys.

Yeah.

But he's going to be, he's projected as potential lottery pick.

He's the highest rated recruit they've had since Jared Sullinger.

Like there's significant expectations there for him.

And what's interesting is, he's so you have him and then you have LJ Smith, who's also technically a five-star freshman be reclassified graduated high school year early.

I will say this, though.

The stuff from LA and the concerns people had, and you know my Sullinger test, which is you look at what the other fan base was saying when you bring somebody in from their organization, and this is kinda what the Sullinger test was saying anyway.

When he did come from the Kings and there were questions about the way that that team played, some of the pushback from people was, "No, man, this guy's an offensive coach.

He gets it.

I, I, I guess I'm the self-appointed voice of reason sometime with some of my friends when we talk about our, our favorite teams.

I always remember the point being a guy like Jared Sullinger in Ohio State basketball history is very rare.

And they certainly had Greg Oden and those guys coming in as fully developed players, basically.

But, but a Jared Sullinger coming in and going, like, 20 and 10 as a true freshman, you know, just walked off, uh, high school's, uh, campus onto the, uh, OSU campus, that is rare, and it's why it's tough on guys like, fast-forward, Caleb Wesson, similar build, from the same hardscrabble, you know, northeast Columbus area, you know, played in different high schools but, but definitely had the pedigree to be a basketball player and that kind of thing.

He comes in, he's a good player, but he doesn't end up dominating the way a Jared Sul- It's rare to have a Jared Sullinger.

It's rare to have a Jeremiah Smith.

Bryce Underwood did not perform up to expectations last year as a true freshman, but it's rare to have a true freshman who's ready to come in and play quarterback, as a true freshman, as a first-year player.