Darius Bazley initially committed to The Ohio State at the end of last summer. But the romance is apparently over. The 6-7 forward from Cincinnati Princeton, who is considered the top prospect in the class of 2018, has announced via Twitter he was re-opening his recruitment in the wake of the Buckeyes’ modest 17-15 season that ended when they were passed over for the NIT.
Bazley told the Columbus Dispatch he felt he had rushed into his initial decision and needed to re-evaluate it.
“I was excited when I first got the offer, he said. “Ohio State is still a great place. It’s nothing against the school or anything, but my ultimate goal is to get the NBA and I just didn’t feel as confident as I did when I first committed that Ohio State could get me there.
“At the end of the day I’ve got to perform no matter where I go, but I think there’s other schools out there that could put me on a bigger stage and in a better position to show those NBA scouts when I get to college what I can do.”
Ouch. That hurts.
Bazley told OSU coach Thad Matta this week he wanted out and claimed there was no hard feelings between him and the Buckeyes’ coach. But, it’s hard to believe this won’t affect Ohio State’s recruiting profile in the Midwest. During Matta’s first 12 seasons in Columbus, he had 10 players taken in the draft, eight in the first round. But the last Ohio State player selected was D’Angelo Russell, who went second overall in 2015.
Prior to the last two years, Matta and his staff had always controlled this state.
The Buckeyes signed two four star recruits, center Kaleb Wasson and point and point guard Braxton Beverly and have commitments from two juniors from Ohio, guard Dane Goodwin and small forward Justin Ahrens, a long time friend of Bazley. They are also heavily involved with small forward Jerome Hunter from Pickerington North.
But Bazley said he wanted more. “I look into the recruits they have coming in next year, they didn’t look too good for the future. So I felt when my class came in, yeah, we would have been okay, but good enough to make the tournament? I don’t know.”
