What the loss of Luther Muhammad means for Ohio State

Ohio State released some shocking news Sunday. Starting guard Luther Muhammad will enter the transfer portal. Here’s what it means.

The bad news continues for the Ohio State basketball program. After losing D.J. Carton and Alonzo Gaffney (for different reasons) just after the season, it now has to deal with last year’s starting off-guard Luther Muhammad entering the transfer portal.

I have to admit this one comes as a bit of a surprise because Muhammad had carved out a pretty nice career and niche with the personnel grouping of Ohio State. He was trusted by the coaches to come in and play with extreme effort and shut down opposing guards. But alas, it seems to be the way of big-time college athletics lately.

There are rumblings and rumors that Muhammad wants a more expanded role where he can be more of a scorer, and he doesn’t see that as being his role in the Buckeye program. So okay, here we go. What does it all mean for Ohio State?

Well, for starters, the team has now lost two guards that were bound to get significant minutes. Both Carton and Muhammad were more than likely going to be a big, big part of things this upcoming season. The addition of Seth Towns helps with that, but it’s still a thin group at the guard position.

More than that though, OSU just lost its best on-ball defender, and that has to sting for Chris Holtmann. He prides his teams on playing tough defense, and because of that gave the nod to Muhammad over Duane Washington much of last year. If you aren’t willing to play defense, Holtmann isn’t going to trust you down the stretch of games.

Now there’s a big hole to fill on the defensive end. Both Towns and Justice Sueing have the tools to be good defenders, but they both could be defending the wing and not at the two-guard spot. Now, they’ll more than likely be asked to do both.

It also means the coaches might have to go all-in with Washington. Holtmann has been frustrated often with his shot selection and defensive lapses, but there may not be any other option but to trust him to develop those parts of his game in heart-thumping situations.

Yes, the loss of Muhammad is a puzzling one, but one that the coaches will deal with. Finding someone on the transfer market to add more depth and fill a hole left by the unexpected departure is likely job number one for Holtmann.