Keita Bates-Diop, a redshirt junior, has declared for the 2018 NBA Draft after a breakout season. Bates-Diop who missed all of last year besides the first nine games because of a fractured leg went on to win Big Ten Player of the Year. He bounced back in a big way averaging just under 20 points a game while averaging just a touch under nine rebounds a game. Bates-Diop was on nobody’s radar after his best season came his sophomore year with 11 points a game. His explosion this year helped him rise into a projected first-round draft pick in this upcoming 2018 NBA Draft.
Bates-Diop was the major reason Ohio State was able to have the surprise season that they did. No one expected the Buckeyes to have the season they did after Thad Matta resigned at the beginning of last summer. He was replaced by Chris Holtmann who had put his imprint on this team in a short amount of time. Bates-Diop was a major catalyst for Chris Holtmann to establish his culture and give Buckeye fans a reason for optimism with this new regime.
