![\"Ohio](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/HALN63Y2VRH2NEXUJLPPG3YM5A.JPG\")
<\/p>\nWhile Centerville grad Gabe Cupps worked out with the guards, Wright State transfer Brandon Noel put up shots with the big men. <\/p>\n
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Credit: Marcus Hartman\/STAFF<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Credit: Marcus Hartman\/STAFF<\/p>\n
They are two of the new pieces Jake Diebler brought in over the past few months in hopes of improving on the 17-15 record the Buckeyes put in his first season as permanent head coach. <\/p>\n
Cupps, who spent two years at Indiana but took a medical redshirt last season, is joining a backcourt that includes All-Big Ten point guard Bruce Thornton and sharp-shooting sophomore John Mobley Jr. as returning starters and reserve Taison Chatman, a top 40 prospect two years ago who has been slowed by injuries. <\/p>\n
The 6-foot-2 Cupps helped lead Centerville to the Division I state championship in 2021 and was named Ohio\u2019s Mr. Basketball in 2022 when he averaged 14.2 points and 6.8 assists per game and shot 44.3 percent from 3-point range. <\/p>\n
![\"Ohio](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/NRJWE7SPYZFHVJUBP3TD4HZPD4.JPG\")
<\/p>\n
Credit: Marcus Hartman\/STAFF<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Credit: Marcus Hartman\/STAFF<\/p>\n
How he fits into Diebler\u2019s rotation with Thornton, a scoring point guard, remains to be seen, but the coach suggested he could play off the ball more and benefit from having to run the offense all the time. <\/p>\n
However that ends up looking, Diebler is happy to have the son of an accomplished coach like Centerville\u2019s Brook Cupps in his gym now. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing I know about Gabe is he\u2019s really tough,\u201d Diebler said. \u201cHe knows the game at a high level \u2014 and his intangibles. The way he can impact the game may not always show up with stats. However, he also can produce.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can make shots. He knows how to read the game coming off ball screens and zoom actions, which we\u2019re going to be doing a lot of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diebler, who played for his father, Keith, at Fostoria and Upper Sandusky before going to Valparaiso, also said he sees some of himself in Cupps. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s better than I was, but I\u2019ve just always seen a lot of who I was as a player in him, I just like that, and I think it impacts winning. I think it\u2019s important. I think it\u2019s impactful,\u201d said Diebler, whose team faded down the stretch last season and ended up missing the NCAA Tournament. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe felt like we needed to raise kind of our team internal leadership, and I think he certainly does that,\u201d Diebler said. \u201cI think (forward Devin Royal) getting older and John getting older helps with that, but we needed to bring some outside voices in, too, to help with that and help Bruce do that. So he\u2019ll provide all of that stuff. I\u2019m really excited.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been great from what we\u2019ve seen so far, but I think as far as the specifics, that\u2019s got to play out over time.\u201d <\/p>\n
Noel will be part of a remade frontcourt that also includes Santa Clara transfer Christoph Tilly and Baylor transfer Josh Ojianwuna, who are all seniors. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think Brandon and (Tilly) both are really smart,\u201d Diebler said. \u201cCombine that basketball IQ with their skill level, being able certainly to make shots, but pass, make decisions, dribble. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat combination I think really is going to help that transition for them.\u201d <\/p>\n
The veteran newcomers will have an opportunity to make a big difference after young, high-profile transfers Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart didn\u2019t work out last season and left the program after one year. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need them to be impactful \u2014 there\u2019s no question about it,\u201d Diebler said of the new big guys. \u201cI don\u2019t think we need either of them to be the same player they were (at their previous schools). <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that they haven\u2019t played on good teams, but this is the best collection of talent that they\u2019ve played on, and I think that they\u2019ve got to make an adjustment to that, too. But the guys we have coming back have got to make an adjustment to that because they\u2019re going to be important pieces for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Centerville grad Gabe Cupps worked out with the guards, Wright State transfer Brandon Noel put up shots…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[1583,7,21948,3726,16050,9,4779,21949,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-114316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-athletics","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-bengals-football","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-mens-sports","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-pro-sports","15":"tag-professional-football","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114721322778451449","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}