Bowen Hardman is No. 12 in our Ohio State men's basketball preseason power rankings

adam jardy, columbus dispatch

Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 12:11 PM·8 min read

Men’s basketball season is about to get underway, and it’s time to dive into the Ohio State roster.

After a 16-19 record that caused the Buckeyes to miss the postseason for the first time in coach Chris Holtmann’s six seasons with the program, Ohio State returns several key core players while adding a highly rated freshman class and a three-man transfer group all expected to make significant impacts.

To get ready for the season, The Dispatch is once again rolling out its annual preseason power rankings. Each day leading into the Nov. 6 season opener with Oakland, we will count upward while projecting which players will have the biggest roles on the 2023-24 season. This isn’t just a measurement of who will lead the team in any particular statistical category, but a series of educated guesses on which players’ contributions will go the longest way toward where the Buckeyes finish.

The series continues today with second-year guard Bowen Hardman.

No. 12 – Bowen Hardman

Position: Guard

Eligibility: Second year (two remaining)

Height/weight: 6 feet 3 / 190 pounds

Jersey number: 15

Major: Finance

Background

A renowned shooter from a young age, Hardman played his way onto Ohio State’s radar after a strong performance at team camp during the summer leading into his freshman season at Cincinnati Princeton and landed a scholarship offer that fall while on an unofficial visit. He averaged 5.8 points and 1.6 rebounds in 24 games including two starts as a freshman and grew his production to 12.1 points per game as a sophomore while shooting 45.9% from the field, 38.5% from the perimeter and 95.7% from the free-throw line.

Although COVID-19 forced the premature cancelation of his junior season, Hardman averaged 15.1 points and 3.2 rebounds while shooting 37.3% (40 for 107) from three-point range that season and being named honorable mention all-Ohio. It was then during the pandemic, with recruiting shut down and everything in flux, that Hardman committed to the Buckeyes in mid-May, 2020. At the time, he was the No. 170 national recruit and the No. 5 prospect from Ohio according to 247Sports.com. When he signed with Ohio State, 247Sports ranked him as the No. 8 prospect from Ohio, the No. 48 shooting guard in the nation and the overall No. 294 national recruit.

Optimism was high for a standout senior season, particularly when he scored 39 points in a summer game against Detroit Ferndale and had 41 in a matchup with Purdue-bound four-star guard Fletcher Loyer as Princeton took on Fort Wayne (Indiana) Homestead.

A significant leg injury suffered during the second game of the year limited his senior season, sidelining him for eight weeks and allowing him to show, in his own estimation “less than 20%” of his total game that season. He returned late in the year and on senior night scored a team-high 22 points on 6-of-8 shooting from 3-point range while playing 27 minutes on what he described as basically one leg. He was honorable mention all-state.

He enrolled at Ohio State ranked No. 310 nationally in the 247Sports composite database but as a two-star prospect in the website’s own rankings. He is the No. 12 player from Ohio in his class and the No. 49 shooting guard in the nation according to the composite.

2022-23 season recap

The tone for what Hardman’s first season at Ohio State would be was set in the early days of the preseason. As coach Chris Holtmann would discuss his five-man freshman class, he would consistently add the qualifier that he was expecting four of them to contribute to the 2022-23 team. Hardman was the lone exception, and as the season progressed Hardman found himself at the end of the bench.

He made his debut in the opening game against Robert Morris, subbing in for the final 3:39 of a 91-53 win and missing his lone shot attempt, a 3-pointer. Hardman scored his first career points with 2:20 remaining in a Dec. 21 blowout win against Maine and added another with 32 seconds left to set the final score. He followed that with a 2 for 4 effort from 3 in 3:13 of playing time against Alabama A&M eight days later, but it would be some time before Hardman saw the floor again.

Oct 19, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes guard Bowen Hardman (15) gets a chest bump from guard Scotty Middleton (0) after making a shot during an open practice at Value City Arena.

Starting with a Jan. 1 win at Northwestern, Hardman would be a healthy, unused substitute in Ohio State’s next 17 games, a stretch that included 14 losses in 15 games. He appeared for the final second of a senior day win against Maryland and the last 50 seconds of a win against Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals and did not record a statistic in either appearance.

In all, Hardman appeared in seven games totaling 18:11 of playing time. Both figures were the lowest among scholarship players. He scored 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting, all from 3-point range, and did not record any other statistics aside from two fouls.

Need to know

After finishing second in the 3-point shooting contest as part of the Buckeyes on the Blacktop event as a freshman, losing out to Brice Sensabaugh, Hardman won the event in 2023.

He has an extensive shoe collection that numbers nearly 100 pairs and enjoys playing video games in his spare time. He’s a Cincinnati Bengals fan.

He played some AAU basketball with current Ohio State teammate Kalen Etzler, who is entering his third season with the program. After taking multiple unofficial visits, Hardman wasn’t able to take his official visit to Ohio State until June, 2021, more than a year after he had committed to the program. Hardman was selected to the BSNSports Ohio/Kentucky All-Star Game following his senior season. Princeton coach Steve Wyant compared him to Purdue’s Dakota Mathias from a work ethic standpoint.

Xavier and Ohio had also offered, but Hardman’s decision came down to Ohio State and Cincinnati, and his emotional connection with the coaching staff including assistant coach Jake Diebler convinced him to pick the Buckeyes. His father, David, passed away from multiple myeloma in 2019.

“Thinking about my dad, he would’ve been 110% on board with me in knowing I’m in great hands with Holtmann and all of them,” Hardman told The Dispatch when he committed. When Hardman signed for the Buckeyes inside the Viking Room at his high school, an empty chair was left for his father at the head table.

Hardman has worn Ohio State jersey numbers 0, 2 and 10 in published photoshoots at various stages of his prep career before taking No. 15 upon his arrival. He took an unofficial visit to Ohio State during the same weekend the Buckeyes hosted Malaki Branham and Efton Reid on official visits: Oct. 5, 2019.

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2023-24 season outlook

Hardman has developed a reputation as a deadly practice shooter for the Buckeyes, and this preseason multiple players have discussed his ability to get buckets and surprise people with his offensive capabilities. The biggest points of emphasis for Hardman have been needs to both get stronger and learn to be a better defender. That remains an ongoing process as he now moves into his second season with the program.

Ohio State didn’t shoot an overwhelming number of 3s last season, but 68.6% of its 650 attempts are no longer with the roster. It portends a potential role to be seized, but Hardman again enters the year on the outside looking in for any kind of consistent role. Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle and Dale Bonner are all ticketed for significant playing time in the backcourt, but Hardman has gotten some extra preseason work while freshman Taison Chatman has recovered from a minor knee surgery.

Oct 19, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes guard Bowen Hardman (15) competes in a three point contest during an open practice at Value City Arena.

As a result, Hardman did not spend time with the scout team when the Buckeyes held an open practice session in mid-October. But when Ohio State went to the University of Dayton on Oct. 22 for a charity exhibition game, Hardman subbed in for the final 2:31 and, other than a foul, did not record a statistic.

Asked at Ohio State’s media day what it will take to carve out a role this year, Hardman said, “Showing my strength on the defensive end. That’s going to be one of my key points and key takeaways, to see how well I can defend in some of these early games. That’s going to define once we get into Big Ten play and some of those tougher out-of-conference games.”

While the Chatman injury does slightly crack open a door for some kind of role, Hardman once again faces steep odds against being an in-game contributor this season.