'18 MO SG - Torrence Watson (Transfer to Elon)

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Shooting guard
4 STARS
Whitfield
St. Louis, MO
RR: 0
Ht: 6'4"
Wt: 175 lbs
Class: 2018

Ohio State has offered.

 

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2018 G Torrence Watson of Whitfield has received an offer from Ohio State. (Jets-Ramey United)

— Prep Hoops Missouri (@PrepHoopsMO) June 15, 2017

 

Ohio State basketball: St. Louis guard puts Buckeyes on revised ‘final’ list

Before the offseason leading into his senior year, Torrence Watson had a final list of his top eight schools. But after releasing the list on Twitter, the four-star shooting guard from Whitfield School in St. Louis was surprised to see Butler coach Chris Holtmann take the Ohio State job after Thad Matta was fired after 13 seasons.

Now, the 6-foot-5, 195-pound Watson has a list of his top nine schools — and it includes Ohio State, thanks to the relationships he has built with Holtmann and assistant coach Mike Schrage.

“I talk to coach Schrage just about every day and coach Holtmann just about every other day, so we’ve built a pretty close relationship with them being at Butler and now at Ohio State,” Watson told The Dispatch. “It didn’t matter what school they went to, I think that relationship would still have been there and the possibility of me playing for them someday.”

On May 26, Watson listed Butler, Creighton, Kansas State, Marquette, Michigan, Missouri, St. Louis and Vanderbilt as his top schools. Ohio State offered Watson on June 15, and he took an unofficial visit to Columbus on June 27.

It wasn’t Watson’s first trip to Ohio State. As a sophomore, he took in a football game alongside AAU teammate Courtney Ramey, a four-star point guard from St. Louis who had the Buckeyes among the schools he was considering before committing to Louisville in February.

“It went really well,” he said of this week’s visit. “I was expecting it to be a really huge campus but it was different. I enjoyed all parts of the visit. We visited the school (and also) met with an academic adviser. We pretty much saw everything.”

A three-year starter for Whitfield, Watson is already the program’s all-time leading scorer. He led the Warriors to the state semifinals two seasons ago and to the state title game as a junior. ESPN ranks him as the nation’s No. 56 overall prospect for the class of 2018.

Whitfield coach Mike Potsou said he’s received some feedback about that ranking.

“An assistant coach who we’ve had a long relationship with, he told me, ‘I saw your tweet. There’s no way that he’s that low. He’s a top-35 guy,’ ” Potsou said. “He’s probably the most prolific scorer in the St. Louis area. What he does for us is kind of everything. We’ll run him off pin-downs, we’ll run him off Iverson cuts, we’ll get his head under the rim and allow him to choose which side to come off of. His ability to really read screens for his age is what I think is one of the most impressive things about him.”

Watson said he was making his final unofficial visit of the summer Friday when he was going to visit Missouri. July will be filled with AAU basketball, where he doesn’t handle the ball quite as much as he does for the Warriors.

Potsou said those who see Watson play for Whitfield see some different qualities from those who only see him on the AAU circuit — and that includes the new Ohio State coaches.

“He is not our point guard, but he does handle the ball a lot and he does it in traffic a lot,” he said. “We will bring him hard off ball screens and he’s able to make plays for himself or other people. He’s a better ball handler than he gets credit for.

“Schrage and coach Holtmann have both seen him play last year when they were at Butler. I think they have a good understanding of what he can do and I think that’s why they extended the offer at Ohio State because they definitely have a need, from what I understand, at the 2.”

The Buckeyes have no commitments for the class of 2018 and five available scholarships. Watson said he’s not in a hurry to make a decision.

“Right now I’m just going to think about it and see when that time comes,” he said. “I’m not exactly sure yet.”

 

BREAKING: #OhioState lands commitment from 2018 SG @TorrenceWatson https://t.co/3iFozIyahP (FREE on @Bucknuts247) @ASlater247 @jerrymeyer247

— Alex Gleitman (@alexgleitman) July 11, 2017

 

Ohio State basketball got some good news tonight, landing a top 100 player in the class of 2018 https://t.co/hEmFvRMxnb

— Ryan Ginn (@rmginn) July 11, 2017

 

#BOOM Four-star shooting guard Torrence Watson commits to Ohio State. https://t.co/RzY1BTMATu

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) July 11, 2017

 

Torrence Watson has committed to Ohio State, becomes their first class of 2018 pick-up https://t.co/F3Q54dn1ak pic.twitter.com/t9fKxibCwJ

— Corey Evans (@coreyevans_10) July 11, 2017

 

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Torrence Watson has averaged 13.1 pts, 4.6 reb, 0.6 ast, and 1.4 stl per game in the adidas Gauntlet this summer.

 

OSU hoops coach Chris Holtmann stays hot with verbal by St. Louis 2018 SG @TorrenceWatson https://t.co/ZwwDrwlrvZ pic.twitter.com/ynFVjeAbnW

— Bucknuts (@Bucknuts247) July 11, 2017

 

And we have our first Holtmann GIF, courtesy of the incomparable Barfolomew.https://t.co/RzY1BTMATu pic.twitter.com/c7GuAGeJEj

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) July 11, 2017

 

In Torrence Watson, Ohio State is getting a versatile guard who can play multiple positions, score and defend. https://t.co/I7I2a1tKJC

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) July 11, 2017

 

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