COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Two recruits in 10 days. That was the best recruiting run Chris Holtmann had previously experienced.

So when Ohio State basketball received four commitments in six days, that was different. Except that Holtmann had a feeling it was coming. He told his staff the dam was going to break.

"We're about to get rapid fire commitments," he said.

That was around Sept. 18. It started on Sept. 19. It ended Sept. 24. Six days, four new Buckeye pledges.

"Did I expect that number in a week? No," Holtmann said. "But you sense it. You feel it when you're in it and when you're having conversations with family members and recruits that good things are about to happen."

Holtmann this week spoke about that recruiting run for the first time as part of his preseason news conference, with the Buckeyes starting practice Saturday. We'll refresh the list of recruit names, but first, let's make this clear.

This is less about the players coming in and more about the staff locking in. This is less about the talent and more about the process. This is less about now and more about what's to come.

This is less about Jaedon LeDee, Duane Washington, Luther Muhammad and Justin Ahrens, the four recruits, and more about Holtman, Terry Johnson, Mike Schrage and Ryan Pedon, the four recruiters.

Holtmann and his three assistants are tasked with getting this basketball program on track. Four commitments in six days is them pulling out of the station, stoking the engine and seeing how fast this locomotive can get rolling once it really picks up speed.

Urban Meyer rounded up some big-name commitments in a short period of time after taking over the football team after the 2011 season. It flashed his recruiting powers, but it didn't build a team. That came the next year, with his first full class, when he had a full year to get his feet under him.

Basketball and football are different animals in recruiting, mostly in sheer numbers, but don't expect this group of four players to turn around the program. If it's going to happen, it's going to be the long-term recruiting and development ability of Holtmann and his staff that will get that done.

When Torrence Watson decommitted in late August and brought the 2018 class back down to zero commitments, I griped on Twitter, and I don't think the OSU staff loved that. But if the new staff was hired to save recruiting in 2018 and 2019, and that's what AD Gene Smith said was part of the reason for dismissing Thad Matta, then results matter. Those were the results then.

"i wasn't panicking a month ago," Holtmann said Thursday. "I wasn't panicking two weeks ago."

The Buckeyes had lost in-state recruits Dane Goodwin and Ahrens after Matta's firing, and Jerome Hunter, the No. 2 player in Ohio, picked Indiana in July. According to 247sports.com, none of the top five players in Ohio in the Class of 2018 are going to Ohio State.

But here's what Ohio State has now with the ninth-ranked class in the country.

* Muhammad, No. 72 overall recruit, from New Jersey.

* LeDee, No. 112 over recruit, from Texas.

* Ahrens, No. 170 overall recruit, from Ohio.

* Washington, No. 292 overall recruit, from Michigan but currently playing in California.

Ohio is still the priority, Holtman said, emphasizing an inside-out strategy. But for this, they went out.

And they got it done.

"All it really took was one," Terry Johnson said, knowing LeDee had been the first commitment to drop on the 19th. "It took the right kid to do it and then everybody else will kind of follow suit."

The Buckeyes, coming off a 17-15 season, are down, and that could be part of the pitch. Jae'Sean Tate and Kam Williams are seniors, and there aren't a lot of sure things standing in the way of anyone coming in. Holtmann knows recruits could look at that and see opportunity.

But Pedon, one of the assistants, wouldn't agree with my question when it included a reference to a down program.

"With all due respect, we don't view ourselves as being down right now," Pedon said. "I do feel like there's a great opportunity here at Ohio State based on numbers, and numbers alone."

Pedon said the Buckeyes are planning on having "a helluva year" but agreed this current roster appeals to recruits.

So let's view this on numbers alone. When the 2018 recruit count was at zero, that mattered. It begged some questions. Four recruits in six days matters much more. That mandates credit.

Remember those six days for Ohio State basketball. No one can know for sure about the players. But we know something important about this staff.