We’re moping and whining and crying (at least some but we get called out). I definitely want more out of our basketball program - from the top down.
The SEC seems to put out plenty of good teams while keeping football “king”. It’s a little circular- the department needs to invest in the product and the fans need to show up. I think Ohio is a good basketball state with fans that love the sport so I’d put it on the big wigs with money to take the risk and invest.
But I get his overall point. 17 die hard basketball fans and a couple pretend ones that show up with pitchforks to the AD isn’t going to move the needle.
Agreed. The truth is we have some fans who are ignorant & outspoken, and those exist in every fanbase but ours is bigger than almost all of them so it gets magnified. OSU fans are fickle, they will show up if the program is a winner, if not, then good luck. Yeah, our basketball program needs to achieve more, but it's unrealistic to ignore the obvious financial handicap & priority of feeding the beast (football).
I don't think a lot of the heat that Diebler gets is fair because, while no one is perfect, I agree with Titus in that I don't think Jake's gotten top-tier support from the OSU administration with talent evaluation/roster management help & with NIL, & those to me are the biggest problems with the program.
I don't like people like T-Bone and Tyvis comparing OSU men's basketball to OSU women's basketball or women's hockey or any other non-revenue sport, because it's way off base when you realize there are men's basketball teams spending $20 MILLION on their rosters and OSU is clearly trying to compete with programs that are spending far more on talent. OSU was well behind the top spenders even in the B1G, and when that becomes a pattern, that obviously is going to impact your competitiveness within the conference long-term. When your team is funded by millions of dollars less than many of your competitors, that's a huge problem that has a real effect on team-building. I doubt any of the non-revenue sports have to compete with many (if not most) top programs that are spending a lot more on talent, but that's the task they are making Diebler take on.
You're like halfway to keeping up with the Joneses financially, but you expect your house to look just as nice - something's got to give & people need to recognize the coach is not going to be able to plug all the holes in the roof with his fingers. I don't care what level of competitiveness non-revenue sports have & what kind of standards they make you believe exist, they really have no bearing on OSU men's basketball. The problem is many OSU fans are under the impression that Diebler's getting competitive support when he's not & place the blame where it's easiest.
