buckeyemania11 said:

Seeing Duke lose to Siena under normal circumstances would be absolutely hilarious, but right now just another massive kick in the nuts.

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cincibuck said:

See ORD for the actual answer, but I don't think Wexner's money went to football. And right now, I think his money is going to keep his name on buildings and out of the news.

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Thump said:

Give him time.

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buckeyeintn said:

Why would you harass a total stranger in a public setting for just wearing a hat? (I know. Rhetorical question.)

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Mike80 said:

I never said that you DID....however you DID come very close to doing so once upon a time....



BTW, Thanks for only responding to half my post.

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buckeyemania11 said:

I have never once said that we should be in the sweet 16 every year, in fact Ive constantly said that probably isn't a realistic expectation yearly.

And I completely acknowledge that Matta was the exception and not the rule when it comes to basketball here.

There's a huge recruit coming in but if they don't strike an up trend in the portal too I fear it's not really going to matter. It's up and Diebler and co to find the best fits with what they can Realistically get in the portal, and objectively those results have not been great so far. We all know we likely aren't getting the truly elite players but I don't think it's a realistic expectation to find some at least decent players to get on board.

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buckeyemania11 said:

Yea. The Final 4 every year is a unrealistic expectation, but I don't say any reason why they can't/shouldn't at least be a sweet 16 (or even a tough out in the 2nd round) type team consistently.

This of course takes the right coach though. Ohio State's resources would be rendered useless if this hire is a flop.

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Mike80 said:

So to start with Diebler's coaching. One of your main bitches is he doesn't adjust well. There is literal statistical evidence saying otherwise. You ignored this post by DZ because it doesn't fit your narrative.

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We know this roster is extremely limited with a short bench. If it weren't for Bruce sticking around, this team struggles to win more than 10 games on the whole season. As it is, there are a LOT of teams out there that look a lot like Ohio State does. No one is saying that's acceptable by the way. What I'm saying and I think what should be a consideration is a stride forward was indeed taken this year. Denying such or trying to downplay that is EXACTLY the kind of bullshit I'm objecting to. The trajectory, and you hate this because Deibler kicked your dog or something, is upward for the moment. There is a huge recruit coming in and the AD has a public perception to fight against concerning funding and NIL. The ball is certainly in Diebler's court to get it done. Will he? I hope so - not for any other reason than that means Ohio State is being successful on the court.

As for Holtmann....

The bottom fell out for Holtmann, no one is debating that at all here. It was clear the program was falling off a cliff and the players had lost confidence in him and as such, he was fired. I personally would have done it after the season but that's whatever. In steps Diebler and he brought a new energy to the program and the team responded. Denying that is hilarious by the way. For all the whining about not getting Dusty May, landing him was a pipe dream from day one for the plethora of structural issues within the AD at the time and even ongoing today - Gene Smith retiring, AD in debt due to COVID-era cost overruns, limited NIL and the big issue, basketball will be second fiddle at Ohio State no matter how good you are in any particular year.

But yeah - keep dreaming about sweet 16s every year. Certainly that can be the goal, but falling short of it doesn't and can't mean instant "This coach should be fired" crap. There's only a small handful of teams that do that every year in any case. It won't be that way and can't be done overnight unless you're hiding a billion dollars somewhere to prop up the basketball NIL. Other than the middle of the Matta era, that's never been the case at Ohio State in any case. While I do think they could get there with some time and patience to build the basketball brand and build the foundation for it, firing coaches every 2 years because you SUPPOSE you know what the coach is and isn't doing correctly is fuckin funny as hell.

And as for Holtmann, the fun part everyone seems to skip over is up until that last losing streak, he was well above the all-time winning percentage in program history (which is around 61.2%) and typically making the tournament almost yearly - 5 out of 7 figuring the COVID year was a 3-4 seed in the NCAA tournament that was canceled. I'm pretty sure he finished above the winning percentage mark too, for whatever its worth. For context, Holtmann was right around where Jim O'Brien was, just without paying Serbians.

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