HOOPS, HOOPS. HOOPS. Ohio is a football state. But I think — I think! — basketball is the second-favorite sport among most Ohioans. I could be off in that assumption, but that’s how I see it. And if that assumption is correct, I think those in the Buckeye State will love what Jake Diebler has cooked up for the future.
According to
Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch, Diebler organized a Zoom call with Cincinnati coach Wes Miller, Dayton coach Anthony Grant and Xavier coach Sean Miller to discuss the potential of a tournament involving all four programs.
“As someone who grew up in Ohio and is a product of the basketball culture here in Ohio, to get these four programs together, it just made too much sense,” Diebler told Jardy. “Being the head coach at Ohio State, I believe you have a responsibility to keep pushing the basketball community to grow and anything we can do to help that in our state is important.”
Diebler said Wes Miller, Grant and Sean Miller have the same desire.
“I think all four of us are board figuring out a way to continue this,” Diebler said. “If it’s these off-site deals, if we could travel throughout the state and do it, I think we’re all open to seeing where this could go, which I believe it’s going to be really, really impactful. We’re already seeing it’s going to be impactful this year but has the potential to grow.”
Things I’d love to see: this.
But here’s what I’d love to see more: Get all the Division I programs involved. That could be too tall a task for Diebler and Co. to tackle off the bat, but if this tournament ever comes to fruition, I’d want to see Akron, Bowling Green, Cleveland State, Kent State, Miami, Ohio, Toledo, Youngstown State and Wright State in there, too. That would be a great tournament – one much better than the Emerald Coast Classic or whatever it is the Buckeyes won last year.
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