2014-15 Ohio State Men's Basketball (Official Thread)

[Systems_id]

Just sayin': I don't consider Laquinton Ross a whiff; and (I think) Scott, Williams, and Thompson are good/serviceable "role players", just inconsistent as starters. But who would have guessed it, everyone but McDonald was highly ranked:

http://ohiostate.scout.com/topic/players?type=players&start=0&category="Basketball Recruiting"&classYear="2011"&team="Ohio State"&minimumInterest="SoftVerbal"&sortBy=CommitDate

Now his 2012 class (i.e. Amedeo Della Valle) might have been a total whiff.

Yup. Scott, Williams, and Thompson all had some good offers and were highly ranked. Sure Thad may have gotten 'Got' but so did everyone else in the country. My one fear is that Thad has taken OSU basketball as far as it's going to go. It seems more often than not recently, he's been losing the best of the best to the Duke's and Kentucky's of the world and, unless he starts pulling Calipari level shenanigans, I worry that'll continue to be the case.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Yup. Scott, Williams, and Thompson all had some good offers and were highly ranked. Sure Thad may have gotten 'Got' but so did everyone else in the country. My one fear is that Thad has taken OSU basketball as far as it's going to go. It seems more often than not recently, he's been losing the best of the best to the Duke's and Kentucky's of the world and, unless he starts pulling Calipari level shenanigans, I worry that'll continue to be the case.

What really concerns me is that recently he has been losing Ohio's best high school players (like Luke Kennard and Carlton Bragg) to out of state schools.

 

[MaxBuck]

What really concerns me is that recently he has been losing Ohio's best high school players (like Luke Kennard and Carlton Bragg) to out of state schools.

I don't care about that, as whether a player hails from Canton OH or Meridian MS means jack squat to me. What matters is whether they play well as a cohesive team, and the past couple of years they haven't.

 

[OHSportsFan]

Warning: Random, sporadic thoughts to follow-

Truth be told, having a bunch of seniors in today's college game may not even be a good thing. At least in OSU's case, it's just meant serviceable college players that have been in the program for 4 years- nothing more or less.

The top teams across the country seem to have high turnover because they have top talent. As LJB has described in his football recruiting rewinds, there are players that just go through the system as non-contributors, in an on-court/field sense. That is nothing to take against how the kids have represented the university and worked, but they take up space where other potential players (recruits) would clearly perform better.

There just hasn't been any development in the seniors. And I don't expect anything to click at this point. But hopefully they can still band together and fight out some wins- they are certainly opportunities out there to salvage the year.

On the subject of recruiting states- yeah go ahead and put me in the camp where I think Matta would be just fine focusing on the Ohio kids, or at least the Ohio, Indiana, Illinois line. He's certainly had plenty of past success with it. I fear he stretched himself thin going after "athletes" in Georgia and Texas when there are good "basketball players" right around this area. I'd certainly like to see a group with actual basketball skills- shooting, passing, and bball IQ- no matter where they come from at this point. The last couple years have fallen short on those traits.

It does hurt to see local kids play well at other schools. But in the end...Matta took commits that probably any other coach anywhere in the country takes. The guys just didn't work.

I do like next year's class, though.

 

[Steve19]

Today, I am walking down the street of a city in the Middle East. A guy passes in a TSUN shirt. Two minutes later, a guy passes in a Buckeye shirt. Then, and I am not kidding, a guy passes in a shirt that has a circle with the word "basketball" written around the top and bottom, and then the letters "bkb" in the center. I kid you not.

So @Buckeyeskickbuttocks, how about you go back to Ohio and sort this team out. :)

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Today, I am walking down the street of a city in the Middle East. A guy passes in a TSUN shirt. Two minutes later, a guy passes in a Buckeye shirt. Then, and I am not kidding, a guy passes in a shirt that has a circle with the word "basketball" written around the top and bottom, and then the letters "bkb" in the center. I kid you not.

So @Buckeyeskickbuttocks, how about you go back to Ohio and sort this team out. :)

That wasn't me. It was some other me

 

[wigmon]

I think next years class will be good in time, but I don't see much immediate help. If Russell leaves (I think we all assume it now), we'll probably struggle more next year.

 

[ScriptOhio]

I think next years class will be good in time, but I don't see much immediate help. If Russell leaves (I think we all assume it now), we'll probably struggle more next year.

Just sayin'; I wouldn't "write off' the 2015/2016 season just yet. It is not unusual for some players to greatly improve (or step up their game) from one year to the next. Maybe Loving, K. Williams, and/or Bates-Diop could do an "Evan Turner", and be a major contributor next season.

 

[Bill Lucas]

Bigs. Big athletic bigs would solve and cover up a lot of deficiencies.

 

[wigmon]

Well, I won't say I am terribly optimistic about this season, but I haven't written it off yet either. I like the guys on this team. They are quality young men and I will cheer my butt off for them the rest of the season, but I am also realist and I just don't see it in this team. I think we have a decent chance to make the tourney, but I'd be shocked if we make it past the first weekend.

I think Giddens will be good in time, but he's not going to be much of an offensive threat his first year and I don't see TT or Bell providing much on that end of the floor either. They should provide some improvement defensively and on the boards. I think KBD and Tate will fill in nicely for and be an improvement over ST and we will be solid at the 3/4. But, the main reason we are going to struggle more next year is guard play. We are losing a SR PG who has had a pretty good year distributing, defending and even rebounding. We'll also be losing by far our best all around player in DAR. The replacements are an undersized frosh PG and a frosh SG who is a volume scorer but takes a lot of shots to get those points. I think AJ and AG will be part of a good back court duo in time, but next year it will be a massive dropoff from what we have this year. Add to it that AJ is the only PG currently set to be on the roster next year and I think we are going to have some struggles next year.

 

[LitlBuck]

Well, I won't say I am terribly optimistic about this season, but I haven't written it off yet either. I like the guys on this team. They are quality young men and I will cheer my butt off for them the rest of the season, but I am also realist and I just don't see it in this team. I think we have a decent chance to make the tourney, but I'd be shocked if we make it past the first weekend.

I think Giddens will be good in time, but he's not going to be much of an offensive threat his first year and I don't see TT or Bell providing much on that end of the floor either. They should provide some improvement defensively and on the boards. I think KBD and Tate will fill in nicely for and be an improvement over ST and we will be solid at the 3/4. But, the main reason we are going to struggle more next year is guard play. We are losing a SR PG who has had a pretty good year distributing, defending and even rebounding. We'll also be losing by far our best all around player in DAR. The replacements are an undersized frosh PG and a frosh SG who is a volume scorer but takes a lot of shots to get those points. I think AJ and AG will be part of a good back court duo in time, but next year it will be a massive dropoff from what we have this year. Add to it that AJ is the only PG currently set to be on the roster next year and I think we are going to have some struggles next year.

Can't we wait until this season is over until we start talking about next season

We were about in the same position last season at this point as we are this season and we made a nice little run with the exception of the Dayton loss.

I am tired of people posting that Matta is not a very good coach or recruiter. That is just absolutely ridiculous. Everyone should take a good luck at his record before posting. He certainly has forgotten more basketball than anyone on this board knows.

 

[MaxBuck]

Can't we wait until this season is over until we start talking about next season

Evidently not.

Those of us who are talking about next season are doing our best to ignore what's going on in this one.

I am tired of people posting that Matta is not a very good coach or recruiter.

Who here has said Matta is either a poor recruiter or poor coach? He's excellent at both, but clearly he's not perfect.

 

[Systems_id]

What really concerns me is that recently he has been losing Ohio's best high school players (like Luke Kennard and Carlton Bragg) to out of state schools.

Yeah but it's not like he's losing them Iowa or something. He lost Kennard to Duke and Bragg to Kansas, two of the bluest of blue blood programs in terms of basketball. As much as it sucks to admit it, it's like Michigan State complaining about losing a 5 star in-state prospect to Ohio State or Alabama.

 

[Jake]

I'm not as down on this team as some folks. I think the frosh will continue to improve with each game and Russell is a better shooter/scorer than we've had in some time. That's not a knock against guys like ET, DT, or LQ, it's just recognition that this kid is a special talent.

I'm not saying we're going to be Kentucky from last year and run to the title game, but I do believe that if this team puts enough wins together now and get a decent draw they could surprise a few people in March. Especially if Russell keeps putting up games like he has of late.

 

[Bestbuck36]

The biggest problem is these guys aren't playing roles at all. Shannon should not be shooting nearly as much as he is. Early in the year he was leading the country in assists and the Buckeyes looked great on offense. Yes, that was against inferior talent but it was incorporating the team effort better on the offensive end. Scott is a defensive demon but it seems he as regressed a bit and I blame it on trying to score more. He's better, and so is the team, when he's facilitating and swarming on defense.

The inside is not good. Anything else I said there would probably be bashing so I won't. I love J'Sean Tate. Kid battles every second. I also think KBD and Kam are going to be really good once they get comfortable in their roles on the team. I thought Lee would come in and really do well in the middle but it just hasnt quite materialized. Injuries might have been the problem there, I don't know.

I don't enjoy watching these guys this year, and I haven't said that much at all over the past decade at least. I think they aren't mentally strong and when they don't play well on the offensive end, individually, they don't make the right changes. I don't really know what to say about who or why they are doing things the way they are but it's not a good season.