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2016-2017 Ohio State Men's Basketball (Official Thread)

Who can win without good players? The days of the "Thad Five" seem like a distant memory. We're not even getting one of those kind of guys now, much less five of them.
Fair point, but there are coaches out there that win with less than Thad has. Hell, many of these guys were good recruits...KBD, Lyle, Loving were all decorated recruits, and none of them appear to be developing at all. I'd argue Loving and Lyle shouldn't see the floor on a team that wants to be competitive. Most nights they're plum awful.
 
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I'd love to be privy to the inner workings of the basketball program. It hasn't just declined, it's fallen off a cliff. Just four years ago we were coming off an Elite 8 berth. Now we're losing to mid majors. Bad ones at that. You gotta wonder if there's something else going considering just how rapid the decline has been. I'm sure talent is an issue but Thad's first few teams were less talented than this one yet those were some damn good squads.
 
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Really starting to doubt whether Thad has it in him. Totally uncharacteristic to just blow these games to horrible teams at HOME. Before last year didn't he have like zero losses to unranked nonconference teams at home? Now he has 5 in the last two seasons?
I'm past doubt, honestly. The last three years have been slow descent into irrelevance. There's not one team on that schedule that I would look at as a sure win. Not one.
 
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I'd love to be privy to the inner workings of the basketball program. It hasn't just declined, it's fallen off a cliff. Just four years ago we were coming off an Elite 8 berth. Now we're losing to mid majors. Bad ones at that. You gotta wonder if there's something else going considering just how rapid the decline has been. I'm sure talent is an issue but Thad's first few teams were less talented than this one yet those were some damn good squads.
I think Thad's health issues are playing a bigger role than anyone wants to talk about.
 
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Matta arrived with the bravado of elite recruiter with a great coaching staff. Both the recruiting has dropped off and the staff has dipped a bit as well. But the turnover still seems to be there for whatever reason. There needs to be a system and Matta does not seem to have one firmly in place.
 
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I'd love to be privy to the inner workings of the basketball program. It hasn't just declined, it's fallen off a cliff. Just four years ago we were coming off an Elite 8 berth. Now we're losing to mid majors. Bad ones at that. You gotta wonder if there's something else going considering just how rapid the decline has been. I'm sure talent is an issue but Thad's first few teams were less talented than this one yet those were some damn good squads.
It could be so many things. Thad's health, assistant coaches (Dickerson, Paulus) not being good enough, bad players (but it's been two classes of 4 stars).

Or maybe I just nailed it and it's all three of these things
 
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I think Thad's health issues are playing a bigger role than anyone wants to talk about.

I wonder if maybe it is time for him to retire more than time for OSU to move on? It does seem like the past few seasons the teams haven't always seemed "together," and last year's mass of transfers seems to lend some credence to some ongoing chemistry issues, which is something you probably have a hard time coaching over and probably have to recruit over.
 
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I think Thad's health issues are playing a bigger role than anyone wants to talk about.
I think there was an article that came out before the season that mentioned he would sometimes be laying on the floor in pain at halftime and the other coaches would have to get him up. If the pain is that bad I don't see how you can be giving 100% to coaching and recruiting
 
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I wonder if maybe it is time for him to retire more than time for OSU to move on? It does seem like the past few seasons the teams haven't always seemed "together," and last year's mass of transfers seems to lend some credence to some ongoing chemistry issues, which is something you probably have a hard time coaching over and probably have to recruit over.

I doubt if any of the players that left last year are going to be stars. Thad is just flat not getting the players...
 
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If we're going to be honest, we cut Thad a lot of slack for those BJ Mullens and Kosta Koufos seasons, when his recruiting prowess was still firm, but the performances were underwhelming. Now, there is no Sullinger, DeShaun Thomas, or Evan Turner to ride...so we're seeing what we've got. He probably coaches some aspects of the game well, but he's just not much of a fiery winner. The way they coast against weaker teams, it's like he doesn't set any goals (like, let's get up on them by 20 at half). They actually were +19 in this game at one point after the early 13-5 deficit. This team needs to start Thompson at 5, Potter at 4, Tate at 3, KBD at 2, and CJ Jackson at one. Let KBD and Tate be your main two guys. I don't know what you do with Lyle and Loving, but admit failure at this point. Thad didn't coach them up.
 
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I think there was an article that came out before the season that mentioned he would sometimes be laying on the floor in pain at halftime and the other coaches would have to get him up. If the pain is that bad I don't see how you can be giving 100% to coaching and recruiting
You can't. And it would also explain the fall off in recruiting. Traveling with chronic back pain has to be awful. There's a part of me that hopes he just steps down after this year, both for his sake and the program's. He's earned a dignified exit. And I don't want to see a terrific legacy tarnished by hanging on too long.
 
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I doubt if any of the players that left last year are going to be stars. Thad is just flat not getting the players...

It's not so much that they're going to be stars, but when 5 or 6 guys leave in the same year it seems like a red flag. It's not like they were early entrants to the NBA draft or transferring to bigger, better basketball programs. If they weren't good enough, why were they even there? If they were, why did they leave?
 
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