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

[jwinslow]

How can you ask people to pay money and take the time to watch what has been put out on the floor the past few years?

It's been proven in sports over and over again, win and they will come. You have to put a good, winning team out there first.

They had a borderline elite program and they infrequently came at the height of it.

I think the Thad era has come to an end if this is what his big comeback year is going to look like. A team with terrible fundamentals, little visible desire and not nearly enough raw skill to overcome those shortcomings.

Maybe they will flip the switch but it feels like we have been waiting for that for a few years now. I'm beginning to doubt it happens with this staff.

Thad may finally be resembling the criticism he received many years ago, but there is a lot of room to wallow below him. I'm not saying you stay put because of that, but this is not a basketball school or fanbase, and the likelihood of coming close to what Thad did here is pretty low.

Thad may no longer be the answer but we'll find out very quickly about people's assumptions about the ease of winning in Columbus in this conference.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Thad may finally be resembling the criticism he received many years ago, but there is a lot of room to wallow below him. I'm not saying you stay put because of that, but this is not a basketball school or fanbase, and the likelihood of coming close to what Thad did here is pretty low.

I hear you. No real good way out of this one because the likelihood of Thad coming close to what Thad did here also seems pretty low.

I don't envy the AD on this one.

 

[LitlBuck]

I am not saying about Matta anything after only 2 games. Regarding free-throw shooting that is not the coaches fault. That is something that these guys should have learned in junior high school. I bet their percentages were higher in junior high than they are now.

 

[nomatta]

Atrocious.

I'm a pretty staunch Matta supporter but there is no excuse for this squad to perform like that. It's crazy that there could be positives to take away (Tate, Potter, CJ rock solid on the A:TO) and we still have to scrape by to get a win against one of the worst teams on our schedule. This is a veteran group now.

I guess it makes me really mad at Lyle and Loving, who are actively hurting us out there. I don't know if Loving could have played worse if he tried.

Matta, well, I read the post-game interviews and he was very specific in recognizing the issues and problems and voicing his frustration with certain players. He says he is going to fix it. Right now the only way I think he can do that is to minimize playing Lyle and Loving until they get their heads in the game.

 

[brodybuck21]

Well, this is going to be a rough year to watch. Again. I might take a page from @Fungo Squiggly and just not comment again this year. I do think it's time to find a replacement for Matta. Had a great stretch and was an amazing coach, but the 3 star freshmen and 2 star JUCO recruits are not getting it done and our best players left in a mass exodus. Just need a change.

huh??

 

[Systems_id]

I hear you. No real good way out of this one because the likelihood of Thad coming close to what Thad did here also seems pretty low.

I don't envy the AD on this one.

Nope, don't envy the AD one single bit. The thing that makes me nervous is that Thad, more or less, IS Ohio State Basketball. As great of a coach Urban Meyer is, Ohio State Football was an elite football program before he got here and will probably remain that way long after he's gone. Ohio State Football could pluck a coach from pretty much any program from the country not named Alabama, Texas, USC or any of the other blue bloods. Ohio State basketball would have trouble pulling a coach from Xavier, let alone somewhere like Duke, Kentucky, or Indiana.

I definitely think a change needs to be made if things don't improve this year...but therein lies the rub. Who can you realistically get that's going to take Ohio State back to the heights Matta took us to?

 

[OhioState001]

I was gonna post how Thad doesn't seem to be able to win with average players like an Archie Miller can but then I remembered how much success Thad had at Xavier and Butler. I think we are just stuck with a below average core right now. Sam Thompson and friends were pretty average but these guys are worse

Maybe the assistant coaches we have now are just awful at finding talent?

 

[ScriptOhio]

Matta Frustrated With Buckeyes Just Two Games Into Season

The Buckeyes (2-0) beat North Carolina Central (0-2) by a final of 69-63 at Value City Arena. Judging from Head Coach Thad Matta's reaction to his team's showing the only good thing about the outing was that they ended up on the right end of the final score.

"Last year we lost a couple of these games quite honestly, so there is a positive in it," said Matta, but that was as far as the positives went.

"I didn’t like a whole lot of what I saw tonight," Matta said.

What he saw was a team that looked at times disinterested, at other times unprepared, and at times unwilling to do what they were coached to do. It left Matta perplexed and awed at how inept they were at times.

"For whatever reason some things happened that I’ve never seen happen before in terms of 38 practices or whatever," he said.

"We weren’t mentally and physically very tough and we obviously have to get that corrected."

Matta watched his team play like they had no scouting report and no offensive plan, something that just wasn't the case.

"When we do what we’re supposed to do some good things have happened, but we had some opportunities tonight to break plays and post up and we didn’t do that.

"That’s a read In the offense. I’ve got the guy two feet in the paint, the play stops, we throw it in there and we get a foul and a bucket. We wanted no part of that tonight," said a bewildered Matta.

Entire article: http://theozone.net/Ohio-State/Mens...ated-With-Buckeyes-Just-Two-Games-Into-Season

The last couple years the Ohio State basketball program has been in somewhat of a decline. Matta has been frustrated. Last year there were some problems with most of the freshmen, all but 1 transferred. Does anyone else think there might be a serious problem somewhere, i.e. the recruiting, the coaches (or the actual coaching), the style of play, and/or the players?

 

[buckeyemania11]

I was gonna post how Thad doesn't seem to be able to win with average players like an Archie Miller can but then I remembered how much success Thad had at Xavier and Butler. I think we are just stuck with a below average core right now. Sam Thompson and friends were pretty average but these guys are worse

Maybe the assistant coaches we have now are just awful at finding talent?

Or we just haven't been able to develop players?

Marc Loving being a good example, he's seemingly got no better or even worse as time has gone on

 

[OhioState001]

Or we just haven't been able to develop players?

Marc Loving being a good example, he's seemingly got no better or even worse as time has gone on

It seemed like since Dickerson came on the development really dropped off. Lighty, Turner, Diebler, Craft, Thomas, Ross, and even Sullinger showed pretty great development. Of course most of those guys were more highly rated then the ones we have now.

 

[Bill Lucas]

Ohio State needs to win recruiting battles for the best basketball players in Ohio. They aren't.

 

[HabaneroBuck]

Ohio State needs to win recruiting battles for the best basketball players in Ohio. They aren't.

I guess guys like Bragg and Kennard are seeing what I wasn't expecting, a program in decline. Unfortunately, snagging the best players in Ohio isn't always enough. Ohio is up and down with basketball. He has Wesson, Goodwin, Ahrens, and Bazley lined up, so Ohio is in the pipeline. However, I actually don't think recruiting is the biggest problem in Columbus right now.

As others have mentioned, the problem on this team, right now, is Loving and Lyle. Loving was in the sixty range and Lyle was in the 30's. Those guys just aren't getting it, and I guess changing up the chemistry again is going to have to be the solution (cutting minutes). I would simply rather have a Bell out there trying a poor-man's Rodman than Loving jogging through the motions.

 

[Thump]

Ohio State needs to win recruiting battles for the best basketball players in Ohio. They aren't.

Illustrated tonight as I watch Luke Kennard and Carlton Bragg face off for Duke and Kansas respectively.

 

[RB07OSU]

huh??

Well, I don't find the bar to be all that high in making that statement and maybe "best" was a bit strong, but I think losing all of Giddens, Grandstaff, Harris and Mitchell hurt...bad. Not that they are irreplaceable but the issue is that they weren't really replaced. Giddens is especially frustrating, he actually gave great effort and showed promise. But point is, the talent just on the floor and as everyone else has mentioned, I can't even bear to watch Lyle and Loving...two greatly talented players who have done nothing with it and look bored out there.

One bright spot was Potter though, he looks like he might be pretty good. But this team better improve and fast, or it will get really ugly for us.

 

[NFBuck]

Recruiting has fallen off significantly over the last 3-5 years. During Thad's first 7-8 years, we were routinely in on blue-chippers, including some of the best players in the country. Outside of Russell in '13, that has not been the case lately. Development of the kids that do come in has not been up to snuff. Who's the last kid that came here and really got progressively better? I use Loving as a prime example. He was a pretty highly rated recruit, and right now, he has no business on the floor for a good team. He's horribly inconsistent, and his "highs" come no where near close enough to make up for some of the atrocious games he has. His play the other night was one of the worst games I've ever seen. Look at his stat line. It was a friggin' horror-show. If there were any other options, he really shouldn't see more than 8 minutes a night as an end of bench guy.