2025-2026 Ohio State Men's Basketball

[otisu]

I know they aren't firing him now. And yea this season is going to play out.

My main argument is that he shoulda never gotten the job in the first place. Where is Diebler now if we didn't just hand him the job? He's not the head coach at another high major program, that's for sure. Maybe some low major program throws him a flier to be their coach at best or he's back at being an assistant at some other program. It just seems inexplicable that a place like Ohio State essentially made a low major type of move. The last 2 coaching situations here have been grossly flopped.

I guess we see things very differently. I don't think Diebler has grown much as an actual coach from year 1 to 2, I think we still see a lot of the same problems we had under Holtman. We are essentially in a "learn on the job" type situation hoping he maybe totally figures it out and turns the ship around in a couple of years, and if it doesn't the program is in worse shape than it was when he was hired.

I don't think he was anyone's first choice. He was more of a shot and a prayer. At the time of his hire, OSU was on the hook for $2M of Holtmann's contract for four more years and if we didn't have the resources to cover that and provide competitive NIL, we weren't going to bring in any of the available big names. People got behind Diebler when he was hired hoping for a good story. I also think most agree that he should be gone after next season if things don't improve. The difference is not everyone chooses to rag on the guy while he's tying to make things better.

 

[buckeyemania11]

I don't think he was anyone's first choice. He was more of a shot and a prayer. At the time of his hire, OSU was on the hook for $2M of Holtmann's contract for four more years and if we didn't have the resources to cover that and provide competitive NIL, we weren't going to bring in any of the available big names. People got behind Diebler when he was hired hoping for a good story. I also think most agree that he should be gone after next season if things don't improve. The difference is not everyone chooses to rag on the guy while he's tying to make things better.

I'm in full agreeance that the inexplicable Holtmann extension ended up setting the program back quite a bit. I'm sure that had a lot to do with just settling for Diebler because he was just right there without any competition for him and he came dirt cheap. Most of my angst is against the university for how they have managed things. I kind of feel bad for Diebler because obviously he is the whipping boy but it's the university's fault that we are in this position to begin with. I'm not rooting for him to fail at all but from my point of view I just don't see much enthusiasm going forward with him with how things have gone so far. I think he needs to COMFORTABLY make the tournament next year to get a 4th year, none of this maybe backing in as one of the last few teams stuff.

 

[DZ83CK]

You have to take into context that this isn't 25+ years ago where it was a normal thing for coaches to be given 4-5 or even more years. If you give a flailing guy too many years now you are just really hurting your program and setting it back further with each year.

Honestly has Diebler shown ANYTHING as an ACTUAL BASKETBALL COACH to give any real confidence and enthusiasm that he is going to be able to actually put things together and turn the ship around? I see a guy who is clearly in over his head. There's been no noticeable progression with him as a coach between year 1 and year 2.

I saw data earlier this season that showed statistically OSU was actually a better team in the second half than most. What does that tell you? He's making adjustments better than most coaches, and that's with a roster that isn't spending comparably to the elite in the sport. Be honest, is the OSU roster that talented that you'd expect multiple guys actually playing consistent minutes in the NBA in the future? I say no. Obviously he did not inherit a roster filled with elite talent, and has been hamstrung by OSU with regards to NIL. This year he's got Bruce Thornton and a bunch of guys who probably wouldn't start for the top teams in the B1G, plus a short bench because again OSU has held back the program with NIL in comparison to the top teams in the B1G. When guys transfer from OSU, they're not all of a sudden shining elsewhere. Currently the talent level in the program, in terms of the 4th-8th best players on the roster, is not sufficient to be competitive at the top of the B1G.

I think the #1 thing he needs to change is get more elite defensive players - now he did get Ojianwuna, who I believe is more defense-oriented, but obviously he's not playing this year. The offense works well enough even with a roster that's 12th in the B1G in terms of NIL, but these past couple of seasons clearly defense is the area they aren't putting out a winning product. Part of that is these guys aren't good enough rebounders, part of that is they need some better athletes in terms of size, athleticism, length, strength and motor. My hope is that if - I know, big IF - OSU starts to let the NIL dollars actually flow to this program that they will be able to get some guys who are elite defenders. I don't know if Jake realizes this is the area he needs to upgrade the most, but I guess we'll have to wait another year to see. I don't think his first couple of offseasons that he had the right situation to add the best players to the program, so I do have hope that this next chance will be the time that OSU finally gets smart with NIL and lets this man use some funds to add the players he needs to build a B1G contender. It's not going to show up on the list of "needs" for the offseason for OSU, but they absolutely should prioritize adding SOMEONE who will be an All-B1G caliber defender just as much as they should prioritize adding a strong guard to replace Bruce.

 

[DZ83CK]

I will say one more thing, it's not a coincidence that the last time OSU won any type of B1G championship was when they had Aaron Craft, one of the best defenders in OSU history. The only season after Craft's final year that OSU had ANYONE on the B1G all-defensive team was EJ Liddell in 2022, and they actually were within a whisker of winning the B1G tourney with him. Clearly this is something that Holtmann never prioritized, but hopefully eventually the lightbulb will click within the OSU program and they will start to get serious about defense. Until that point, I don't see OSU having a team that contend for the B1G title. Now, they could make the tournament, but they won't be a serious contender until they figure out how to get a team that can both score and defend at a high level.

 

[buckeyemania11]

I saw data earlier this season that showed statistically OSU was actually a better team in the second half than most. What does that tell you? He's making adjustments better than most coaches, and that's with a roster that isn't spending comparably to the elite in the sport. Be honest, is the OSU roster that talented that you'd expect multiple guys actually playing consistent minutes in the NBA in the future? I say no. Obviously he did not inherit a roster filled with elite talent, and has been hamstrung by OSU with regards to NIL. This year he's got Bruce Thornton and a bunch of guys who probably wouldn't start for the top teams in the B1G, plus a short bench because again OSU has held back the program with NIL in comparison to the top teams in the B1G. When guys transfer from OSU, they're not all of a sudden shining elsewhere. Currently the talent level in the program, in terms of the 4th-8th best players on the roster, is not sufficient to be competitive at the top of the B1G.

I think the #1 thing he needs to change is get more elite defensive players - now he did get Ojianwuna, who I believe is more defense-oriented, but obviously he's not playing this year. The offense works well enough even with a roster that's 12th in the B1G in terms of NIL, but these past couple of seasons clearly defense is the area they aren't putting out a winning product. Part of that is these guys aren't good enough rebounders, part of that is they need some better athletes in terms of size, athleticism, length, strength and motor. My hope is that if - I know, big IF - OSU starts to let the NIL dollars actually flow to this program that they will be able to get some guys who are elite defenders. I don't know if Jake realizes this is the area he needs to upgrade the most, but I guess we'll have to wait another year to see. I don't think his first couple of offseasons that he had the right situation to add the best players to the program, so I do have hope that this next chance will be the time that OSU finally gets smart with NIL and lets this man use some funds to add the players he needs to build a B1G contender. It's not going to show up on the list of "needs" for the offseason for OSU, but they absolutely should prioritize adding SOMEONE who will be an All-B1G caliber defender just as much as they should prioritize adding a strong guard to replace Bruce.

The big thing they need is bigs who can actually hope to physically compete with the bigs of the upper level teams in the B1G, we just get abused in the paint and on the glass in games against those types of teams. Tilly isn't a bad player but he's just not physically equipped to compete inside with the types of bigs that the upper level B1G teams have.

MAYBE Ojinawuna can help there next year, but a big man coming off of a knee injury is always a risky situation.

I know it's fun to throw around that 12th in NIL spending number, but IMO it's very possible that we had money that went unspent because they put a lot of their eggs into the basket of a player or two that they ended up whiffing on, and then by the time that player picked another program they were left with scraps. The margin for error in the hoops portal is much much smaller than in football. Now i'm not claiming that we had the NIL resources of a scUM or anything but I think there's probably more behind that number. So i'd say there needs to be a big re-examination of how we attack the portal.

 

[buckeyemania11]

I will say one more thing, it's not a coincidence that the last time OSU won any type of B1G championship was when they had Aaron Craft, one of the best defenders in OSU history. The only season after Craft's final year that OSU had ANYONE on the B1G all-defensive team was EJ Liddell in 2022, and they actually were within a whisker of winning the B1G tourney with him. Clearly this is something that Holtmann never prioritized, but hopefully eventually the lightbulb will click within the OSU program and they will start to get serious about defense. Until that point, I don't see OSU having a team that contend for the B1G title. Now, they could make the tournament, but they won't be a serious contender until they figure out how to get a team that can both score and defend at a high level.

Honestly being consistently in B1G title contention isn't even an expectation of mine, I just think we should be able to make the tournament more often than not. Which I don't think should be unrealistic at all. If we could maybe make a more serious run 3/4 times a decade that would just be a big plus.

 

[DaveyBoy]

Honestly being consistently in B1G title contention isn't even an expectation of mine, I just think we should be able to make the tournament more often than not. Which I don't think should be unrealistic at all. If we could maybe make a more serious run 3/4 times a decade that would just be a big plus.

I’m mostly there. But what got Thad fired was 2 years in a row out of the tourney and the talent level looking like they would miss the next year as well. So the bare minimum is 50% of the time in the NCAA….every other year. At least half of those tourney visits should go to S16. I really don’t think those are too much for Ohio State. 50% of the time in NCAA……25% of the time in the S16. 1 FF every 8 to 10 years.

 

[buckeyemania11]

I’m mostly there. But what got Thad fired was 2 years in a row out of the tourney and the talent level looking like they would miss the next year as well. So the bare minimum is 50% of the time in the NCAA….every other year. At least half of those tourney visits should go to S16. I really don’t think those are too much for Ohio State. 50% of the time in NCAA……25% of the time in the S16. 1 FF every 8 to 10 years.

The university has just completely mismanaged the program. It was definitely time to move on from Thad but the way it happened was definitely not ideal (way after the hiring cycle had already transpired) Then you had the complete disaster that was that Holtmann extension. Without the inexplicably bad extension the Holtmann situation isn't as bad but all of that led to us getting to where we are now.

Unless we got extremely lucky somehow we aren't getting an immediate high level splash hire who's going to instant have us as a real threat. That's just not in the cards for this program in the state it's currently in. I do think if Diebler flames out we should at least be able to land someone who can have us respectable and at least a constant tournament team though.

 

[buckeyeintn]

The university has just completely mismanaged the program. It was definitely time to move on from Thad but the way it happened was definitely not ideal (way after the hiring cycle had already transpired) Then you had the complete disaster that was that Holtmann extension. Without the inexplicably bad extension the Holtmann situation isn't as bad but all of that led to us getting to where we are now.

Unless we got extremely lucky somehow we aren't getting an immediate high level splash hire who's going to instant have us as a real threat. That's just not in the cards for this program in the state it's currently in. I do think if Diebler flames out we should at least be able to land someone who can have us respectable and at least a constant tournament team though.

You believe this is possible with NIL money in the bottom half ( and only 1 spot away from the bottom third) of the B1G? Diebler is not a detriment to additional NIL money. The priorities at tOSU and the priorities of the donors are the detriment to additional NIL money. And as much as I'd like to see large donors step up to help BB, I'm not real sure those donors give a rat's ass about what I think.

 

[buckeyemania11]

You believe this is possible with NIL money in the bottom half ( and only 1 spot away from the bottom third) of the B1G? Diebler is not a detriment to additional NIL money. The priorities at tOSU and the priorities of the donors are the detriment to additional NIL money. And as much as I'd like to see large donors step up to help BB, I'm not real sure those donors give a rat's ass about what I think.

I'll repost what I posted above.


I know it's fun to throw around that 12th in NIL spending number, but IMO it's very possible that we had money that went unspent because they put a lot of their eggs into the basket of a player or two that they ended up whiffing on, and then by the time that player picked another program they were left with scraps. The margin for error in the hoops portal is much much smaller than in football. Now i'm not claiming that we had the NIL resources of a scUM or anything but I think there's probably more behind that number. So i'd say there needs to be a big re-examination of how we attack the portal.

 

[DZ83CK]

You believe this is possible with NIL money in the bottom half ( and only 1 spot away from the bottom third) of the B1G? Diebler is not a detriment to additional NIL money. The priorities at tOSU and the priorities of the donors are the detriment to additional NIL money. And as much as I'd like to see large donors step up to help BB, I'm not real sure those donors give a rat's ass about what I think.

Well said. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a coach to have OSU in the tournament more often than not, but I also think Diebler can get OSU to that point. That's not that high of a bar, honestly. I believe the powers that be at OSU kind of have the same expectation, that the program makes the tournament more often than not, and as long as the coach is able to manage to do that, they won't let him go. Thad obviously made the tournament more often than not, but he had a prolonged negative trend where the team won fewer games each successive season for several years and it was clear that the program was not headed in the right direction. It's too bad Thad didn't have had NIL available towards the end of his run of success, or else we may not have ever been in this position.

 

[buckeyeintn]

I'll repost what I posted above.


I know it's fun to throw around that 12th in NIL spending number, but IMO it's very possible that we had money that went unspent because they put a lot of their eggs into the basket of a player or two that they ended up whiffing on, and then by the time that player picked another program they were left with scraps. The margin for error in the hoops portal is much much smaller than in football. Now i'm not claiming that we had the NIL resources of a scUM or anything but I think there's probably more behind that number. So i'd say there needs to be a big re-examination of how we attack the portal.

So your FIRE DIEBLER is based on an unsubtantiated theory about what money may or may not exist, that is not even rumored to exist, to the best of my knowledge has never even been hinted at? Well, I really can't come up with anything to refute that. You win.
BTW, it's also very possible that Jax has been secretly sleeping with Jessica Alba for the last 5 years.

How do we currently attack the portal?

 

[buckeyemania11]

So your FIRE DIEBLER is based on an unsubtantiated theory about what money may or may not exist, that is not even rumored to exist, to the best of my knowledge has never even been hinted at? Well, I really can't come up with anything to refute that. You win.
BTW, it's also very possible that Jax has been secretly sleeping with Jessica Alba for the last 5 years.

How do we currently attack the portal?

My FIRE DIEBLER is based on my observation that he's in over his head trying to be the head coach at a major program. He shoulda never been hired in the first place, it's a sad state of affairs that Ohio State basically pulled a low major program type move. Of course I'm not in charge and have no control over these things though so my opinion is just an opinion. He's gonna be back next year and I would love for him to prove me wrong but it seems like wishful thinking at this point.

 

[Mike80]

I’m mostly there. But what got Thad fired was 2 years in a row out of the tourney and the talent level looking like they would miss the next year as well. So the bare minimum is 50% of the time in the NCAA….every other year. At least half of those tourney visits should go to S16. I really don’t think those are too much for Ohio State. 50% of the time in NCAA……25% of the time in the S16. 1 FF every 8 to 10 years.

Here's the thing though - that's NEVER been Ohio State historically, until Thad Matta that is. Thad Matta looks evermore like a complete unicorn in this program's history and since we're past 20 years since he was hired, and nearly 10 years since he was let go, the landscape of college basketball has changed entirely but Ohio State is still playing it like it's 2005.

To go full sports dork on you, I assigned a numerical value to every tournament appearance (25 out of 48 seasons if you were wondering and if you count O'Brien's 4 tournament years) from 1978-79 onward. This year was picked as it was the year of the Magic/Bird rivalry and the beginning of the modern era of College Basketball. The tournament expanded in 1985.

Anyway - of those 25 appearances, Matta REALLY stands out as the unicorn I keep saying he was with 9 of the 25 total appearances...I assigned each tournament result a number, from 7 (which is playing in the national final) to 1, which would be playing in but losing a play-in game, which hasn't happened yet. Here are the results:

Eldon Miller - 13
Gary Williams - 3
Randy Ayers - 12
Jim O'Brien - 14
Thad Matta - 40
Chris Holtmann - 11

It was an absolute stroke of luck (or genius) to hire Matta with the sanctions and whatnot that were ongoing at the time. As it is, he's the ONLY coach to elevate this program past its historical mean and he basically got run out of town. Without the Matta era, this program is moribund.

It's not that it can't happen - it's been proven it CAN. Should is another matter entirely. "Should" is earned, not a given. As far as that goes, there isn't a quick fix here - and anyone pretending that a new coach is going to magically fix everything is delusional.

It's going to take time, much increased NIL, a better or at least updated game atmosphere and a bigger national recruiting effort (international as well). All of it is going to take a much more aggressive focus from the AD to get it done.

Let us also remember that at Ohio State, if they are making money, the dog won't bark too loudly. That's just reality. Football is making money for the ENTIRE AD.

FWIW I don't think Diebler gets fired unless they somehow lose the rest of their games this year. I think they give him the 2nd full year (this is the 2nd full year) before putting on the pressure to win now in year 3. That said, if they DO pull the trigger, they cannot miss on the next hire and they absolutely must have a contingency plan (i.e. NOT what Ped State did when they fired Franklin)....and if they DO miss and that coach gets canned in 2 or 3 seasons, that rep of being a coaching graveyard at a football-focused school becomes harder to beat.

 

[buckeyemania11]

It's going to take time, much increased NIL, a better or at least updated game atmosphere and a bigger national recruiting effort (international as well). All of it is going to take a mu
FWIW I don't think Diebler gets fired unless they somehow lose the rest of their games this year. I think they give him the 2nd full year (this is the 2nd full year) before putting on the pressure to win now in year 3. That said, if they DO pull the trigger, they cannot miss on the next hire and they absolutely must have a contingency plan (i.e. NOT what Ped State did when they fired Franklin)....and if they DO miss and that coach gets canned in 2 or 3 seasons, that rep of being a coaching graveyard at a football-focused school becomes harder to beat.

I don't think Diebler is the guy BUT to touch on your point here with how bad the university has handled the hoops program from Thads departure up until the Diebler hire them screwing the pooch again is definitely a concern. I definitely don't think that means that you want them to just keep riding with Diebler if he continues at the same meh level but it is a concern.