Sorry about the WOT, but I've been keeping this all in for quite a while.
First, let's not lose sight of the big picture: Coach Matta, is obviously doing a much better job at OSU than any other hoops coach has in a long time. And he's doing it with class. I'm certainly not going to be hating on him. I want him to retire when he wants to and as a legend here.
Second, despite the first point, nobody is immune to criticism. How much criticism of Matta is appropriate may depend largely on where you think the realistic ceiling is for Ohio State basketball. Should we expect to compete for national championships in hoops at our "football" school or are annual appearances in the tourney with a goal of getting through the first weekend and occasional hopes of going farther the best we can expect over the long term?
I believe that given the strength of Ohio H.S. basketball these days, OSU's facilities and other resources, and the success of once-nobody programs like Florida and UCONN, that there's no reason why OSU should expect to do anything less than compete for national championships. Other than UNC, Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky (maybe IU or UCLA if they get the right coaches), I believe that OSU should be able to recruit with anyone on an annual basis and therefore play with anyone in most years. I consider the decades in the wilderness as a blown opportunity rather than a systemic weakness: Does anyone think that OSU wouldn't have been elite in the 1970s and 1980s if they had brought Bob Knight home instead of pumpkining up the coaching search?
Third, I think that basketball is the simplest of the major sports and that winning is simply a matter of generating more easy scoring opportunities than the opponent. While there are a lot of ways to do this, to me the most critical are: (1) To be committed to and efficient at scoring in transition; (2) To get a lot of offensive rebounds and easy put-backs; (3) To shoot (and make) a lot of free throws; and (4) To generate a lot of open three point shots. Obviously, the defensive goal is to limit the opponent in doing all of these things.
Fourth, given my assumptions in the third point, and not panicking too much over this year, which I believe was somewhat aberrational, I believe that the main weaknesses with the program (evidenced consistently over Matta's tenure) that stand in the way of competing for and winning national championships are:
1. Insufficient tempo. Ohio State simply plays at too slow of a tempo (look at the stats). Especially over the last two years, I fear that Ohio State is becoming Wisconsin, and I agree entirely with LordJeff's longstanding assessment of the limitations of that style of play when competing against top teams. This year, this was especially glaring, given the team's inefficiency in set offense and largely untapped strength of ball hawking. I think that applying serious full-court pressure MUCH more often would have greatly benefited this year's team (I understand that some prior teams might not have had the bench for it). I believe that a commitment to a faster tempo alone would have gotten OSU past Kentucky in 2011 and that that team would have gone on to win the title. I also think that playing this slowly will eventually hinder recruiting, if it hasn't already.
2. Insufficient physical toughness. Excluding an outlier beast like Sullinger, Matta's teams have not been particularly good at rebounding or finishing scoring opportunities at the rim. Put 'em in pads in practice occasionally like Izzo does, recruit some wider tougher guys, coach reboundings fundamentals better . . . I don't know what the best solution is, but I do think one is needed
3. Insufficient mental toughness and basketball IQ. This isn't intended to bash players, and I do think that Matta's teams generally play hard and with commitment (Amir and maybe Ross notwithstanding, Craft isn't the only guy that gets floor burns)) and a decent degree of discipline (they've typically been good at not fouling and in holding opponents to a low FG percentage) but let me explain. First, I'm talking about a lack of mission clarity: When I watch most of Matta's teams, I don't know what their offensive identity is (i.e., what are they trying to hang their hat on and make opponents adjust to?) OSU typically seems content to settle for playing at the tempo desired by the other team, and to take what the other team is giving them, even if it's not what they're good at, rather than recognizing what they are good at and finding a way to do that regardless of what the other team wants to take away. Close games in the low-fifties against teams like Northwestern and undermanned Illinois and Penn State teams over the years (even if most have been wins) highlight this for me. I feel like the program has been getting away with this for much of Matta's tenure, and that this year, and to a lesser extent last year, it finally started to really bite them in the ass on a consistant basis.
4. Insufficient attention to detail in the development of fundamental individual and team offensive skills. A lot of guys just don't seem to be getting much better over the course of their careers. Another thing that, over time, is likely to hurt recruiting, if it hasn't already (can we land a big man this year please?) This phenomenon seems worse in recent years, and I wonder how much the loss of top assistant coaches has contributed to it. Watch KU and UNC guards consistently feed the post precisely and in a way that that puts the post player in great position to score, then watch OSU guards try to do it (admittedly right now they have nobody to throw it in to), notice how hesitant OSU teams often are in deciding where to pass the ball (the 2010-11 ball movement juggernaut being the exception that proves the rule) and how often they don't make the right decision on the fast break or finish at the rim (again, I think that faster tempo would help develop these skills). Why do players seem to stagnate or get worse at jump shooting over the course of their careers?
5. Free throw shooting. In most years they done a pretty good job of getting to the line (it would be better with more offensive rebounds and a faster tempo IMO) and a very good job of keeping other teams off of the line. No need to rehash what happens when they shoot free throws.
Excluding the last two years, I'm not convinced that three point shooting is so much a weakness as just not a strength. I think it would be better with great offensive mission clarity (point 3) and faster tempo (both help kids make the right pass to the right man more often and more quickly and better looks from the right shooters should go down more often).
Finally, one other thing that concerns me is that Matta's teams have typically played freely and with confidence and trust in one another, even at a slow tempo. I think that this has been a great strength of the program under him, but it has not been evident in the last two years. Maybe the big recruiting class will bring that back. I hope so. If it doesn't we may have already seen Matta's peak at OSU.
Solutions? Let's call 'em experiments since all of the above might just be armchair bull[Mark May]. 1. Commit to playing faster; 2. Commit to an offensive identity and then recruit to it. 3. Take a hard look at the assistant coaches and make sure that they are committed to and capable of instilling strong fundamental offensive skiils. If they are, push them really hard to do so. If not, replace them.
Edit: MODS, this probably should be on Matta's thread, so please move it if you agree.
