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Darius Bazley (SF Oklahoma City Thunder)

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Oof. Some sobering reasons from Bazley as to why he de-committed, via Adam Jardy of the Dispatch
“I was excited when I first got the offer,” he said. “Ohio State is still a great place. It’s nothing against the school or anything, but my one ultimate goal is to get to the NBA and I just didn’t feel as confident as I did when I first committed that Ohio State was one of those schools that could get me there. At the end of the day I’ve got to perform no matter where I go, but I think there’s other schools out there that could put me on a bigger stage and in a better position to show those NBA scouts when I get to college what I can do.”
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“Ohio State, they didn’t make the NCAA Tournament this year,” Bazley said. “They didn’t even make the NIT, which is unfortunate, but I looked into the recruits they have coming into next year, they didn’t look too good for the future. So I felt like when my class came in, yeah, we would’ve been OK, but good enough to make the tournament? I don’t know. I just felt as if I was to de-commit, actually take my time, figure everything out it would just be a lot better.”
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Also, I know someone mentioned shoe companies upthread. Well, it appears as though he's switching from an Under Armour AAU squad to an Adidas one. Maybe not completely unrelated, his coaches are now hearing from Kansas.
 
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HabaneroBuck said:
For the record, Thad has seen the NBA draft Oden, Conley, Cook, Mullens, Koufos, ET, Diebler, Sullinger, DeShaun Thomas, and DeAngelo. Not exactly buying Bazley's story. Thanks for the heads up, NCK. That might have more to do with it.
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All well and true, but what have you done for me lately? And more to the kid's point, what will you do for me when I get on campus?

Buckeyes are not getting into the NCAA tournament and he's iffy that anything is going to change that. No tournament= no spotlight for kid's to raise their professional stock. This is a tough hole to get out of and it's crazy we're even here. All the more reason to make the right call and change things before it's a death spiral.
 
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NorthCoastKid said:
Oof. Some sobering reasons from Bazley as to why he de-committed, via Adam Jardy of the Dispatch




Also, I know someone mentioned shoe companies upthread. Well, it appears as though he's switching from an Under Armour AAU squad to an Adidas one. Maybe not completely unrelated, his coaches are now hearing from Kansas.
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That is definitely disheartening but it is the harsh reality of where we are at right now with this program...and one that our ever-wise AD choose in passing on Miller and sticking with assured disaster (if that is possible). But I will say is that all of those facts that he brought up existed for some time before he committed and then immediately de-committed. It isn't brand new information or anything.

Either way, @OHSportsFan is absolutely right...this is getting to be an even tougher hole to get out of and we should not be here.
 
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I think that, given Bazley's background, he's perfectly fine coming to Ohio State as his platform to get noticed. However, he's fallen victim to negative recruiting, whether by the shoe industry or by other coaches. The way he states things against Ohio State, even though he knew the situation the Bucks were in, suggests those words and excuses aren't solely of his own creation.

For the record, the likely number one draft pick this year will come from a team that also did not make the NCAA tournament.
 
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HabaneroBuck said:
For the record, Thad has seen the NBA draft Oden, Conley, Cook, Mullens, Koufos, ET, Diebler, Sullinger, DeShaun Thomas, and DeAngelo. Not exactly buying Bazley's story. Thanks for the heads up, NCK. That might have more to do with it.
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He's had ONE player drafted in the last four drafts (D'Angelo Russell), and it's entirely possible nobody this year unless somebody takes a flyer on Thompson which is far from guaranteed. Player development at tOSU has been woeful for the last 5 years.
 
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I think everyone is forgetting that Bazley's comments suggest that he knows he's not a one and done player and needs seasoning before he can make it to the NBA. He's looking for a coach to improve his game. Let's look at the truth; Thad has never shown a knack for player development. You either came to OSU NBA ready under Thad or you were looking at a 2nd round grade and a career in Europe at best. Everyone wants to point to Russell, Oden, Cook, Conley, Koufos, Mullen, and Sully as proof of Matta's pedigree of getting players to the NBA, but these were all top 15-20 recruits and McDonalds All-Americans coming out of high school. They were on the fast track to the NBA from the start and, if it weren't for the one year rule most of these kids wouldn't have even been at OSU ( In the case of Mullens and Koufous, a year at OSU actually hurt their draft stock). Other than Evan Turner or Deshaun Thomas has any OSU player under Matta ever significantly progressed from year to year? DT is even debateable as he was a top 15-25 recruit in his class and plateaued once he got adequate playing time.

Let's face it. Thad's tenure at OSU was propped up by a good run of recruiting top 20 talent in the nation, but once that well ran dry and he had to rely on player development and evaluation to get wins, the ship started to tank. Whether it be through self-realization or negative recruiting, Bazley saw this and rightfully so. There's little hope in the past, present, or future that would give any hope to an incoming recruit that Thad can mold you into a better player of NBA caliber. That takes yearly player progression (a lot of players have even become worse year to year which is very telling ala Amir Williams and Marc Loving) and making the NCAA tournament consistently. I can't blame the kid for telling the truth, harsh or not.
 
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HabaneroBuck said:
I think that, given Bazley's background, he's perfectly fine coming to Ohio State as his platform to get noticed. However, he's fallen victim to negative recruiting, whether by the shoe industry or by other coaches. The way he states things against Ohio State, even though he knew the situation the Bucks were in, suggests those words and excuses aren't solely of his own creation.

For the record, the likely number one draft pick this year will come from a team that also did not make the NCAA tournament.
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I agree with some of what you say, but the situation at OSU is different today than it was when Bazley committed in the fall. The '17 class is all but set now and he had an additional season of information to evaluate.
 
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This kind of stuff happens all the time. However, in tOSU's situation, it exacerbates the negative situation with Buckeye Nation calling for Thad's head, and am pretty sure this is being used by the opposition in recruiting (heck we all would). tOSU has some 'good' players coming in, but certainly not at a level of this kid. As I said, it happens all the time, but the timing of this one could be the nail in Thad's casket. Fred Taylor all over again. Gene Smith is gonna have to step up and look at MBB and baseball to see what he needs to do to be competitive. Someone above nailed it, there hasn't been a whole lot of 'player development', as Buckeye coaching staff doesn't really develop players into NBA draft picks. Loving is one tremendous example of this. Heck, even with Jent as 'shooting coach', I'm gonna say that tOSU shot a worse percentage than before he got here. Practice percentage not counting, but on the floor/gametime shooting. Anyone - am I right or not?

Anyway, With the Dayton coach going to Indiana, not sure who we'll get. Oh yeah, Thad won't spend too much time out of coaching, he'll be picked up pretty quickly, but he's gotten stale here. A new start will be best for both sides of the coin.......however, always, go Bucks!
 
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Thump said:
Kudos to the kid for being honest.
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Bingo.

And quite honestly, nothing he said is surprising. We all are thinking the same things. The team was bad, like, not even making the NIT bad and the future doesn't look any better. He knows that he needs COACHING to achieve his dream and Ohio State isn't where he is going to get it. Add to that the fact that the coaching situation is a mess, the team isn't moving on yet and who the new coach will be remains a mystery...it's best to just get out now.
 
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