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Darius Bazley (SF Oklahoma City Thunder)

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bazley:

... but I looked into the recruits they have coming into next year, they didn’t look too good for the future.
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bazley committed to osu before beverly but after wesson. so, no, darius, your explanation/excuse for decommitting doesn't pass the smell test. understand that i don't begrudge him for his choice. heck, given the state and the apparent direction of osu's program, i'd re-open my recruitment, too. however, to call out two incoming players when one of them committed before me? nah... that's low.

i think if bazley were truly being honest, he'd say that he's recently drawn more hype and, therefore, much more attention from programs who will... umm... lavish him. basketball isn't the only game that darius wants to play.
 
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I know some people don't want anything to do with him after his de-commitment and the way he bashed the team on his way out but, I would welcome his back with open arms if he was willing to entertain the idea with the new staff. Negative recruiting and his ego aside, I still think he told the obvious, hard truth about the current state of the program and incoming recruits. Just not sure if it was right to do it publicly.

He is the best player in a loaded 2018 Ohio class and has a dynamic/talent that won't be on the roster when he arrives. Truth is that the program is in a bad place right now, and we need any help we can get. We can't afford to turn down a talented kid over hurt feelings and harsh realities.
 
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baremu527 said:
I know some people don't want anything to do with him after his de-commitment and the way he bashed the team on his way out but, I would welcome his back with open arms if he was willing to entertain the idea with the new staff. Negative recruiting and his ego aside, I still think he told the obvious, hard truth about the current state of the program and incoming recruits. Just not sure if it was right to do it publicly.

He is the best player in a loaded 2018 Ohio class and has a dynamic/talent that won't be on the roster when he arrives. Truth is that the program is in a bad place right now, and we need any help we can get. We can't afford to turn down a talented kid over hurt feelings and harsh realities.
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No. He revealed his character. And character matters.
 
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baremu527 said:
I know some people don't want anything to do with him after his de-commitment and the way he bashed the team on his way out but, I would welcome his back with open arms if he was willing to entertain the idea with the new staff. Negative recruiting and his ego aside, I still think he told the obvious, hard truth about the current state of the program and incoming recruits. Just not sure if it was right to do it publicly.

He is the best player in a loaded 2018 Ohio class and has a dynamic/talent that won't be on the roster when he arrives. Truth is that the program is in a bad place right now, and we need any help we can get. We can't afford to turn down a talented kid over hurt feelings and harsh realities.
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it was just not the team that he was bashing.. It was the two 2017 incoming recruits. How in good faith could he ever play with two guys that he was not very kind to on Twitter. See previous page for his tweet.
 
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LitlBuck said:
it was just not the team that he was bashing.. It was the two 2017 incoming recruits. How in good faith could he ever play with two guys that he was not very kind to on Twitter. See previous page for his tweet.
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Yeah, I understand that and I get the camp of people who say "good riddance", but I'd still welcome him back. Talent trumps hurt feelings for me, especially when the message was true. Let's remember these are kids making the most important decision for THEIR lives. They are not public officials tasked with serving our needs. Tactifulness is probably not their strongest attribute at this age. I'm willing to be more forgiving on matters like these (excluding criminal offenses and a showing of a lack of morality) for the bigger picture; we need better players in the program. Besides player development, we just haven't recruited well since 2010-2011.

Of course, things would have to get patched up between him and the '18 recruits, but I can't disagree with anything he said or his reasoning ,including not thinking too highly of his potential classmates. This is "big boy" athletics and feelings are going to get hurt. As much as people talk about "family" when it comes to college sports, production and money rule the business. I mean let's be honest and this is not bashing: Ahrens is a marginal b10 player probably better suited for the MAC or A10 and Goodwin reminds me of an average d1 college guard you find on many teams. Wesson looks like a solid contributor eventually, while Beverly looks destined for a life on the bench (on a team with an adequate number of scholarship players).While I would like to be gravely wrong on all of them, potential and current talent level indicates that these guys end up being solid role players in college at best which could help supplement a strong team (if we had one), but do no favors for us now. To put in another way, our incoming recruits look like pieces you acquire to complete an already established team/program not ones you build a foundation around.

Again, I have a problem with how Darius de-committed and how his reasoning/information was communicated afterwards. But looking honestly at the substance of what he said, I agree wholeheartedly. I'm willing to forgive the kid for his delivery method because his message was something that had been circulating around the program for a minute. It needed to be heard.
 
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baremu527 said:
Yeah, I understand that and I get the camp of people who say "good riddance", but I'd still welcome him back. Talent trumps hurt feelings for me, especially when the message was true. Let's remember these are kids making the most important decision for THEIR lives. They are not public officials tasked with serving our needs. Tactifulness is probably not their strongest attribute at this age. I'm willing to be more forgiving on matters like these (excluding criminal offenses and a showing of a lack of morality) for the bigger picture; we need better players in the program. Besides player development, we just haven't recruited well since 2010-2011.

Of course, things would have to get patched up between him and the '18 recruits, but I can't disagree with anything he said or his reasoning ,including not thinking too highly of his potential classmates. This is "big boy" athletics and feelings are going to get hurt. As much as people talk about "family" when it comes to college sports, production and money rule the business. I mean let's be honest and this is not bashing: Ahrens is a marginal b10 player probably better suited for the MAC or A10 and Goodwin reminds me of an average d1 college guard you find on many teams. Wesson looks like a solid contributor eventually, while Beverly looks destined for a life on the bench (on a team with an adequate number of scholarship players).While I would like to be gravely wrong on all of them, potential and current talent level indicates that these guys end up being solid role players in college at best which could help supplement a strong team (if we had one), but do no favors for us now. To put in another way, our incoming recruits look like pieces you acquire to complete an already established team/program not ones you build a foundation around.

Again, I have a problem with how Darius de-committed and how his reasoning/information was communicated afterwards. But looking honestly at the substance of what he said, I agree wholeheartedly. I'm willing to forgive the kid for his delivery method because his message was something that had been circulating around the program for a minute. It needed to be heard.
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This is a very lukewarm and reasonable take. Please adhere to message board rules and stick to an extreme viewpoint about a 17 year old kid!
 
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I'd take him back if he had a change of heart. Like I said before, I think he's fine with Ohio State and the program, he just didn't know how to articulate his decommitment properly. My prediction, however, is that it doesn't matter....whoever we get isn't going to be enough to change this. Like people mentioned on the coaching thread, there's a lot of competition in the region...and 247 is warm with UC, X, and Louisville, all of which are reasonable basketball choices.

And remember, there are still some good 18's around in Ohio. Hunter, Cohill, and Nance
 
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MaxBuck said:
There's a way to walk back those comments if he were to be brought back by the next coach.

It would take some work, though.
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There's a way to walk them back. But what bothers me the most is that I'll always think of Bazley as the final straw in Matta's tenure and it had nothing to do with Matta. I think he needed to retire but he deserved a better send off and I just think Bazley forced the unceremonious end of a great coach's career. It's sad.

I'm a little bitter. I'll admit that. Perhaps something can be done here but it seems unlikely.
 
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He isn't going to be a star in college for a while due to his slight build, but good luck to him. Personally I was done with him after his public rant. You can feel that way and say it privately, but no one wants to play with a teammate pulling a Miguel Montero blaming everyone else in the media.
 
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