Bob Hunter commentary: Matta?s use of bench keeps critics flapping
By Bob Hunter
The Columbus Dispatch Saturday March 31, 2012
NEW ORLEANS ? Everybody knows that Thad Matta doesn?t use his bench enough. A lot of people will tell even you that is why the Ohio State coach hasn?t been more successful, and they aren?t kidding when they say it.
The way some of his critics talk, you would think they were describing the guy who coaches their daughter?s winless middle-school team instead of one who has won four Big Ten titles in his eight years at Ohio State, has taken two teams to the Final Four in the past six seasons and has won at least 20 games in each of his 12 seasons as a college coach.
When it?s put that way, they usually will concede that Matta might be able to coach a little bit. But they?re still sure he will never win anything of substance ? a description that apparently applies only to the national title ? as long as he wears out his poor starters the way he often does. Sometimes they make it sound as if his players work 12-hour shifts in a suffocating coal mine instead of playing in TV timeout-infested college basketball games.
?There have probably been articles written for the last three years that people have been waiting to print based on the substitutions,? OSU assistant coach Jeff Boals said. ?It?s not like you go into a game and say, ?Hey, I?m going to play this guy this many minutes, I?m going to bring this guy off the bench and not bring in that guy.? It happens in the ebb and flow.?
There is no denying that Matta has been substituting more frequently lately. This OSU team probably wouldn?t be playing in the Final Four against Kansas tonight if Matta hadn?t gotten key contributions from the bench that he supposedly hates. Last weekend against Syracuse, the Buckeyes might have been eliminated if Evan Ravenel and freshman Amir Williams hadn?t come in and spelled All-America center Jared Sullinger, who got in early foul trouble.
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