Ohio State vs. #2 ttun, Sunday Feb. 8, 1pm EST, CBS

[DZ83CK]

Pretty sure we were all here before to know that was not true.

"Rutgers day football game" energy, without the ticket purchasing.

Thad did it in spite of that.


That bodes super well for the officially sponsored model of basketball teams.

When Thad had good teams playing good opponents, the crowds were good. It's hard to quantify how the arena deadened the crowd, but I think that matters in this analysis. He scheduled like 10 guarantee games every season, so naturally fans got tired of seeing non-competitive gimme Ws, but at the end Thad wasn't winning so why would you expect the fans to keep showing up?

 

[DZ83CK]

Not just fan enthusiasm any enthusiasm anywhere. The AD proved they have zero care about the basketball program when they just handed the Keys to Diebler. You expect pockets to open when the AD doesn't even give a crap? You still avoid the question and can't give any real defense to the lazy hire.

Which question, why will people spend? I think the issue is partly OSU being the problem last year (and Diebler being new a problem his first year), so that's part of why I have some hope for next season being different. I suspect more money could have been there for Diebler to spend last year but OSU got in the way due to compliance concerns - how much more is probably enough to upgrade some areas, not saying they'd be a B1G contender, but they should have had more contributors.

 

[DZ83CK]

If Diebler had May’s NIL resources, we may not be a top 5 team but we would be a top 15 team.

How many Buckeye’s would be starting on May’s roster today?

That's spot-on. We had Roddy Gayle starting for us all season his sophomore year. He's been coming off the bench at UM all season and didn't start part of last season, either. He averaged 13.5 ppg his last year at OSU, then after the transfer he's averaged 9.8 and now 8.3 ppg. He averaged 30 minutes his sophomore year with OSU, 26 last season, and now 21. Meechie, Bradshaw and Stewart all transferred and any statistical "improvement" they've made is because they are on teams nowhere near an at-large (i.e., far worse than OSU was last year). Okpara is providing similar stats at Tennessee as he did at OSU, 6.6 ppg this season in about 2 more minutes per than he played his sophomore year. If we're being honest, other than Bruce, none of these guys would be leaders elsewhere.

 

[buckeyemania11]

Which question, why will people spend? I think the issue is partly OSU being the problem last year (and Diebler being new a problem his first year), so that's part of why I have some hope for next season being different. I suspect more money could have been there for Diebler to spend last year but OSU got in the way due to compliance concerns - how much more is probably enough to upgrade some areas, not saying they'd be a B1G contender, but they should have had more contributors.

I think there has to be a real concern for next year. Yea Thompson is a very high level HS recruit but even if he performs at a high level that won't be enough to carry the whole team. Replacing Bruce is going to be a near impossible task unless they get lucky.

Other guys who have eligibility left may be easily tempted to move on to elsewhere as well due to the lack of winning here.

 

[NFBuck]

Diebler never should have been hired and should be fired

Sad thing is, I can't even get upset enough to get to that place. We're going on, what? Year eleven, twelve of irrelevance? The Diebler hire signaled to be the AD is fine with a mediocre product. The football program reels in money hand over fist, for whatever reason the powers that be just don't want to invest in the basketball program. Until they do, why should most of us care?

 

[DZ83CK]

I think there has to be a real concern for next year. Yea Thompson is a very high level HS recruit but even if he performs at a high level that won't be enough to carry the whole team. Replacing Bruce is going to be a near impossible task unless they get lucky.

Other guys who have eligibility left may be easily tempted to move on to elsewhere as well due to the lack of winning here.

LOL @ easily tempted due to lack of winning. If they have even an ounce of self-awareness, they will be able to notice our last transfers Meechie, Bradshaw and Stewart did not move to more winning programs. I don't think any of these guys would be able to start for a program that is much more successful than OSU this season.

Yeah, replacing Bruce is going to suck, but for now the hope is that a transfer who's worthy of being a starter will notice there is an opening for a starter at guard. I can't see them not adding another starting-caliber guard.

 

[buckeyemania11]

Sad thing is, I can't even get upset enough to get to that place. We're going on, what? Year eleven, twelve of irrelevance? The Diebler hire signaled to be the AD is fine with a mediocre product. The football program reels in money hand over fist, for whatever reason the powers that be just don't want to invest in the basketball program. Until they do, why should most of us care?

Exactly, the Diebler hire was the AD waving the white flag that they are ok with mediocrity in non football sports. I still care but it's hard to be enthusiastic with that message

 

[buckeyemania11]

LOL @ easily tempted due to lack of winning. If they have even an ounce of self-awareness, they will be able to notice our last transfers Meechie, Bradshaw and Stewart did not move to more winning programs. I don't think any of these guys would be able to start for a program that is much more successful than OSU this season.

Yeah, replacing Bruce is going to suck, but for now the hope is that a transfer who's worthy of being a starter will notice there is an opening for a starter at guard. I can't see them not adding another starting-caliber guard.

I'm talking about Royal Mobley and Bynum specifically. Mobley has his bad moments but I'm not sure we can get much better in the portal at this point and I'm sure the poachers are gonna be coming hard for Bynum. Royal I'm sure some team with better outlook would see as a real asset as well. These are guys that we need to retain for a decent enough core.

 

[jwinslow]

When Thad had good teams playing good opponents, the crowds were good

Occasionally.
For big games.

. It's hard to quantify how the arena deadened the crowd, but I think that matters in this analysis. He scheduled like 10 guarantee games every season, so naturally fans got tired of seeing non-competitive gimme Ws, but at the end Thad wasn't winning so why would you expect the fans to keep showing up?

I'm talking about the Thad five to sullinger years. It was alright at best from a support perspective.

Surrendering an amazing home court advantage was a major blunder (to build the second best music venue in town)... but that was a secondary factor. It's a filler sport in Ohio.

It shouldn't be when they're outclassing Indiana and Kentucky basketball ( and frankly OSU football after 06), but it was.

 

[buckeyemania11]

I suppose forces higher up in the University could be the real sabatogers here. Bjork seemed to have zero problem with obnoxious excessive spending at Texas A&M but now all of a sudden it's a problem?