• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

Thad Matta (OSU's All Time Winningest Coach & 3x B1G COY, Butler HC)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
In the Big Ten, people are talking about Michigan State and Purdue dominating. Schools like Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota are getting solid reviews. The Wolverines could be a top 15 team under John Beilein this season. Bo Ryan always has his Badgers well-prepared.

This conference will have a lot of energy and enthusiasm, bringing a smile to the face of commissioner Jim Delany. My friends, don't forget about Ohio State in this equation. Matta will have the Buckeyes fighting and clawing; his leadership skills will get Ohio State into that upper echelon of the league.
Click to expand...
We return the best player in the Big 10, the freshman of the year in the big 10 (who is supposed to be three times as good), our injured team captain, an honorable mention all big ten player, Mark Titus withdrew from the draft and we didn't lose anyone. Dickie V is making it sound like we're some mediocre team that he has the inside scoop on.... please.
 
Upvote 0
Ohio State men's basketball: No rookies on this team
Thursday, October 15, 2009
By Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

1015_matta_xx_sp_10-15-09_C1_N6FCITK.jpg

Shari Lewis | Dispatch
Thad Matta's team will not include any freshmen this season.

Media day is today and preseason practice starts Friday for the Ohio State men's basketball team, which already made news this week when starting center Dallas Lauderdale suffered a broken right ring finger during a workout Monday.

Coach Thad Matta was in the air at the time, on a recruiting trip. When he landed, he had a message from the team's athletic trainer, asking him to call. Matta discussed that and more about the upcoming season yesterday during an interview in the Schottenstein Center:

Q: Never a good thing when you have a message to call the trainer?

A: I thought it was about a flu shot.

Q: What was your reaction when you found out Lauderdale had a broken finger and could miss a month or more?

A: I've learned over time you just (say), "How do we get him back? How do we get him healthy? Where do we go from here?" My first year (as coach at Butler), Scott Robisch had to have a knee (surgery) done right at the beginning of the season, Thomas Jackson had a bone spur on his foot, and I was just distraught for days. You've got to keep the big picture in mind and keep moving forward.

Q: Media day is (today). Practice starts at 6 p.m. Friday. What will it be like having no freshmen?

A: Our guys should know everything we're going to do, so there's a little bit more of a quicker pace to practice, I think, than having to explain each and every thing that we do and why we're doing it. Today's kids, you have to explain the how and the why. I told these guys that being a veteran basketball team, we should be able to have a better understanding and sense of purpose of what we're trying to get accomplished.

Q: With no freshmen, how much of your offense will you have installed by the opener Nov. 9 compared to the past three years?

A: Probably close to 75 percent of what we want to do vs. probably 35 percent (in the past).

Q: Your base defense is going to be man-to-man. Why are you going back to it after playing zone the past two years?

A: My biggest fear the last two years was we weren't going to be able to score, and we had to flip the majority of time in practice to offense as opposed to defense. Normally I'm 70-30 (in favor of defense). Going through scouting and saying this is what we're going to do (on defense) and this is what they're going to do (on offense), with young guys, sometimes it's like, 'Oh, my God.' Especially when you don't have a core of guys who have been through it before.
Click to expand...

BuckeyeXtra - Ohio State men's basketball: No rookies on this team
 
Upvote 0
Thad's thoughts at media day

Each coach is doing 10 minutes on the podium this morning before Big Ten media day breaks down to roundtable interviews with coaches and players.

Here are a some things Ohio State coach Thad Matta had to say during his segment:

- "The great thing is I don?t have to sit up here this year and talk about one-and-dones because I have no freshmen."
Click to expand...

Thad's thoughts at media day (Hoops & Scoops: an OSU basketball blog)
 
Upvote 0
Matta on playing (or not) his bench

A number of you who read this blog (and we thank you for that) are commenting about the lack of time coach Thad Matta gives his players off the bench.

It started after sophomore Walter Offutt left the team after not playing in either of the games in New York. It spiked again after P.J. Hill didn't get out of his warmups Wednesday night against Florida State.

Some are concerned about a bench not being developed in case its needed later in the season. Others are concerned the starters will be worn down by late in the season, when they will be needed most. Evan Turner, Jon Diebler and David Lighty all played 40 minutes against Florida State, though none is averaging what he did last season.

So I asked Matta today after practice what his philosophy is on building a bench and avoiding fatigue to his best players.

Regarding the bench issue, if you read between the lines, it's what I've said all along: he doesn't think those sitting the most right now (read: Nikola Kecman and Zisis Sarikopoulos) are good enough to be getting more time.

"It?s all based on personnel," Matta said.

"If you remember three years ago, at the 16-minute mark (of the first half), there were four guys every game sitting at the scorer?s table" waiting to enter the game.

"I think it goes on so much of what you have and who you have."
Click to expand...

Matta on playing (or not) his bench (Hoops & Scoops: an OSU basketball blog)
 
Upvote 0
December 23, 2009
Matta and Turner, Back to Back
By PETE THAMEL

COLUMBUS, Ohio ? The hobbled coach and the injured superstar at Ohio State have a common bond. They are linked by injured backs that are holding them back.

For the Ohio State junior Evan Turner, his scary fall and resulting fractured back this month put an abrupt halt to his all-American season, and will keep him off the basketball court until at least early January.

For Coach Thad Matta, complications from back surgery nearly three years ago have left him hobbled, in a leg brace and still adjusting to the notion that he will never be quite right for the rest of his life.

So it is not surprising that Matta, who wears a brace on his right leg and specially fitted shoes, is being extra careful with Turner.

?Fortunately for him, his injury had nothing nerve-wise,? said Matta, who had nerve problems after his back surgery, resulting in his essentially losing feeling in his right foot. ?I just, I have a fear and I will always keep in my mind his well-being. I don?t want him to not be able to play basketball again because I needed him for half of a Big 10 game.?

Before his injury, Turner, a 6-foot-7 swingman, had been playing as well as anyone in the country. After averaging 20.6 points and 12.9 rebounds through seven games, he seemed destined to be a first-team all-American and a player of the year contender.

For now, Turner promises to be a pain in the neck for a coach with a bad back. Turner said he felt fine, and he even did some light shooting after the Buckeyes practiced Monday. Like any injured star, he yearns to play.

But Matta will not let Turner return until he is cleared by the trainers. Matta knows that the lingering effects of back problems can change a life drastically.

?I think its challenging every day because you?re not the same person that you once were,? Matta said. ?Hopping into practice or throwing your shoes on and away you go. Packing is different. What shoes am I going to wear? What braces do I need? Its just little things like that.?

Matta said he has just one pair of dress shoes because his brace makes it so uncomfortable to wear shoes that he is tempted to switch to black sneakers on the sideline. He said Nike has told him it will make him a custom pair, but he said he had not had the time to fly to Portland, Ore., to be fitted.

?I got rid of the pair I?d worn for two years,? he said. ?I got the exact same shoe, but it?s not broken in. And they?re rubber soled and great shoes. It crushes me.?
Click to expand...

Matta and Turner, Back to Back - The Quad Blog - NYTimes.com
 
Upvote 0
As usual, my face was stuck in my laptop, writing a deadline piece for dispatch.com, when the game ended. So I missed the postgame "handshake line," which has had a storyline of its own this season.

This time, it was coaches Thad Matta and Tom Crean making the headline as Crean jetted by Matta so fast that Matta appeared taken aback by it. His reaction was priceless.

So what's up with these two?

Well, I didn't become aware of the video until the coaches were long gone last night, so I couldn't ask them. But according to some IU sites I visited while researching this, the two had another fly-by after Ohio State's win in Columbus on Jan.6. Some commenters on those sites claim it's tied to hard feelings over recruiting.

I know this: Crean can't be happy about starting his IU career 0-4 against a guy who's chasing the same Hoosier State blue chips Crean is. In one form or another, you know this question is going to be implied on the recruiting trail after this season: Why would you want to play for the 0-4 team when you can play for the 4-0 team?
Click to expand...

Is Buford leaving? Does Crean hate Matta? (Hoops & Scoops: an OSU basketball blog)

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhHt_niPrGo]YouTube - Sore Loser Crean?[/ame]
 
Upvote 0
Third Title Proves Matta Not Just a Recruiter
By Brandon Castel

After winning his third regular-season Big Ten Championship in five years Tuesday night, Thad Matta was asked how he feels he has grown in his six years as the head coach at Ohio State.

?I think I?m doing all right,? he said with a smile.

mattacoaching.jpg

Thad Matta shows some fire on the sideline.
Photo by Jim Davidson

?I know this, I?m a great recruiter according to everybody.?

It turns out much of what is said on internet message boards and fan forums does make it back to the man in charge.

Matta?s clever post-game remark pokes a hole in a popular sentiment that his success as a basketball coach can directly, and almost exclusively, be attributed to his ability to evaluate talent and sell a program.

And yet if we learned anything from watching the Buckeyes cut down the nets at Value City Arena Tuesday after their 73-57 win over Illinois, it?s that Matta means so much more to the program than just the players he recruits.
Click to expand...

The-Ozone, Ohio State Football, Wrestling, Softball, Basketball, Hockey, Baseball and More
 
Upvote 0
For those wondering, Thad won the Big Ten Coach of the Year award in 2006. I'll be stunned if he doesn't win it again next week.

Matt Painter and Bo Ryan have done a nice job this year, and they, like Matta, have lost a star player for a period of time, but it seems like an obvious choice to me.

Painter won the award last year, and Ryan won it in 2002 and 2003.

Gene Keady won it 7 times, and Bobby Knight won 6.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top