February 27, 201510 yr a rare phil jackson road trip - scouting in columbus: http://nypost.com/2015/02/26/phil-jackson-scouts-dominant-ohio-state-point-guard/
March 4, 201510 yr phil got fined: http://m.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/knicks-jackson-fined-discussing-ohio-st-guard-russell-article-1.2136634
March 11, 201510 yr The Basketball Buckeyes finished the regular season 22-9 (11-7 in B1G games). Not bad. But they finished the regular season with a blowout loss to B1G regular season champs Wisconsin. Now they enter the B1G Tournament as the #6 seed:
March 11, 201510 yr Strange season. And looking at that bracket ... the Big Ten started out with a lot of parity and then Maryland and Wisconsin kind of separated themselves while the next several teams remained in parity, but at an arguably lower level. Except of course that #1 Wisconsin's two conference losses came to #2 Maryland ... and last-place (#14) Rutgers. That said, Michigan State isn't that much better than us. If we get by our first game, we probably have close to a 50-50 shot. Unless someone else upsets Maryland, though, I don't like our chances in the semis. And considering what just happened to us at home against Wisconsin, well, I think you'd have to be extremely optimistic to pick OSU (or anyone but Wisconsin, honestly, even Maryland) to win the conference tournament.
March 16, 201510 yr OSU wins one then loses one in the B1G tournament. NCAA gives the 23-10 Buckeyes a #10 seed and sends them to Portland to face #7 seeded VCU.
March 19, 201510 yr Nice win for the Buckeyes this afternoon against a solid VCU squad. Next up will be the Arizona Wildcats.
March 20, 201510 yr That was a nice win. Another great game from Russell. http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400785449 I don't know how they'll get by #2 Arizona. But if they do they'll bust a bunch of brackets.
March 20, 201510 yr Heh. I wonder if Arizona has anyone left from two years ago--didn't we beat them to go to the Elite Eight before Wichita State beat us to go to the Final Four?
April 3, 201510 yr D'Angelo Russell was named an AP 1st team All-American. He is the 15th OSU player named to the AP 1st team and the first since Jared Sullinger in 2012. Russell joins Frank Kaminsky (Wisc.), Jahlil Okafor (Duke), Jerian Grant (Notre Dame) and Willie Cauley-Stein (Kentucky) on the 1st team.
April 23, 201510 yr Freshman D'Angelo Russell officially declares for NBA Draft: http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2015/story/_/id/12743354/ohio-state-buckeyes-freshman-dangelo-russell-declares-nba-draft
April 23, 201510 yr He will be a top 5 pick, I think. But I have my doubts that he will be much more than a solid starter, maybe a borderline all-star, in the NBA. I'll be interested to see how he measures out.
December 28, 20159 yr Thad Matta has accomplished some great things in his previous 11 seasons at Ohio State. A National Championship Game appearance in 2007, a Final Four appearance in 2012 and a NCAA Tourney appearance in every eligible year (except in 2008 - and they won the NIT that year). Matta passed the great Fred Taylor for most wins as a Buckeye basketball coach last year and passed the 300-win mark this year. But his most impressive accomplishment might be 11 consecutive seasons of 20-win teams. That 20-win streak might get broken this year. The Basketball Buckeyes are 8-5 going into their 18-game Big Ten conference schedule (which begins Wednesday). This season's team has looked very ordinary until they won their last four games - which included a stunning upset of #4 Kentucky. So they've got some momentum going into the B1G schedule. They've got some decent returning talent with junior Marc Loving, sophomores Jae'Sean Tate, Keita Bates-Diop, Kam Williams and transfer center Trevor Thompson. And they've added some quality freshmen in guards JaQuan Lyle and A.J. Harris, center Daniel Giddens and forward Mickey Mitchell. But it seems like they're missing an ace point guard to organize this talent. Lyle has been too turnover-prone and Harris is too undersized to play big minutes. If they had a PG like last season's D'Angelo Russell, this could be a Top 10 team. But Russell is playing with Kobe this season and not the Buckeyes, so OSU will likely struggle to stay above .500 this season.
January 19, 20169 yr The Basketball Buckeyes rode a four-game winning streak into the beginning of B1G conference play. Then they won their first 3 B1G games. So with a 7-game winning streak, the team must be improving and rounding into shape. Right? Not so much. The unpredictable inconsistent team of seasons past returned in the past three games. First a nationally televised 25-point blowout loss at Indiana, then a 26-point blowout win against Rutgers, then a nationally televised 35-point blowout loss at Maryland. The worst loss of Matta's tenure at OSU.
January 19, 20169 yr The Indiana game stands out as a fluke because we should have been more competitive there, but there's nothing inherently "inconsistent" about beating league last-place Rutgers (6-13, 0-6) handily and then getting clobbered by national #7 Maryland (16-2, 5-1). Even the Indiana loss doesn't look so bad now given that Indiana is 5-0 and technically first in the B1G, though they haven't faced any of the nationally ranked teams in the league yet. As it stands, we're beating the weaker teams in the league and losing to the stronger ones. (Sometimes Goliath wins.) Since league play began, we haven't had a meltdown like against Texas-Arlington or Louisiana Tech, but we also haven't had a moment where we played like we did against Kentucky, either.
January 30, 20169 yr That's a fair point about the Basketball Buckeyes beating the weaker teams and losing to the stronger teams in the B1G. And they're certainly a better team then during that pre-B1G stretch when they lost to Texas-Arlington and Louisiana Tech. But the blowout-type losses to Indiana and Maryland are troubling. It's one thing to lose on the road. It's another to not even be competitive. That said, the Buckeyes have looked better in their three games since the Maryland blowout with a "competitive loss" at #22 Purdue and two wins over Penn State and at Illinois. The Buckeyes finished the first half of the B1G schedule with a 6-3 record (14-8 overall). But the Buckeyes got their six wins over some very weak teams: Minnesota (0-9); Rutgers (0-8); Illinois twice (2-6); Penn State (2-6); Northwestern (3-6). The second half B1G schedule gets much more difficult. Going forward OSU plays ranked teams like Maryland, Iowa, and Michigan State (twice). They also face Michigan, plus Nebraska and Wisconsin on the road. If the first half winning-losing pattern holds, the Buckeyes could easily go 3-6 in the second half of the B1G. We'll find out more about if this pattern holds during tomorrow's nationally televised game against Maryland.
February 4, 20169 yr The Basketball has another "competitive loss", if you will, in Sunday's five-point defeat against Maryland. The Buckeyes now own a record of 14-9 (6-4 B1G). They face a tough road game tomorrow at Wisconsin and two winnable games after that with Northwestern and at Rutgers. To have a shot at the tournament, they must win at least 2 of these next 3 games. After that they need to pull off a few upsets - maybe home games against Michigan and/or Michigan State or Iowa. The Basketball Buckeyes need wins over Top 50 teams KenPom-ranked teams. Right now OSU is ranked #69 and has only one win over a Top 50 team (Kentucky #25) and one win over a Top 100 team (Northwestern #95). LGHL also had a thoughtful analysis of this season: http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2016/2/2/10891504/ohio-state-basketball-postseason-projections-thad-matta
February 18, 20169 yr OSU finally got their "quality B1G win" last night with a home win over Michigan. This win keeps a slim hope for a tournament berth alive. Their record is 17-10 overall and 9-5 in B1G play. Not bad. But the final four regular season games are at Nebraska (a winnable game) followed by #8 MSU and #4 Iowa at home and then at #8 MSU. If the Buckeyes can win at Nebraska and pull off one upset in those final three games, then their tournament chances look much better. If they lose all four of these games, then their only hope is a miracle run in the B1G tourney.
February 18, 20169 yr Last night's Michigan was memorable in a couple of ways: - 2010 NCAA Player-of-the-Year Evan Turner returned to have his number retired. Turner's number (21) joined Jim Jackson (22), Jerry Lucas (11), John Havlicek (5) and Gary Bradds (35) in the rafters. - The game was broadcast on ESPN. Which choose to forgo the traditional high camera angle for this broadcast in favor of what they called "floor seats". Basically a floor level camera angle that they used . . . for .. the .. entire .. game !!! Just look at some of the compelling views from ESPN's "floor seats". Hope you got to see it last night. Because based on the level of flak ESPN got on social media, I'm betting they will never do this again: http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2016/2/16/11027436/espn-is-using-the-worst-camera-angle-ever-for-ohio-state-michigan
February 22, 20169 yr OSU finally got their "quality B1G win" last night with a home win over Michigan. This win keeps a slim hope for a tournament berth alive. Their record is 17-10 overall and 9-5 in B1G play. Not bad. But the final four regular season games are at Nebraska (a winnable game) followed by #8 MSU and #4 Iowa at home and then at #8 MSU. If the Buckeyes can win at Nebraska and pull off one upset in those final three games, then their tournament chances look much better. If they lose all four of these games, then their only hope is a miracle run in the B1G tourney. They got that road win at Nebraska (it took OT and they didn't look good doing it, but they got it). Right now the basketball Buckeyes are 18-10 and 10-5 in the B1G. - If they can pull off one upset in the final MSU - IOWA - at MSU games, they'll at least become a bubble team for the NCAA tourney. - If they can pull off two upsets, they're in. - If they lose all three games, they'll need a deep run in the B1G tournament to have any shot at the NCAA tourney.
February 25, 20169 yr Well, the Basketball Buckeyes blew their first of three remaining chances to impress the NCAA selection committee with a quality win: http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2016/2/23/11102180/michigan-state-osu-basketball-2016-final-score-recap Even worse, just prior to the MSU game, the team announced that forward Jae'Sean Tate would be out for the season with a shoulder injury: http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2016/2/23/11098782/ohio-state-basketball-jaesean-tate-injury-update-news Tate was third in minutes played, third in points and second in rebounds. He's also an all-around glue guy that will be missed. Apparently, Tate has been playing with this injury for the past few games. Although the team made a point to say he did not injury his shoulder on this now-infamous floor-slap play in last Saturday's Nebraska game: http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2016/2/24/11104826/jaesean-tate-ohio-state-basketball-shoulder-injury-debunk
February 27, 20169 yr sad to say it, but I think the best we can hope for out of this season, is for coach matta to at least extend the 20 win season streak.. look out for next year though.... and what was espn thinking w those camera angles??
February 27, 20169 yr The inconsistency of this team has been frustrating. Tomorrow's game at home against Iowa is probably their last best chance to make a statement, because they're not beating Sparty in East Lansing.
February 29, 20169 yr Basketball Buckeyes keep their NCAA tourney hopes alive with a win yesterday over #8 Iowa: http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25498918/watch-kam-williams-clutch-3-ices-ohio-states-upset-of-no-8-iowa
March 6, 20169 yr Michigan State dashed the Buckeyes NCAA tourney hopes with a dominating win yesterday. Now, only a miracle run in the B1G tournament will keep them from the NIT.
March 12, 20169 yr sad to say it, but I think the best we can hope for out of this season, is for coach matta to at least extend the 20 win season streak.. look out for next year though.... Well, they did make it to 20 wins...
March 18, 20169 yr NIT might be for the best.. even though loving looked sluggish at times this year, he started to turn it up towards the end.. would've sucked to go like sweet 16 w loving tearing it up, n then he leaves for the draft on that short stretch of firey play.. Deshaun thomas, Q Ross... both would've been nice to have the following year.. now they're playing in euro ball
November 15, 20168 yr So...it's going to be a long year. Again. 6 point win over some school called North Carolina Central. Very Stable Genius
November 15, 20168 yr So...it's going to be a long year. Again. 6 point win over some school called North Carolina Central. Didn't see it, hadn't been following ... sounded really good until you said "Central" ...
November 17, 20168 yr Basketball Buckeyes host the Big East's Providence Friars tonight. (love that nickname) We'll probably learn more about this season's team from this game then from the first two warm-up games against Navy and NC-Central. Although this season's team looks alot like last season's team. Coach Matta had four players transfer from the JaQuan Lyle-led recruiting class. Which sounds bad, but all four were lightly used bench players. And the best of the bunch stayed (Lyle). Lyle, Loving, Tate, Bates-Kiop, Thompson and Williams all return from last season's team - with 6'-9" frosh center Micah Potter and junior-college point guard C.J. Jackson added to flesh out this season's roster. Not a terrible lineup - but lacking a consistent standout player like a D'Angelo Russell, Jared Sullinger or Evan Turner to elevate the group. Without a player of that type, this season's roster is composed of pretty-good to quite-good players. Alot like last season. And unless someone begins to stand out from the pack, this season's Basketball Buckeyes are likely to be as variable as last season's team. At times not bad -- at times not good -- generally middle-of-the-pack in the B10 with an outside chance at making the tournament.
November 17, 20168 yr I'd disagree - most of the guys are average to kind of bad players. NIT is the likely end game and I don't see them winning more than one conference road game. Very Stable Genius
November 17, 20168 yr We're essentially saying the same thing. "Outside chance at making the (NCAA) tournament" more or less equals "NIT is the likely end game". I just don't like classifying any player recruited by any major college team as "bad". Every player was probably the best player on their high school team. So they're all "good" to some degree - or else they wouldn't have been recruited in the first place. It's just a matter of "how good", and if they're "good enough".
November 18, 20168 yr Basketball Buckeyes host the Big East's Providence Friars tonight. (love that nickname) We'll probably learn more about this season's team from this game then from the first two warm-up games against Navy and NC-Central. Although this season's team looks alot like last season's team. Not a terrible lineup - but lacking a consistent standout player ... Without a player of that type, this season's roster is composed of pretty-good to quite-good players. Alot like last season. And unless someone begins to stand out from the pack, this season's Basketball Buckeyes are likely to be as variable as last season's team. Last night's win over Providence illustrates the point I was trying to make in yesterday's quote. They need someone to stand out and be a consistent performer for them. The most likely candidate is J. Lyle. And he did that last night with 21pts-- 8 rebs-- 7 asts (with only one turnover). That's what this team needs! Maybe he can't put up that stat line every night. But the team does need Lyle to be a more consistent contributor and not disappear for entire games. If Lyle can emerge as this team's leader, then it elevates rest of the roster. In another note: KBD went down in the second half with a scary looking right leg injury. After the game Matta said it was an ankle sprain. Hopefully its not too serious and doesn't keep him out for long.
December 19, 20168 yr I commented about a month ago that I thought "this season's team looks alot like last season's team": Since then the Basketball Buckeyes had a decent home victory over Providence; three blowout home wins over the typical pre-B1G fodder teams; and a close road loss at (then #6) Virginia. But after that good stretch, they had three poor home games against the typical pre-B1G fodder teams (including a OT loss to Florida Atlantic); then a decent home victory over UCONN; followed by a competitive loss against #2 UCLA over the weekend in Vegas. So yeah, this seems like last season's team. Good at times. Bad at times. Maybe not so extreme though. One bad pre-B1G loss this season vs. two last season. And last season's team somehow beat #1 Kentucky, while this season's team fell short against #2 UCLA. Two more home games against typical pre-B1G fodder teams before Christmas. Then the Big Ten schedule starts on New Year's Day at Illinois.
March 13, 20178 yr The Basketball Buckeyes haven't been much to talk about since my last post. So here's the 2016-17 season recap: The team had a bit of hope going into the B1G conference schedule with a 10-3 record. But four straight losses to start the B1G schedule derailed that hope and the season never really recovered. Keita Bates-Diop went out with a season-ending injury before conference play started. Lyle seemed to go in-and-out of the Matta doghouse and never developed as the team's leader. Loving was OK but basically played out the string of his senior season. Thompson was OK but couldn't stay out of foul trouble. Tate showed heart but is basically an undersized forward who likes to play inside and can't shoot free-throws. C.J. Jackson was basically the same as Tate but an outside guard version. And our best 3-point shooter Kam Williams virtually disappeared during conference play. The Basketball Buckeyes ended up 7-11 in conference play and then lost their opening game of the B1G tournament to finish 17-15. This is the worst record for a Matta-coached team at OSU, the first time his team didn't win 20 games, and the second straight season they've missed the NCAA tournament. OSU's AD says Matta will be back for next season (he has three seasons remaining on his current contract). But Matta is now definitely on the hot seat. Another season like this and the Basketball Buckeyes might be looking for a new head coach.
March 23, 20178 yr If Matta and the Basketball Buckeyes hope to see a rebound 2017-18 season, this might be a good sign: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-basketball/2017/03/81004/2017-ohio-state-signee-kaleb-wesson-named-ohios-mr-basketball
May 14, 20178 yr If Matta and the Basketball Buckeyes hope to see a rebound 2017-18 season, this is an awful sign: http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2017/5/13/15636080/ohio-state-basketball-recruiting-news-jaquan-lyle-off-team Apparently, Jaquan Lyle left the team on April 11. But this was not revealed until this weekend after Lyle was arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct in his home of Evansville, Indiana, early Friday morning. When asked for comment, an OSU spokesman replied that Lyle was no longer on the basketball team!
May 14, 20178 yr Jaquan Lyle leaving the team is just the latest hit to the men's basketball program. From today's Dispatch article: http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20170514/ohio-state-mens-basketball--jaquan-lyle-leaves-team-faces-misdemeanor-charges: - Lyle was the final remaining member of a five-player 2015 recruiting class that was ranked among the Top 10 nationally. The other four left by the end of their freshman seasons: Austin Grandstaff quit after 10 games, and A.J. Harris, Mickey Mitchell and Daniel Giddens transferred after the season ended in 2016. - Lyle also is the third player to leave the program this offseason. He follows redshirt junior center Trevor Thompson and backup redshirt sophomore center David Bell. Thompson declared for the NBA draft and signed with an agent, and Bell transferred to Jacksonville to be close to his pregnant girlfriend. - Kam Williams, who would be a fifth-year senior guard, also declared for the draft but his status for next season remains uncertain. Without Williams, the Buckeyes would have six returning recruited players with two incoming freshman. That leaves five unused scholarships for the team to chase a handful of late-deciding freshmen, graduate transfers, and junior college players. - The basketball team has had no media availability since their season ended March 8 with a loss to Rutgers in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament. The Basketball Buckeyes finished 17-15 in coach Thad Matta’s 13th season.
May 15, 20178 yr I get that he's had a couple of Elite Eights and Final Fours, but Thad Matta has got to be on thin ice at this point. This awful of a record of player retention across multiple seasons that something is wrong--dysfunctional--within the program, regardless of whatever recruiting successes we've gotten. (And we haven't gotten anyone like, say, Evan Turner in a while, either.)
June 5, 20178 yr http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-basketball/2017/06/82705/thad-matta-announces-retirement-as-ohio-state-head-basketball-coach THAD MATTA ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT AS OHIO STATE HEAD BASKETBALL COACH Wow. If Gene Smith doesn't have someone lined up in the realm of Archie Miller he totally ****ed this up by waiting two months. Very Stable Genius
June 5, 20178 yr Agreed, Smith dropped the ball here. Although Chris Mack is being mentioned, which I would be very happy with.
June 6, 20178 yr Despite his last two seasons, the 13-year Matta-era should be remembered as a great success for the OSU basketball program. Matta is the program’s all-time leader in wins (337). His teams won at least 20 games in 12 consecutive seasons, winning five regular-season Big Ten titles (2006, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012), reaching the Final Four twice (2007 & 2012) and reached the NCAA championship game in 2007 with his 35-4 team lead by freshmen Oden and Conley. You can't help but wonder if Matta’s ongoing health issues just took their toll. In yesterday's press conference, Matta seemed to admit as much. It wasn't that Matta couldn't coach his teams (unlike the current Steve Kerr situation). He developed ways to work around that, such as the "high chair" he used on the sideline of every game. But it seemed like it adversely affected his recruiting, which is the life-blood of every college program. And that this wasn't something he could work around.
June 8, 20178 yr Nice look back at Thad Matta's OSU tenure: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-basketball/2017/06/82764/five-things-saying-goodbye-to-the-greatest-coach-in-the-history-of-ohio-state-basketball
June 8, 20178 yr Report about the possible front-runner to be the next head coach: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-basketball/2017/06/82770/creighton-coach-greg-mcdermott-meeting-with-ohio-state-wednesday-about-coaching-vacancy-per-espn-report Or someone else... http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-basketball/2017/06/82792/greg-mcdermott-says-he-will-remain-head-coach-at-creighton
June 8, 20178 yr ^McDermott has already said he's staying at Creighton. ESPN botched that one. Very Stable Genius
June 9, 20178 yr I'd be okay with Chris Holtmann. Unfortunately this is not the slam-dunk hire that I believe Ohio State should have landed.
June 9, 20178 yr The Dispatch is reporting that Butler’s Chris Holtmann will be the next Ohio State Basketball coach: http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20170609/chris-holtmann-is-new-ohio-state-mens-basketball-coach
June 9, 20178 yr SB Nation site (linked below) is also reporting Holtmann will be introduced at a press conference later today and will be getting an eight-year contract worth $3 million per season: http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2017/6/9/15764920/ohio-state-basketball-coaching-search-butler-chris-holtmann Eleven Warriors is saying the press conference might not be until Monday and the contract would be $3.1 million per season. This link also includes Holtmann's coaching record: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-basketball/2017/06/82812/chris-holtmann-reportedly-set-to-take-over-as-ohio-states-head-basketball-coach
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