Eleven Warriors

You can't just blame it all on matta

STFU. #facepalm #spoiledfanbase

I agree KEITH21. Except that last sentance.GO BUCKS!

thad's last three tourny losses have been by a combined seven points. That's just bad luck. And if it werent for a combination of Florida shooting insanely well behind the arc (56% from three pt range) and Ohio State shooting terribly behind the arc (17% for that game), Matta would have a national title under his belt. Even with Florida's ridiculous shooting, if OSU shoots 33% from three point range in that game - still below their average - they win by 3 points, maybe more if Florida was forced to foul late. Matta is just a little unlucky. And to be fair, the Big Ten is loaded this year.

The offense has been lethargic because we've been shooting poorly. Look at Buford's numbers. He was suppose to be our perimeter threat this year and he has severely underperformed. Matta is one of the top 5 coaches in the nation, easily. Appreciate what we have, because OSU basketball will NEVER be better than this. His teams have had bad luck in the tourney the past few years. It hasn't occurred because a lack of talent or a lack of coaching, as Humble pointed above, OSU has just had awful nights during tourney time, and it has little do with their opposition and much more to do with their own play. It's not like Matta can sit there and adjust a guy's shooting percentage like it's a video game. Guys have gone cold during big games, and there is nothing a coach could do about that. It can be described as awful luck, and that's it. Also if you feel this way about Matta, what coach do you think will take this job, that would do as well as him? Calipari? Williams? Krzyzewski? Izzo? Boeheim? Pitino? Those coaches are all in the same league as Matta, and guess what, they aren't going to come here. 

yea im hesitant to criticize matta. man has really brought osu into national relevancy the last few years. i think its more of an instance of overrating by fans and media for this team. i think that if buford has the kind of game he had against purdue, and sully and co. play like they can, this team is unbeatable. unfortunately, buford doesnt seem to show up in big games, so it seems unlikely. i think matta could do a better job motivating bench players by giving them time, and starters by giving them less time if theyre not playing well, but honestly, ill give matta at least another year before i start criticizing him seriously

I believe there was a championship game in JC's time. Anyway, I think there is truth on both sides. Is TM John wooden? No, but he's also isn't average. Look back at the talent that dean smith, coach k, calipari, Roy Williams, bill self etc have had that they didn't win with. Bball is so hard because it's one and done. Luck plays a huge part and every coach says it and knows it to be true. Give the guy a break.

The problem with Matta is that he's too good at recruiting.  He's so good at it that he's getting guys that only need one year of college before going pro, or could theoretically go pro right out of high school if they were allowed to.  He keeps getting these kids that leave after a year, and they are the key guys, so each year it seems like we have a whole new team that needs to gel.  Notice how we almost always seem to have a young team?  Last year was the first time that we've really had more than one veteran as a real factor on our team, and we had a team that could've won a national title if they would've shot just a little bit better against Kentucky.  I think what we're seeing with this year's team is more on the players and not as much on Thad, though it's imperative of Thad to find a way to wake these guys up before the season ends in disappointment.  It's not March yet - we've all said that this season will be judged by what happens on March.  It doesn't look good right now, but you don't know what can happen.  We could get hot, we could gel, we could get favorable matchups, we could get better officiating than what we get in B1G play.  Last year, we hit an unfavorable matchup, though overall we were just as good as anyone else.  Basketball is a much different game - many more factors in the equation in the game itself, and then you throw in a one-and-done tournament format, luck becomes just as much of a factor as anything else.  If we win the national title, imagine how silly it would feel to have compared Thad to Coop.

And why does Tom Izzo do so well at MSU?  He doesn't get as much NBA talent.  He gets kids that stick around for 4 years.  He gets kids that play in his system for 4 years, and groups of kids that play together for more than a season.  They do gel and play together better just because of how long they've played together.  Those players may never play a second in the NBA, but they learn the college game very well and adapt to Izzo's system and each other very well.  Our teams seem to have more turnover on the roster with each year, and they don't always gel together the way they need to in order to get certain things done in March.  Let's not forget how tough minded his teams are.  The bottom line with the game of basketball is this - you can't always control how well you shoot, but you can control your defense, rebounding, and how well you take care of the ball.  If you do those three things that you can control well, you can win games even if you're not shooting that well. 

But I agree with one commenter - how spoiled are we as a fanbase?  There's always things that Thad can do better, but so much more goes into a college basketball game and a national championship, much of it things that Thad can't control.  We're ranked, we're relevant, we're not wondering about whether we're even a tournament team or not, and we can complain about being 22-5. 

Sure I get super frustrated with how Matta coaches and his lack of using his bench among other things. But, I also got super frustrated with Tressel. But both coaches have won/won a lot of games, but like I said, both have frustrated the crap out of me at times. Despite expectations, Matta's teams seem destined to be Sweet 16 caliber. But lets not forget Tressel's teams lost several BIG games (and how can we forget them even though we'd love to).

Yeah I would love to win a title in basketball, but maybe this team this year is just plain overrated. Its looking like thats the case. But anything is possible. UConn won the title last year and they finished 9th in the Big East. Sure we don't have a Kemba Walker on this team, but anything could happen. 

I didn't get the impression that any of you want to fire Matta, but I sense a certain level of frustration with him. I get that. But just think, if you aren't happy with Thad, the question you've got to ask is: Who else are we gonna get? If you're not happy with Thad, who else do you think would realistically come to Ohio State and be better or get better results? I for one am willing to stick it out with Matta. 

In the Thad Matta era, only the Oden '06 team and last season's did I really think we were for sure a lock to win it all, but we ran into some really bad luck those two times. All the other Matta teams have either overachieved or played exactly to their potential.

This year's team is just overrated. Buford has no clutch gene and we have no true leaders. Can't blame Matta for that. Still some hope though as the Tourney has yet to be played.

Bottom line is, Matta is a great recruiter and a good enough coach to make some noise EVERY season. His offensive gameplan is frustrating to watch at times and yes, he sometimes doesn't make enough in game adjustments; however, the talent he has on the court year in and year out makes up for the latter deficiencies. Matta can hold his own and I still believe he has what it takes to win a national chip for us.

Going way back in the comments, Cooper had the chance to win the very first NC in the BCS era in 98. They were one of the greatest teams ever. They lost to MSU in probably the most heartbreaking loss in my lifetime.

Anyway - whoever said that the talent we get is almost too good - is dead on. Its great to have all this NBA talent. It sucks that we all know they're leaving after a year or 2. You end up without real leadership on the team. We are all missing Lighty & Diebler this year...

The one team that he had which failed to meet my expectations in the tournament was last years team.  They seemed poised to be a final four team.  They also got the bracket of doom.  Their consolation prize had they beat UK, was a matchup with UNC.  I don't care what those teams are seeded, it's never going to be easy to play either program in March.

The team with Evan Turner, while I was disappointed they were ousted by Tennessee I wasn't surprised.  Tennessee had a lot of good players, Ohio State depended on 1 guy to do way too much.  Sure there were some role players, a young Bufford, Diebs(really wasn't that good that year) and Lighty were there too, but they were not going to make a final four run in my opinion. 

This year's team is not as good as we thought.  We expected the recruiting class that Thad brought in, to contribute early and none of those guys have developed.  We were expecting the Mc Donald's all Americans to come in and play like Craft and Sully did last year, they failed to, so the losses of Diebs, Lighty, and Lauderdale were magnified.  This team, simply put isn't as good as we think it is and a lot of the experts.  They are probably a sweet 16 team, if they get hot a final four run isn't out of the question. 

How bout we go back to the pre Matta days? Geez, the guy has won 77% of his games at OSU, 4 Big Ten Titles, 6 first rounders and people are crying foul.