http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Jae'Sean-Tate-...
Jae'Sean Tate@JaeSean_Jt_23
I know everybody probably know this..but im gonna make it official..I have now commited to play at "THE" Ohio State University!! #gobucks
PHONE'S RINGING -- IT'S URBAN ON THE LINE
•Football Schedule•Basketball Schedule•Forum•About•Contacthttp://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Jae'Sean-Tate-...
Jae'Sean Tate@JaeSean_Jt_23
I know everybody probably know this..but im gonna make it official..I have now commited to play at "THE" Ohio State University!! #gobucks
That is amazing, hopefully Thad can now get a big guy to make it a solid class. Welcome to the family Jae'Sean. Go Bucks!
Pay It Forward!
Huge, number one player in Ohio. Seems like the "Matta has lost his touch" beliefs are false.
I think everyone can relax now. Thad has everything under control.
Phew!
Now add a big man and a point guard and this class will be perfect. Then maybe a shooter or another wing or a PF if we have room
Sorry Urban, Woody is still my favorite
What's even better, these were UM's top two on their board for forwards in 2014 at this time, so let's all have a good chuckle at their expense.
yes buck-I.8 i am chuckling so hard i almost spit up my coffee. love negative aacc news.
HUGE get in so many ways. Keeping him away from Michigan was big, but with him also being the #1 player in Ohio makes it that much better. Need a big man now. Diop is not a big man IMO. We need a 6'11 ish center for this class.
#Buckeyes
Sweet two guys with hard to pronounce names. I am sure we will all be able to pronounce them perfectly by the time their careers are done though.
F--- Michigan!
I was thinking the other day about how great it has been to have a top basketball team for the last 7-8 years. I started to wander if Thad has "peaked" and the dominance of Creen and Cal recruiting would signal the end to this period. I had nervous flashbacks to the Indians at the end of the 90's and how spoiled I had become with that run and how hard its been since.
NOPE - Thad is still the man.
Yeah, thank God Thad got his touch back after a Final Four last year, a consistent Top Ten team over the last several years, an NCAA final, 14 consecutive 20-win seasons, numerous All-Americans...
About to be a great class. KBD's game looks a pretty similar to Loving's from the '13 class. Anyone else getting a similar thought?
Great start to the 2014 class for Matta!! Now Thad needs to lock up a blue chip big man that can take over the paint and score around the rim. It would be nice to add one more to the 2013 class but I would settle with a top 5 2014 class after this start of 2 top 50 players.
I really think if we can add a guy that can score inside in 2013 we will be looking great. Even if it is a JUCO guy.
2012 - No 2011 team but capable of making a deep run ( hell capable of winning the B1G, and the whole damn thing if things fall right)
2013 - Veteren team of Craft, Smith, Thompson, Ross, Smith, Williams, along with my dream JUCO guy, and freshman cutting their teeth would be very formable.
2014 - possible monster freshman class, locked and reloaded for a new run.
Well the problem is that we are getting top 10 guys at positions, while Cal and Crean are getting top 5 guys at their positions. Not saying Thad isn't doing amazing cause he is, but OSU will never get the level of recruits Kentucky does on a consistent basis (we have brought in a lot of studs).
I want the bball team to be at an elite 8 type level every year, with a final four every 5 years and maybe a title or 2 in the next 20 haha. Is that too much to ask?
@BUCKEYE06 we won't be able to bring in Kentucky level recruits but we also won't have to vacate our wins in a couple of years
Buckeye till I'm dead
Jahlil Okafor (C) is the big target in 2014. If Matta is able to nab him or Tyus Jones (G), OSU could easily have the best class in the country. Of course one team landing those two guys would be insane.
Am I the only one who remembers his dad (Jermaine Tate) playing for Randy Ayers before transferring to the Bearcats...?
and now his son is a commit ?
God I feel old.
Thad is gettin' it done. Got a commitment from Rivals #20 ranked player for 2014 in Diop and followed it up with landing #69 in Tate.
BUCKEYELURKER0509 - I remember his dad playing for Ayers. Back in the Gary Williams - Randy Ayers days one of my friend's parents had season tickets and I went to a ton of home games over the years @ St. Johns. OSU didn't have a lot of success during that time, but I saw quite a few good players come through.
I feel you BuckeyeLurker.
Tate, Stonebrook, Bosley, Stringer... those were the days.. of arrests, bad basketball, and a totally overwhelmed head coach. Tate was one of the good guys on that team, though, and seemed to want to get out of dodge before he got sucked into more of that mess!
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
I trust Thad with the team completely, I'm just never sure we will have enough to win it all. Duke wins it because they have good players who stay for 4 years, UK wins it because Cal has GREAT players who stay for one; UNC/Kansas/Cuse etc all seem to be in the middle. OSU brings in studs and they always leave, but we don't have enough in almost any year to be there with the best.
I think we're a solid top 10 program, just never sure we will be a top 3 program
Okafor would definitely be a big man coup for Ohio State, and maybe Diop, with his Illinois ties to Okafor, can help reel him in. Also, Tyus Jones or JaQuan Lyle would be great guard pickups to replace Craft/Scott.
Matta is in on all of these big time players. It's only a matter of time before he reels them in again, as he has in the past. He has sustained success with this program, and has put guys in the League. That is what resonates with recruits. Another highly successful season this year would do wonders with many of these top players.
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
I LOVE YOU THAD!
After Saturday i can finally start getting into Buckeye Basketball. This week has started off good with some commits and is going to end even better with more commits and a big W over SCUM
Here's a write up from Steve Helwagen over @ TOS. There are some errors in the story (like he says Marc Loving is a 2003 recruit), but it talks about Tate and his father and why he committed now. Also, it says that Thad invited his dad to an alumni dinner (even though his dad only played 2 years @ OSU) and the relationship both him and his father have with the coaches.
http://ohiostate.247sports.com/Article/Tate-OSUs-Second-2014-Verbal-102432
We aren't ever going to be a top 3 program, you are right Buckeye6. But that's because we are a top 5 football program and that is where we put much of the effort. The other top 3-5 programs are all "basketball" schools. Thad's ability to make us as good as we have been, with everything he has working against the culture at tOSU is outstanding.
Never say never.
There has been some serious talk in the rumor mill that Okafor and Tyus Jones are seriously considering playing at the same school. If we can somehow pull Jahlil, I think it puts us in a great place for Jones given the current strength of this class as well as his friendship with Okafor.
Sorry Urban, Woody is still my favorite
Can Matta sell them on the Oden/Conley package deal and how that worked out for the Buckeyes?
IF Matta were able to get those two players, to go along with Loving, Williams, Diop, Tate, and the current roster (senior leadership out of Scott, Thompson, Williams, Ross - maybe).
Wow...
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
I actually read recently that Noah Vonleh was in talks to team up with Okafor and Jones at a school and there was some speculation that the Buckeyes may be the landing spot. Now that Noah is off to Indiana I'm not sure what is going on with that so called package but Matta better put the full court press on those 2 because we all know coach Cal will be breaking out the duffle bags full of cash!