Ohio State's young squad got its third win of the season yesterday, an 89-62 drilling of VMI to stop a four-game losing streak and run their record to 3-4 but there's no question the sluggish start has been a source of contention among a portion of the fan base that seems to be suffering from selective amnesia.
The impatient, loud minority seems to forget that a huge reason they are discouraged with the slow start is because of all the success Matta has brought to a basketball program that was largely flailing before his arrival going a combined 31-31 in the over the final two seasons of the Jim O'Brien era.
Here's a brief reminder of what Matta has accomplished in Columbus:
- Posted 11 straight 20-win seasons with the Buckeyes and 15 straight in his coaching career
- Nine NCAA bids in 11 seasons including seven consecutive
- Five Sweet Sixteen appearances
- Three Elite Eight spots
- Two Final Four appearances
- Five B1G regular season titles
- Four B1G tournament championships
- Posted a 60-18 record in March with the Buckeyes
- 10 NBA draft picks since 2007
- Won 90% of home games
- 132-60 in B1G regular season play, good for 2nd-best among all B1G coaches
- Averaged 29 wins over the last five seasons
Aware of all these accolades, I do understand a certain level of frustration considering the last two-plus seasons haven't been Matta's best work. His critics will point to a lack of development among the four-year players and there has to be some merit to that.
Amir Williams never got any better. "Same Player Sam" Thompson never got any better. Q Ross. I get it. That's frustrating. I would counter with Evan Turner showing amazing growth. David Lighty. Jon Diebler. I'd also point out guys like Mike Conley and D'Angelo Russell weren't seen as likely one-and-done players and both evolved into top-five draft picks after just one season in Matta's program.
The drop-off in recruiting is another concerning development but don't forget the previous regimes, O'Brien in particular, didn't even try to get the big fish. I'd rather have a coach swing for the fences and miss (Okafor, Parker etc.) than watch a coach purposely target second and third tier recruits and be thrilled to see them play at a level greater than the sum of their parts but still make little noise nationally.
Another bugaboo as seen by detractors is the allegation of nepotism producing a suboptimal coaching staff. Matta's staff has taken its share of heat for lack of player development and again, I agree to some extent but at the same time, the players have to want it and sometimes the stars/hype a kid enters college with aren't always accurate.
Amir, for example, was a McDonald's All-American and chose the Buckeyes over Florida, Duke and Pitt. That means a whole lot of people thought he was destined to be a big time player. You think Coach K's or Billy Donovan's staff would've gotten more out of him? Me neither.
Now, maybe it does say something that the continuity on Matta's coaching staff means teams aren't interested in a Jeff Boals (7th season) or Dave Dickerson (6th season) to run their programs but from the outside looking in I am content for at least a few more seasons to assume Matta knows significantly more about the value these guys bring to the table than those of us watching from outside the program. Boals in particular seems like a hell of guy who played the game, relates well to college kids, and has a true sense of what he wants a player to accomplish.
Focusing specifically on this year's squad, in the midst of a four-game losing streak to the likes of Texas-Arlington, Louisiana Tech along with Memphis along with a top-10 Virginia team that just ended with yesterday's win, the Thad detractors jumped on the poor free throw shooting, turnovers and concerns over player development.
No question all of these facets were a factor in the slow start, of course there's a high probability of having issues when the team sports seven freshmen and four sophomores as part of a 13 player roster.
And not only is Ohio State young but Matta is counting on the bulk of those kids to take on brand new and/or expanded roles from day one as he looks to replace what was lost by roster turnover including:
- Starting and backup primary ball handlers
- The only two players who averaged double figures in points
- Top three assist guys
- Three of top four rebounders
- 87% of assists
- 67% of minutes
- 65% of points
- 61% of rebounds
Unless you're a hoops factory like Kentucky or Duke, that's almost impossible to replace in the first few weeks of a new season.
Illustrating how the coaches are still defining, and the players still adjusting, to their individual roles and in playing with each other, five different players have led the team in scoring over the first seven games. Likewise, five different guys have led in rebounding.
The turnovers are another illustration of youth. Through the first six games OSU was one of the worst in the nation at protecting the rock with 15.7 miscues per game but in what is hopefully a sign of things to come they turned it over just nine times Saturday against VMI.
On the free throw shooting front, they came into yesterday's game at a B1G worst 59% clip but drained 15 of 19 against the Keydets (79%). That said, it's likely no coincidence that Daniel Giddens (5/18) missed the game as OSU's free throw percentage skyrocketed.
The reality is that Ohio State is absolutely in a transitional year and still has over 20 games to come together. Matta has some young pieces to work with in guys like JaQuan Lyle, Keita Bates-Diop, Jae'Sean Tate, Giddens, Austin Grandstaff and others.
The key to the season clearly appears to be Lyle. That's a good thing in that Matta has shown through guys like Conley, Russell and Craft that he can develop floor generals and Lyle needs major tutelage. He's got the frame and vision you want in a point guard but the early returns have been mixed.
He's averaging an impressive 6.0 assists per night and boasting a 2:1 assist/turnover ratio but his shooting, and by extension shot selection, has been dreadful at times leading to 38% from the floor and 29% from distance along with 56% from the stripe. If he can put even 10 percentage points on each of those metrics Ohio State will be much more competitive.
The young freshman isn't Matta's only challenge as he continues to seek consistency from Marc Loving, develop a more controlled reckless abandon from Tate, add polish to Giddens' offensive game and keep pushing Bates-Diop to develop that confident inside/outside scoring ability while seeking to understand the best way to insert his other pieces and parts to magnify their impact.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and clearly Ohio State hoops has been trending away from the heights experienced in 2007 through 2013 but it should be remembered those were some of the most successful times in the program's history.
If nothing else, Thad has earned the right to try and push the program back to elite status with full support from the fan base.
It's one thing to live in the past, it's quite another to forget it entirely.
