Buckeye Blogger NetworkAs the regular season rapidly approaches we here at tBBC take the time to introduce you to the coaching staff and update you on their information. We all will also take the opportunity to express our opinions about said coaches and hopefully get your feedback in the comments section!
Head Coach. Thad Matta. It could be enough to simply say that all Coach Matta has done in his head coaching career is win atleast twenty games every season, but that doesn’t even do him justice. On top of that, he has had two teams in the final four, three-consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament “Sweet 16,” a fifth Big Ten regular-season crown and yet another drive toward a Big Ten postseason title by making the finals again! Currently has an overall head coaching record of 323-96.
Player wise he has coached two B1G POTY(Dials, Turner), six First Team B1G(Dials, Oden, Conley, Butler, Turner, Sullinger), three All-Americans(Oden, Turner, Sullinger), and has had seven first round NBA draft picks(Oden, Conley, Cook, Koufos, Mullens, Turner, Sullinger).
MATTA QUICK FACTS
In the most recent years at Ohio State, some people have wondered about the coaching job Coach Matta has done. I for one in the belief that he did one of his best coaching jobs last season and has an opportunity to follow that up with an even better one. This team has the talent to reload and give teams fits. Coach Matta is going to be missing one of his floor generals this season but there isn’t a better coach on the floor than Aaron Craft.
Coach Matta will win the Buckeyes a championship, the recipe is there and continues to grow. It’ll be a lot of fun watching how he develops this team and the lessons he will teach him. I am sure that the youngsters recall him kicking the veterans out of a practice last year. They also recall that they didn’t answer the call and coach Matta stuck to his guns with his veterans. Time will tell if he did do the best job of his career this season. Read More
To the victor go the spoils, and in this case, the winner of this mythical match up gets to face the Jerry Lucas led squad of 1960. When you look at the success of teams in Ohio State history we have covered every one of them in depth in this tournament. We have yet to have a game where the parallels were scary. For the Jim Jackson led 1992 team they played in one of the best all around era’s in college basketball history. For Mike Conley and Greg Oden, there was just one team that was clearly better in the Florida Gators.
The 1992 Buckeyes was very diverse and talented group that competed with every team in the nation. They had a transfer from Indiana in Lawrence Funderburke who contributed early and often and became an eventual starter that season. Jamaal Brown is still considered one of the best PG’s to play in Columbus and of course there’s Jim Jackson. I still believe if they hadn’t had the misfortune of facing TTUN for a third time that season they would have won it all.
The 2007 Buckeyes were instantly successful with incoming frosh Greg Oden, Michael Conley and Daequan Cook. The other two in that class were special as well and stuck around a little longer in Othello Hunter and David Lighty. Widely believed to be the best class to come in since Lucas, Havlicek and Nowell they took the fans on a great ride making it to the NCAA Championship.
What are to follow will be several comparisons of each team’s makeup. We will be including our opinions of each comparison with who has the advantage and at the end will be guest appearances. We hope you enjoy our tournament as we look forward to the outcome!
Dave’s back with a look at the guy behind the guy behind the guy for Buckeye hoops this year. You can get insight and wisdom from Dave in 140 character chunks here: @daverini
Voice Of Wisdom
I don’t know about you, but this is absolutely my favorite time of the year. Where college football, the NFL and college hoops collide bringing something great to watch almost every night. Couple that with the fact that Urban Meyer needed to buy a turn-style for the recruits piling in and it’s made for a great fall/winter. The cherry on top, which is sadly a distant second in discussion, is the leader of the men’s college basketball team – Thad Matta. Despite what ESPN tries to feed the nation, it’s a great time for Buckeye Nation because I believe that Thad is as good of a recruiter as Urban is, but just gets less attention for it because football always comes first. That’s another argument, for another time, in another bar.
Digging even deeper behind the incredible coach and recruiter that is Thad Matta, is Chris Jent. Much like what Thad has done for Buckeye hoops, I believe that Jent’s impact has been somewhat overshadowed by the many storylines that are evolving this season. It’s understood that he hasn’t been in his role long enough, but he still plays a very major part that doesn’t get nearly enough attention, in my opinion.
Admittedly, I was pretty young and never watched Jent while he was with the Buckeyes from ’88-’92, so I cannot speak from any personal viewpoint on his play. However, I do know that he was known as quite the hustler and “scrapper” during his tenure, not to mention that he’s 8th all time at OSU for his 38% 3-point shooting. Read More
Sometimes as a sports fan, you have to look for the diamond in the rough. With the football season nearly on it’s way and it’s off-season still flaring it’s ugly teeth at us, it’s good to have something bright and exciting happening in the world of Buckeye sports.
When Thad Matta added assistant coach Chris Jent to his staff, it might of been the best thing to happen to the program in quite some time.
Jent, who played for the Buckeyes from 88-92 has NBA experience as a player and a coach. Hired as the Director of Player Development by the Cavaliers in 2006, his work has seen him transform some of the best players in the game, including LeBron James, whose jump shot was improved dramatically thanks to Jent.
It’s that experience that has fans drooling, incoming recruits pumping their fists, and Thad Matta celebrating his best pull from the recruiting ranks in quite some time.
Jent, who originally returned to Columbus in 2006 to pursue his degree at Ohio State, planned on helping Thad Matta and his coaching staff while on campus.
But when current Lakers and former Cavs head coach Mike Brown called asking to borrow him for a few weeks, the budding of an NBA coaching future began.
But when the future is bright, it doesn’t mean it’s always the path to follow. For Jent, the realization of being at home hit the heart.
It also can’t be denied that Jent is one of the best coaches at the top level of basketball at making players better. Something that will translate well to the game of college basketball where coaches are handed raw talent and are in charge of turning them into standout players.
It also don’t hurt recruiting. Adding a former NBA coach, with contacts, and a relationship with LeBron James? Despite lacking any recruiting experience, It’s a promising outlook of even more national talent making it’s way to Columbus.
Do you feel lucky, Bucks?
For those Buckeye fans who are more than ready to talk some football, today was a good day.
First up, Ohio State Head Coach Luke Fickell joined Dan Patrick today and talked about his status,
Seemed a lot more relaxed than at the BTN Interview and press conference… although, the Taylor Swift things makes me a little nervous.
This afternoon, the “conversation” continued, as four members of the Ohio State football team met with the media for a scheduled time of Q&A. Unscheduled, and welcomed, were comments from Coach Fickell, who joined Buckeye Seniors Joe Bauserman, Mike Brewster, and Nate Oliver as well as John “The Sandman” Simon.
