The Front Row

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bennybuckeye said...

I've just about had it with the ridiculous drivel spewing from the mouths/keyboards of people who generally have never played basketball, watched basketball, or given a shit about basketball.

The only reason you care now is because Thad Matta has raised the level of play, excitement for the program, and expectations to a place where now you care and feel the need to critique what could be better regardless of being completely oblivious.

So let's really get into this as I see there are 3 buckets of people.

1- People who know we have a good thing and it's just a down year that many power programs have (aka normal and smart people)

2- People who are complaining 10 months removed from a Final 4 appearance while we are ranked in the top 25 (aka dipshits)

3- People in between but probably wouldn't be, but hey dipshits can be convincing (aka sheep)

Let's start off with some history.

2004/2005 - Inelegible team with very little talent. Team knocks off Illinois. Outperforms it's talent. Matta then closes huge recruiting class. Matta proves in under a year that he can coach up mediocre talent AND recruit a top level.

2005/2006- Second year with a motley crew of flawed talents. Team earns a 2 seed. Almost a 1 seed. All 5 starters make huge strides. Team gets a tough draw versus a team that would put Hibbert and Jeff Green in the NBA. Hibbert neutralizes our best player and clock hits midnight. A 2 seed losing early looks bad, but March is all about the matchups. This season is another feather in the cap of Matta.

2006/2007- We go to the title game and play arguably the best team over the last 15 years. Nuff said. Meanwhile another solid glass is lined up.

2007/2008- Conley and Cook leaving really puts this team in the hole. They compete but lose tight games similar to this year. Have to play a lot of zone. Defensively soft....lack of chemistry. Silver lining- this team almost implodes but finds its way in March. Finish playing best basketball of the year. Another great recruiting class is teed up once again. Not his best work, but I gave Matta a passing grade here based on the fact the team hit its stride on the home stretch.

2008/2009- Koufos leaves, Lighty gets hurt and Crater transfers. No depth, no point guard, and BJ Mullens proves to be a big project. Team rallies behind MUCH improved Lauderdale, Diebler, and Turner (none of which are big time recruits). Didn't have the horses but another team Matta has competing with top teams. Early exit in the tourney is a bit of a fluke mental breakdown. Given what we have, I'm fine with how this season played out. 2 straight years of defections and Lighty's injury really hurt.

2009/2010- Turner moved to PG. His injury costs Buckeyes shot at 1 seed. Team is great but is on the back of Evan Turner who has a poor tournament game. People are bitter. So am I. Can't win the big game is now the default slight on Matta. Meanwhile another great recruiting class. This team was more of a 4-5 seed who played beyond their capabilities mostly due to Turner.

2010/2011 - Best team ever. A joy to watch. Plays 1 bad game all year. It comes in the tournament. Can Matta not win the big one??????? Regardless another great recruiting class (on paper at least)

2011-2012- We get to the Final 4. A poor second half keeps us out of a Championship game. Down year recruiting wise.

2012- We are top 25 team in the best conference in the country with a tough schedule. Replacing our top 2 scorers is more difficult than imagined. Sophomore class doesn't improve as needed. Solid and great recruiting classes lined up.

Now for some facts:

Matta has had 8 full years. We qualify for tourney 6 of 7 years we are eligible which is on par with a top tier program. We are a 1 or 2 seed in 4 of those 7 years we are eligible with 2 final four appearances. Big 10 titles? Yeah we got those too.

So let's start with this huey about not winning the big one. I am of the thought like many others that in sports, the playoffs (or at least the final rounds of the playoffs) are basically a crap shoot. In many ways the last 2-3 games are coin flips. Just getting to these coin flips is an achievement and we've won our fair share.

Can't win the big one is just something the peanut gallery jumps on. We did it for Tressel before Oregon and Arkansas. You could say it for Belichick of late or Roy Williams and even Phil Jackson for the first half of their careers. Almost all coaches who can get to the big ones consistently and have just lost a couple in a row or 3 out of 4, or whatever can most definitely win the big ones, they've just run up against a good team with a good coach who just got the better of them.

The losses to Kentucky and Tennessee stick out a bit, but both those teams played above expectations as has almost all Matta teams. For every painful loss there is probably 2x big wins that have somehow been wiped from your memory.

Now for some reality:

- We're not Duke or UNC. We don't have Dicky V with a huge erection promoting our school on ESPN. Michael Jordan did not go to school here and James Naismith is not buried here nor did John Wooden coach here. Our brand is football and a quick peak at the programs at Texas, Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia Tech, etc, shows we're doing pretty damn good job. If you don't think we're recruiting well or that it's an issue, I don't really know what I can tell you other than that you are a fucking moron. Yes recruiting has got tougher, but HELLO....the Big 10 has certainly improved a good deal the last 5 years. The people who bitch here the most are most likely 20 -30 years removed from having a Christmas list of expensive as toys when their parents were barely paying the mortgage and still complained when they got a pretty good haul of goods. In a perfect world, anyone who brings up us "missing" on Trey Burke going forward given should receive a sweet chin music kick to the face from HBK.

- More than likely you don't know shit and I mean it like this:

A year ago there was a large contingency of dipshits who thought benching Buford would be a good idea. Yes, his play was inconsistent but that would mean he would be on the bench in favor of sharpshooters like Thompson and Scott (remember this would be last year's version of those guys). Now there are people and some of the same people that are trying to tinker with the lineup to takeaway minutes from Scott and Thompson. Some even suggesting more minutes for Della Valle and Mcdonald. So yes....basically in this alternate universe Della Valle and Mcdonald > Scott and Thompson > William Buford a top ten in school history scorer.

Then there are the people who freaked out that Matta has only won 47% of his games versus ranked opponents. Meanwhile Coach K is at 52%. Ohhhh the agony of having a coach who wins 1 less game out of 20 versus ranked opponents than the best coach in the game.

The same people who freakout when we sign a big guy who days later becomes a top 100 recruit but flip out because at the time, he's not.

Another case in point, people who scream bloody murder when Matta didn't call timeout our final possession versus Kentucky 2 years back. Hmmm somehow I don't recall this being an issue versus Xavier in the tourney.

The fact of the matter is, essentially not knowing shit is one thing. Pretending your Jay Bilas when you don't know shit is another. A lot of this board just isn't familiar with basketball and that's beyond fine. But when we hit a tough patch and you try to grasp onto any small hint of a problem you can like it's the silver bullet to all of our problems and Matta is a moron for not implementing said solution, you look like an idiot.

- Basketball is not football. There are not 85 scholarships. A miss, a transfer, a guy leaving early, an injury, etc.....all big time hits to the program and team. Even worse, these guys are WAY MORE high maintenance. They don't want to sit, don't want to wait, don't want to redshirt, don't want to play defense, don't want to pass, don't want to fight through screens, don't want to practice free throws, etc etc

Matta runs a tight ship and yet we hold it against him. There is a reason guys have improved consistently under Matta and that's because he won't reward guys who aren't doing the little things. Shot selection, defense, effort, etc...... Matta is the reason guys FT shooting improves, lazy defenders become above average over time, and why we have one of the best defensive teams in the country. All this said, Matta being too rigid is held against him when blue chippers sit ahead of guys doing the little things right.

- We're not going to do better than Matta. Maybe you can come up with 5 better coaches. But 10 aint happening and the guys on either list aren't coming here. When you're banging a chick out of your league part of the joy of that comes from KNOWING that you are banging a chick out of your league and not masturbating to Brazzers thinking what if....

- This year's not even over and this team will be measured by it's post season play. The Big Ten is brutal this year and we have a tough schedule and didn't get the benefit with a solid test in the early season versus a top 25 marquette team. We had 3 moral type victories on the road against top teams in Michigan, Duke and MSU. If we won 2 of those games or all 3, we'd be singing a much different tune. On a neutral court we still have a punchers chance against many of the top 10 teams.

I am just as frustrated as you guys about the last 4 games, but I have the sanity of context and perspective that even top programs have bumps in the road. Kentucky and UNC might not even make the tourney this year. Shit happens. Doesn't mean we have to burn someone at the stake. I'll take being a 1-2 seed every other year under Matta and you are bat shit crazy if you think better options and higher standards are warranted.

If you can't enjoy/support the Matta era, then I don't know what to tell you. We should give you all your own message board area on bucknuts.

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