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2020-21 Buckeyes Basketball

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Well then recruit better? Either way, it's year 4.
Year 4 really isn’t that long in college hoops.

He took over a program that was trending in the wrong direction and has gotten them going back in the right direction.

Ohio State just isn’t a place that attracts elite talent from outside of Ohio in basketball. They need to find guys who are going to stay and grow for multiple years.

I think he’s done a good job of that so far. This year’s team didn’t suck, they got upset, but they were legitimately one of the top 15 teams in the country. Shit happens.
 
Year 4 really isn’t that long in college hoops.

He took over a program that was trending in the wrong direction and has gotten them going back in the right direction.

Ohio State just isn’t a place that attracts elite talent from outside of Ohio in basketball. They need to find guys who are going to stay and grow for multiple years.

I think he’s done a good job of that so far. This year’s team didn’t suck, they got upset, but they were legitimately one of the top 15 teams in the country. Shit happens.

I didn't say fire him this year.

But next year? If they're a 2nd round exit and don't really contend for Big 10 title? Then it needs to be discussed.
 
I didn't say fire him this year.

But next year? If they're a 2nd round exit and don't really contend for Big 10 title? Then it needs to be discussed.
I guess I just don’t really agree. I think his job is very secure and barring something crazy, will continue to be for quite some time.

Even if they have a year as you described next year, any talking of ousting him would be premature, in my opinion.
 
I guess I just don’t really agree. I think his job is very secure and barring something crazy, will continue to be for quite some time.

Even if they have a year as you described next year, any talking of ousting him would be premature, in my opinion.

only because expectations appear to be so low.
 
We need to recruit better period. I don't want to hear OSU can't recruit when Thad was bringing in top 5 classes.

We have a bunch of really good role players - we need a closer.

I think Holtmann is a great X's and O's guy but if he can't sell Ohio State, that's a problem.
 
I didn't say fire him this year.

But next year? If they're a 2nd round exit and don't really contend for Big 10 title? Then it needs to be discussed.

I’d like to hear who those people would replace him with.

You’re going to need a heavy hitting short list if you’re going to dump him and the work he’s doing in the next couple of classes.
 
We need to recruit better period. I don't want to hear OSU can't recruit when Thad was bringing in top 5 classes.

We have a bunch of really good role players - we need a closer.

I think Holtmann is a great X's and O's guy but if he can't sell Ohio State, that's a problem.
Helped that Ohio was flush with talent back then. Once the state went dry on talent, Matta wasn’t getting anybody.

I think there’s a good wave of talent coming through the state though. It’ll be interesting to see if he can keep the right guys home.

He got Branham, but Seth Wilson and Kobe Johnson are heading to WVU. For his sake, Branham better be the best of the three (I think he is FWIW). I also think Meechie has the potential to be a high level playmaker at some point.
 
Considering OSU missed the tourney completely the two years before Holtmann took over, I’d say expectations are reasonable.

As Holtmann continues to win, they’ll continue to rise, but he took over a program that was in the shitter.

The shitter? That's an overstatement. Thad lost his edge when his health ailed him but we literally were making runs in the tournament for years prior.

It's not an Ohio problem. Oden, Conley, Deshaun Thomas, hell even Laquinton (who was a BIG recruit) - none of those guys are in-state guys. Sure we kept the guys that were great in-state but Thad had mastered that Indiana pipeline as well.
 
We need to recruit better period. I don't want to hear OSU can't recruit when Thad was bringing in top 5 classes.

We have a bunch of really good role players - we need a closer.

I think Holtmann is a great X's and O's guy but if he can't sell Ohio State, that's a problem.
Between the next two classes, he has three top 60 guards committed or signed. Expecting them to land multiple five stars and one-and-dones just isn’t realistic.
 
The shitter? That's an overstatement. Thad lost his edge when his health ailed him but we literally were making runs in the tournament for years prior.

It's not an Ohio problem. Oden, Conley, Deshaun Thomas, hell even Laquinton (who was a BIG recruit) - none of those guys are in-state guys. Sure we kept the guys that were great in-state but Thad had mastered that Indiana pipeline as well.
Oden and Conley were coming regardless of Matta because of Daquean Cook (Dayton Dunbar), who they played AAU with. So, the local thing still played a big part in it.

Ohio State was in the shitter, I don’t know that that’s debatable. It doesn’t really matter why it was. They didn’t even get an NIT invite during Matta’s last season! The last four years of his tenure were a constant decline, and they didn’t make any runs. Holtmann had to rebuild the program’s image with recruits.
 
Oden and Conley were coming regardless of Matta because of Daquean Cook (Dayton Dunbar), who they played AAU with. So, the local thing still played a big part in it.

Ohio State was in the shitter, I don’t know that that’s debatable. It doesn’t really matter why it was. They didn’t even get an NIT invite during Matta’s last season! Holtmann had to rebuild the program’s image with recruits.
Also didn’t hurt that Indiana was a dumpster fire/on probation when Conley and Oden were recruits.

I also feel like people forget Matta’s second-to-last recruiting class in 2015 was a complete disaster where literally every member had transferred out within two years. It was bad.
 
It’ll be interesting to see what the seniors Young/Walker choose to do going forward. Would like to have Young back but concussion issues may be a problem going forward. While Walker is a great teammate/leader, I’m kind of hoping Meechie takes over as the point guard next year.
 
I think Walker has already announced he is gone. He has a small child and plans to try and play professionally ASAP I believe.

I’m anything but shocked by today’s outcome. This was one of the worst really good teams I can remember. That’s odd to say, but they just had a very low floor because of how inefficient Washington is. They were vulnerable to pretty much every team in the dance if he put up a patented 30% shooting night with 15 misses. As the year wore on, this went from a deep team that could overwhelm you with depth to gradually seeing player after player fall off the map. By the end, Ahrens, Town, Brown and Jallow were just guys in a jersey. Anything remotely productive from them felt like manna from heaven.

Liddell is very good, but he started pressing as the year went on and all too often got in the mode where he predetermined he was going to get a shot off or die trying late in games.

I’m not very impressed with Holtman. Still hasn’t got beyond the 2nd round. He was absolutely brutal in late games this year. He for some reason hitched his wagon to Washington’s decision making which is akin to letting a compulsive gambler manage your financial portfolio. The 2 seed looked sexy and was earned, but this team still only finished 5th in the conference and lost 10 games in a shortened season.

Ultimately, when you have sketchy guard play and no size, this team wasn‘t a serious threat. I thought they would peak at the Sweet 16 unless some really wonky things happened in their bracket, but I was mentally prepared for early disaster. They have just been unbelievably bad at finishing games all year, so unless they were up big going into the final 5 minutes, it was always going to get very uncomfortable.

I’m not ready to fire coach yet, but the lack of player development is concerning. That was a trademark of the Matta era and became impossible to ignore when the recruiting started to slip. It looks like Holtman is trending up in the recruiting side of things, which is much needed. Too many severely limited players that have not grown during their time on campus have been passing through Columbus lately. If your players are not improving each year, you better be bringing in top talent from the get go.
 
Bucks need a actual center and some scoring punch.
 

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