Ohio State Basketball: Does Thad Matta Deserve Another Year?

What is the future for Ohio State basketball?

Should Ohio State basketball head coach Thad Matta get another year in Columbus, Ohio? That is a question on the lips of a lot of fans after a second bad year of basketball by the Buckeyes. This season, they couldn’t even make the NIT Tournament!

Last season was bad enough and may have weeded out the players that weren’t supposedly Buckeye material or want to play the way the coaching staff wanted them too. That said, this year Ohio State was even worse than last year’s team!

The only thing that can be said for this season’s Ohio State team is that they were consistently inconsistent! They played a couple good games and beat the eventual tournament champion, Michigan, twice. Also they beat Wisconsin once. Unfortunately, they also failed to do much else.

The Buckeyes had no leader and they acted like they were searching for one all year. The closest they came was Jae’Sean Tate, yet even he failed to be consistent.

More from Factory of Sadness

Part of the problem is that Matta and his staff has let good players from within the state slip to Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and others in the Big Ten conference. Not to mention, Ohio State also let Mr. Basketball from the last year, Luke Kennard from Franklin, Ohio go to Duke!

Losing out on him was very frustrating. He was is in the conversation for Player of the Year in college basketball!

Where are players like Evan Turner, Mike Conley, and Jared Sullinger? Those are the players that wanted the ball in crunch time and most of the time excelled at such crucial times.

Matta took Ohio State from the depths of disparity when he came in and turned the program around. He energized basketball at Ohio State and put it back on the map.

However, he and the program has been slipping lately and it needs a boost. A new influx of superior talent to reinvigorate the program is of need.

I am not sure athletic director Gene Smith can hold off the fans and alumni with another bad season of basketball. They need to show signs of improvement next year.

Next: It's Over For OSU Basketball

A national title would exceed expectations, but that is far from reality next season. Instead, seeing Ohio State getting back into the big dance would be appropriate and more realistic! The Buckeyes must improve from their current state as a bottom Big Ten team standings!

Home/Ohio State Buckeyes