Factory Of Sadness
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Ohio State basketball: Keys to the Buckeyes’ breakthrough season

By Alec Hartman

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 20: Jae'Sean Tate
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 20: Jae'Sean Tate /
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NEW YORK, NY – JANUARY 20: Head coach Chris Holtmann of the Ohio State Buckeyes reacts from the sideline in the second half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers during their game at Madison Square Garden on January 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – JANUARY 20: Head coach Chris Holtmann of the Ohio State Buckeyes reacts from the sideline in the second half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers during their game at Madison Square Garden on January 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

Improvements in leadership, culture, and attitude have brought the Buckeyes back to their winning ways.

One of the major concepts of last season that made it about as difficult to watch as it was for them to play was their attitude. There was a certain aura about the team that projected a lack of motivation and desire to win. Much of this stems from a lack of leadership.

Many people tended to think it was Matta who was to blame for the issues surrounding team chemistry. That was true but to a much lesser extent than largely perceived. One of the only things Matta was solely to blame for was his tendency to condone the attitude or lack thereof from senior forward Marc Loving.

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Loving was the catalyst for the problems stemming from team culture. Matta remained content with Loving being in the starting lineup despite almost always being involved in a clash with Loving and his nonexistent desire to actually compete to win basketball games.

As one of the only seniors on the team, Loving was slotted into being a leader, which was a bad fit from the beginning. Loving was more of a lead-by-example type player rather than an emotional spark.

When his play on the court failed to rally the team, the slope only got steeper. From there, everyone played the blame game for the rest of the season between Matta, Loving, and others.

There were others that contributed to a share of the struggles as well. Similar to Loving, guard JaQuan Lyle was a great talent but much of his skill/athleticism was lost due to his lack of care for team chemistry. As a guard, the position calls for having possession of the ball for most of the game which includes making the most important decisions. This also translates to being the leader on the court.

It’s difficult to lead a team while making poor decisions. Lyle struggled badly with turnovers during his time with the Buckeyes. His attitude on and off the court also ended up hurting the team in the end which could possibly just have been Loving rubbing off on him.

Matta wasn’t the only member of last season’s team to exit. Loving ran out of eligibility and Lyle transferred. These moves gave the Buckeyes about as clean of a slate as they could ask for when it came to reshaping a troubled roster. The Buckeyes got significantly better following the end of last season without even having to play another game.

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