Ohio State: Building a Basketball Powerhouse

The Ohio State University has always been known as a football school. On fall Saturdays, everywhere you look, there are scarlet and gray jerseys and shirts on everyone from baby girls to elderly grandparents. Sure, Ohio State has some basketball history, mainly from the days of Fred Taylor, Jerry Lucas, and John Havlicek, but basketball never came close to threatening football in popularity or success. However, nowadays it seems like Thad Matta is ushering in a golden age of Ohio State basketball, with almost unlimited potential for how high this program can grow.

Already, Matta has brought a winning mentality to Ohio State that hasn't been here since the days of Jimmy Jackson. In the last two years, Ohio State has won back-to-back outright Big Ten championships, something that hasn't happened since Ohio State won three titles in a row from 1959-1962. In fact, Ohio State only won one outright Big Ten title (1991-1992) from 1971 to 2005. That means that Matta has won more outright Big Ten titles already than Ohio State did in the 34 years preceding him. Last year Matta won the title with a bunch of players that simply bought into his system and believed in what he was teaching. This year, Matta won the title with the help of freshmen from the best recruiting class Ohio State has ever seen. And that's what truly makes Matta and this growing Ohio State program special: recruiting.

Consider these facts. In a four year span from 2002 to 2005, Ohio State recruited just ten players, which included zero 5-star prospects and 5 four-star prospects. Only five of those ten players even stayed with Ohio State, as the other five either dropped out or transferred. That means that 0% of Ohio State's recruits were 5-star prospects and 50% were 4-star prospects. Thad Matta has recruited three full classes for Ohio State in his time here (class of 2006, 2007, and 2008). In those three classes, the Buckeyes have signed an astounding 8 (8!) 5-star recruits, and 7 4-star recruits. They have signed 15 players total. That means that 100% of Ohio State's recruits three seasons in a row are at least four-star recruits, and more than half of them are 5-star recruits. The Buckeyes have gone from getting no 5-star recruits to averaging almost three 5-star's a year in the blink of an eye.

The way that Matta is doing all of this is even more incredible. He is telling these kids that if they go to Ohio State, they will win championships. And even better, they are doing just that and actually winning championships. Obviously, the 2006 class was Matta's absolute best job recruiting. To immediately step into a new job, and recruit 3 5-star players, including the player who was considered the best high school big man since Bill Walton, was remarkable. He completely sold those players on his belief. The players could have gone anywhere in the country, but they chose to go to a football school like Ohio State because the coach was able to convince them of his vision.

Things haven't slowed down since that 2006 class. The 2007 class is a top ten class also (#9 on Scout, #6 on Rivals) and includes McDonald's All-American 7-2 center Kosta Koufos. In addition to Koufos, Matta signed four 4-star players, all of whom are 6-5 or taller, and all of whom have the ability to contribute immediately. Even though signing day isn't until November (over 8 months away) Matta has already managed to sign a complete 2008 recruiting class that could potentially be as good or even better than the 2006 class. Four members of the 2008 class are 5-star players that are ranked in the top 25 recruits in the country. Included in that group are the #2 center in the country, BJ Mullens, the #3 shooting guard in the country, William Buford, the #3 point guard in the country, Anthony Crater, and the #10 power forward (and #20 overall prospect), Luke Babbit.

At this point, the only thing that could potentially sidetrack Ohio State is that they almost have an excess of amazing talent. Every single player they recruit now has the ability to play right away, but that just won't be able to happen. Nonetheless, the Buckeyes will be supremely talented for a long, long time. Even if (when) Oden leaves after this season, Ohio State definitely won't need to panic. When you get the top 7-foot center in the country three years in a row, as Ohio State has done, there's not much to worry about at that position. Just imagine the potential lineups for the next two years. Next season: Starting lineup: Mike Conley, Jamar Butler, Dequan Cook, Othello Hunter, Kosta Koufos. Bench: David Lighty, Matt Terwilliger, Dallas Lauderale, Jon Diebler, Evan Turner, Eric Wallace. That team goes 11-deep with talented players. Then consider what the roster will look like two years from now (even if Cook leaves to go to the NBA after two seasons): Conley, Koufos, Lighty, Lauderale, Diebler, Turner, Wallace, Mullens, Buford, Crater, Babbit, and Walter Offutt. That's 12 players on one roster that were either 4 or 5-star recruits coming out of high school. That is simply a ridiculous statistic. If these players continue to grow as players and Matta recruits half as well as he's been recruiting, the Buckeyes can be a serious Big Ten and national title contender for many years to come.

As you can see, the Ohio State basketball program is on the rise as much as any program in the country and Ohio State is on the verge of becoming the next college basketball powerhouse. Ten years from now, people could be talking about Ohio State is the same context as Duke, UCLA, North Carolina, Kentucky, etc. As long as Matta, possibly the best college basketball recruiter ever, is the head coach, I don't see anything stopping this program from reaching that level. So enjoy this golden age of Ohio State basketball, as it may be something that you one day tell your grandchildren about.

Ohio State 49, Wisconsin 48

Not the prettiest game of all time, but it had an ending that, at least for me and other OSU fans, made up for the rest of the relatively sloppy game. Overall, the game turned out pretty much how I expected it to, with Ohio State gaining a slight lead early, Wisconsin coming back late to overtake the Buckeyes, and then the Bucks pulling out a close one in the end. The one aspect of the game that I totally didn't expect was how low scoring it was. Some people will say that this was an ugly game, like Gregg Doyel over at cbs.sportsline.com, while most Big Ten fans will argue that it was simply a hard-nosed, physical, defensive battle. Personally, I'm somewhere in between these two. While I don't think either team played their best, or even played very well, it was still an overall exciting game between two obviously very talented teams. Right now, neither team is the best team in the country, but with a hot streak and a little luck, both teams have the potential to cut down the nets in Atlanta. Oden was very unimpressive in this game, and in a way it showed that he will not be completely ready for the NBA next season. If he can be pushed around and defended physically by no-name post players on Wisconsin, he will not be able to dominate the centers and power forwards in the NBA. Also, Dequan Cook's silence lately has become a little alarming, as he was one of the Buckeyes most reliable scorers early in the season. Ivan Harris showed again why he's called "The Microwave", Mike Conley showed again why he could be next Chris Paul in college basketball, and Ron Lewis finally got back to his game of driving to the hoop and drawing fouls, as opposed to shooting deep fadaway three-pointers. Overall, a very good win, especially for the four players on the team who can now say that they were a part of the first Ohio State basketball teams to win back-to-back outright Big Ten titles since 1962.

This game should aid the Buckeye in their quest for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, and I think that simply getting to the finals of the Big Ten tournament should be enough to clinch a top seed. Not only that, but with North Carolina and Florida falling this weekend, OSU has a chance to the top seed in the whole tournament. The two biggest factors in Ohio State's case to be seeded higher than those two teams are that they head into the postseason on a big winning streak, and OSU's losses (at Florida, at UNC, at Wisconsin) are much higher quality losses than some of North Carolina's (at NC State, at Virginia Tech, home against Virginia Tech, at Maryland) and Florida's (at Florida State, at Vandy, at LSU). Right now, I think that the only team that would be seeded ahead of the Buckeyes is UCLA, and UCLA still has away games at Washington State (a very tough place to play this season) and Washington and then the tough Pac-10 tournament to get through. If UCLA slips up at any point and Ohio State wins the Big Ten tourney, I think OSU will get that top seed. This is extremely important because, in my opinion, there are seven teams (Ohio State, UCLA, Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Texas A&M) that are head and shoulders above the rest of the country. I would much, much rather face Memphis or Washington State in the Elite 8 than Florida, Kansas, or Texas A&M.

Ohio State-Wisconsin Preview

#1 Ohio State vs. #2 Wisconsin Preview
This is the most-hyped regular season Ohio State basketball game in recent memory. Although Wisconsin took a little bit of the hype away with their loss at Michigan State on Tuesday, tickets to the game are still going for $125 for the worst seats in the house. It could even be argued that now the game has more even importance to the teams than it did before. Now that Wisconsin has two losses in league play, they know that one more loss will take away any chance they had for even a split Big Ten title. And Ohio State will be just as motivated, partly for the revenge factor, partly for the Big Ten title, and partly because with The Schott rocking the way it's going to be, it will be impossible for them not to be motivated.

In the first game between these two teams, Wisconsin thoroughly outplayed Ohio State, and a flurry of three pointers in the final minutes made the 72-69 score seem much closer than the game actually was. Wisconsin effectively took Greg Oden out of the game, and the peremiter players weren't able to make the Badgers pay for it. I think that two factors in particular will push this game into the Buckeyes favor if Wisconsin plays them the same ways they did last time. First of all, Oden has so much more game experience under his belt now that I simply cannot fathom him being held down the way he was last game. Also, the way the Badgers defended Mike Conley the first time around was that they played off of him, let him shoot the three pointer if he wanted to, and tried to stop the drive as much as possible. Even though he was absolutely no threat from three-point range in that game, to me it was one of Conley's most impressive games of the season, as he was still able to get to the basket almost at will even with the defenders playing him only against the drive. Lately, Conley has become much more confident in his outside shooting, and his shooting been much improved. I think that if they play off him the same way this game, Conley will be able to look for his deep shot and also be able to hit it. If he starts making threes and defenders have to step up to guard him, getting to the basket will be even easier.

The toughest match-up for Ohio State in this game will obviously be Alando Tucker. He will most likely be guarded by an assortment of Ohio State players throughout the game, as Thad Matta will try to always keep a fresh defender on him. While the Bucks won't be able to completely stop Tucker, I believe they can, and will, contain him. However, the Badgers have other weapons such as Kammron Taylor, Brian Butch, Michael Flowers, and Marcus Landry. Ohio State cannot fall into the trap of focusing so much on stopping Tucker that they leave the other guys on the team open. Taylor and Butch in particular have the ability to have a big games. Another thing the Badgers have is their coach, Bo Ryan. Ryan knows how important this game is, and you can bet that he has done all he can to prepare himself and his team for the game. He wants to win a Big Ten title so badly for his senior class of players and knows he'll have to win in Columbus for it to happen.

Here is how I see the game going: I think it will be fairly even in the beginning and both teams settle into the rhythm of the game and the crowd gets warmed up. The Buckeyes will make a little surge in the middle of the first half and go into halftime with a lead. They will have another surge early in the second half and push the lead into double digits as they crowd threatens to blow the roff off The Schott. The Bucks will have a balanced scoring attack led by Oden and Conley, with Ron Lewis, Ivan Harris, Jamar Butler, and Dequan Cook also having solid games. However, Wisconsin's veteren players will not be fazed and they will slowly chip away at the lead. Tucker will be held to around 15 points, but Taylor, Butch and the rest of the supporting cast will make some big shots to keep Wisconsin in the game. Wisconsin takes the lead with a little under 2 minutes left in the games, but the Bucks battle back and re-take the lead under a minute. The young Buckeyes keep their composure down the stretch and pull out the victory with a final score of 74-70. And everyone in the country hopes for a re-match in the Big Ten tourney final.