College Basketball 2013-14

[Kingspoint]

Mike Montgomery is an underrated coach, IMO. I've often wondered what he could do at a school with a ton of resources, such as UCLA or Indiana.

Have got to agree with that.

[dubc47834]

Mike Montgomery is an underrated coach, IMO. I've often wondered what he could do at a school with a ton of resources, such as UCLA or Indiana.

Montgomery was rumored to be in the hunt for the IU job before Crean was hired. I like Crean, but I thnk Montgomery would have been a good hire also.

[bucksfan2]

Frustrated about OSU's performance over the past two games and even more frustrated at Thad's coaching. He made coaching errors in both the Iowa and Minnesota games. In the Iowa game he went with a terrible rotation with OSU up 8 in the 2nd half. Iowa proceeded to go on a big run and pull away late. Then against Minnesota he spent the better half of 5-8 minutes with a lineup on the court that was maddening. He went small putting Loving in there instead of Williams. But then he kept that same lineup in the game when Minnesota started pounding it inside and OSU couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

I knew that OSU was going to struggle offensively this season. I knew their #3 ranking was a little elevated but there is no excuse for losing to Iowa at home and Minnesota on the road back to back. There is no excuse for Thad keeping Lenzell Smith on the court when he is cold and making bad decisions. There is no excuse for not having a guy on the roster not named Ross who can hit an outside shot. Thad needs to coach better, mix and match lineups, get Smith out when he is chucking up bad shots and turning ball over. Get Williams into the game when they are getting dominated in the post.

[traderumor]

Frustrated about OSU's performance over the past two games and even more frustrated at Thad's coaching. He made coaching errors in both the Iowa and Minnesota games. In the Iowa game he went with a terrible rotation with OSU up 8 in the 2nd half. Iowa proceeded to go on a big run and pull away late. Then against Minnesota he spent the better half of 5-8 minutes with a lineup on the court that was maddening. He went small putting Loving in there instead of Williams. But then he kept that same lineup in the game when Minnesota started pounding it inside and OSU couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

I knew that OSU was going to struggle offensively this season. I knew their #3 ranking was a little elevated but there is no excuse for losing to Iowa at home and Minnesota on the road back to back. There is no excuse for Thad keeping Lenzell Smith on the court when he is cold and making bad decisions. There is no excuse for not having a guy on the roster not named Ross who can hit an outside shot. Thad needs to coach better, mix and match lineups, get Smith out when he is chucking up bad shots and turning ball over. Get Williams into the game when they are getting dominated in the post.

This team is in trouble. There are no consistent shooters, so everyone is just zoning them and laughing.

[Boston Red]

Creighton is fun to watch when they're on. Not so much when you're a fan of the team they're playing, of course.

[reds1869]

Creighton is fun to watch when they're on. Not so much when you're a fan of the team they're playing, of course.

The way they dismantled Nova was impressive. The Big East race is going to be exciting.

[RedTeamGo!]

OSU will most likely correct itself and make the tourney, but boy is this terrible to watch.

[bucksfan2]

OSU will most likely correct itself and make the tourney, but boy is this terrible to watch.

Its awful. We all knew they would have trouble scoring but I can't overlook the pitiful job Thad has done lately.

Last night he watched the game go from a 1 point deficit to a 14 point deficit without using any of his time outs. He was going to lose one time out regardless at half. Then in the 2nd half he watched the game spiral out of control without using a TO. He did the same in both the Iowa and Minnesota games. Also last night late in the game the announcers said that Nebraska didn't shoot the 3 all that well, why not go to a zone? Bring Amir in and defend the basket. Oh and someone please tell Q to take a little more time shooting FT's, his shot is too good to miss as many as he does.

Aaron Craft has been my favorite college basketball player ever to watch. Right now he needs to be sat down for a little bit. He is pressing too much and making terrible turnovers. The development of his shot has been disappointing to say the least.

[RedTeamGo!]

Can't sit Craft, he just needs to work through it.

Matta is an interesting case. I have been saying for years he is a terrible in-game coach, but he is one of the best, if not the best, recruiters in college basketball. I do not consider Williams, Self, Coach K, Calipari (at kentucky) as great recruiters because they can just call kids up and say "Hey, Rasheed Wallace, want to play for UNC?" OSU is historically a good bball program, but when Matta took over they were never serious contenders and rarely had great recruits. Since Matta has taken over we have seen multiple legit NBA prospects come and go. A trend I have noticed when OSU plays good competition though is OSU goes into halftime with a lead and while the other coach is making adjustments Matta either refuses to or is incapable. This has a tendency to result in OSU looking bad in the 2nd half. Every year part of me (my heart) wants OSU to move on from Matta after disapointing tourney runs, but the other part of me (my brain) understands OSU would most likely struggle without his recruiting expertise.

[CoachBombay]

Frustrated about OSU's performance over the past two games and even more frustrated at Thad's coaching. He made coaching errors in both the Iowa and Minnesota games. In the Iowa game he went with a terrible rotation with OSU up 8 in the 2nd half. Iowa proceeded to go on a big run and pull away late. Then against Minnesota he spent the better half of 5-8 minutes with a lineup on the court that was maddening. He went small putting Loving in there instead of Williams. But then he kept that same lineup in the game when Minnesota started pounding it inside and OSU couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

I knew that OSU was going to struggle offensively this season. I knew their #3 ranking was a little elevated but there is no excuse for losing to Iowa at home and Minnesota on the road back to back. There is no excuse for Thad keeping Lenzell Smith on the court when he is cold and making bad decisions. There is no excuse for not having a guy on the roster not named Ross who can hit an outside shot. Thad needs to coach better, mix and match lineups, get Smith out when he is chucking up bad shots and turning ball over. Get Williams into the game when they are getting dominated in the post.

Maybe they need a real coach. One who gets them to pick up the trash in front of the net. One who turned a winless District 5 team into the world renowned Mighty Ducks. May not no much about basketball, but winning comes naturally

[bucksfan2]

Can't sit Craft, he just needs to work through it.

Matta is an interesting case. I have been saying for years he is a terrible in-game coach, but he is one of the best, if not the best, recruiters in college basketball. I do not consider Williams, Self, Coach K, Calipari (at kentucky) as great recruiters because they can just call kids up and say "Hey, Rasheed Wallace, want to play for UNC?" OSU is historically a good bball program, but when Matta took over they were never serious contenders and rarely had great recruits. Since Matta has taken over we have seen multiple legit NBA prospects come and go. A trend I have noticed when OSU plays good competition though is OSU goes into halftime with a lead and while the other coach is making adjustments Matta either refuses to or is incapable. This has a tendency to result in OSU looking bad in the 2nd half. Every year part of me (my heart) wants OSU to move on from Matta after disapointing tourney runs, but the other part of me (my brain) understands OSU would most likely struggle without his recruiting expertise.

I think Thad is one of the best coaches in the game when you take into consideration everything. When you take into consideration recruiting, development, results, and game coaching. What bothers me with Thad is he doesn't really actively manage a game. He is a "stay the course" type of coach, he doesn't make quick changes, doesn't change the style of play often, sticks with a rotation for too long.

IMO all three games they lost should have been won if Thad would have meddled in the game a little more. In the Iowa game, Iowa went from down 9 to grab a lead when OSU had a bad group of the floor. He had both Loving and Della Valle in the game at the same time. He waited too long to do anything and all of the sudden a 9 point lead was a 5 point deficit. Thad spent the better half of a big Minnesota run with a group on the court that couldn't find the basket if it was pointed out to them.

The Nebraska game really highlighted where I think Thad needs work. At the 6:18 mark it was a 20-21 game. Over the next 4 minutes Nebraska went on a 13-0 run to stretch without using one of his 5 time outs. Without using a time out that was going to go away at half time regardless. I don't know if it would have mattered, he could have changed the lineup, gotten an offensive play called, changed the flow of the game but he didn't. This team needs to be coached. This team needs help getting the best 5 players on the court on any given night. This team needs a coach who is going to realize when a game is slipping away and try and stop the momentum. In watching the games you can feel it start to slip away. In the past Thad has let his players play through those rough patches, this team looks like it is unable to do so.

[WVRed]

Can't sit Craft, he just needs to work through it.

Matta is an interesting case. I have been saying for years he is a terrible in-game coach, but he is one of the best, if not the best, recruiters in college basketball. I do not consider Williams, Self, Coach K, Calipari (at kentucky) as great recruiters because they can just call kids up and say "Hey, Rasheed Wallace, want to play for UNC?" OSU is historically a good bball program, but when Matta took over they were never serious contenders and rarely had great recruits. Since Matta has taken over we have seen multiple legit NBA prospects come and go. A trend I have noticed when OSU plays good competition though is OSU goes into halftime with a lead and while the other coach is making adjustments Matta either refuses to or is incapable. This has a tendency to result in OSU looking bad in the 2nd half. Every year part of me (my heart) wants OSU to move on from Matta after disapointing tourney runs, but the other part of me (my brain) understands OSU would most likely struggle without his recruiting expertise.

I think Matta has slipped some in the recruiting department. When Matta first came to Columbus, he capitalized on Indiana being down and to a lesser extent Kentucky as well. Does anybody think Tom Crean would have let Oden and Conley out of the Hoosier State? Or Calipari vs Thad for their services. There have been others, namely Koufous, Mullens, Thomas, and Sullinger, but it seems like recruiting is tightening up a bit and Ohio St is suffering as a result.

[bucksfan2]

I think Matta has slipped some in the recruiting department. When Matta first came to Columbus, he capitalized on Indiana being down and to a lesser extent Kentucky as well. Does anybody think Tom Crean would have let Oden and Conley out of the Hoosier State? Or Calipari vs Thad for their services. There have been others, namely Koufous, Mullens, Thomas, and Sullinger, but it seems like recruiting is tightening up a bit and Ohio St is suffering as a result.

I don't know if I would go that far. It is no secret that Thad got both Connely and Oden because Mike Davis screwed that up. I think a couple of things happened that put OSU in the current situation.

The 2011 class hasn't performed the way many expected it to. Scott, Thompson, and Williams never developed the way many had expected them to. It is even more glaring on the offensive end where those three can struggle to score. The 11 class was supposed to be good, very good, but the inconsistency of those players is maddening.

Secondly there hasn't been a rebuild. There hasn't been a time where the young guys could grow. They haven't had a period where the young guys could learn and develop. Since Sullinger they haven't brought in an impact freshman that was ready to step in and play. Guys like Loving and Della Valle have had little impact on the team so far this season.

[Boston Red]

Thad did a fabulous job with much more limited talent at Xavier (check the '04 Elite Eight team post-David West). The guy can definitely coach and not just recruit (speaking of, he did a pretty awful job of recruiting at Xavier given the roster he turned over to Sean Miller).

[redsfan1995]

I think Matta has slipped some in the recruiting department. When Matta first came to Columbus, he capitalized on Indiana being down and to a lesser extent Kentucky as well. Does anybody think Tom Crean would have let Oden and Conley out of the Hoosier State? Or Calipari vs Thad for their services. There have been others, namely Koufous, Mullens, Thomas, and Sullinger, but it seems like recruiting is tightening up a bit and Ohio St is suffering as a result.

Sure the last few classes have been lacking talent but I don't think Matta has slipped. Look at the talent coming in next year two 5 star talents one a combo guard Russell and a small/power forward Bates-Diop who are pure scorers. Then a 4 star jaesean tate who will bring the same things to the table as a david lighty and should be a very good 4 year player.