As long as he stays around it's great for the BOBCATS and OUr recruiting of central OHIO ..

BANG !! .. Oh BABY what a BIG TIME nose !!

I will say this, the type of kids they're after versus ours are two different caliber of player. The one I argue we got away with snagging from Ohio St. is maybe Dartis, but otherwise there is one other kid that could still end up a Buckeye. I don't think I need to mention his name here but does someone want to check into him graduating on time this year and being eligible to do so?

Also, I will say that Matta is re-committing to recruiting in state, idk if he will be able to see it thru though.

Pressure in Columbus? Maybe, but I live in Cbus and I have not heard or seen it. What I have seen and heard is apathy. Example: Two weeks ago I was in a Frantz Road sports bar watching a weeknight OSU game. 35 screens (roughly) in the place, and the game was on 3 of them. No one was watching, no one was reacting. I may very well have been the only one paying attention.

Maybe there are some deep pocketed donors who care...

But a couple friends who do intently watch OSU games expect Thad will last at least 1 more year. They believe that after the season, AD Gene Smith will meet with Matta and will advise him of specific benchmarks he must meet next year.

Of course things could change, the Buckeyes could tank the rest of the way, and maybe Smith decides he has no choice. But as of now it does not look like he's under any pressure to do anything...

I think it's kind of funny how OSU basketball is in a little bit of a struggle for attention with the all of a sudden hot and popular NHL Blue Jackets. You know the Blue Jackets having a big year is driving Ohio State a little crazy.

Ohio State never offered a scholarship to Dartis, so we didn't shag him away from TOSU.

I assume you are talking about Simmons as the kid possibly graduating early. I have raised the question several times on this site. I have even texted Arkley to suggest he check his status. My own opinion is that if he does graduate early and decide to leave, he won't go to Ohio State. The team does not appear to have any better prospects next year. He would have a better chance at reaching the NCAA staying put. Arguably their second/third best player, center Trevor Thompson, is himself a possibility to graduate and leave...

It's not about just recruiting in state, it's about getting the right kids. Mark Loving was a Mr. Basketball at Toledo St. Johns, but he is a significant under achiever in Columbus. David Bell from Cleveland? He's not a Big 10 talent, certainly not on a team that would be expected to got deep into March.

What's really changed in the last 10 years, maybe the last 5, is that the really best kids, those ranked in the top 20-25 nationally who are also from Ohio, no longer consider Ohio State or most other schools other than the Blue Bloods. Wasn't so a decade ago with Sullenger, Mullens and the like...

Over the long term, they need to keep kids like Jeremiah Francis, who right now is a top 25 sophomore. Two years from now they have Dane Goodwin from Upper Arlington committed. He has let it be known, at least for now, that he's solid at OSU even if Matta is no longer there. I expect next year he will be a preseason top 30 kid. I have seen him play a dozen times or more the last two years, and in my opinion he would play meaningful minutes for OSU right now.

Matta is an extremely decent guy, from what I hear. Saw him in an airport once, flying Southwest (you think Urban Meyer flies Southwest?) and he was nice to everyone. For the most part, his kids haven't caused trouble.

I just wonder if the whole program hasn't gotten stale...and that only a change at the top will freshen it.

I am still smiling from a conversation a few weeks ago.

One of the Bucknut faithful intimated that they would have enough money to get rid of Matta and throw money at Holtmann to fill Matta's shoes.

That is the tO$U way it seems. Geoff was a good example of that.

Problem is .....what makes tO$U a better job than Butler and why would Chris leave a school where Hoops is king in a state where Basketball is king for a job where basketball is a second thought. I remember stopping in Dayton at a Jiffy Lube. Standing there with a fellow getting his Red over Grey Dodge truck serviced and hanging up the phone that had the Hang on Sloopy ringtone looking at his red and grey outfit complete with red shoes and grey shoestrings I made a remark about Coach Matta snagging a couple of Indiana 's best in Oden and Conley....his remark was "no one watches basketball around here".

Talking down as if Butler was still a mid major in the Horizon was laughable. They are a Big East school that is competing well against the current No 1 team in the country.... They are a rabid fanbase.

I am not sure who Matta's successor will be or where he will be from but I suspect it will not be Chris Mack or Holtmann. Lots of schools looking at Archie. Lots of schools looking at Cuonzo. I'm just not sure the fanbase at tO$U finds hoops important enough to demand a change just yet.

Agree with the comments on apathy. I live in Columbus and you never hear anyone talking about OSU basketball. Even when they were good a few years ago, the fan interest was very fickle and not very passionate. I went to the #1 vs #2 OSU vs Wisconsin years ago and the loudest the crowd got all game, by far, was when they introduced 2 new football recruits at half time.

For all they have going for their football fandom, their basketball support is terrible and trending downward. It'd be stupid for me to count out such an empire but I could easily see them fading into irrelevance.

You highlight a reason that I consider Columbus to be about as crappy of a sports town as there is. The bandwagon for OSU football has become so big, and so spoiled by success, that they forget that sometimes bad seasons happen in sports. No one in Cbus will support a team unless it's outstanding, the Clippers not included. It won't happen under Urban, but wait until OSU football goes 8-4 for a couple years, and see how many empty seats there are.

Their other problem is that they built the worst building in the Midwest for basketball, mostly because it's just too big. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely building, and the club areas are outstanding, but the atmosphere is still just okay.

The Schottenstein Center aka Value City Arena is a big part of this discussion. It was built before Nationwide Arena and the Blue jackets came to town. The thinking was besides high school basketball it could be a big money maker vis a vis big time concerts. However, unlike the building of the Convo in the late 60s, which supplied big time bands to Athens in the 1970s and early 1980s, the music scene just isn't the same anymore. While lots of bands come through Columbus, there is competition with Nationwide Arena for money making "classic rock" type of bands. Most up and coming bands wouldn't dream of playing there, they have their sights set toward smaller venues on campus or in the Arena District.

As others have mentioned, for basketball the atmosphere is hardly raucous. As I mentioned earlier, truth be told, a lot of coaches don't mind making that type of money Thad Matta makes and not feeling even a morsel of the heat that Urban Meyer feels when things don't go right. By now, it would seem that a lot of folks in Columbus have come to grips with the fact that as far as popularity is concerned, basketball is always going to be miles behind Ohio State football, and increasing even behind the Blue Jackets.

You do realize that the Schott has a concert or outside event about 2 a month and still host major acts. But whatever facts you'd like to believe, feel free.

Yes, and it's worked out very well for both venues.

Billy the Cat stated:

"You do realize that the Schott has a concert or outside event about 2 a month and still host major acts. But whatever facts you'd like to believe, feel free."


Actually Billy the Cat, I believe the facts linked below. One from 17 years ago, one from about seven years ago, and one from last year. It seems it isn't living up to hopes.


http://thelantern.com/2000/10/schottenstein-center-where-... /
http://blog.cleveland.com/buckeye-banter/2010/01/was_buil...
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/07/...

Buckeye to Bobcat, if you're correct and all three head coaches (Ohio State, Indiana and Illinois) get fired, Ohio State would probably pay the most with the least amount of stress. The other schools see basketball as bigger than football on their campus. I am still hopeful Coach Groce survives.