Ohio State Loses to LA Tech

[mathboy]

Lots of talent and not a clue what to do with it. 5 guys playing 1-on-1 with a team of seniors at LA Tech. Without an "Evan Turner" type, they are lost. Typical Matta coaching job. No adjustments to stop the dribble-drive that killed them all night. I had expected better.

 

[purdue4sure]

Lots of talent and not a clue what to do with it. 5 guys playing 1-on-1 with a team of seniors at LA Tech. Without an "Evan Turner" type, they are lost. Typical Matta coaching job. No adjustments to stop the dribble-drive that killed them all night. I had expected better.

I watched it. No concept of teamwork.

 

[TC4THREE]

I actually think Matta is a pretty good coach. Just goes to show most coaches will have down years if they coach long enough. Losing a stud player to the draft every few years might have caught up to him this year. Will be interesting to see if they get better throughout the year.

 

[StateStreet123]

Lots of talent and not a clue what to do with it. 5 guys playing 1-on-1 with a team of seniors at LA Tech. Without an "Evan Turner" type, they are lost. Typical Matta coaching job. No adjustments to stop the dribble-drive that killed them all night. I had expected better.

i watched about half the game. Was absolutely shocked at how easily Keita Bates-Diop was beaten off the dribble. His defense was Blackmon-esque. Really the first I have watched him play and this certainly may have been an aberration. Not a good sample size. Just remember when we were recruiting him hard and I expected to see better athleticism/effort than what was displayed last night.

 

[Dryfly88]

I actually think Matta is a pretty good coach. Just goes to show most coaches will have down years if they coach long enough. Losing a stud player to the draft every few years might have caught up to him this year. Will be interesting to see if they get better throughout the year.

Good recruiter, not a good in game coach. I have always thought his teams succeed with pure talent not good coaching. JMHO

 

[TC4THREE]

Good recruiter, not a good in game coach. I have always thought his teams succeed with pure talent not good coaching. JMHO

I don't totally disagree. I guess it all goes back to whether you consider recruiting part of coaching.

 

[boilerHup]

I actually think Matta is a pretty good coach. Just goes to show most coaches will have down years if they coach long enough. Losing a stud player to the draft every few years might have caught up to him this year. Will be interesting to see if they get better throughout the year.

I agree that Thad is a better coach than people give him credit for. I have watched him make adjustments on the fly to beat Purdue at Mackey. That said, doesn't it feel a little like he is starting to become what Rick Barnes was at Texas?

 

[Purdue Grad in Texas]

Good recruiter, not a good in game coach. I have always thought his teams succeed with pure talent not good coaching. JMHO

I understand where you're coming from, and I'm sure others have a similar opinion, but I have a slightly different take.

Matta is one of those coaches from a very good/top program with about as many varying opinions as you might find. JMHO, but I think he is a better tactician than many give him credit for. This might be splitting hairs I suppose, and some of his in-game adjustments may not be the best, but he did very well with Butler and Xavier before Ohio State, and that wasn't because of better talent. He had a really good run in the 2004 NCAA tournament with a 7th seeded Xavier squad, schooling some higher seeded teams along the way.....and almost knocking off Duke in the Regional Final.

He's certainly recruited quite well with Ohio State, and that may be his best skill, but I disagree that it's just simply role the ball out there. Yes, his best teams have had the right mix of top-rated players and experienced players (like Diebler and Lighty and then Craft).....but they've been more consistent over a number of years to just survive on talent alone. I will say, though, if his game-plan isn't working, he does have some limitations. So, maybe, I'm disagreeing with more your second sentence. In my view, there's more to "coaching" outside of recruiting than just in-game management and adjustments.

 

[Purdue Grad in Texas]

I agree that Thad is a better coach than people give him credit for. I have watched him make adjustments on the fly to beat Purdue at Mackey. That said, doesn't it feel a little like he is starting to become what Rick Barnes was at Texas?

I can see the comparison to Rick Barnes @ Texas, and even though football is clearly king at both schools, Matta has much more of a commitment from his institution and the fanbase than what happens in Austin, which is a story for another day and to me is a huge mistake. Early draft entries really hurt Rick Barnes.....but when you have players like Aldridge, Durant, Augustine, Gibson, Tucker, etc.....and don't get the expected results.....people start to lose interest I guess. OT....I think Smart will eventually do well, but Texas could have handled Barnes' departure a lot better.

 

[Dryfly88]

I understand where you're coming from, and I'm sure others have a similar opinion, but I have a slightly different take.

Matta is one of those coaches from a very good/top program with about as many varying opinions as you might find. JMHO, but I think he is a better tactician than many give him credit for. This might be splitting hairs I suppose, and some of his in-game adjustments may not be the best, but he did very well with Butler and Xavier before Ohio State, and that wasn't because of better talent. He had a really good run in the 2004 NCAA tournament with a 7th seeded Xavier squad, schooling some higher seeded teams along the way.....and almost knocking off Duke in the Regional Final.

He's certainly recruited quite well with Ohio State, and that may be his best skill, but I disagree that it's just simply role the ball out there. Yes, his best teams have had the right mix of top-rated players and experienced players (like Diebler and Lighty and then Craft).....but they've been more consistent over a number of years to just survive on talent alone. I will say, though, if his game-plan isn't working, he does have some limitations. So, maybe, I'm disagreeing with more your second sentence. In my view, there's more to "coaching" outside of recruiting than just in-game management and adjustments.

Fair enough. Maybe I'm too harsh on my opinion of him.

 

[Purdue Grad in Texas]

Fair enough. Maybe I'm too harsh on my opinion of him.

Hey.....everybody's entitled to their opinion. We can disagree; nothing wrong with that.....I'm just going off my observations and Matta's reaction:

 

[Boilermaker]

We can all agree on this, Matta is the undisputed champ of most distinguishing nose in all of Div 1 basketball (in all of BB?)

 

[SpamMan58]

I've changed my mind about Matta over the years. I've concluded he is a good coach, and I agree with most of the astute observations of others who have posted. I used to believe he was simply a recruiter who rolled the ball out. But I think he is more than that. I believe the Texas/Rick Barnes analogy is spot on. Matta and Barnes have become victims somewhat of their recruiting successes. Matta has gotten a series of short-term stars that put them in the Top 10 every year....but not gotten him to the summit. The best "system" for each of those stars is to dominate the ball. So in that sense, I've concluded they are "good" coaches. They do in the moment what gives their team the best chance to win.

The downside to this approach was covered......if you keep coming up a bit short, then you can stall because you're at a football school. You become so used to using a "ball dominant" system, and you may even sell it during recruiting.....but when it doesn't work....the result can be pretty ugly. And since you're at a football school with the short-term star system, the fan base can be pretty fickle. You haven't generated consistent longer-term program identity with players that stick around (ala Chris Kramer, Rob Hummel, Brian Cardinal, E'Twan Moore, etc) and you are not in the Final Four consistently.....you become fairly unappreciated. This is what happened to Rick Barnes. It could happen to Matta as well if OSU has 2 down years in a row.

It's not necessarily rational or "fair".....but at the same time, these guys are paid millions, and it's the deal they make with themselves, their AD, etc.

 

[Heller]

Lets talk recruiting, development and game. He's great at the first, decent at the second, but in game he really loses a lot of games he should win. He's had better talent than anyone else in the Big and while he's done okay, he should have probably three final fours. There is a reason Titus took shots at his coaching style and it's because he's not very flexible in his approach. Plus he relies on about six players a year and any injury to those six and he has no backups ready.