Big Ten Basketball 2022-23 Discussion

hoisted on your own petard here with the forum’s instagram integration :rofl: :saluting_face:

Holtmann for Thad Matta trade who says no

2 Likes

Is Thad recruiting well? I feel like this year is pretty uninspiring as far as the argument that he was going to rediscover some juice.

I know he got that Finley Bizjack kid who is destined to either be the greatest CBB player ever due to name alone or a total bust. But I think he’s pretty good. No idea outside of that but Bates was a good portal win even though they stink.

Just can’t stop laughing at the idea of both those guys returning to previous stops. OSU souring on Matta when they did was always crazy to me.

i feel like the way he said “sure” indicates that he thought the guy just said “thanks for answering the question” or something - it was like a syllable that just moves the conversation along after a pleasantry rather than an actual answer

Unbelievable that Butler beat out Northwestern and Iowa for a guy named Finley Bizjack.

2 Likes

I think it was the combination of his health and the decline. I also just don’t really have much confidence that he’ll get it back at this point. I know he’s only 55 but I need to see something change before I could buy into a big level up.

3 Likes

I applied the Finley Bizjack to my accounts payable and now late payments are a thing of the past!!!

10 Likes

I mean, it was kinda mutual. He missed the the tournament two years in a row (after a bit of a decline from his peak in the prior 2 years before that), explicilty because of his recruiting falling off…And his recruiting falling off has been pointed to not being able to devote the time necessary due to his back issues. I think even Matta agreed that he was not likely to recover from his fall off. It’s why he didn’t coach for half a decade.

Yep —

“What are you going to do to get this back on track?”
“To be honest, not enough my back is f’n killing me and I can’t walk.”
“It was a good run”

Maybe the outcome wasn’t a surprise but the general distaste toward Matta at the end of his tenure was. He ran the league for a decade during a time when Izzo/Beilein/Ryan/Painter/Crean (lol)/McCaffery (lol) were there. He had one year without 20+ wins in 18 seasons as a coach (his last, when Keita Bates-Diop missed 80% of the season), and it seemed like everyone thought they’d just fill his shoes with someone new and elevate the program. Holtmann had one season with 25 wins (his first year with upperclassmen KBD and JaeSean Tate leftovers) and has been essentially a 20-win coach with 10-15 losses ever since. Now Buckeyes fans are stuck with a team that’s recruiting well but has covered once in 14 games.

1 Like

This year has obviously been disastrous but I think Holtmann’s first five years were probably better than Matta’s last four years.

The 2018/2020/2021 teams were all legitimately really good teams I think.

OSU from 06 to 13 was really the class of the Big Ten. No argument there. That was the group that Beilein really had to overtake and those were some of the most memorable Big Ten teams his team played. There was also a clear drop off after that point IMO.

Matta was also a hilariously bad non-conference schedule for whatever that is worth. Rarely played MTEs despite having the baddest team on the block.

OSU hasn’t touched what Thad was for that decade, but I don’t think Holtmann really should have ever been expected to do that. I also don’t think Thad will ever come close to that again.

1 Like

Idk. I’m taking Matta’s last six years by any measure over Holtmann’s first six.

Wins:

31 - Matta
29 - Matta
25 - Matta
25 - Holtmann
24 - Matta
21 - Matta
21 - Holtmann
21 - Holtmann
20 - Holtmann
20 - Holtmann
17 - Matta (KBD injury pretty clearly swung this)
11* and counting - Holtmann

KP ranks at end of season:

2 - Matta
7 - Matta
8 - Holtmann
11 - Holtmann
16 - Holtmann
19 - Matta
19 - Matta
31 - Holtmann
44 - Holtmann
63 - Holtmann
73 - Matta
76 - Matta

Postseason finish:
F4 - Matta
E8 - Matta
R32 - Holtmann
R32 - Matta
R32 - Holtmann
R32 - Holtmann
R64 - Holtmann
R64 - Matta
Miss the tournament - Holtmann
Miss the tournament - Matta
Miss the tournament - Matta

Yeah, that’s why I said Holtmann’s last five compared to Matta’s last four. The program had clearly shifted and wasn’t the same basically after that Deshaun Thomas team.

Recruiting, results, everything started pointing downward. Still competitive, but no longer the top dog on the block.

I just think it is relevant context to point out that where OSU was at the end of Matta was very different than where it was when he was at his peak.

I also think that where OSU was was a product of Matta as much as it was a product of OSU, for whatever that’s worth.

I missed the quote and thought you were talking about Xavier Johnson and wondered what kind of redshirt business they had going on at Assembly Hall.

2 Likes

Taking the Penn State model to a new level!

yeah, you could convince me that exact sentence was said by @buckets12 in the JL discussion yesterday

4 Likes

It’s OK. Don’t be upset. They are Buckeyes fans.

5 Likes

Who would you rather have coach your program?

  • Chris Holtmann
  • Mark Turgeon

0 voters

2 Likes

This is a disgusting question. I love it.

9 Likes