(01-21-2014 01:10 PM)Overrated Wrote:  

(01-21-2014 12:28 PM)Cat-Man Wrote:  

(01-21-2014 11:16 AM)Overrated Wrote:  

(01-21-2014 10:22 AM)Cat-Man Wrote:  Uh-oh...looks like they better up the payroll!

I've always believed that Thad Matta is the most OVERRATED coach in the NCAA. He has NEVER built a program. He is the epitome of benefitting from someone else's players. He coached one year at Butler with Barry Collier's players. Had success and parlayed that into the XU gig. Skip Prosser left that program on solid ground with some good players. Ol' Thad milked those players for 3 short years to land the OSU job. We can all agree that OSU pretty much recruits itself, helping Thad land the #1 class and top recruit with Oden, Connelly, etc. Yet he still couldn't win it all.

If OSU just recruits itself, why weren't they anywhere near as good before Thad as they have been with him. They have performed like a top 7 or 8 program in the country 8 years. If that is overrated, count me in.

Putting aside the fact that the Big Ten was a tougher league before Matta arrived with guys like Knight, Keady, Izzo and the Fab Five. Jim Obrien took them to the Final Four, Won 2 Big Ten Championships and four 20 win seasons. Randy Ayers had them as a #1 Seed in the NCAA tourney in 1991 and 1992. Yeah...those days before Matta were TERRIBLE!

Thad Matta has never built anything.

Nowhere near as good as what they are accomplishing right now. And the Big 10 is better now than it has been in a long time. I'm just going to chalk this up to you not really knowing what you are talking about.

In 2002-3 OSU ranked 74th in KenPom under O'Brien. In 03-4, they ranked 137th. Oh by the way he was fired for cheating. That Final Four you speak of no longer exists.

Matta then took over. Here are the rankings that followed:

05: 30
06: 14
07: 2 (NC Game)
08: 30
09: 33
10: 7 (Sweet 16)
11: 1 (Sweet 16)
12: 2 (Final 4)
13: 7 (Elite 8)
14: 15

They never experienced anything like that consistency of being elite in the 2 decades before Thad. To say he hasn't built anything is somewhat ambiguous, meaningless and quite frankly totally wrong.

I responded to you questioning my comment about OSU recruiting itself. I provided examples of legitimate success before Matta by marginal (at best) coaches. As big of a school that OSU with the Name, finances and resources that they have. (recently pointed out by Mick). You'd have to be an idiot to not be able to attract good players in your sleep. So my point being...Matta isn't exactly starting behind the 8 ball. Never has, and probably never will.

Thad Matta has never built anything. But I'll chalk it up to you having some sort of an admiration for him. To each his own...