Jerod Smalley commentary: How apathy is Ohio State's biggest rival in men's basketball
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Sure … pile on.
It’s easy to pick at the scraps of Ohio State men's basketball after what was easily its worst performance of the season. When Northwestern comes into your building and does whatever it wants (as on Thursday in a 70-49 loss for the Buckeyes), it’s an appropriate time to take stock. And that stock is sinking.
It’s now a team fighting for its NCAA Tournament life, with a 15-12 record. The resume features some head-scratching wins (Texas, Kentucky, at Purdue) and some scalp-scathing losses (Northwestern, most notably). Shooting 32% from the field and 19% from 3-point range, as the Bucks did against NU, means you’d probably lose to anybody. This was Northwestern’s first road win this season.
The Bucks lead the Big Ten in 3-point shooting, but on nights where the 3s don’t fall, they lack a backup plan. It’s also a team that struggles with rebounding, especially on offense.
They do not lack talent. Bruce Thornton is not a perfect player, but he’s clearly the Buckeyes’ best and a guy capable of carrying his team. When John Mobley Jr. has his shooting touch, he makes the game look easy.
Jake Diebler is a first-year head coach, the next in line at OSU to try to breathe life back into the program. It’s hard to estimate how much that factors into the slump, but he certainly brings the intensity to grab his players’ attention.
They’ve proved they can hang, but that’s about it. And for fans, it’s just … (shrugs shoulders) … eh.
Let’s be clear: Ohio State basketball has been fighting one clear opponent, regardless of the program’s coach, for more than a decade.
Apathy.
I mean … does anyone really care about OSU basketball? The answer is clearly … yes. But it’s complicated.
There are thousands of hard-core Buckeyes fans who show up every game and every season. But when the program plays a distant (ok … extremely distant) second fiddle to the football program, it’s tough to get people to pay attention until after football is done. This year, the national champions played until Jan. 20, meaning some fans didn’t switch to basketball mode until the Big Ten season was a third of the way done.
As much turnover as rosters have in all college sports now, it really hits home in basketball. You could easily swap out three, four or all five starters each season, thanks to NIL interests and unlimited transfers. Fans learn who’s on the team well into the season.
And Buckeyes fans know all too well the deprivation of energy in Value City Arena. But I’ve been in that building for some of the most raucous atmospheres I’ve ever seen, and for much of the Thad Matta era you saw huge crowds and consistent juice. Yes, basketball was still second fiddle … but it still played a tune.
A .500, borderline tournament team is what the program is right now. And it’s where they’ve been for awhile. They’re just fine. Decent. Average. Tolerable.
Not exactly inspiring.
To OSU’s credit, they’ve tried to fix the problem. When Gene Smith fired Thad Matta … that was a bold decision considering his success. When Smith fired Chris Holtmann last year, he was well-justified. Zero championships and multiple crushing losing streaks in Big Ten play set the program well behind its peers.
It really comes down to players. They don’t get pros anymore. They get perfectly OK college guys. Oden and Conley are not walking through that door. Turner, Sullinger and Russell are not walking through that door. Bates-Diop and Liddell are not walking through that door.
It’s a program with 11 Final Four appearances. That’s sixth best in the nation. That’s more appearances than Michigan State, Indiana, UConn and Michigan. It’s been done before in Columbus, and there’s not much reason it cannot be done again.
The Bucks still have time to make a run, but three of their final four games are on the road, including their West Coast trip to UCLA and USC. They’re completely capable of competing in, and winning, a couple of those.
I’m guessing they’ll be fine.
Just … fine.