Matta's maneuvers will be felt in future
The rock concert officially ended about five weeks ago.
There will be no encore.
Just a guy with a broom sweeping up the confetti.
And Ohio State basketball coach Thad Matta is that janitor.
It's not a bad broom to push.
By the time Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. are sitting in rocking chairs, Matta could be boasting about coaching the greatest big man and one of the best point guards of the new millennium.
Ohio State fans likely won't appreciate what they witnessed until 10 years from now, when both Oden and Conley have Olympic gold medals.
That's fine.
It's difficult to truly appreciate greatness when it comes in the form of a couple of teenagers, so instead appreciate what their brief presence did for Ohio State basketball.
Matta can now walk into a 17-year-old's house and explain how he developed Oden into the top pick of the draft. He can convince any point guard anywhere in the country that Ohio State is the right path to the NBA.
Just three years ago, that never seemed possible.
Matta said it's always been his dream to coach a player the caliber of Oden. No kidding. Most women would like a three-karat engagement ring to show their friends. Oden is a four-carat ring to flaunt in front of recruits.
That won't help much next year, mind you, when the Buckeyes will be fortunate to reach the Sweet 16. Jamar Butler is a nice kid and a decent player, but he's not Conley. And Jon Diebler isn't Ron Lewis and Kosta Koufos isn't Oden, for that matter.
Together, Oden and Koufos could have destroyed college basketball - think Shaq and Dirk Nowitzki side by side. Matta wasn't overstating anything when he said after the Buckeyes' loss to Florida in the national championship game that OSU could have been one of the greatest teams in college basketball next year. With Oden and Conley and Diebler and Koufos, they would have made a legitimate run at an undefeated season.
Conley's impressive NCAA tournament run solidified his place in the top 10 in this year's draft, which will be held June 28.
He's probably the first point guard off the board now.
Deep in his heart, Matta knew Oden was probably a one-year luxury. Daequan Cook, who also declared for the draft, looked that way before last season, too.
But Conley is the one the Buckeyes didn't expect to lose before the season.
Butler can't play 40 minutes every night, and with no viable junior-college candidates, Matta can either bring Villa Angela-St. Joseph graduate David Lighty off the bench for short stretches at point guard, or he can burn a scholarship on an undeserving player just to have another body. Past history indicates he'll choose the former.
For all the despair over what could have been, at least appreciate the new brand of thinking at Ohio State. Former coach Jim O'Brien never would have been interested in Oden, Daequan Cook or Conley because he didn't like players who left after just one or two years. He didn't believe it was the right way to build a program.
In today's era, it's not just the right way - it's the only way.
"This is going on everywhere," Matta said after the season. "Not just here."
So sit back, relax and enjoy the new brand of Ohio State basketball: The one that will consistently send players to the NBA, and perhaps even the Hall of Fame.
It might hurt right now, but just wait until the country's next phenom is forced to choose a college. Odds are strong his short list will include Ohio State.
[More at www.news-herald.com ]
