2023-24 Ohio State Basketball

Orin Swift said:
I lived in the southeast for a little under 5 years until November 2022.

Important? Sometimes. In the natty? Yes. The NIT? Disagree. But that doesn’t make it a rivalry when they play each other once every 20-30 years.

My wife is a UGA grad. We get together with a lot of her UGA friends frequently. None are laughing at OSU, most respect them for being one of the few northern teams that compete against the southern elites. And yes I realize this is just anecdotal evidence.
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We will just agree to disagree on the importance of this game in the NIT.

My wife’s best friend is a UGA grad/fan and she always jokingly says Ohio State cannot beat the south. Is she being humorous? Yes. Is there still a lot of truth behind what she says? Absolutely.
 
Spartacus1987 said:
I said before that Georgia was the better team which makes having Diebler that much more concerning. He couldn’t coach his way to a win at home vs a team who had one less day of rest. Just pathetic, I don’t know how anyone can back this program.
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Any knowledgeable basketball fan backs this program. Battle missed two threes that would have won the game. Great play set ups by the coaches. Georgia got lucky and made a couple of multi-bounce threes. Keep being the most ignorant poster in sports.
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Even though it’s only a one point game unfortunately Georgia is the better team. It will be an upset if OSU wins.

They are so much bigger at every position it’s honestly sick to witness. Their margin for error is as wide as the ocean while one little mess up by OSU is disastrous.

Without Middleton OSU has absolutely no scoring punch from their bench, length, or floor spacing.
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So you said a few pages back that Ohio State is more talented that Alabama. But you're also saying that UGA is the bigger, better, and more athletic team in comparison to Ohio State? Bama handled Georgia in the regular season, and is in the Sweet Sixteen this week. Oh, and OSU beat Alabama. Lol. Your logic doesn't track.
 
Jeez, this was Diebler coaching Holtmann’s team and he changed the style of play…as was pointed out. He salvaged the season and made interesting until the final buzzer against Illinois in the B1G tourney. The NIT games were just a few more chances for players to grow and for Diebler to evaluate.

Let’s see what he does next year before we judge him with any real evidence.
 
nutsnbolts said:
Any knowledgeable basketball fan backs this program. Battle missed two threes that would have won the game. Great play set ups by the coaches. Georgia got lucky and made a couple of multi-bounce threes. Keep being the most ignorant poster in sports.
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To even be in a back and forth game win or lose against a mid level SEC is a crime itself. It’s a shame the program isn’t held to any sort of expectations
 
utsherman said:
So you said a few pages back that Ohio State is more talented that Alabama. But you're also saying that UGA is the bigger, better, and more athletic team in comparison to Ohio State? Bama handled Georgia in the regular season, and is in the Sweet Sixteen this week. Oh, and OSU beat Alabama. Lol. Your logic doesn't track.
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Maybe Bama gave UGA some matchups problems because they have two guards who can create and shoot. UGA is also definitely more athletic than Bama, Bama got an easy draw in their bracket. We will see how they do against UNC
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Maybe Bama gave UGA some matchups problems because they have two guards who can create and shoot. UGA is also definitely more athletic than Bama, Bama got an easy draw in their bracket. We will see how they do against UNC
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"athletic" is fine but it only gets you so far. I'd rather have "basketball players".

Mahaffey and Bonner are 2 of the 3 most athletic guys on the team IMO; they can really run and jump and have quickness. Too bad they can't play ball at a high level. (IMO Gayle is the other in the top 3 athletes and he can play ball pretty well - at times).

Obviously the holy grail is an athletic kid that can really play the game (ie Shannon from Illinois). There are not a ton of those out there. So give me the reasonably good athletes that can play (ie. Thornton).
 
wolves82 said:
"athletic" is fine but it only gets you so far. I'd rather have "basketball players".

Mahaffey and Bonner are 2 of the 3 most athletic guys on the team IMO; they can really run and jump and have quickness. Too bad they can't play ball at a high level. (IMO Gayle is the other in the top 3 athletes and he can play ball pretty well - at times).

Obviously the holy grail is an athletic kid that can really play the game (ie Shannon from Illinois). There are not a ton of those out there. So give me the reasonably good athletes that can play (ie. Thornton).
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Georgia had more athletes that also had good basketball skills. That itself is a major indictment against OSU basketball. A program like Georgia should never have better players than OSU
 
Stirred not Shaken said:
If that is the case Holtmann would have not been fired and OSU could have saved themselves millions of dollars (at the time of firing).
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They didn’t go out and hire an established coach though. They went cheap with Diebler and hope he will do well.

The program needed an Urban Meyer type hire in 2012 the football team got
 
Spartacus1987 said:
To even be in a back and forth game win or lose against a mid level SEC is a crime itself. It’s a shame the program isn’t held to any sort of expectations
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Very similar records, very similar league standings. The expectations were higher than Holtmann was able to deliver. Diebler delivered closer to expectations. Keep being a bitch(er).
 
nutsnbolts said:
Very similar records, very similar league standings. The expectations were higher than Holtmann was able to deliver. Diebler delivered closer to expectations. Keep being a bitch(er).
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It’s Georgia….freaking Georgia. A program with little to no historical relevance
 
It's a program that in the year 2024 is certainly very well geographically situated to major conference caliber high school recruits.
 
I was definitely in favor of bringing in an experienced coach from the outside, but Diebler did enough to where I’m excited to see what he can do now that the program is his. We have a lot to keep us interested. Who will his coaches be? What type of recruits will he favor, and can he attract them? Can he develop the players on the roster over time? What type of non-league schedules will be favor…difficult or softer? And ultimately will he win? It’s definitely intriguing.
 
Makes sense for him to be out the door. Seems like a good kid and he does have a legitimate skill (perimeter shooting) that he showed at times in limited opportunities, but he doesn't offer enough to see regular playing time.

Have to think Etzler is not far behind. Hardman can at least shoot. Etzler has been in the program a year longer and I have no idea if he could do anything to ever contribute in limited minutes.

Both of these kids should have signed with MAC, Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, etc. caliber schools out of high school. Dummy Holtmann gave them scholarships in back-to-back classes.
 
Due to being full on scholarships, Hardman, Etzler, and maybe telling Zed to go elsewhere for his bonus eligibility year are the pieces that need to move for Diebler to go add 2-3 key pieces for next year.

I'd prefer to not see anybody else leave.
 
I would say Chatman is gone. Against UGA he looked very disinterested while on the floor, (couple of lazy turnovers, no defense) and while sitting on the bench.
 
Hardman needed to go, he was worthless. Him leaving opens up a spot for Meechie who I would now give the green light too as long as he’s ok coming off of the bench.
 
Stirred not Shaken said:
I would say Chatman is gone. Against UGA he looked very disinterested while on the floor, (couple of lazy turnovers, no defense) and while sitting on the bench.
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Probably the most likely outside of the few I mentioned due to how sparingly he played this year.

Didn't play in roughly half of the games, and only played around 70-75 total minutes for the season.

Probably a 50/50 or better chance that he at least tests the waters in the portal.
 
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Recruiting is tricky. The tournament seems to favor experienced teams with multi-year starters, but dudes like Sensabaugh and Branham make such a big impact right away…but then they are gone after a year. It will be interesting to see how Diebler recruits.
 
Omg….rumors out now that Okpara is transferring. If true then why did we hire Diebler??? I thought he was supposed to keep the roster together?? Looking worse and worse everyday!
 
If that's true, they need one of the collectives to step up and offer him a big bag to stay.

On the open market, he's easily one of the two most valuable NIL guys they have returning due to his length and athleticism defensively...he might be the most valuable if we're talking about a title contending program looking to fill a specific role.
 
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