After Ohio State’s 60-59 loss to Dayton last year, Sam Thompson and Shannon Scott couldn’t stand to watch the rest of the NCAA tournament.
It was the first time in each of their respective careers the Buckeyes failed to advance to at least the Elite Eight. That feeling, they don't want that again this year.
"We had the feeling of being in the Final Four and then losing in the first round so we kinda have an understanding of what both feelings are and we know how much losing in the first round really sucks and how much that really hurt us," Scott said Thursday at Big Ten Media Day. "We didn't wanna watch any game after that so as a point guard, as the leader of this team, I've really gotta get my team in the best position to get back to the Final Four and go from there."
It was a struggle last year at times for the Buckeyes, who went 25-10 and were hard-pressed to find any sort of rhythm on offense.
Gone are veteran players Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith, Jr., as well as the team's top offensive player LaQuinton Ross, but with a senior-laden group led by Scott and Thompson alongside one of the top recruiting classes in the country, Ohio State is hoping to get back to where it had been in previous seasons under head coach Thad Matta, now entering his 11th year leading the team.
"It's everything," Thompson said. "Every workout this summer, every workout this preseason, every 6 a.m. conditioning session, everything is with the thought of getting back to having that type of year we had my freshman year. "
The Buckeyes failed to advance to at least the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009 a year ago. Ohio State was the only program to advance to at least that round over the four-year span from 2010-13.
But the one-point defeat to the in-state school ended that run and while Matta admitted Thursday he thought about what he could have done differently in that game, he's since moved. He's done so simply because he has to.
"I think that's what drives you as a coach and I've been fortunate enough to have two Final Four runs in a 10-year span and the one year we probably had the best team in college basketball and had a bad half," he said. "I think those are the things that make you hungry, that wake you up in the morning and keep you up late at night because that's what you're after."
It's the last go-round for players like Thompson, Scott and fellow senior Amir Williams, who all played on the Final Four team against Kansas as freshmen and lost to Wichita State in the Elite Eight as sophomores.
And while the loss to Dayton was still an NCAA tournament game, those big games in the later rounds in March are why they came to Ohio State and they want to play in those type of contests again this year.
"Once you walk out and see 70-some thousand people watching that game, you see the huge jumbotron, you see everybody in the college basketball world at that game, really nothing else can live up to that. It was definitely the best basketball playing experience of my life and everything we do is geared toward getting back."
