The Thad Five: Selecting An All-Time Starting Lineup Under Thad Matta

On Wednesday, Elite Daily released its all-time starting lineups for a wide number of college basketball programs. Ohio State's included Mike Conley Jr., Michael Redd, John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas and Greg Oden. 

There was quite the debate over the Buckeyes' starting five, and rightfully so. Many thought the omission of Jim Jackson was ludicrous. Other notable omissions included Evan Turner, Clark Kellogg and Dennis Hopson, among others.

Then, I got to thinking. Limiting college programs like Ohio State — and Kentucky, UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, etc. — to just five players is a near-impossible task.

So I decided to branch off of that idea a little bit and select an all-time starting five under the Buckeyes current coach, Thad Matta, who has been at the helm for 11 seasons now. 

Under Matta, Ohio State has won five Big Ten regular-season titles, four Big Ten tournament titles and made two Final Fours. There has certainly been a wide-range of talent during Matta's tenure, from one-and-dones to four-year players.

Narrowing it down to five was not easy, but here's my list. I'm sure you'll all agree.

Mike Conley Jr.

The best professional player to come out of Matta's tenure at Ohio State is Conley. Averaging 17 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds per game for one of the NBA's best teams, the Memphis Grizzlies, Conley was a borderline NBA All-Star this year.

It probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise, though, because Conley was brilliant during his time with the Buckeyes, even if it was for just one season.

As a true freshman, Conley helped guide Ohio State to an appearance in the national championship game. The Buckeyes lost, 84-75, to one of the best college teams in recent years, Florida. But Conley's performance in that game — and throughout the entire tournament, really — helped raise his NBA Draft stock soar until he was finally selected No. 4 overall by the Grizzlies that June.

Conley averaged just 11.3 points, 6.1 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game in his one season at Ohio State. But he was part of a class which helped change the landscape of Buckeye basketball and will long be a legend around Columbus.

D'Angelo Russell

No, I'm not a prisoner of the moment here, D'Angelo Russell has been that good.

Russell has been one of the best — if not the best — player in all of college basketball this season in just his first year at this level. He's averaging over 19 points, five rebounds and five assists per game. He also recorded just the fourth triple-double in Ohio State history earlier this season against Rutgers.

When it's all said and done, this will likely be Russell's only season as a Buckeye. But he'll finish as a first-team All-American and, potentially, the Big Ten and National Player of the Year. He is the one player who can lead his team on a deep NCAA tournament run because he is so talented.

Russell has turned himself into a likely top-five selection in this summer's NBA Draft, and could wind up leaving Columbus as the best one-and-done in the Matta era.

Evan Turner

I think we'd be insane not to include Evan Turner on a list of Matta's great players, being that as a junior Turner was named National Player of the Year.

That season, Turner put up video-game like numbers, with averages of 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game. It was one of the best individual single seasons in Ohio State's history. Not bad for a kid who wasn't a Top 50 recruit coming out of high school.

Turner's rapid improvement over his three years as a Buckeye allowed him to be selected No. 2 overall in the 2010 NBA Draft. He's been around the NBA a bit since then, spending time with the Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana Pacers before landing with his current team, the Boston Celtics.

Jared Sullinger

A hometown kid, Sullinger seemingly fell into the lap of Matta as one of the most highly-recruited kids in the 2010 recruiting class. His arrival made the loss of Turner that much easier to handle.

Sullinger was dominant as a freshman, averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds per game. He was named first-team All-Big Ten and a first-team All-American as he helped lead the No. 1 team in the country all season. The Buckeyes were stung by Brandon Knight and Kentucky, however, in the Sweet 16.

Sullinger shocked everyone when he returned for his sophomore season and he put up eerily similar numbers for the Buckeyes. He left Columbus after two seasons and was selected 21st overall in the 2012 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics. 

Greg Oden

Perhaps the most important recruit in Matta's tenure, Oden was pulled from his home state of Indiana and was the face of the famed Thad 5 recruiting class. It was that class which somewhat changed the direction of the Ohio State program.

Oden was banged up for a lot of his one season as a Buckeye, but when he was on the court, boy was he dominant. He averaged nearly 16 points and 10 rebounds per contest, while blocking 105 shots on the year. He changed games on the defensive end.

Unfortunately for Oden, those injuries carried over into his pro career. He was selected No. 1 overall by the Portland Trailblazers in the 2007 NBA Draft, but missed his entire rookie season with a knee injury. Then, had another season-ending surgery during the 2009 season and had another knee surgery before the 2010-11 season and was soon after waived by the Blazers.

Oden had a brief stint with the Miami Heat last season, but has since been out of the NBA since then. Still, his impact on Ohio State was huge.

Notable omissions: Aaron Craft, David Lighty, Jon Diebler, William Buford, Deshaun Thomas.