Picture this: You call in sick the first Thursday and Friday of the NCAA Tournament — the best two days in sports, mind you — to slither over to a local watering hole while your kids are at school to watch some hoops. You normally do this as a college basketball fan, but this time, Thad Matta's Ohio State Buckeyes don't have a game.
They've been left out and relegated to the NIT for the second time in Matta's 12-year tenure. How would you respond?
We're still more than nine months away from that potential becoming a reality for Ohio State fans, with a whole lot of basketball — and a new set of rules in place — to be played in between.
While it hasn't been a scenario Buckeye fans have gotten used to during Matta's term (Ohio State's only been left out of the field twice, once in his first season because of NCAA sanctions and when it won the 2008 NIT), this upcoming season poses a slew of new challenges for the coaching staff.
Priority No. 1 is finding the best way to replace D'Angelo Russell, a likely top-5 2015 NBA Draft pick come June 25. Russell's scoring, passing, ball handling and leadership as a true freshman made him one of the more special players Matta's ever coached. His absence will loom large.
Other concerns are finding further leadership after losing five seniors, four whom played their whole careers in Columbus. Say what you will about their production the last two years, but Shannon Scott, Sam Thompson, Amir Williams and Trey McDonald were part of 109 wins in their careers. That counts for something.
Tate's bound to be counted on even more next season with Russell's departure.
The oldest player on the team is Marc Loving, a rising junior who began last season as a starter but then never recaptured the magic of a 19-point outburst against Maryland after he endured a three-game suspension in February.
Only one player who started by season's end, sophomore-to-be Jae'Sean Tate, returns to Matta's first five for 2015-16. New blood's arrived in the form of a five-man recruiting class highlighted by late addition JaQuan Lyle and a pair of players who redshirted last year — Dave Bell and Trevor Thompson — look to establish a better post presence.
"Going down, getting JaQuan ... that was something we definitely looked at and said it's going to be a great opportunity losing Shannon, losing D'Angelo and we're fortunate it worked out that way," Matta said April 23, the day Russell officially announced his intentions to enter the 2015 NBA Draft.
There's potential at nearly every position, but that's all it is — potential. This team has a great deal of work to do before it can be considered a surefire tournament team.
As much as we can sit here and be confident in the new faces that surround the program because of what they accomplished in high school, how their skills translate to the next level won't be known until tipoff against Mount St. Mary's Nov. 15.
Players like Keita Bates-Diop and Kam Williams showed flashes of their development last season, but the team is going to need more from them to help replace the scoring void left by Russell.
Add in the fact that Big Ten hoops looks on paper to be loaded again this year with 2015 NCAA Tournament teams like Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Purdue and Wisconsin returning plenty of good players, it looks to be tough sledding for a young Ohio State team to consistently tally conference victories.
A lack of solid conference wins and poor performances against good teams away from the Schottenstein Center nearly spelled complete disaster for the Buckeyes last season. They didn't hear their name called until the final region of the NCAA Selection Show, receiving a 10-seed out west.
"We were kind of nervous because we didn’t see our name for a while so we didn’t know what was going on," Scott said in March after learning he and his team would face off against VCU in the second round. "Once we saw our name we were happy, though.”
What if they don't hear it this coming March?
So you call off work and rendezvous with your college cronies at the closest Buffalo Wild Wings or Hooters only to realize Ohio State isn't playing in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Your first reaction is probably a mountain of disdain towards Matta and disappointment in the Ohio State higher-ups like Vice President and Director of Athletics Gene Smith for still employing a guy who took the Buckeyes to a pair of Final Fours and lost the 2007 national title game to essentially an NBA team who'd won the title a year before.
Heck, you might even leave the fine eating establishment without paying and elect to go back to work or tell your wife you'd be happy to pick up the kids from school or daycare.
Hopefully, though, you take a second from slugging down beers and nibbling on chicken wings to realize what the program was like before Matta and how far it's come under his eye.
"It's funny, I reminded, I don't know where we were but what we've been fortunate to have with conference championships, NCAA runs, two Final Fours, you think about what he's done with our basketball program over his 11-year tenure, we've gotten to a point where we're having this conversation," Smith told Eleven Warriors May 14. "Prior to him, we weren't having these conversations."
So while it seems like a halfway decent chance the Buckeyes won't be in the field of 68 next March, if it does happen, try to believe in Matta and the development of the young players before you take to the street and burn things to the ground.
