Shortly after finishing an mid-afternoon workout, Thad Matta strolled through Value City Arena on Thursday, coffee in hand — this is quite usual for Matta around this time of day — and made his way toward Ohio State's practice facility for a rare offseason press conference.
Matta sat down at the podium and grabbed a towel to wipe away the sweat on his forehead, then proceeded to take questions from a group of local reporters for about 25 minutes. It was a scene many have seen countless times before during this season. There was nothing out of the ordinary here. It was as if nothing had changed for Matta.
Except the last month has been anything but ordinary for Ohio State's head coach. Three of his players transferred from the program making it a total of four from a once highly-touted recruiting class, and he lost a longtime assistant coach just a few weeks later.
Despite all of that, if there was any panic, Matta showed none of it.
“It’s funny because you guys are definitely the last ones to know," Matta said. "We usually have a really, really, really good feel of what’s going to transpire and I probably could have told you something was going to change and might have been spot on after the Florida game."
"I think that’s something that from my perspective, I didn’t blink," Matta continued. "I want those guys to do well and hopefully they find great situations for them and achieve their dreams or goals. We’re appreciative for what they did, but with that said the train keeps moving.
"I think we’ve had a tremendous spring in terms of a basketball team, in terms of a program of where we’re going. Quite honestly, I don’t know if I’ve ever been as excited about an upcoming season as I am right now.”
Matta has enthusiasm because as rough as it may have been for those couple of weeks after the Buckeyes' season came to a disappointing end in the NIT, the last two weeks have been equally as exciting.
Ohio State added a pair of signees to plug in a few holes left after the transfers and, on Thursday, it announced Chris Jent would return to Matta's staff as the assistant to replace Jeff Boals.
“I think first and foremost with Chris, I love him as a person. I love the fact that his appreciation for his university is second to none. This place being successful means a great deal to him," Matta said. "You go to school here, you play here, you meet your wife here, all those things go on.
"And then you look at the basketball side of things, I think Chris as a player, he’s an NBA world champion, playing overseas, coaching at a lot of difference places, he was an NBA head coach for like 28 games, those are things that he kind of brings to the table just in terms of his basketball knowledge, his intensity."
So, changes have happened, but maybe that's what Ohio State needed for it to get back to where it was just a few short seasons ago.
And Matta is strolling right along, believing that with the players who Buckeyes do return, plus the new ones coming in that the program will get back to the top of the Big Ten.
"When guys leave and you get your core back, there’s a little bit of excitement like, ‘This is who it is,’" Matta said. "I love the energy these guys have, I love the work ethic that they’ve had this spring and you do build throughout the course of a season and a year, you build a brotherhood in terms of your teammates.
"Being with the guys that want to be in there with you is something that I think adds a little bonus or a little energy to having them come together.”
