OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
LINK
If you our a fan of the basketball program, this is a great time, we will move on after this NCAA investigation and I think that Matta will have us at the top of the Big Ten in the near future, maybe next year.Matta's risky moves pay big dividends
Although Ohio State will not be eligible for the NCAA Tournament this season, first-year coach Thad Matta has his team playing hard and winning. -- Jay Laprete / Associated Press
Big Ten bits
Overall scoring leaders
• Carl Landry, Purdue, 19.0
• Bracey Wright, Indiana, 18.4
• Vincent Grier, Minnesota, 17.7
Overall rebounding leaders
• Aaron Johnson, Penn St., 9.8
• Greg Brunner, Iowa, 8.1
• Terence Dials, Ohio St., 8.0
Overall assists leaders
• Deron Williams, Illinois, 6.8
• Jeff Horner, Iowa, 5.5
• Dee Brown, Illinois, 4.8
Trending
As the regular season nears its conclusion, the honors talk heats up. A leading contender for Player of the Year is Illinois guard Dee Brown. In conference play, he stands 12th in scoring average (14.3 ppg), ninth in shooting percentage (52.3), fourth in assists (4.2), tied for second in steals (2.0), second in 3-point shooting percentage (49.4) and first in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.8-to-1). He's a lot of fun to watch, too.
Illini coming here?
If the NCAA Tournament selectors do a favor for undefeated and top-ranked Illinois, it could end up here on the first weekend. First-round action is scheduled for March 17 and 19 at the RCA Dome. Tickets for all three game sessions (six games) are $150. More information is available at (317) 262-3389 or www.horizonleague.org.
February 25, 2005
The one knock on Thad Matta's otherwise sterling resume was that he never had to build a program.
At Butler, he took over a veteran team when coach Barry Collier left for Nebraska and led the Bulldogs to a Horizon League title and the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Matta had been an assistant on Collier's staff.
At Xavier, he took over a ready-made team with a sparkling new arena after Skip Prosser -- who left for Wake Forest -- had done much of the grunt work.
But in the first season of the first rebuilding job of his career, he is showing he just might be up to the task.
His Ohio State Buckeyes are 18-9 overall and 7-6 in the Big Ten, even though the school has decided the team will not participate in postseason play this season while it and the NCAA investigate alleged rules violations under former coach Jim O'Brien.
"Attitude is one thing, knock on wood, that I haven't been concerned about," Matta said. "That's been a little bit of a surprise because of the announcement in September (when the school announced it would forgo postseason play)."
A key point came before a game at Northwestern on Jan. 29. Matta decided to bench guard Brandon Fuss-Cheatham. The senior had been late for a practice that week.
Matta also benched senior Tony Stockman, who missed practice the day before the game after his girlfriend gave birth to the couple's son. Matta has a rule that any player missing practice prior to a game doesn't start.
Freshman Jamar Butler and junior college transfer Je'Kel Foster replaced the seniors, and the Buckeyes finished the Northwestern game with a 22-1 run en route to a 65-52 victory. It was OSU's first road victory of the season.
The Buckeyes are 5-2 since, and Butler and Foster have stayed in the starting lineup. Foster, in particular, has been credited for giving the Buckeyes more toughness.
"The kid is a warrior and loves to play and wants to win in everything he does, whether it's in games or in practice," Matta said.
Burglary leaves scars
From the real life-intruding-on-fantasy department: The Chicago Tribune recently chronicled the plight of Solomon Brown, a University of Illinois student.
That name probably doesn't ring a bell for most hoops fans. But in November 2003, Brown and his roommates lived in an off-campus apartment that three Illinois basketball players, including Luther Head, allegedly burglarized.
Brown and his roommates declined to press charges after the Champaign County state's attorney -- who later was defeated in a re-election bid -- told them they would face media scrutiny, the Tribune reported. Head has never denied participating in the incident along with current teammate Rich McBride and former Illini player Aaron Spears.
Head was suspended for four games -- which included two exhibition games -- by Illinois coach Bruce Weber, but was allowed to return to the team.
Randy Brown, Solomon's father, said he has left the coach messages, but Weber has not returned his calls.
"I'm going to write him a letter to ask him to think about how he would have felt if his daughters were involved in something like that (that) night and (how) he would have reacted," Randy Brown told the Tribune. "I know there's pressure on Division I coaches to win, but come on. On that night, a couple of his players were nothing but thugs."
The younger Brown said he remains an Illinois fan but gave up his season tickets.
Coachspeak
"What I'm dreading is that trip to Illinois and Wisconsin. I've been coaching for 25 years and how can the Big Ten double-punish us with that trip to Death Valley?"
-- Purdue coach Gene Keady, who is retiring at the end of the season, when asked this week if he was dreading his final game at Mackey Arena on Saturday against Minnesota.
The Boilermakers close the regular season at top-ranked Illinois on Thursday and at No. 20 Wisconsin on March 5. Because of television contracts, the games are less than 48 hours apart. Keady also is miffed Big Ten rules will force the Boilers to take a bus to Wisconsin instead of flying.
Call Star reporter Michael Pointer at (317) 444-6641 or e-mail [email protected] .
Last edited:
