Sep 16, 2011

9/16/2011 12:16:00 AM
The BLUEDUDE travel to this beautiful city once a year and it's the capital of the STATE of OHIO........COLUMBUS. It is home to one of the Best Universities in the US.......The OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY and home to some of the BEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL in the LAND.

C'MON the Late GREAT Woody HAYES, Earl BRUCE, John COOPER, Jim TRESSEL, and now Luke FICKELL. The SHOE......the HUGE FOOTBALL STADIUM that is home to the FOOTBALL BUCKEYES......is a landmark all to itself. All the Heisman Trophy Winners, Big TEN Championships, Bowl Victories, and the coveted NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

But will all that FOOTBALL going on there is another COACH on CAMPUS making his mark and building a NATIONAL Powerhouse on the HARDWOOD in COLUMBUS. OSU Men's Head Basketball Coach Thad MATTA has his BUCKEYES eyeing a BASKETBALL National Championship at some point.

The BUCKEYES HOOP Team is not without tradition either. Look at some of these names that have played in either ST. JOHN'S Arena or the Semi-New SCHOTTENSTEIN CENTER aka the SCHOTT:

The Coaches.....
Fred TAYLOR
Eldon MILLER
Gary WILLIAMS the recently retired MARYLAND TERRAPINS COACH
Randy AYERS who had it rolling in the late 80's early 90's
Jim O'BRIEN who also coached at Boston College
Thad MATTA he has the OSU Hoops Team in Unchartered WATER.....REAL TALK

The PLAYERS.....
John HAVILCEK Great CELTIC
Jerry LUCAS
Jim CLEAMONS Assistant on Phil JACKSON'S NBA Coaching Staff
Herb WILLIAMS current KNICKS ASSISTANT
Clark KELLOGG aka SPECIAL K Former Indiana PACER player and Lead NCAA Men's College Basketball ANALYST
"You GOT TO SQUEEZE the ORANGE"
Dennis HOPSON Ex-BULL
Brad SELLERS Ex-BULL
Tony CAMPBELL Ex-LAKER

Those were some of the Old School PLAYERS then you fast forward to the Randy AYERS ERA with the likes of Jim JACKSON Toledo MACOMBER-WHITNEY HS, Treg LEE CLeveland ST. JOSPEH, Perry WATSON D.C., Chris JENT was CAVS Asst Coach, Jay BURSON....AYERS had the BUCKEYES on the NATIONAL SCENE for a while led by the GREAT JJ jim JACKSON.

Then Jim O'BRIEN took over and had the LIKES of Scoonie PENN (followed O'BRIEN over from Boston COLLEGE) and Michael REDD a native of COLUMBUS and current Milwaukee BUCK. Under O'BRIEN they did get to a Final FOUR.

Now the THAD MATTA era........and with Former Football Coach Jim TRESSELL having the FOOTBALL SQUAD in the TOP 5-10 Teams in Country every season.......MATTA has stepped his game up to the TUNE of turning the BUCKEYES into a NATIONAL Program.

Look at these Players MATTA and his STAFF have hauled in to play for the BUCKEYES in recent years:

Greg ODEN Indianapolis IN Lawrence NORTH Trailblazers NBA
Mike CONLEY Jr. Lawrence North GRIZLLIES NBA
DaQuan COOK Dayton DUNBAR HS OH THUNDER NBA
Evan TURNER Westchester ILLINOIS ST JOSEPH HS SIXERS NBA
JJ SULLINGER Columbus OH NORTHLAND HS
David LIGHTY Cleveland OH St. JOSEPH HS EUROPE soon to be on an NBA Roster
William BUFORD Toledo OH LIBBEY HS
Jon DIEBLER Sandusky OH Upper SANDUSKY HS TrailBlazers NBA
DeShaun THOMAS Fort WAYNE IN Bishop LAUERS HS
Sam THOMPSON Chicago ILL WHITNEY YOUNG HS 2011 Recruit TOP 50
Shannon SCOTT Alpharetta GA MILTON HS 2011 Recruit Mc DONALD'S ALL AMERICAN
Amir WILLIAMS Birmingham MI COUNTRY DAY School 2011 Recruit McDONALD'S ALL AMERICAN
Jamar BUTLER Lima OH SHAWNEE HS
Aaron CRAFT Findlay OH LIBERTY-BENTON HS

In jut a short time Thad has went to recruiting ion the MIDWEST to expanding down south and out EAST. And you know you have arrived when you walk into a High School GYM and everything STOPS.......MATTA is in that Category or soon to be.

With 2 BIG 10 Championships under his belt and numerous Trips to the NCAA TOURNAMENT.....the BUCKEYES once again are the TEAM to Beat in the BIG 10 and a Preseason easy TOP 5 pick in the TOP 25.

The Football Team is going through some issues like they haven't seen around COLUMBUS in some time but THAD and his BOYS will ease your stress level....just hop on over to the SCHOTT to check out the 2011-2012 BUCKEYES Men's Basketball Team.

And WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T BUILD A Successful BASKETBALL PROGRAM on a FOOTBALL Built CAMPUS?.......ask COACH MATTA......he might show you his BLUEPRINT to the BUCKEYES HOOP Programs success.

the 2011-12 BUCKEYES Hoops Schedule.....Big GAMES

November
15 FLORIDA...MUST SEE TV
29 DUKE ACC/Big 10 Challenge..MUST SEE TV

Decmeber
10 @ KANSAS

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