I realize it is football season and not many people, especially in Columbus, care about basketball right now. I promise this is the one and only time I will mention the upcoming basketball season (until football is over). I just had to give some credit to Thad Matta and Gene Smith for trying to make basketball matter in Columbus. Sure basketball will always be secondary to football in this town, but with this year’s recruiting class (highlighted by Greg Oden) and newly released schedule, there is reason for fans to get excited.
This year’s schedule includes non-conference games against North Carolina, Cincinnati, Tennessee, and defending national champ Florida. These games will give tOSU basketball program national exposure. It has been said by Matta and others in OSU’s basketball circle that they are interested in building a basketball powerhouse at Ohio State. This is not a one season get all the publicity you can and who cares what happens next thing. Matta is building something special for the present and the future. Matta said the schedule was made with long-term goals in mind:
“This is an incredibly challenging schedule for our young basketball team,” Matta said. “We will be short-handed and inexperienced in the beginning. But I believe the competitiveness of who we are playing, where we are playing and when we are playing will make us a better basketball team in the long run.”
There will be plenty of time and the right (not football) season to discuss much more OSU basketball. I wanted to give a shout out to Matta for doing an amazing job and the new schedule provided that opportunity. Forgive me for interrupting your football reading.
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