<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Ohio State's basketball coaching search may be over. Columbus TV station WCMH was reporting Wednesday afternoon that Xavier coach Thad Matta will be the Buckeyes' new coach. Matta interviewed with Ohio State on Wednesday morning, and multiple sources told ESPN.com at that time that he was the favorite to land the job. Matta follows Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings and Rice coach Willis Wilson, who interviewed Tuesday in Columbus. Matta's apparent acceptance comes in conflict with previous public statements -- a turnaround that apparently has stunned the Xavier administration. Two weeks ago, the coach told ESPN.com and the Cincinnati Enquirer that he was not a candidate and that he would remain at Xavier, where he has a contract through 2013. He has coached Xavier for three seasons. The Musketeers reached the Elite Eight in March, where they lost to Duke. Matta coached Butler for one season before replacing Skip Prosser at Xavier. If Matta is offered and accepts the Ohio State job, assistant Sean Miller will take over Xavier. </div> Source: ESPN.com
Well, Matta is no Bobby Knight, but he's one hell of a coach. I think this is a great career move for him. Next year all he'd have at Xavier would be Doleman. At Ohio State he's going to have a very deep team. Does anyone remember when Ohio State was a preseason top 15 team last year? O'Brien really messed the program up. He ticked off their star player so bad that he left, and was overall a bad decision maker. With Matta I think the Buckeyes can reclaim a top 25 spot this year.
I thought they were pre-season ranked between 20-25? Maybe I'm wrong. But looks like the search is over. Matta led Xavier to a good season this year, elite 8 in the tourney and they beat the undefeated St.Joseph's team in the a-10 tourney. Well, they did have Chalmers and Sato, but it still takes a good coach to lead them that far.
