2023-2024 B1G Basketball Thread

[847badgerfan]

I'm sure he's quite wealthy, and rich. At least he should be.

[Kris60]

If you haven’t been following the situation closely here is the Cliff’s Notes version of the Huggs’ situation.  It’s bizarre.

• After the DUI, WVU gave him the option to resign or be fired.  Nothing in between.
• Huggs’ attorney contacted WVU to tell them Huggs would be resigning.  WVU said that was fine but they would need that in writing.  The attorney contacted WVU back and asked if an email from Huggs’ wife’s account  on his behalf would suffice.  The attorney said the Wi-Fi at his office was down and Huggs (as apparently is well known by everyone) doesn’t use email himself.  WVU said that would be fine.
• Huggs’ wife fired off an email to WVU in first person account as if Huggs wrote it informing the school of his resignation, effective immediately.
• WVU received the email, released it to the public, and issued a press release informing everyone Huggs had resigned.
• Over the course of the next week Huggs cleaned out his office while WVU conducted a search for a new coach. Somewhere in here Huggs also met with the team to tell them he would be resigning.   A week after his resignation WVU named his former assistant, Josh Eilert, as the interim coach.  At his press conference Eilert said Huggs had called him to congratulate him and said he had been catching a lot of fish.
• On July 7, a full 3 weeks after Huggs’ resignation WVU received a letter from Huggs’ new attorney informing the school Huggs had never officially resigned and fully intended on resuming his coaching duties once he returned from rehab.

His play seems to be one of two things.  He either has to claim that his wife and former attorney acted on his behalf without his consent and/or knowledge, or he is trying to say that since he never formally signed anything that the email his wife sent isn’t legally binding.

I would have to think, at best, that even if that worked WVU could say “Our mistake, we thought you resigned.  Since you didn’t we now will fire you for cause because of what happened in Pittsburgh.”  There is zero chance he gets his job back.  Whatever happens, Huggs continues to torpedo his reputation in a state that really did love him.

[bayareabadger]

  Whatever happens, Huggs continues to torpedo his reputation in a state that really did love him.

In the end, isn't that the most Huggs move of all?

(I honestly figured the school would've given him some go away money before this)

[Brutus Buckeye]

I'd expect nothing less. The dude coached through a heart attack.

[FearlessF]

Pat Riley against Phil Jackson during Game 4 of the 1972 NBA Finals on May 5, 1972, at MSG!

[medinabuckeye1]

Ohio State's neutral site opponent for the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta on December 16 is officially UCLA. This has long been assumed but is now official. The event is a double-header with the other game featuring UNC and Kentucky. 

This will undoubtedly be the last OOC matchup between the Buckeyes and Bruins.

https://www.on3.com/news/kentucky-north-carolina-ucla-ohio-state-college-basketball-games-atlanta-cbs/

[medinabuckeye1]

ESPN/Lunardi has updated their projected bracket. The B1G teams projected to fall on the bubble are:
Last Four byes:

• Indiana

First Four out:

• Rutgers
• Ohio State 

Next Four out:

• Iowa

The B1G teams projected to make the field (with projected seeds) are:

• #1 Michigan State, Purdue 
• #5 Illinois 
• #7 Wisconsin 
• #8 Northwestern, Maryland 
• #10 Indiana 

Penn State, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Michigan are not mentioned so they apparently project below the bubble. 

[medinabuckeye1]

Gene Smith, Ohio State's AD announced his retirement effective June 30, 2024. Link:
https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-athletics/2023/08/140011/ohio-state-athletic-director-gene-smith-announces-he-will-retire-on-june-30-2024

I put this here in the BB thread because I think it means that Holtmann is safe through this season and next. 

[medinabuckeye1]

Not so BOLD PREDICTION:

Ohio State will have a new Head Basketball Coach for the 2025-2026 season and not before. 

Theory:
Per earlier posts, the likely result this season is for Ohio State to be on or close to the bubble. Optimistically they could be as good as maybe a #5 or #6 seed and pessimistically they could be almost as bad as last year's sub .500 debacle. 

The more probable outcomes range between:

• 20-11/12-8 and
• 16-15/8-12

That will be somewhere between barely in and barely out of the tournament. They'll undoubtedly fail to make it beyond the first weekend of the tournament and Gene Smith probably isn't going to can his second most well known/paid employee on his way out the door.

The new AD, whoever that is, isn't realistically going to can the BB coach on his first day on the job especially when the coaching carousel will already have stopped before he takes over so the new guy will be stuck with Holtmann even if he doesn't want to be.

The 2024-2025 season will likely not exceed Holtmann's accomplishments from his first seven so once it ends he will have coached Ohio State Basketball for eight years without either winning a league title or advancing beyond the first weekend of the NCAA. 

In the 33 seasons from expansion in 1985 through Matta's last season (2017) the Buckeyes won nine league titles (91, 92, 00, 02, 06, 07, 10, 11, 12) and appeared in eight S16's (91, 92, 99, 07, 10, 11, 12, 13). That works out to an average of about one of each every four years. They also made five E8's (avg of one roughly every seven years) and three F4's (average of one every 11 years).

Since the expansion in 1985, Ohio State's longest droughts are:
League Titles:

• 11 seasons, the current one, 2013-
• 7 seasons, 93-99
• 6 seasons, 85-90

S16's:

• 9 tournaments, the current one, 2014-
• 7 tournaments, 00-06
• 6 tournaments, 93-98
• 6 tournaments, 85-90

E8's:

• 9 tournaments, the current one, 2014-
• 7 tournaments, 00-06
• 7 tournaments, 85-91

F4's:

• 14 tournaments, 85-98
• 10 tournaments, the current one, 2013-
• 7 tournaments, 00-06

Assuming Holtmann makes it through the 2024-25 season without winning a league title or making it out of the first weekend of the NCAA, his tenure alone would be:

• tOSU's longest league title drought since expansion 
• tOSU's longest S16 drought since expansion 
• tOSU's longest E8 drought since expansion 
• tOSU's second longest F4 drought since expansion. 

[MaximumSam]

Maybe...basketball rosters are very difficult to predict year to year, so foolish to even try. Right now, next season looks to be far and away his most talented and experienced roster.

[medinabuckeye1]

Maybe...basketball rosters are very difficult to predict year to year, so foolish to even try. Right now, next season looks to be far and away his most talented and experienced roster.

I hope you are onto something since I'm pretty sure we are stuck with Holtmann for the next two seasons. 

Pretty safe to say I've commented way too much on this. After I typed "stuck with" in the above sentence, my phone suggested "Holtmann" as the next word. 

[MaximumSam]

I hope you are onto something since I'm pretty sure we are stuck with Holtmann for the next two seasons.

Pretty safe to say I've commented way too much on this. After I typed "stuck with" in the above sentence, my phone suggested "Holtmann" as the next word.

Also, I think they should be a fairly fun team if they stay healthy. They should be a more complete team than they have been lately - an actual point guard and center, for one. Not sure Key and Okpara can play together. They are pretty young, though, so that always makes things dicey. 

[bayareabadger]

I hope you are onto something since I'm pretty sure we are stuck with Holtmann for the next two seasons.

Pretty safe to say I've commented way too much on this. After I typed "stuck with" in the above sentence, my phone suggested "Holtmann" as the next word.

Small thought. 

Is there a specific post we could link to with the whole OSU success history thing? Maybe just to cut down on clutter. I appreciate what you do, but the math stays relatively the same, and we're finding a lot of ways to say the lack of league titles or Sweet 16s isn't acceptable. And I keep seeing a long post and not being sure if there will be something revelatory or the same batch of info. 

[medinabuckeye1]

Small thought.

Is there a specific post we could link to with the whole OSU success history thing? Maybe just to cut down on clutter. I appreciate what you do, but the math stays relatively the same, and we're finding a lot of ways to say the lack of league titles or Sweet 16s isn't acceptable. And I keep seeing a long post and not being sure if there will be something revelatory or the same batch of info.

I'm not sure how I could best accomplish that but it probably isn't necessarily at this point. I'm resigned to the situation for at least this season.