How the hell does Ohio State, a prominent football power, where basketball comes in a very distant second, become such a recruiting juggernaut so quickly?

I don't want to accuse teams of cheating without reason, but Jesus, they JUST got off of probation a few years ago, and now they are the hot place for the nation's best players to go?

Look at these classes:

2006 class, 3 5* 2 4* players, #2 class overall http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=8&toinid=412&yr=2008

2007 class, 1 5* 4 4* players, #9 class overall http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=8&toinid=412&yr=2007

the 2008 class hasn't been ranked, as most schools don't have any players yet, but I find it hard to believe that they won't be ranked #1.

4 5* 1 4* players! http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=145&p=9&c=4&cfg=bb&yr=2008

4/19/2007 10:45:00 PM

i don't get it either

they must be doing something fishy

4/19/2007 10:47:48 PM

they did cheat, but the ncaa didnt put them on probation again b/c they couldnt afford to keep oden off tv

4/19/2007 10:56:33 PM

cheetz.

4/19/2007 11:02:55 PM

To be fair tOSU wasn't Northwestern....they were pretty good under O'Brien, who cheated which is now known. They were a #3 seed last year. They rocked us pretty good in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge too.

They also were good when they had Michael Redd and Scoonie Penn.

4/19/2007 11:22:49 PM

I find it amazing how quick they got as high up as they did but maybe it has something to do with a great coach finally being there in Thad Matta...

4/19/2007 11:23:56 PM

I thought this thread was about Florida

4/19/2007 11:43:35 PM

Well Florida is also an overnight powerhouse, but not in the same way. Ohio State is getting the best high school players for some reason, without having much recent success or historic prestige.

Florida on the other hand, has accomplished great things without having a roster full of McDonalds All Americans.

4/19/2007 11:50:56 PM

i dont know how highly recruited out of high school donovan's kids over the last couple years were but they've certainly been the juggernaut on the court...recruiting wise i agree about osu

4/19/2007 11:53:06 PM

Quote :

"they did cheat, but the ncaa didnt put them on probation again b/c they couldnt afford to keep oden off tv"

I think it was you who tried to use that same argument in the 'OSU gets out of NCAA violations" thread a week or so ago. I didnt understand where you were going with it then and I dont know where youre going with it now.

Even if OSU recently cheated to acquire Oden (which they didnt) and the NCAA caught them and didnt allow for Oden to play for the Buckeyes, Oden wouldve just gone to play for another top basketball program - allowing the NCAA to put Oden on tv and make money off of him.

I can see how this would hurt OSU's ability to make money this season, but it wouldnt do a damn thing to the NCAA's ability

why does everyone around here bitch so damn much about OSU? I know there are a lot of Michigan fans on this board, but most of them dont start talking shit about OSU, just like the OSU fans (myself included) dont trash talk the Wolverines for no apparent reason

4/19/2007 11:55:51 PM

Quote :

"why does everyone around here bitch so damn much about OSU?"

two reasons...one of them was in columbus and the other was in raleigh

then combine that with NCSU 73 bball

4/19/2007 11:57:52 PM

well a lot of teams have beat us twice in football, and god knows we've lost plenty of times since the 73 bball season

twista, I know you straight up hate the Buckeyes, so I'm sure that those arent your only reasons for all the hate

4/20/2007 12:05:59 AM

well i hear you about lots of teams beating us twice, but i was in columbus for the triple overtime game...then i figured we'd have a better chance the next year at home and we lost

and 73 isnt about losing since then, its that we had bullshit tournament probation instead of a great shot at a title...state fans will hate any school who has gotten off more lightly on some violations than us since we had the team to win it all that year

also if they wouldve either lost to georgetown or beaten florida i'd have been about $500 richer

also the big ten as a whole is gay

4/20/2007 12:08:35 AM

Thad Matta is a very good coach, but he isn't a great one yet. It's not like he is Roy Williams, Coach K, heck he's not even on Barnes level yet, in terms of notoriety and overall accomplishments. So I don't buy this whole "Thad Matta is just such a great coach and recruiter" nonsense. Thad Matta may be one of the most upstanding individuals ever, but some of the boosters backing tOSU are some of the most despicable people ever. It's not just the boosters, even some of the people behind the athletics are pretty notorious for their actions (or lack thereof) when it comes to violations, illegal player benefits, etc.

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and Costas NOW on HBO have done a number of stories concerning tOSU and some of the stuff that they have gotten away with. They interviewed the Vanderbilt President, who was once the OSU President, and he said there were things he could get implement at Vanderbilt that would never go over too well with the boosters if he were to even merely suggest it. He got rid of the AD position and incorporated the athletics more into the school (pretty much meaning that the Vandy administration would be more in the know about what was going on with their student athletes), something that would have been considered blasphemous at tOSU. A number of former tOSU players have come out and spoke about how they are "taken care of" and how they can just take some easy A class in the summer that doesn't contribute to them graduating just so that they can stay academically eligible.

Note: I don't hate tOSU all that much. I in fact respect their tradition, their passionate fans, and them as an academic institution, but I hate it when schools cheat and don't get a punishment that doesn't fit the crime. Minnesota cheated in basketball and got the book thrown at them, same with Michigan. tOSU gets what a years tournament probation for Jim O'Briens actions, and now are being let off the hook b/c someone in the NCAA didn't file the forms in time. Yeah right. They had foreign players that could hardly speak a lick of English on that one O'Brien Final Four team, that lived with families, where the families admitted to writing their papers for classes, gave them money, let them have loaner cars, etc. When one lady came out and told of all the wrong doings that she was involved in, she constantly got death threats, and hate mail from her fellow tOSU fans, b/c she could have stayed quiet about it.

4/20/2007 12:20:36 AM

by paying players like they always have

they are just paying BBall players more nowadays

4/20/2007 12:28:49 AM

Quote :

"ven if OSU recently cheated to acquire Oden (which they didnt) and the NCAA caught them and didnt allow for Oden to play for the Buckeyes, Oden wouldve just gone to play for another top basketball program - allowing the NCAA to put Oden on tv and make money off of him."

i'm pretty sure oden had already signed his LOI when the slap on the wrist was announced

4/20/2007 7:45:32 AM

Quote :

"i'm pretty sure oden had already signed his LOI when the slap on the wrist was announced"

agreed. something fishy is going on at tOSU

4/20/2007 8:22:47 AM

4/20/2007 9:12:12 AM

CHEAT

4/20/2007 9:15:23 AM

more like overnight Florida's bitch in both major sports.

4/20/2007 10:21:02 AM

you guys do know who Matta was an assistant for before he got his big break right?

4/20/2007 10:21:37 AM

that's exactly why it's all the more likely that they cheated...


j/k you herb lovers



but seriously... pulling these recruiting classes out of his ass is bigtime fishy

4/20/2007 10:46:27 AM

$tOSU

4/20/2007 12:28:35 PM

hate hate hate all you want, but there isnt a damn thing you can do, so shut up and learn how to control your jealousy a little bit better

4/20/2007 1:00:24 PM

as if we can do anything other than make the 6:00 news in sports talk. nothing we say has any real relevance, so get off your high horse and either talk about the topic or don't.

everyone knows recruiting violations are made all the time, and it's no secret that osu boosters pay their players (football at least). so as far as no-impact-on-the-world arguments go, this one holds water.

4/20/2007 1:13:29 PM

Quote :

"hate hate hate all you want, but there isnt a damn thing you can do, so shut up"

i'm pretty sure you're outnumbered on an NCSU board

you might convince some people on partybuckeyes.com or whatever their site is...but theres nothing you can do on TWW about all the hate hate hate, so stfu

4/20/2007 1:16:03 PM

Quote :

"hate hate hate all you want, but there isnt a damn thing you can do, so shut up and learn how to control your jealousy a little bit better "

haha judging by your changed tune here, i guess even you smell fish

4/20/2007 6:22:54 PM

either that or it's the most childish fucking retort an adult could possibly use.

I'm going with the second option.

4/20/2007 6:45:21 PM

lets say both?

4/20/2007 6:58:40 PM

oh, I have not even begun to act childish


and I'm not changing my tune, I just dont want to sit here and argue all day when I am outnumbered by a group of people who are not going to change their minds

if there was some big michigan conspiracy out there (cause I mean come on, thats really all this is, a conspiracy) you would be arguing that the conspiracy holds no water, while the "michigan haters" would be all over it

[Edited on April 20, 2007 at 7:39 PM. Reason : oh well]

4/20/2007 7:35:50 PM

Maybe I missed it if it's already been mentioned but it seems to me like a lot of good high school bball players are being produced in the Ohio area so that gives them a distinct advantage in recruiting.

4/20/2007 7:59:17 PM

Quote :

"you guys do know who Matta was an assistant for before he got his big break right?"

Herb Sendek at Miami of Ohio.

Thad then went to Butler and then Xavier before tOSU and giving the job to another Herb assistant, Sean Miller.

GG Herb!

4/20/2007 9:09:54 PM

haha its fucking pathetic how jealous people on here are of tOSU.

4/20/2007 9:22:11 PM

Which of these is a conspiracy DROD???:
~Troy Smith accpeted lots of cash from at least one booster
~Clarrett accepted cars, cash, good grades not earned, and lord knows what else
~The program was dirty under O'brien (probably the only time they were dirty )

tOSU is a media darling and the NCAA makes tons of money off of tOSU football, maybe not basketball so much. Chapel Hill basketball is the same way, that university will never get touched. You can't honestly tell me that over the last ten years they haven't had one bball or football player to be academically ineligible, yea I'm sure they only recruit the best scholars to play ball.

[Edited on April 20, 2007 at 9:25 PM. Reason : .]

4/20/2007 9:24:06 PM

You are a fucking moron if you don't think ever program in college is "dirty" somehow. Some are just a lot better at hiding it than others.

4/20/2007 9:37:19 PM

right but osu got caught and let off light b/c of the dollar signs\\


and i honestly have nothing against osu, i dont hate on their football program.

i'm just pissed that similar infractions cost us a chance at another NC and osu basically got a free pass

4/20/2007 9:55:50 PM

fuck osu

what is this, an ohio state website?

4/20/2007 10:10:46 PM

i do see a lot of gray and red

4/20/2007 10:42:29 PM

Quote :

"i honestly have nothing against osu, i dont hate on their football program. i'm just pissed that similar infractions cost us a chance at another NC and osu basically got a free pass"

this post is right on

4/20/2007 10:55:08 PM

I'll say this, I commend the Wisconsin basketball program. They have a +70% graduation rate on their basketball team, which is almost as high as their 80% graduation rate of all the other students. Bo Ryan runs a pretty clean program, and had his team ranked #1 in one poll this year. So that proves that a team can play great all while doing it the right way. His players have to go to class, they don't have people doing their work for them. The only problems they've had in recent years was that one of their players stopped going to class last year, mainly b/c he was clinically depressed, and another player started getting stretched to thin b/c he was having to commute to Marquette on the weekends to visit his wife who plays on that team, and take care of his daughter. This year, those two players got back on track and are doing great in the classroom.

4/20/2007 11:25:10 PM

Quote :

"oh, I have not even begun to act childish"

- hate all you want
- you can't do anything
- shut up
- control your jealousy

Somehow I feel like I just read a transcript from every Jenny Jones episode ever made.

4/20/2007 11:30:18 PM

well since I dont frequently watch Jenny Jones, I dont know what youre talking about

I do know that I was being SARCASTIC, lighten up some and quit taking everything so damn seriously

4/21/2007 10:38:16 AM

FWIW, I thought usc was obviously cheating when they landed mayo, but then it turned out mayo was just a psycho egomaniac.

4/21/2007 5:32:05 PM

Quote :

"if there was some big michigan conspiracy out there (cause I mean come on, thats really all this is, a conspiracy) you would be arguing that the conspiracy holds no water, while the "michigan haters" would be all over it"

you assume that this is a giant michigan movement against osu? maybe some people in here are michigan fans, but i for one am not at all. simply an unbiased observer that smells something rotten in the state of ohio.

4/21/2007 6:35:26 PM

obviously you have something against the state of California also. From the 'Lil Romeo to USC' thread

Quote :

"if he doesn't get this program at least under investigation with all his money, it's b/c the ncaa turns a blind eye to it."

maybe I'm missing something, but why would lil romeo (a person from a very wealthy family) cause USC's program to come under investigation?

4/21/2007 8:28:06 PM

donations = scholarship?

4/21/2007 8:39:13 PM

Quote :

"maybe I'm missing something, but why would lil romeo (a person from a very wealthy family) cause USC's program to come under investigation?"

the same reason matt leinart's dad paying for a usc teammate's housing is a violation.

Quote :

"obviously you have something against the state of California also."

more like, obviously i have something against schools that get caught cheating and are given a free pass by the ncaa.

[Edited on April 21, 2007 at 8:43 PM. Reason : i know all programs are dirty, but osu and usc are dirty.]

4/21/2007 8:41:37 PM

^even I dont get that shit

4/21/2007 9:16:05 PM

whats with the tOSU? why not just OSU

4/21/2007 9:35:09 PM

b/c it's not just any ohio state university, it's the ohio state university.

4/21/2007 9:47:29 PM