Don't underestimate a Thad Matta team
The coronation is supposedly set. Most people down here at the NCAA Final Four expect Florida to waltz to the podium Monday and accept their second straight national championship trophy after they play Ohio State.
But not everybody in this game is ready to wave the white flag.
"They're a good team," Buckeyes' guard Ron Lewis said, refraining from using the word "great" to describe the Gators. "You know people pick them to win the game. People thought we were going to lose last night's game, but we came out on top. It's nothing new to us. All we're going to do is keep playing the same way we've been playing."
"I think we're a great team because we got to this point," he said when asked to elaborate. "They're a good team. That's all I can say."
"Oh my god," Florida's junior center Joakim Noah said sarcastically, when told that of the slight. "Did he really? No.
"No. What a bad person. At least he said we were good. He could have said we were bad. Next question, please."
Nothing like a little tabloid hype for this one.
On paper, it seems easy to dismiss the Buckeyes because of the matchup problems Florida poses. If Ohio State goes man-to-man and 7-foot freshman center Greg Oden guards power forward Al Horford, who guards 6-11 center Joakim Noah? If they go zone, can they weather a three-point barrage by forward Corey Brewer and guards Lee Humphrey and Taurean Green, who can all stretch defenses with their range. Florida also has the benefit of a convincing 86-60 victory over the Buckeyes Dec. 23 in Gainesville.
"I understand why people would give us no shot in this game on paper," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said. "I think that they are excellent. They understand their system. They're a completely different team than they were last year because of experience.
"We've got one starter back and four returning players. We don't have the experience they have. Now, I'm not saying we're not going to come out and play. I do want our guys to have confidence in our system and what we do."
If this tournament has taught us anything, it is not to underestimate the resiliency of a Thad Matta-coached team.
We saw it against in-state rival Xavier in the second round when Lewis made a miracle three in the final two seconds of regulation to force overtime in a 78-71 victory and against Tennessee in the South regional semifinals when the Buckeyes rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat the Vols, 85-84, in San Antonio.
And we saw it again Saturday night when they beat Georgetown, 67-60, despite only having the foul-plagued Oden on the floor for three minutes in the first half. Matta's defense shut down Big East Player of the Year Jeff Green, who only got off five shots, scored 22 points off turnovers and took full advantage of the fact freshman forward Dajuan Summers shot just 1 for 8.
The 39-year-old Matta has gotten this team — which is fueled by two gifted freshmen — Oden and point guard Mike Conley, Jr. — to play through crisis situations. Matta had an excellent reputation as a coach when he was at Butler and Xavier, leading Butler to an NCAA second-round appearance in 2001, his only year at that MCC school, and coaching the Musketeers to an Elite Eight showing in 2004.
When Matta took the Ohio State job after that season, the Buckeyes were being investigated by the NCAA for two incidents that occurred under former coach Jim O'Brien's watch and led to his firing June 8, 2004 — allegedly giving former starting forward Boban Savovic improper benefits and admittedly giving another 6-10 prospect from Europe another $6,000.
Former AD Andy Geiger and president Karen Holbrook, in an effort to mollify the NCAA, made a proactive decision to declare the program ineligible for post-season play in 2005. "One of the toughest things I ever had to do was go in and tell the players they were being punished for a crime they didn't commit."
Matta coached the Buckeyes to a 20-12 record and a miracle last-second 65-64 win over top-ranked Illinois at the end of his first season. Matta, down two, opted to go for the win, freeing up Matt Sylvester for a three-point goal with just five seconds to play that sent the sellout crowd at True Value Arena into a frenzy.
"I hope we can look back in 10 years and say that game was a pivotal step, a defining moment for Ohio State basketball. The greatest thing that win did for us, when we went into spring skill stuff, our guys had a rejuvenated spirit. Our guys got so much better. We were picked to finish seventh in the Big Ten in 2006 and we won the conference outright."
Matta's pattern of success and the fact he had made an impression on Oden and Conley — the two premier young prospects in class of 2006 the Midwest — when they were in ninth grade and he was still at Xavier opened the door for him to put together a premier recruiting class that has taken Ohio State to the next level this year.
Ohio State has come a long way since that Fl
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