While not a complete trainwreck, 2015-16 was a rough season in Columbus. In 2004 Thad Matta took over for Jim O’Brien as the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Coming off of two disappointing seasons under O’Brien, Matta’s first team didn’t return to the NCAA Tournament (they were ineligible for the postseason) but they did show definite improvement. It didn’t take long for Matta to return the Buckeyes to the top of the Big Ten, with his team falling in the title game in 2007. While the team had a disappointing rebuilding season the next year, the Buckeyes hadn’t missed the NCAA Tournament since 2008. Of course that was until this season, with Matta’s team entering a rebuilding year in 2015 and struggling heavily thanks to a youthful and inexperienced roster. The up and down season was easily one of the most difficult years in quite some time for Ohio State fans, with the team never actually falling out of contention, yet incapable of getting over the hump. The frustrating back and forth throughout the season created a situation where there was at least some hope for a possible NCAA Tournament run, only for the team to fail time and time again when they had a chance to make some noise. That leads us to the question of if the 2015-16 season was a success or failure for the Buckeyes, with the answer likely being somewhere in the middle. Preseason Expectations Entering this season expectations for the Buckeyes were a bit all over the place. While the team had enjoyed an immense level of success under Matta, the end result of the 2014-15 team flaming out, especially considering some of the talent at hand, seemed to lower expectations that Matta could instantly lead this team back to the NCAA Tournament. Of course the 2014-15 team was hampered by a number of departures, including a suspect early departure from LaQuinton Ross, someone who would have had a huge year if he had stuck around…
Continue Reading: Did The Ohio State Buckeyes Have A Successful 2015-16 Season?
