Jay Laprete / AP

Ohio State coach Thad Matta has guided the Buckeyes to a 12-3 start this year.

COMMENTARY

By Mike DeCourcy

updated 11:50 p.m. ET Jan. 14, 2005

Members of the new Ohio State basketball staff have worked on fixing their current team for nearly six months. From the outside, it hasn’t seemed that long, but it probably felt like a year or more to the Buckeyes players who’ve worked to meet coach Thad Matta’s standards.

They've done fairly well, though. It took them seven games to lose for the second time. Last season, they covered that the first weekend. Fans at Value City Arena have cheered the Buckeyes' frequently extraordinary degree of effort. Quick-trigger guard Tony Stockman is shooting less and connecting more. Point guard Brandon Fuss-Cheatham, who lost his mother in a car accident just as the season was ready to begin, is dishing the ball consistently.

Even better has been Matta's coaching job during the first few months of the season. The Buckeyes are 12-4 through Tuesday and logged a big win over then-No. 15 Iowa on Saturday. For some perspective, Ohio State won 14 games last year.

And this is what the Ohio State administration thinks of the transformation:

The Buckeyes will serve a self-imposed one-year postseason ban against the basketball Buckeyes. Why? Why now?

It probably has nothing to do with the recent reportage of more scandalous conduct inside the OSU football program. It probably has nothing to do with former coach Jim O'Brien's filing of a lawsuit to recover payment for the years remaining on his contract when he was fired in June. It also probably didn't affect athletic director Andy Geiger's decision to retire in early January.

University president Karen Holbrook said this punishment results specifically from the infraction that resulted in 1999, when O'Brien admits to have given money to the family of recruit Alek Radojevic. A 7-foot center, Radojevic faced trouble gaining NCAA eligibility and instead entered the NBA draft, where he became a first-round selection. O'Brien admitted to the payment in June, and Geiger immediately dismissed him. Matta was hired a month later and set about reconstructing the OSU program.

Given that O'Brien's admission occurred more than six months ago, Ohio State's decision to hire a coach and field a team for the 2004-05 season without first taking this action is disgraceful. The Buckeyes players deserved to enter the school year aware of what the rules would be; this isn't a game of "Average Joe", where the producers throw in a twist to make the game seem more interesting. Players who weren't interested in an empty season should have been free to enroll at other NCAA schools. OSU attempted to accommodate Matta by tacking an extra year onto his contract. What good is that going to do for J.J. Sullinger or Matt Sylvester?

This penalty was not inevitable. A Missouri investigation that began with much more ominous charges ended with only some of what was alleged being proven and without the Tigers having to sacrifice postseason eligibility.

In fact, when Mizzou's punishment was announced, Thomas Yaeger, closing out his term as chair of the NCAA infractions committee, made the point that the group wanted to try to get away from punishing uninvolved current and future players for the actions of their coaches. That's why the Missouri coaching staff was banned from off-campus recruiting for one year. That affects only the future of the program, and young players who believe that will be to their detriment are free to transfer.

Well, you couldn't get any more uninvolved than the players on the current OSU roster. For instance, freshman guard Jamar Butler was 14 years old in the fall of 1999. He wasn't even thinking about playing for the Buckeyes. He wanted then to play at Cincinnati. What did he know of Radojevic?

None of the current players were enrolled at OSU when Radojevic signed. But the players will bear the force of this penalty. Especially Stockman and Fuss-Cheatham, senior starters working hard to rescue disappointing careers with one last flourish of selfless, driven basketball.

Geiger was asked at the news conference if he'd be speaking to the affected senior players. "They're going to be talked to by the coach," he said. Indeed, better that the executioner not look his victim in the eye.

More news

Jae C. Hong / AP

Is this rule working?

CBT: With all the hand-wringing the media does in regards to the NCAA and its rulebook, there may not be a rule in all of college basketball that has been able to unite the masses like the new early entry deadline

CBT: Who wants to buy James Naismith's home?

Headlines

• Label

CBT: 4 Indiana schools extend Crossroads Classic

CBT: Stony Brook says it's staying put ... for now

CBT: Will Michigan re-hang the Fab Five banners?

CBT: Fine's wife to sue ESPN for libel

CBT: Coach K gets a lot of bucks and bennies

CBT: ACC will include all 14 teams in tournament

Recruiting rundown: ‘Bama lands Jimmie Taylor

CBT: Nolan Richardson's son found dead