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Men's Basketball
Matta Dealing with Player and Coaching Losses as Team Begins to Evolve for Next Season
By John Porentas

There has been some attrition in the OSU men's basketball program since the season ended. Freshman center Kosta Koufos opted for the NBA draft where he was the 23rd overall pick last week. There was another loss last week when eight-year Matta assistant John Groce was named the head coach of the Ohio University Bobcats.

Thad Matta
Photo by Jim Davidson

"In this profession we all have to do things to better ourselves," commented Matta on the loss of Groce.

"John was wavering a little bit on whether or not he wanted to do it and I think it was because of the strong passion he had for Ohio State. In the end I told him Ohio University is a great opportunity. I think its a tremendous job and I think he's the guy for the job," Matta said.

Matta must now replace his top assistant before the season begins, a task that he knew he would face sooner or later.

"You always know as a head coach that if you get the right guys on your staff that those things are going to happen," Matta said.

Matta added that the knowledge that Groce would be in demand as a head coach prompted him to keep his eyes open for coaching talent that he could draw from when this day arrived.

"We've got a great feel for what we want to do (for a replacement). I knew in my mind this day is coming," he said.

The OSU basketball team also lost a player when freshman forward Eric Wallace decided to transfer after his first year at OSU. Wallace will continue his college basketball career at DePaul. Matta said he was disappointed to lose Wallace, but understood the decision.

Thad Matta
Photo by Jim Davidson

"He's a great young man that wants to play more basketball than maybe he was going to get here. That's the hard part about recruiting sometimes. It just doesn't work out sometimes and kids get somewhere and decide they need something else," he said.

The departure of Wallace has opened up a scholarship but Matta said that it really has not yet been decided how that scholarship will be handled.

"If we came across somebody that we liked for next year's team we would possibly move on that," he said.

"We could keep it for the following year. There are a lot of different scenarios. We've mapped out every situation that can happen and we'd be ready to move if one of those things did happen."

The OSU basketball team is not taking part in any summer league basketball this summer but the team is on campus and getting to know one another in open gym and in other ways as well.

"We're two weeks in on Sunday," said Matta.

"We don't get to see them play at all. I think having them all here has been important for our team and our program and getting them all on the same page and understanding who they are and where each guy comes from.

"I think summer time is a great time to get acclimated to the academics and they're doing their strength and conditioning in the morning," said Matta.

According to Matta that head start on the academic side of college seems to be paying off for the men's basketball team.

"When we got here the graduation rate for men's basketball was very low. We're up to 75 percent and hopefully that will go higher. We've taken the team GPA from about 2.3 to 2.9. I like the direction we're going with the academics," he said.

Matta also reported that incoming freshmen B.J. Mullins, Walter Offut, William Bufford and Anthony Crater are all rooming together this summer.

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