Matt Marinchick looks back on time with the Ohio State basketball program
By Charles Post
The Ohio State men’s basketball program has been crowned Big Ten Tournament champions five times, including three since 2010. After the inaugural tournament in 1998, the Buckeyes won their first title in 2002. Matt Marinchick, a 6’10 center out of Hudson, was a part of the team that defeated Iowa to win the conference tournament.
“I still cherish all those moments to this day. I just pulled out my Big Ten championship ring a few weeks ago and looked at it,” Marinchick told me. “It brought back so many great feelings and memories with the amazing guys I got to play ball with. I never will count the Buckeyes out of anything.”
Marinchick joined the Buckeyes in 2002 and played in 11 games during his freshman year. Ohio State really found their rhythm late in the season, going 7-3 in their final 10 games, including wins over Illinois, Michigan, and Purdue. Jim O’Brien’s club went on to take down Iowa, 81-64, in the Big Ten title game led by Brian Brown and Boban Savovic.
Ohio State kept that momentum going in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, eliminating 13-seed Davidson before falling to Missouri in the Round of 32. The Buckeyes finished Marinchick’s freshman year with a 24-8 record, including an 11-5 clip against the Big Ten, behind Brown’s team-high 16.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
“All my memories at Ohio State playing basketball, winning the Big Ten championship, all the great teams and players I got to play against, and places I got to travel will forever be etched in my mind,” Marinchick said. “It’s always funny moments in the locker rooms, on the planes and buses, at practice, that come up the most in my memories.”
Prior to the 2005 campaign, head coach O’Brien was replaced with Thad Matta following a pair of subpar seasons. The Buckeyes improved in Matta’s first year, finishing with a 20-12 record (8-8 Big Ten). Marinchick totaled 28 points, 26 rebounds, and two blocks on 52% shooting from the field in his senior season.
The Hudson-native played professionally in Germany for six years, before moving to Nashville to pursue a music career in 2011. Marinchick discussed his decision to join the music industry: “I felt it was time to chase another passion of mine in the music world. The values I learned as a player in college have helped my pursuit of music here in Nashville.”
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Marinchick also talked about the current Buckeyes, who have started the season 11-4 with wins over UCLA, Rutgers, Northwestern, and Illinois: “I like what I see, a continued growth of the players as individuals and as a unit. I’m a fan. The talent of our big men is impressing me. I’m looking forward to seeing the development as the season continues!”