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Ohio State basketball: Matta hiring gives rebirth to basketball rivalry

By Ryan Stano

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 30: Former head coach of the Butler Bulldogs and Ohio State Buckeyes Thad Matta is seen during the game against the Villanova Wildcats at Hinkle Fieldhouse on December 30, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 30: Former head coach of the Butler Bulldogs and Ohio State Buckeyes Thad Matta is seen during the game against the Villanova Wildcats at Hinkle Fieldhouse on December 30, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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The Ohio State basketball team doesn’t have too many rivals. IU was certainly one of them for a while. Now with Thad Matta working for IU, that rivalry has been renewed.

Thad Matta is the winningest coach in the history of the Ohio State basketball program. Now, he’s working for the enemy. Matta is now the Associate AD for IU and will be in charge of putting together a staff for new head man Mike Woodson.

With Matta now working in Bloomington, the rivalry between Ohio State and IU has new meaning. Most Ohio State basketball fans dislike IU very much. That dislike has gone down as both programs have struggled to stay nationally relevant in the middle part of the 2010s.

Now with Ohio State competing at a high level under Chris Holtmann and Matta now at IU, both programs are fired up to beat each other. IU tried to pry Holtmann away before eventually settling for Woodson. That program certainly wants to show Holtmann what he is missing out on.

Buckeye fans will love Matta forever for what he did to this program. He brought it back to relevance and gave the Buckeyes several Big Ten titles as well as winning some big games nationally as well. But now that is all in the past and he works for the enemy.

Honestly, this makes these matchups more fun now. IU has been mired in mediocrity for the last ten years or so. Now with both teams having more of a reason to get up for the game, there should be some closer matchups and hotly contested ones as well.

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As a basketball fan, anything that makes games more enjoyable to watch is something I am all about. I already can’t wait for the first matchup between these to teams next year.

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