Ohio State basketball: Learning from your mistakes

Since Chris Holtmann has taken over the Ohio State basketball program, the season has followed pretty much the same formula. There’s some preseason hype about young talent, they play well early and exceed expectations and get into the top 25, and then they crap the bed at the end of the year.

This year, the crapping of the bed was much worse. They played so poorly in the middle of the season that they didn’t even make the NCAA Tournament. The losing streak that they suffered through was the worst in 20 years. This is the time that we need to learn from our mistakes.

I’m talking about Ohio State basketball fans. We need to stop falling into the same trap year after year while it’s a Holtmann-led team. The same pattern has already started this offseason. The Buckeyes just got a transfer who I genuinely like and who can help the team.

But at the same time, I refuse to fall into the trap of thinking that the team can do anything next year. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me five times, shame on me. Until this team proves that they can make the NCAA Tournament and get out of the second round, I refuse to believe they can.

That doesn’t mean that I can’t be wrong. At some point, you would think that this team would finally get over the hump and make a Sweet 16. I just don’t believe that will happen until the program moves on from Holtmann as head coach.

I do expect Holtmann to continue to work the transfer portal and get some good players. He is an excellent recruiter and does a great job of bringing in good players. It’s the results after that happens that are the problem.