Koufos Coach: Matta Misused Him

[Muskie]

Canton Repository (http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=418458)

"Listen, if you can't get along with a kid like Kosta, then you're clueless," Greynolds said. "If you're making $2 million season and can't figure out how to use a 7-foot-1 kid, you're clueless. If you can't get along with a kid who comes early, stays late and gets good grades, you're clueless, and you've got the problem."

[Juice]

This is the one time I am going to side with Thad. Kosta was the softest big man I have ever seen. He could not even beat St. X when he was senior and X's tallest kid was 6'6''. Didn't someone post a story on Kosta alleging that he was scared of losing his starting spot to BJ Mullens? I hope Utah is happy with Darko 2.0. I look forward to his uneventful career.

[KC4X]

This is the one time I am going to side with Thad. Kosta was the softest big man I have ever seen. He could not even beat St. X when he was senior and X's tallest kid was 6'6''. Didn't someone post a story on Kosta alleging that he was scared of losing his starting spot to BJ Mullens? I hope Utah is happy with Darko 2.0. I look forward to his uneventful career.

I was thinking the same thing, Juice. I was at that game vs. St X (for St X) and was very surprised at how insignificant he was in the game.

It should be noted that Koufos is only saying positive things publicly. He seems like a good guy and I wish nothing but the best for him, but I do have my doubts. Apparently, a writer for hoopsworld.com was aware of the disconnect between Matta and the Koufos family as well. I wonder how badly (if at all) this will hurt Matta's recruiting. The high school coach is alleging some pretty heavy stuff, IMO.

[D-West & PO-Z]

I was going to post something about that St. X game too. My dad wad amazed how in a 2 year span he goes from getting "shut down" by St. X to being a first round draft pick.

[MADXSTER]

Same thoughts as everyone else. If he's a top 5 pick in the NBA coming out of high school and he plays against 6' 6" guys then why didn't he dominate like he should have.

When Roger Bacon beat Lebron's team, didn't Lebron still get his 30+

[SM#24]

"He's not like some of the turds they recruit."

I don't think this will hurt Thad's recruiting. It sounds more to me like one guy with a gripe. Publicly Koufos has been saying the right things, but who knows what Thad's side of the story is. I applaud Thad for taking the "high road" on this. Is it that unreasonable to want to bring a freshman along a little slowly ?? Let's see, Koufos started out well, stalled a little against Big Ten competition but came on at the end of the year. I don't see anything wrong with that pattern.
Even though they lost Oden, Conley and Cook, they still had some experienced offensive weapons back. Was he supposed to all of a sudden ignore them to make sure that Koufos' draft potential was maximized even if it went against the concept of what's best for the team ??
Everything that the Glen Oak coach was spouting was all about what was best for Koufos not what was best for the OSU team last season. Nowhere in there does he say if they used Koufos a certain way that OSU would have won more games.

[PMI]

With big guys, you don't always know. Watching Roy Hibbert play in high school I would have laughed at you if you had told me he would ever be a contributor at Georgetown. He was 7'2" and my high school's team embarrassed him (I think he had like 4 points and fouled out) and our tallest guy was also about 6'6" or 6'7". Hibbert was hard to watch in high school but turned into a first round pick, because he learned how to use that height. I agree Koufos is soft now, but I think he could learn how to use his size and become a pretty good player.
That would be pretty lousy if Matta is holding back his players that way, but there really isn't any way to say. It's all just speculation until he comes out and says "I didn't play this guy as much at the end of the year because I want to hold his development back and hopefully get him to come back next season." Either way, glad we got Miller.

[Stonebreaker]

This is the one time I am going to side with Thad. Kosta was the softest big man I have ever seen. He could not even beat St. X when he was senior and X's tallest kid was 6'6''. Didn't someone post a story on Kosta alleging that he was scared of losing his starting spot to BJ Mullens? I hope Utah is happy with Darko 2.0. I look forward to his uneventful career.

Softer than Adam H? Or as I refer to him......'Mr. 6-10 who can't dunk, misses open layups, and drives fear into his teammates'.

[ImFitted23]

Same thoughts as everyone else. If he's a top 5 pick in the NBA coming out of high school and he plays against 6' 6" guys then why didn't he dominate like he should have.

When Roger Bacon beat Lebron's team, didn't Lebron still get his 30+

i "guarantee" you it was under 30

[DAllen15]

For what it's worth, this is old news. Wasn't this discussed weeks ago?

[gladdenguy]

Bottom line..........Thad sucks in the human being category. He will only get worse as a coach. Everything is now downhill.
I do love Thad for giving us Sean Miller. I take that back. I thank Sean Miller for himself.
Ohio St. sucks too.