Some Historical (as Opposed to Hysterical) Perspective re:OSU BB(m)


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By cac on 10:00:26 01/29/04

Fred Taylor arrived at OSU in '59 and beginning in 1960, he won 5 Big 10 titles in a row, and one NC. Then, over the next three years, he finished 6th, 8th and 7th in the conference. I'm not sure if some High School kid got his 15 minutes of fame in that 3rd year by holding up a stupid sign, but in any event, Taylor then proceeded to finish 1st, 2nd,2nd, 1st and 3rd in the Big 10 before having things unravel at the end of that ugly night in Minnesota. Following Taylor's last conference title, the B'ball team won 2 Big Ten championships over the next 26 seasons, culminating in a full implosion of bad performance on the court and worse performance off the court. In steps Jim O'Brien. In 2 years he had this progeram in the final 4, followed by 2 Big Ten titles. Obviously, this team is going nowhere this season, so including this year, he will have won as many Big 10 championships in 7 seasons as were won the previous 26. The last 2 years have been bad, this year worse than last year. There is no denying that things need to improve. O'Brian would not disagree. I personally believe that a number of things converged this year, some of his own doing some out of his control. Recruiting did slip (although Sylvester and BFC were top recruits), and he probably took too many chances on transfers and JC players. But losing two great assistants and having physical problems were not in his control. Based on his performance prior to last year (including his overall history as a college coach) I believe that OB deserves more patience from the fans. I believe patience will be rewarded as it similarly was in the mid-60's and early 70's after Fred Taylor experienced the same downswing that we're seeing now. This man is a proven winner and a respected person.


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