Matta imparts his ways on struggling program

The Ohio State men are coming off a forgettable 14-16 season.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- It was a slip of the tongue that all but confirmed the public perception of last year's dysfunctional Ohio State Buckeyes.
"He's really eager to coach," captain Terence Dials said before the start of this fall's first workout under new coach Thad Matta. "I don't know if it's because he hasn't coached us yet or it's because he's like that every off-season."
Dials, a Boardman High graduate, laughed at his words -- inferring that once Matta is around the Buckeyes more he'll no longer be so excited to coach them. The shot at the Buckeyes wasn't intentional, but that doesn't mean it wasn't accurate.
Year to forget
A year ago, the Buckeyes stumbled and fumbled to a 14-16 record. But that wasn't the half of it. The players were selfish with the ball, seldom played defense, chucked up ill-advised shots and consistently carried themselves as if they were better than their record or stats said.
Coach Jim O'Brien's final year as coach was a nightmare. He couldn't speak above a whisper for the first month of drills because of surgery, was ejected from the season-opener after taunting a ref's call with a sign that said, "This is sad!" and then ran out of options with a team that didn't always play hard and never played smart. This past summer, O'Brien was fired after athletic director Andy Geiger said he admitted that he had paid a recruit $6,000.
Enter Matta, the man who in one season at Butler and three at Xavier has never missed an NCAA tournament.
The NCAA is still nosing around campus amid allegations of players being paid on O'Brien's watch. Matta inherits a team with just about every contributor back except for graduated center Velimir Radinovic.
"Our guys are getting a greater understanding of how we want to practice, how we want to play," Matta said. "That's something we need now: sustained effort. A week ago we could guard for 15 seconds, last week it was 17 and now we're up to 20. Unfortunately, we've got to get to 32."
Dials leads charge
The 6-foot-9 Dials is solid in the middle but needs to pump up his numbers from his sophomore season (10.4 points, 6.6 rebounds per game). Ivan Harris, an acclaimed recruit a year ago whom O'Brien seldom played, has shown signs of coming out of his cocoon this fall. Guards Tony Stockman, J.J. Sullinger and Ricardo Billings and forward Matt Sylvester are a year older and a year removed from some bad performances last season.
"I can't wait to get on the court and show you what I can do," Harris said with a grin.
At point guard, reigning Ohio Mr. Basketball Jamar Butler may surprise a lot of people, including returning starter Brandon Fuss-Cheatham. Fuss-Cheatham's mother was killed and his father seriously injured in a car accident on Nov. 3 that may affect his availability.
"It could be that we weren't as mentally tough last year as we needed to be," said Sullinger. "The slate is clean. We start off new and it can be happy if we let it."
Matta took Xavier to the Elite Eight a year ago and ended up at Ohio State after 30 days of wild speculation about who would succeed O'Brien. He said he is growing more comfortable each day with his players and with the expectations (or lack of them) by Ohio State fans who stayed away in droves from last year's disaster.
For the Buckeyes to get better, they have to buy into what Matta is selling: defense, effort, intelligence.
"I think they're playing hard and more along the purpose we have," Matta said. "We haven't made it very complicated for them."