Ohio is battle tested after taking rocky path to NCAA Tournament
Ohio State, where John Groce spent four seasons as an assistant coach, is barely 60 miles from Ohio University, where he landed two years ago for his first leading sideline role. It’s also a lifetime removed from what the Bobcats have overcome to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005.
Put it this way: It’s the exact opposite of shepherding Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. through their brief stay in college basketball.
Instead of fabulous freshmen, drooling NBA scouts and exuberant title aspirations, it’s been injuries, suspensions, and the rollercoaster career of a temperamental superstar.
If there’s one thing in common with the Buckeyes, the Bobcats do have a promising freshman — point guard D.J. Cooper, the Mid-American Conference rookie of the year — but winning wasn’t even part of the script until recently.
“Usually, I was the only guy (at practice) who’d be saying ‘poise,'” Groce told The News-Herald (Ohio) after the Bobcats upset Kent State in the MAC quarterfinals. “I felt like I was on an island until about a month ago.”
Sophomore guard Steven Coleman was lost for the year early with a broken hand. Junior forward DeVaughn Washington was suspended five games after violating team rules, and Groce sent leading scorer Armon Bassett to the locker room in the second half against Toledo for a lack of effort, according to the Athens News. Freshman Jay Kinney was kicked off the team after getting arrested — he and Coleman pleaded guilty to marijuana charges last month.
But 6-foot-8 Washington has since returned, and Bassett has taken off to another level.
Bassett, the Indiana transfer, whose unceremonious departure from Bloomington was a part of that program’s implosion under former head coach Kelvin Sampson, averaged 29 points in four MAC Tournament wins, including 38 against Kent State.
His reward? A third NCAA Tournament appearance.
“I couldn’t ask for nothing better than this,” Bassett told The Cleveland Plain Dealer after beating Akron in overtime in the MAC championship. “This one might be more special for everything we’ve been through, for everything I’ve been through.”
