Thad Matta has been in charge for the Ohio state basketball team since 2006. The OSU basketball head coach had impressed us with his Thad Five where he decided to use the services of five high-profile recruits including Mike Conley, Greg Oden, David Lighty, Othello Hunter and Daequan Cook. Within almost ten years of time, Coach Matta is known as the winning-est coach in program history after presenting a number of successful seasons for the team as well as for the fans. This year, Matta is still pretty confident about his strategy as he has signed a number of new players that are believed to meet his expectations. This time, the head coach decided to fill his 2015 recruiting class with Daniel Giddens, JaQuan Lyle, A.J. Harris, Mickey Mitchell and Austin Grandstaff. This recruiting class has not come up with a nick name though.

Sticking with the same team he had last season is almost an impossible mission as he had lost a number of crucial player including D'Angelo Russle. Thad Matte soon realized that he had to make an immediate impact to the team by presenting a new wave of The Thad Five.

The exit of Shannon Scott and D'Angelo Russel was a huge blow to the team at the end of last year. The Ohio State basketball team just cannot afford to lose these two primary ball handlers without inviting relevant replacement. For that reason, the head coach decided to sign a four-star recruit from Dunbar High School, A.J. Harris. He has a high hope on this new recruit to replace the empty role in the team. Looking at his size, many believe that A.J. Harris is a wrong call. However, the head coach of Ohio State Basketball Team has no problem with the lack of size. After all, there are plenty of undersized guards who manage to show great performances in the Big Ten. A great point guard should come up with great ball handling and shooting capabilities and Harris is obviously an expert in those fields.

Matta always has his eyes on Austin Grandstaff. The Buckeyes expects so much from the capacity of Grandstaff as an elite shooter. However, it is pretty hard for Austin Grandstaff to cover the large gaps left by Scott and Russell. For this purpose, it seems the head coach is about to pair him with Kam Williams and place him on the shooting guard position.

Every basketball team always has a room for a versatile player with a high profile like Mickey Mitchell. The head coach clearly stated that this versatile player has a great capacity to cover five different positions for the team. Many believe that Matta decided to invite JaQuan Lyle to the team to take over the role of Russell. In addition to his good size and great combo guard capability, he has no problem in playing on and off the ball. Trey McDonald and Amir Williams are no longer in the team and Matta has a strong belief in Daniel Giddens. The recruiting of Dave Bell and Trevor Thompson is meant to keep the competition with Giddens alive in the team.