On the day he signed the nation’s fifth-rated recruiting class two years ago, Ohio State coach Thad Matta could not stop beaming.

Matta clearly believed the five prized incoming freshmen he landed would keep the Buckeyes nationally relevant for years to come.

He proclaimed wing Austin Grandstaff a better shooter than Ohio State career 3-point record holder Jon Diebler. He described forward Mickey Mitchell as “the best passer I’ve seen a in a long time.” He praised point guard A.J. Harris for his toughness and quickness and he touted center Daniel Giddens as a defensive dynamo with a rapidly blossoming offensive skill set.

“I love who we got,” Matta said. “These were the guys we targeted and we said if we get them we’re going to be happy. So, as I said, I’m elated today.”

To say that Ohio State’s celebrated 2015 recruiting class did not live up to Matta’s glowing remarks would be an understatement of massive proportions. Four members transferred by the end of their freshman season without making any meaningful contributions and the lone remaining player was dismissed earlier this spring after two erratic seasons with the Buckeyes.

Not being able to coax more out of that cornerstone class is a big reason Matta is now out of a job. Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith announced Monday afternoon that Matta will not be back next season after the Buckeyes failed to make the NCAA tournament the past two seasons and endured a string of recruiting misses this spring that diminished hope of a rapid turnaround.

It’s fair to argue that Matta would still be Ohio State’s coach had his declining health not impacted his job performance. Matta might also have bought himself a stay of execution had he managed to land one of the prized transfers or blue-chip freshmen he pursued this spring. But it’s undeniable that the beginning of the end for Matta was the most underachieving class of his tenure, one that arrived with tremendous promise and left without fulfilling any of it.

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The biggest mistake Matta made when assembling his 2015 recruiting class was not identifying some potential red flags quickly enough.

Ohio State’s 2015-16 roster was laden with sophomores and juniors who were established Big Ten-level players yet didn’t project as NBA prospects. As a result, any freshmen who came aboard that season either had to be talented enough to nudge an older player out of the starting five or patient enough to bide his time in a supporting role for a couple years.

Four of the players Ohio State signed in the 2015 class hadn’t previously exhibited that level of loyalty. Eager to find a program where they would be showcased, they had played for multiple high school or AAU teams or backed out of commitments to other colleges in favor of Ohio State.

The first to balk at playing sporadic minutes as a freshman was Grandstaff, the sharpshooter from Texas who also held offers from the likes of Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Unable to defend well enough to carve out a bigger role right away, Grandstaff logged 11.5 minutes per game the opening month of the season as a reserve wing behind veterans Marc Loving and Keita Bates-Diop.

“I could never get consistent minutes,” Grandstaff said last month. “The assistant coaches would say I had a good game or I had a few good practices in a row, but it never seemed to benefit me at all. It was just frustrating.”

What also didn’t help was that Grandstaff had left for Columbus two days after the birth of his son. Being 1,000 miles from his newborn child weighed on Grandstaff throughout his short time at Ohio State, making it difficult for him to focus on basketball or academics like he admits he should have.

When Grandstaff logged only nine minutes in a 20-point mid-December loss to UConn, that was the final straw. His father called a meeting with Matta the next morning and informed him that at the end of the fall semester Grandstaff would transfer somewhere more playing time was available and he could be within driving distance of his son.

“I think my mind wasn’t really in the right place at all, but also I don’t think I had really good relationships with the coaching staff,” said Grandstaff, who is now at Depaul after a failed semster-long stint at Oklahoma. “There was a lot of stuff going on there and they weren’t winning at the same level they had before. It was just really hard. It was rough.”

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