I am generally very much against telling fans how to think, but his overall point is accurate.

(Watch it below, but there is some NSFW language)

Of course the “worst in the world” part got headlines, and that’s hyperbolic. It was a passionate speech from a guy who was a member of the team from 2006-10 and has been able to make a (presumably) lucrative career in the media thanks to the attention his blog from that time first garnered.

I never read that, and I don’t follow much of the stuff Barstool produces, but I have been following Ohio State basketball since the Jimmy Jackson era, and I have seen how the team is received by the general fan base in person and online for the last 25 years since I was a freshman with season tickets.

In a word, it’s unimpressive. Another word? Lukewarm.

Those fit both fan enthusiasm and institutional support, which I think go hand in hand.

So when Titus says “the expectation and investment aren’t aligned,” I tend to agree.

Ohio State basketball is in a 13-year funk for many reasons, but the general lack of enduring passion for the program is definitely part of it.

Ohio State football fans have made it clear they will support a winner… and an almost-winner. They still showed up in 2011 when the team was struggling under the weight of an NCAA investigation.

Nobody jumped off the bandwagon after that third loss in a row to Michigan in 2023, either.

This unwavering support puts pressure on the administration to do its part to put the team in position to win. What happened after Michigan pulled ahead in the rivalry by smartly using the transfer portal? Ohio State smartly used the transfer portal to beef up its roster going into 2024 and got a national title for its troubles.

That’s logical, of course, but it also takes money.

Investing in football is also an easy decision to make if you’re running the athletics department because you know there will be return on investment.

I don’t think the path is so obvious for Ohio State men’s basketball.

The last 20 years have shown us Ohio State men’s basketball fans aren’t like football fans.

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It’s not John Cooper’s line about Ohio State football fans being “with you win or tie (and don’t tie many)” so much as, “They’re with you win and be in the top five.”

For example: Since the Schottenstein Center opened in 1999, Ohio State has been in the national top 10 in attendance nine times:

What do those teams have in common?

In 1999, the building not only was new but they made their first Final Four in more than two decades behind the exciting guard duo of Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd. That juiced interest for the next few years.

In 2007, they not only were defending Big Ten champs but had the most-anticipated recruiting class in school history (Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., etc.) and ended up being national runner-up.

In 2012, they were coming off the exciting freshman seasons of Jared Sullinger and Aaron Craft and made the Final Four. They made the Elite Eight the following year, and that energy carried over for one more season before support slacked off again even though they still won 24 games and made the Sweet 16 in 2015.

You might think new coach Chris Holtmann and National Player of the Year candidate Keita Bates-Diop on a team that finished second in the Big Ten would inspire a big jump in 2018, but no, not so much.

You might also notice the 2009 and ’10 seasons are not on that list.

They had the NPOY in Evan Turner and won the Big Ten in 2010 but played in front of an average of 5,000 empty seats per night.

I will never forget then-director of athletics Gene Smith showing up at a football press conference (not sure if it was National Signing Day or spring football) to implore more people to show up to see Turner and the rest play.

He also mentioned they had a lot of tickets sold that were going unused, so it wasn’t even a money issue.

The enthusiasm was just not what you would expect.

I can also tell you the interest online is similar.

As someone who used to watch every game I could growing up even when they went 6-22 in 1995 and 8-22 in 1998, I remember being disappointed when I learned my freshman year pretty much nobody else in the dorm had basketball tickets.

I was surprised when I started working for Buckeye Sports Bulletin and learned people are about 10x more likely to read a football recruiting story than a basketball story, too, and from talking to people at other publications, that is how it is everywhere.

I’m not casting judgement. Read what you want to read. Enjoy what you enjoy. Just understand this is the situation.

So when Titus calls out fans for parachuting in just to complain I think that’s where he is coming from.

Now if you are saying, “But I am following them all season! I care just as much about a basketball game as football!” That’s great. You’re in the minority. That’s not right, wrong or in different. Just the way things are.

If you are really invested in the basketball team being better (rather than just being mad they lost this week and likely to forget next week), I would encourage you to express yourself to the powers that be, yes, but also show the team more love all year.

I don’t blame anyone who saw the way they played in December and January and felt like it wasn’t worth their money to attend a game. I went because I was trying to make money and didn’t have to pay to get in!

Vote with your feet and your dollars when they are not up to snuff (or keep going and keep putting down cash if you want to; that’s fine, too!), but just understand the issue to me is even when they are good the support is typically lackluster.

All that said, they could certainly be better than they have been the last 13 years.

And in the context of all this, asking an inexperienced coach to fix it probably made even less sense than it seemed at the time.

The NCAA Tournament loss to TCU was not inspiring, but it does not erase the strong finish to the regular season that got them there.

As I wrote last week, this should be the last time in a long time they go into the Big Dance justifiably just happy to be there.

The arrow is pointing up, and if Diebler wants to be the guy long term, he needs to keep it that way.

They won more Big Ten games than they had since 2022 (also the last time they made the tournament) so there was progress, which is why the people calling for his head seem silly even if it is fair to expect more.

It’s just important to understand the only time most Ohio State basketball fans show any indication they expect more is when the season is over.

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Knowing how what I know about interest in non-elite Ohio State men’s basketball teams, I did not bother writing something about that loss to TCU.

But I did have the privilege of attending the Ohio State women’s team’s blowout of Howard in the first round of their NCAA Tournament on Saturday, and I will be there this afternoon when they take on No. 5 seed Notre Dame.

This should be a fascinating game — and a ripe opportunity for Ohio State to make the Sweet 16 for the first time since they went to the 2023 Elite 8.

All-American guards Jaloni Cambridge and Hannah Hidalgo lead the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish, respectively. They are both small and cat-quick, though Cambridge is more efficient on the offensive side.

Overall, the numbers say the Buckeyes are better at putting the ball in the hoop, but Notre Dame will provide a huge challenge for Cambridge and 3-point ace Chance Gray.

Perhaps the difference could be Elsa Lemmila, Ohio State’s 6-6 sophomore center from Finland who provides some rim protection and scored in double figures in five of the last seven games.