Forty names, video games, groups and trivia making information in school basketball, the place South Florida is the newest college feeling the fun of an surprising arrival as a contender:
One month to go, and everyone seems to be up of their emotions
One of the crucial reliably endearing issues about this sport is that, come the again half of February, it finds one other gear. Soccer is a furnace of depth from Labor Day weekend onward, however basketball is a sluggish construct. And now, inside a month till the NCAA match area is revealed, the going will get bizarre and the individuals get wound up.
On Sunday alone, the common school hoops fan might have turned on TV and seen the next:
A former president of the USA at an SMU Mustangs recreation wanting like Taste Flav (1) as the house crew annihilated the previous contender often known as the Memphis Tigers.
An interim coach preventing again tears instantly after taking down the No. 2 crew within the nation in his debut recreation. Jake Diebler (2), appointed as coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes on Wednesday, took down the juggernaut Purdue Boilermakers to go 1–0. (Roughly 24 hours earlier, the NCAA match choice committee anointed the Boilermakers its total No. 1 seed in its early top-16 reveal.) He ought to take into account instantly retiring, as a result of it may not ever get higher than that.
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A buzzer beater in a hallowed area from a man who was viciously decked by an inexpensive shot to the throat earlier within the recreation. If the bubblicious Utah Utes make the Massive Dance for the primary time since 2016, body the putback by Branden Carlson (3) because the second that made it occur. He ended an exciting highway recreation in opposition to the UCLA Bruins in Pauley Pavilion with a hustle play off a superb play design by Craig Smith. Now we’ll see whether or not UCLA guard Sebastian Mack faces a suspension for the elbow that received him ejected.
Late February additionally means it’s time for coaches to crank up their peacocking. They’re rather more human than their soccer counterparts, in all the nice and unhealthy methods—warts and wonder marks each proper there for public viewing—not many robots in that fraternity. Which implies we’re handled to shows like we received from two Corridor of Famers on successive days.
There was the Kentucky Wildcats’ John Calipari (4) crowing in victory Saturday night time over the Auburn Tigers. Earlier than even sitting down for his information convention after arguably the perfect highway win any crew has had all season, Cal launched into his act: “Please simply depart my gamers, allow them to be younger and be taught, and preserve attacking me. I would be the worst within the nation, simply assault me and depart these youngsters alone.”
This was traditional Cal, taking part in two completely different roles in two sentences: the persecuted piñata and valiant defender of his gamers. After an enormous victory, there was no want for that gratuitous grandstanding, however that is who he’s. Truth is, Calipari went rather a lot additional towards incomes his $9 million a 12 months Saturday by undressing Bruce Pearl than he has at another level in a wildly uneven Kentucky season. The coach thrives on battle, so it’s not a shock that he bathes in it when the chance presents itself.
Additionally not shocking: Rick Pitino (5) spraying a firehose of reproach at everybody however himself after his St. John’s Purple Storm blew a 19-point lead in opposition to the Seton Corridor Pirates in an important bubble recreation for each groups. It’s exceedingly uncommon for a Pitino crew to provide again a lead of that dimension (and it got here simply days after the thirtieth anniversary of his all-time biggest comeback, from 31 down within the second half on the LSU Tigers). It isn’t uncommon in any respect for him to launch right into a hyperbolic philippic after a foul loss.
“That is probably the most unenjoyable expertise of my lifetime,” Pitino declared.
He was referring to this debut season at St. John’s as an entire, and it actually has turn into more and more unenjoyable for all concerned events. The Purple Storm has pale badly within the rugged Massive East, dropping eight of their final 10, sliding off the NCAA bubble and setting the stage for a traditional Pitino postgame blame-and-despair session.
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He famous that St. John’s has “s—-y services” however didn’t blame them for the crew’s struggles. He did blame the gamers for being unathletic and missing toughness and tacitly blamed his workers for recruiting them. “We sort of misplaced this season with the best way we recruited,” he mentioned. “We recruited the antithesis of the best way I coach, with velocity, quickness, fundamentals, energy and toughness. It’s a very good group, they fight arduous, they’re simply not very robust.”
(Pitino did, after all, have the final word determination about who was added to his roster final offseason.)
Instantaneous rebuilds can occur in trendy basketball, nevertheless it’s a tough calculus that may simply go improper. That’s been the case up to now at St. John’s. And whereas no person was demanding one other in a collection of Pitino miracles in 12 months 1, it ought to be famous that at age 71, he doesn’t have an extended runway to get to liftoff.
The Johnnies rescued Rick from the hinterlands of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Convention, giving him yet one more shot on the large time. His return to the highlight hasn’t gone in addition to deliberate. When Pitino loses, he radiates disgust and discontent—which is among the causes he loses so sometimes. It’s going to be an extended couple of days for the St. John’s gamers and training workers till they play the Georgetown Hoyas on Wednesday night time.
Don’t mess with the match
You heard the newest warning photographs fired final week, when power-conference commissioners resumed chirping about ruining the fantastic thing about a 68-team NCAA match (6).
It began years in the past by increasing from the perfection of 64 to 68, promoting the First 4 idea in Dayton as a innocent little add-on. Now they need to add extra in order that the more and more massive energy conferences can get extra mid-pack groups into the sphere. Southeastern Convention commissioner Greg Sankey (7) planted that seed with Sports activities Illustrated in 2022, and it has grown since then. A number of concerned events say the executive momentum is there for growth by wherever from 4 to 12 groups—whether or not there’s public assist for it or not.
Ask round: Do any followers need a larger Massive Dance? Anybody clamoring for it? Not that The Minutes can hear.
The match is completely contained in three weeks of competitors, laid out on a bracket that matches snugly on a printed piece of paper or a single pc display screen. Increasing it will be like constructing a dream residence after which deciding to place a cheesy aluminum siding addition on the again. Greater just isn’t typically higher, and finally larger turns into worse. This might be worse.
Commissioners and athletic administrators will trot out a line about proportion of participation within the championship. At present, the sphere of 68 includes 18.8% (8) of Division I—a decrease proportion than another sports activities have of their championship fields. However preserve these two issues in thoughts:
The NCAA retains letting extra colleges transfer as much as Division I, from 326 twenty years in the past to 345 in 2011, after they inflated the sphere from 64 to 68, to the present 362. Cease the bloat.Each crew that competes in its convention match has an opportunity to earn an NCAA bid. That’s the true begin of March Insanity, when leagues collect and compete in a single-elimination format for certainly one of 32 automated bids. So everybody who makes the convention tourney has that chance. (Fewer colleges will get that chance because the mega-conference pattern evolves subsequent 12 months, although. The Atlantic Coast Convention (9), for instance, has already mentioned it’s going to cap its 2025 tourney at 15 groups, leaving three at residence.)
Ultimately, the needy and grasping energy brokers of school sports activities will attain too far and it’ll backfire. Increasing the NCAA match is a threat that’s not definitely worth the reward. Don’t mess with the perfect factor in school athletics.
The carousel is beginning to spin
Final week, Ohio State fired seventh-year coach Chris Holtmann (10), efficient instantly, and truly received some fast outcomes for it. That was the second power-conference job to return open throughout the season. Extra will observe. The Minutes seems on the lay of the land, and what would possibly occur subsequent (perceive that Jay Wright just isn’t occurring wherever):
Ohio State Buckeyes (11). Holtmann counterprogrammed the get-old, stay-old roster-building philosophy of the occasions and it backfired. They in all probability owe it to Diebler to see if he can preserve repeating the magic of Sunday, however a crew that at the moment is thirteenth within the Massive Ten looks like an unlikely candidate for a whole resurrection.
The intriguing premise is that this: If the Massive Ten applications are going to be loaded with new income, can they money-whip the perfect coaches into leaving good jobs to return there? Ohio State is clearly investing massively in soccer for 2024 and past, but when the Buckeyes resolve to go large for a basketball coach, might they land somebody like Greg McDermott (12) of the Creighton Bluejays?
DePaul Blue Demons (13). Athletic director DeWayne Peevy fired Tony Stubblefield weeks in the past, giving himself ample time to seek out somebody who can do a particularly arduous job. DePaul at the moment is 3–22 and hasn’t gained in 2024. It’s by some means been 20 years since a once-proud program final performed within the NCAA match. However they’ve a greater area state of affairs and are engaged on a brand new basketball facility, so there are some issues to promote to the legion of Chicagoland gamers who routinely go elsewhere.
Peevy is prone to go after an skilled head coach after the Stubblefield debacle. First inquiry ought to go to Josh Schertz of the Indiana State Sycamores, however that may very well be a crowded area of suitors. Niko Medved (14) has authored a fourth 20-win season in six years with the Colorado State Rams and could be price a name. Or if Peevy needs to go straight outlaw, no chaser, he can thank the McNeese State Cowboys for laundering Will Wade for a 12 months and (perhaps) making him hirable elsewhere.
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Louisville Cardinals (15). There isn’t any “if,” right here, solely “when.” Kenny Payne really misplaced to Stubblefield and DePaul earlier this season, along with the Chattanooga Mocs, Arkansas State Purple Wolves and 15 different opponents. Payne’s two-season file is 12–46 at a spot that has gained a number of nationwide championships. Bye.
If Louisville (or a Massive Ten program) goes after the Florida Atlantic Owls’ Dusty Could (16), would it not set off motion from the Indiana Hoosiers? Could is a Hoosier alum and Indiana native who took FAU to the Last 4 final 12 months and may have the Owls within the Massive Dance once more this 12 months. Even when the college isn’t prepared to fireplace Mike Woodson—who’s having a really disappointing third season—the chance of dropping Could would possibly alter the timetable.
West Virginia Mountaineers (17). Josh Eilert was the stopgap alternative after Bob Huggins torched his profession final spring, and it hasn’t gone effectively. WVU is 8–17 and final within the Massive 12, so there will probably be a change—and that change gained’t be going again to Huggins.
This may be the place that will get Josh Schertz (18). Athletic director Wren Baker is prone to scan the mid-major ranks for rising stars, and Schertz actually suits that definition. He was an enormous winner on the Division II stage and has Indiana State atop of the Missouri Valley Convention in his third season there.
Michigan Wolverines (19). Is Juwan Howard on his means out? It’s unclear, however his tenure is trending badly. The previous two seasons have been a marked drop-off from the primary three. This season, Michigan is final within the Massive Ten and was simply punked at residence by the rival Michigan State Spartans. Howard additionally has had sufficient off-court fuss to additional jeopardize his standing.
Identical premise right here as with Ohio State: Is Michigan keen to pay to pluck a longtime power-conference coach? Like, perhaps T.J. Otzelberger (20) of the Iowa State Cyclones? His present crew is 20–5, 9–3 within the brutal Massive 12, churning towards a top-16 NCAA seed. He’s a 46-year-old Midwestern man who recruits that area effectively, and he’s picked up the offensive tempo a bit this 12 months—which helps from a watchability standpoint.
One-third of the Pac-12 (21). Mike Hopkins of the Washington Huskies, Bobby Hurley of the Arizona State Solar Devils, Jerod Haase of the Stanford Cardinal, Wayne Tinkle of the Oregon State Beavers … all of them may very well be on the chopping block at locations which have given them loads of run.
All of them ought to in all probability take a run at Kyle Smith of the Washington State Cougars, whose program is going through an unsure future after the demise of the Pac-12 (extra on the Cougs under). However one other title that ought to be of West Coast curiosity: Bryce Drew (22), coach of the Grand Canyon Antelopes. There are solely two groups left with two losses: the UConn Huskies and Grand Canyon. Drew is 88–29 on the college and churning towards a 3rd NCAA bid in 4 seasons. He additionally took the Vanderbilt Commodores and Valparaiso Beacons to the Massive Dance.
Vanderbilt Commodores (23). Jerry Stackhouse is in 12 months 5 with out an NCAA bid, with this season’s crew spiraling to 7–18 total and a pair of–10 within the SEC. The final recreation was a 35-point humiliation on the Tennessee Volunteers. Vandy is investing closely in soccer services, however this can be a college with a good basketball custom—and extra possibilities to reach that sport.
Each power-conference program within the South ought to be attempting to get Amir Abdur-Rahim away from the South Florida Bulls. But when Vandy isn’t the place that may do it, there’s one other various proper there in Nashville: Casey Alexander (24) is working towards an eighth-straight 20-win season on the town, 5 with the Belmont Bruins and three earlier than that with the Lipscomb Bisons.
Central Florida Knights (25). Johnny Dawkins has had one high-level crew in eight years at UCF, practically knocking off Zion Williamson and the Duke Blue Devils within the 2019 NCAA tourney. Now within the Massive 12, the Knights are in peril of being swallowed by the competitors. Given the daunting new terrain, and the sudden rise of South Florida, it may very well be time for UCF to make a transfer.
Former Xavier Musketeers and Louisville coach Chris Mack (26) is able to get again within the recreation after two-plus seasons on the sideline. May this be a touchdown spot for him? It ended badly for Mack at Louisville, however his file at Xavier was sensational.
Saint Louis Billikens (27). Till this season, Travis Ford had constantly gained video games right here whereas constantly lacking the NCAA tourney (one bid in six tries). Now the wheels have fallen off, with Saint Louis sliding to 9–16 total, 2–10 within the Atlantic 10. Is that sufficient to make a change, or does Ford get one other season to repair it?
A variety of coaches view that job as a sleeping large. One who proved he might win large at an city Catholic college: Tom Crean (28), who took the Marquette Golden Eagles to the 2003 Last 4. He’s been working in TV the previous two seasons.
Why Washington State ought to be America’s crew
The Washington State Cougars (29) ought to have your consideration. And your ardent assist. If ever a program’s rise has been poignantly timed, that is it.
The Cougars are 20–6, 11–4 and in second place within the Pac-12. They’ve gained seven straight to maneuver comfortably into most mock brackets, inside vary of grabbing their first NCAA bid since 2008. (The coach then: Tony Bennett. Klay Thompson hadn’t but arrived on campus.) They usually’re doing it in a second the place every part has collapsed athletically round Wazzu.
The Pac-12 deserted the Cougars, leaving them and Oregon State for useless beginning in 2024–25. Wazzu president Kirk Schulz (30) is doing his dead-level greatest to carry the remainder of the facility conferences hostage by way of his position as a Faculty Soccer Playoff board member, sustaining the Pac-12’s voting and income rights regardless that it’s going to be a Pac-2 ghost ship of a league. The Minutes respects Schulz’s hustle and hopes he comes away with an enormous sum of cash.
Within the meantime, his males’s basketball crew is rolling. Coach Kyle Smith (31) was a savvy rent from the San Francisco Dons in 2019; he’s but to have a dropping season in Pullman, Wash. This 12 months’s crew is his greatest but.
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His greatest participant is guard Myles Rice (32), a third-year freshman. Rice was redshirted in 2021–22, then was recognized with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and missed all of 2022–23. After going via chemotherapy, he was cleared to play this season and has blossomed. Rice leads the crew in scoring (15.9 factors per recreation), assists (3.7) and steals (1.7).
What the long run holds for Washington State athletics is unclear and certain disagreeable. However the current tense for Cougars males’s basketball is a phenomenal factor. If we are able to’t all root for this program and its star participant, we’ve misplaced the plot.
Backdoor to the bubble?
In case your favourite crew spent months taking part in with its meals as a substitute of sprucing up its NCAA tourney résumé, don’t abandon all hope. There’s nonetheless time for a number of of them to make a backdoor lower into bubble rivalry. A few of the candidates:
The Pittsburgh Panthers (33) are abruptly stacking wins—5 in a row, bettering them to 17–8, 8–6 within the ACC. They’ve earned two large ones on the highway, at Duke and the Virginia Cavaliers. A house loss to the Missouri Tigers hurts the résumé, although. Ahead Blake Hinson is doing his half, hitting 14 of 26 three-pointers in Pitt’s final two video games and averaging 34 factors in wins over Virginia and Louisville.
Pitt’s present NET ranking: 47. Present KenPom ranking: 51. High quality-win alternatives forward: highway video games in opposition to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Tuesday and the Clemson Tigers on Feb. 27.
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VCU Rams (34). They’ve gained 9 of their final 10 to succeed in 17–8 total, 9–3 within the A-10, of their first season below Ryan Odom. The Rams are a recreation out of first within the loss column in a league KenPom charges eighth nationally. Largest amongst these current victories was over league kingpin the Dayton Flyers final week in Richmond, Va. A nonconference loss to the Norfolk State Spartans and an early A-10 loss to the George Washington Revolutionaries could also be résumé killers, until the wins preserve coming.
VCU’s present NET ranking: 71. Present KenPom ranking: 76. High quality-win alternatives forward: on the Richmond Spiders on March 2 and at Dayton on March 8. The Rams in all probability have to win out within the common season and should have work to do within the A-10 tourney.
Drake Bulldogs (35). They’ve gained 4 straight within the Missouri Valley since dropping at Indiana State, transferring right into a tie with the Sycamores for first. Drake has a neutral-floor win over fellow bubble dweller the Nevada Wolf Pack and cut up two video games with Indiana State, plus a current highway win over the Bradley Braves. A loss to the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks within the Cayman Islands in November might come again to hang-out them.
Drake’s present NET ranking: 46. Present KenPom ranking: 48. High quality-win alternatives forward: Not a lot left within the common season, though video games on the Northern Iowa Panthers on Saturday and residential in opposition to Bradley on March 3 would assist. Drake would possibly have to win out within the common season and attain the Arch Insanity closing to earn a second straight bid and third within the final 4 seasons.
It’s The Minutes’ stance that the Valley deserves two bids so long as each groups handle enterprise, Drake and the Indiana State Sycamores (36). They had been 22–3 earlier than dropping two straight in upset style, however ahead Jayson Kent missed one and a half of these two video games with a concussion. He’s a significant rebounder and defensive presence on an undersized crew. If Indiana State will get again on the beam with Kent within the lineup, that ought to be famous by the choice committee.
Minutes crush of the week
Harrison Ingram (37), North Carolina Tar Heels. Because the Stanford switch’s arrival in Chapel Hill, the Heels have turn into a more durable crew. The 6′ 7″, 235-pound junior was a extremely touted highschool prospect who has proven a willingness to do the soiled work.
Ingram has helped enhance UNC’s defensive effort and teamed with large man Armando Bacot to offer a devastating one-two rebounding punch. (He has seven double-figure rebounding video games within the final 9.) In the meantime, Hubert Davis and his workers have introduced out the perimeter shooter in Ingram—a profession 31% shooter from three-point vary at Stanford is up 10 proportion factors this season. Hitting 5 threes in his first Duke-Carolina recreation was a pleasant flourish.
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Coach who earned his comp automobile this week
Amir Abdur-Rahim (38), South Florida Bulls. Is that this the man everybody ought to be attempting to rent? After working a miracle at Kennesaw State, taking the Owls to their first-ever NCAA bid final 12 months, he’s arrived in Tampa and carried out a fast makeover of a dormant program.
Armed with loads of transfers and a few key holdovers, the Bulls have rocketed from 4 straight dropping seasons to 19–5 and the highest of the American Athletic Convention. No, it’s not the identical AAC it was with out Houston, Cincinnati and UCF, however that is nonetheless uncharted territory for USF, which is striving for its first NCAA bid since 2012. (A 2–4 begin with losses to the Central Michigan Chippewas and the Maine Black Bears might imply the Bulls have to win the league tourney.)
The final word proof of progress got here Sunday, when South Florida had its first sellout since 2001 when Florida Atlantic got here to city. The Bulls roared to an awesome 25-point lead, then sweated out the ultimate minute when the Owls closed inside a degree. South Florida closed it out for its eleventh straight win.
Coach who ought to take the bus to work
Penny Hardaway (39), Memphis Tigers. In mid-January, the Tigers had been 15–2 and one of many buzziest groups within the sport. Now they’re 18–8 and coming off a dreadful, no-show efficiency at SMU, giving up 106 factors and dropping by 27.
Memphis has tanked defensively in dropping six of its final 9. The Tigers are close to the underside of the AAC in league play in efficient area aim proportion protection and defensive rebounding. They’re giving up open threes and second-chance factors with regularity.
Hardaway has confirmed to be a greater coach and program builder than some suspected and may file a sixth-straight 20-win season. However a third-straight NCAA bid is slipping away until Memphis can repair itself. The Tigers in all probability have to win the AAC match to make the sphere.
Buzzer beater
When hungry and thirsty in Norman, Okla., The Minutes recommends a go to to The Mont (40). They’ll serve up some wonderful Mexican meals and a blinding array of fanciful cocktails or a neighborhood craft beer. Test it out and thank The Minutes later.