Author: Aidan Joly

By Aidan Joly

Teams are beginning to wrap up their regular season schedules and Selection Sunday is now less than three weeks in away. Believe it or not, the first conference tournament begins one week from Monday, while three more will get going the next day.

Let’s jump right into what happened this weekend.

Kansas was perhaps the team of the weekend, picking up an 87-71 win against Baylor at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks did this after they trailed by 13 at the half and out-scored Baylor 55-26 in the second half. DaJuan Harris scored all 14 of his points in the second half, part of a 63.3% shooting effort from Kansas in the second half. Jalen Wilson had 21 points, while KJ Adams Jr. had 17 and Gradey Dick tacked on 16.

It’s tough to think of a second-half performance as dominant as Kansas’ was in recent memory. While doing it in a matchup of the past two national champions, it’s easy to see a scenario where Kansas can repeat as champion if it can get on a streak like this. The Jayhawks have now won four in a row and six of seven.

Elsewhere in the Big 12, Kansas State grinded out a 61-55 win against Iowa State. It was a defensive slugfest, but it’s becoming clear that Kansas State can play in just about any type of game. It earned its 20th win of the season in the process.

A Big 12 team that didn’t have to grind it out was TCU, who dropped 100 points in a 25-point win against Oklahoma State. The Horned Frogs had six players finish in double figures and shot nearly 70% from the field the entire afternoon. The Horned Frogs needed a performance like this, having lost four in a row and five of six coming in. A huge game between Kansas and TCU awaits on Monday night.

Moving on to the Big Ten, the most entertaining game happened in Bloomington on Saturday, with Indiana’s comeback effort to beat Illinois 71-68. It was one of those games where Illinois led most of the way but Indiana just refused to go away and made the necessary plays at the end in order to take the lead late and earn the victory.

Trayce Jackson-Davis had one of the best individual performances of the weekend, with 26 points on 12-19 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds. Miller Kopp (12 points, 4-6 shooting) and Race Thompson (10 points, 4-7 shooting) also came up big late. The Hoosiers became the third Big Ten team to earn double digit conference wins.

Moving on to a team that helped its tournament chances in a big way, Kentucky finished off a sweep of Tennessee, winning 66-54. The Volunteers were without Josiah James, which certainly didn’t help the cause, but a win is a win for the Wildcats and they have to take them any way they can get them at this point.

One team that got hurt this weekend is North Carolina, which blew yet another Quad 1 opportunity against NC State, dropping it 77-69 on Sunday. The Tar Heels are now 0-8 in Quad 1 opportunities this season and 2-7 in true road games as a whole. Pair that with fellow bubble teams Arkansas, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Penn State, New Mexico and Boise State taking care of business, UNC is on the outside looking in as of now.

As for another ACC team on the bubble, you can cross off Clemson as a loss against dreadful Louisville on Saturday has seemingly sealed the fate of the Tigers. To the NIT you go.

Elsewhere on the bubble, Memphis squandered an opportunity to help its chances, falling to Houston 72-64. It’ll get at least one more shot against Houston this year in the regular season finale, potentially two if they meet in the AAC tournament. Lots of pressure will be on Memphis to win one of those games to feel comfortable about getting an at-large.

Want to give a quick shoutout to St. Mary’s, which played a nice game against BYU late Saturday night, 71-65. Logan Johnson had 27 points on 12-19 shooting, while Aidan Mahaney scored 16 points and made a huge three with 48 seconds left to put the game away. With the right seeding, don’t be surprised when the Gaels are a part of the second weekend. Also, BYU in the Big 12 next year won’t be the same.

Finally, an ode to the Hartford Hawks, who played the program’s final game at the Division I level on Sunday and went out with a whimper, dropping to Chicago State 75-53 to finish the season a measly 5-23. It will drop all the way to Division III next year, two years removed from winning the America East and playing in the NCAA tournament. It played this year as one of two independents in Division I, Chicago State being the other. Shame on school president Gregory Woodward, who forced this move.

The Hawks played this season without former head coach John Gallagher, who resigned a day before the season began due to his disgust with the school’s administration. He’s a great coach and by all accounts a fantastic person who got a raw deal. Hope he gets another opportunity in this upcoming carousel.

By Aidan Joly

The Colgate Raiders, who play in the sleepy town of Hamilton, New York and have a gym that seats just less than 2,000 people, is one of the under-the-radar low major dominants of college basketball.

It showed why this is on Wednesday night, with a 93-86 win against Army.

Matt Langel’s squad has always boasted one of the most up tempo offenses in college basketball, a run-and-gun one that emphasizes shooting from deep. It did that on Wednesday, headlined by a 23-point performance from senior Oliver Lynch-Daniels, a number that came up one point shy of matching his season high while going an absurd 7-9 from three.

Meanwhile, freshman Braeden Smith made his presence felt, hitting a pair of threes as part of a 20-point performance. Ryan Moffatt went 5-8 from three as part of a 17-point night, nine of those points coming from three in the first few minutes of the game to give the Raiders some early breathing room. Leading scorer Tucker Richardson had an interesting performance, with Army limiting him to just four points on 2-11 shooting, but he helped in other ways, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out nine assists.

Colgate ended up needing that early lead to fall back on, as Army made some adjustments in the second half and cut a 13-point halftime deficit to as little as four in the final few minutes. A little too close for comfort for sure, but it was a quintessential Colgate win.

It’s hard to ignore Colgate’s KenPom report card. As of Thursday, the Raiders lead the country in effective field goal percentage (58.0%), nearly an entire percentage point between the teams that are tied for second, Gonzaga and Oral Roberts, who are both at 57.2%. Colgate is also one of the best teams in the country of taking care of the basketball, at 15.5%, tying it for 23rd in the nation.

As alluded to before, Colgate is also one of the best three-point shooting teams in the nation, sitting in second in the country behind Utah State, at 40.5%. On Wednesday it went 15-27 from three, good for 55.6%. This is a modern offense that it ahead of any like it in the Patriot League and it has shown, with Colgate winning the league in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and is well on its way to winning it again, as Wednesday’s win improved it to 14-1 in the league, earning its 20th win of the season overall. It’s a five-game cushion on Navy and Lehigh, who are both 9-6. The Raiders have a nonconference win against Syracuse as well, its second consecutive season beating its nearby Power 6 foe.

This success is thanks to Matt Langel, the 45-year-old head coach who is in his 12th season at the helm in Hamilton. It’s a success story built on patience, as Colgate went over .500 in league play just once in Langel’s first six seasons and didn’t have a season with an overall record of above .500 until his seventh season. He’s likely here to stay too, as last March he was rewarded with a contract extension that keeps him under contract through 2030. He’s nearing 200 career wins.

The past three NCAA tournaments it has participated in, it lost in the first round each time, but kept it close. In 2019, lost to Tennessee as a 15-seed, 77-70. In 2021, lost to Arkansas as a 14-seed, 85-68. Finally, in 2022, lost to Wisconsin as a 14-seed again, 67-60.

The good thing here is, this year’s squad may be the best one yet. It certainly seems to be one that could be a matchup nightmare for some top-tier teams and if the stars align, bust some brackets.

By Aidan Joly

This season, 48 of Division I’s 363 teams have never made the NCAA tournament. 37 of them are eligible to make it. With Division I rapidly expanding and Division I’s numbers rising every year, there comes more opportunity for teams to make the tournament for the first time.

That being said, here’s seven teams that have a good shot at doing that this year, loosely ranked from most likely to least likely.

Utah Valley

The Wolverines are likely the top contender here. Utah Valley currently sits two full games ahead of the rest in the WAC, sitting at 11-2 in league play and 20-6 overall. Mark Madsen’s squad has been the best in the league all year and also boast nonconference wins against BYU and Oregon. It has four double digit scorers, that has included great consistency from Trey Woodbury and a double-double threat in Akron transfer Aziz Bandaogo. This is a team that might end up being a popular upset candidate on brackets, too.

Youngstown State

The Penguins are currently tied for the lead in the Horizon League at 12-4 and are the only team in the league with 20 total wins so far. This team has a top-35 KenPom-rated offense, one that is anchored by Dayton transfer Dwayne Cohill, who averages 18.1 points per game. Fairleigh Dickinson transfer Brandon Rush and Canisius transfer Malek Green have both come into their own as well. This would be one of the more exciting low-seeded teams to watch in March.

Kennesaw State

In his first season at the helm, Amir Abdur-Rahim went 1-28 with this Owls group in 2019-20. Now, after one of the best rebuild jobs in the country, he has them to 12-2 in the Atlantic Sun, good to tie for first in the league. Kennesaw State has only lost one game since January 5. A top four group of players that consists of Terrell Burden, Brandon Stroud, Demond Robinson and Chris Youngblood have all grown together the past few years, and it might just pay off this year.

UC Riverside

Head coach Mike Magpayo has a fantastic story. He is the only Division I head coach with full Asian heritage and took over this program in 2020 while the school’s administration was mulling ending its athletic department. In the midst of his third season, he is 46-30 and 26-15 in Big West play. Zyon Pullin is one of the best mid-major point guards in the country, sitting at 18.1 points per game. The Highlanders are one of several teams that will be in the mix in the Big West.

UMass Lowell

If a team in the America East can upset mid-major heavyweights Vermont and Bryant, it’s Pat Duquette’s Riverhawks squad. UMass Lowell is 20-7 on the season and 7-5 in league play, good to tie it for third in the league. It had an especially strong nonconference campaign as well. It has one of the more effective offenses in the country and is fantastic on the offensive glass, ranking 14th in the country in offensive rebound percentage on KenPom. This is a tough team to play for anyone with that stat to hang your hat on.

Quinnipiac

Three teams sit head and shoulders above everybody else it seems, but there is always some chaos in the MAAC and the Bobcats might seem to be the one to cause it. Quinnipiac currently sits at 17-9 on the season as one of the biggest surprises in mid-major hoops after seemingly being on a plateau for a few years under Baker Dunleavy. It sits at 8-7 in the MAAC as it is currently on a three-game losing streak. It is already the program’s winningest season since 2013-14, can it cap it off with its first dance?

Grambling State

The Tigers pulled off a big upset against Colorado all the way back in November and followed it up by beating Vanderbilt, but this team is no slouch. Grambling sits in second place in the SWAC at 10-3 in the league and 17-8 overall. Cameron Christon and Carte’are Gordon are both threats with the ball and on the boards, which can make this team tough to match up with. Grambling’s turnover numbers are some of the worst in the country, which could hurt them come conference tournament time, but have performed well when they take care of the ball.

Honorable mentions

• SIU Edwardsville: 17-10, 8-6 Ohio Valley
• UT Martin: 16-11, 8-6 Ohio Valley
• Maryland Eastern Shore: 14-10, 6-3 MEAC
• Purdue Fort Wayne: 15-12, 7-9 Horizon
• Stetson: 14-11, 9-5 Atlantic Sun
• Army: 14-13, 8-6 Patriot
• Western Illinois: 15-11, 8-7 Summit

By Aidan Joly

Now that the Super Bowl is over, college basketball has the floor for the next seven weeks until the national championship game in Houston on April 3. Another weekend gone, more to talk about. Let’s get into it.

One of the biggest results of the weekend took place during the Super Bowl pregame, as Northwestern picked up its biggest win in recent memory with a 64-58 win against No. 1 Purdue at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Behind a two-headed monster in Boo Buie and Chase Audige, the Wildcats now sit at 9-5 in Big Ten play and 18-7 overall, good for third place in the Big Ten. That includes six Quad 1 wins. More winnable games await and Chris Collins has this squad close to earning its second NCAA tournament bid in program history and its first since 2017. Could this team even win an NCAA tournament game? We shall see.

Another team that had a good weekend was Creighton, which picked up a 56-53 win against UConn on Saturday. The Bluejays have now won eight in a row and haven’t lost a game in over a month, putting them at 11-3 in Big East play, which puts them in a tie for second place. Again, a lot of people questioned some of the preseason hype around this team when it struggled early in the season, those doubters have been silenced.

One team that didn’t have a good weekend is the Kentucky Wildcats. Its tournament chances took a big hit on Saturday, with a 75-68 loss at the hands of Georgia, which had just four SEC wins coming into the day. Kentucky has just one Quad 1 win this season. Unless the Wildcats have a big turnaround before the regular season ends in less than a month, the selection committee might have a hard time putting them in.

Here’s a stat for you: Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and Syracuse have four Quad 1 wins combined. As mentioned before, Northwestern has six on its own.

Two ugly things happened in college hoops this weekend. The first was at the ending of the Virginia-Duke game, when Virginia’s Ryan Dunn was called for a foul on Duke’s Kyle Filipowski as he went up for what was an attempt to win the game at the buzzer, but the call was overturned after a review. This was because the referees determined that the foul happened after the clock hit zeroes and sent the game to overtime, where Virginia won 69-62.

However, after the game the ACC announced that the foul should have been upheld because the ball was still in flight, which would have given Duke two free throws with a few tenths of a second on the clock and a chance to win the game in regulation.

Admittedly, it was a bang-bang play and a tough call to make on the spot, but it’s clear that the officials got it wrong.

This is part of a larger problem in college basketball officiating (there’s one in the NFL too, yikes). It’s gotten very arbitrary and a lot of times it seems that there’s not a ton of consistency as to how games are called. This is something that the NCAA needs to get cleaned up so that we can have fewer games where we aren’t talking about the officiating when the game is over.

Finally, we have another ugly situation at New Mexico State. While the Mike Peake shooting loomed over the program, the program suspended the season on Friday amidst some ugly hazing allegations, that according to reports are of a sexual nature, and then announced on Sunday that the program will not take the court again this season. Meanwhile, the entire coaching staff was placed on paid administrative leave. Without it being officially called that, a self-imposed “death penalty” for the rest of the year.

What a fall from grace for this program. Less than a year ago, the Aggies won an NCAA tournament game here in Buffalo against UConn, then gave Arkansas a run for its money for a bid to the Sweet 16. Former head coach Chris Jans left to take the job at Mississippi State.

Greg Heiar took the job for his first Division I head coaching job, having worked under the likes of Larry Eustachy, Gregg Marshall and Will Wade, who all lost their jobs due to either abuse allegations in the cases of Eustachy and Marshall, or recruiting violations in Wade’s case. It’s tough to put that squarely on Heiar, but it’s not the best track record.

After all of this, it’s all but impossible to see a way in which Heiar keeps his job, or ever coaching in college basketball again. New Mexico State AD Mario Moccia’s decision to hire Heiar should go down as one of the worst administrative decisions in college sports in a long time.

By Aidan Joly

It seems like we can’t go a week these days without some kind of Jim Boeheim controversy.

On Saturday, Boeheim said to ESPN’s Pete Thamel that college basketball is is an “awful place” and said that Pittsburgh, Miami and Wake Forest all “bought” their teams through NIL deals. He also added that NIL and the transfer portal is why Mike Krzyzewski and Jay Wright retired.

On Monday, Boeheim issued a statement apologizing for the remarks, but it’s important to point out that Boeheim said that he simply “implied” that those three programs bought their teams, while it’s pretty clear that Boeheim outright said that they bought teams.

This came less than a week after Boeheim was criticized for talking down to a media member who asked about the absence of Benny Williams in the team’s game against Virginia on January 30, asking the reporter, “is that your most important question?” and that “your attitude isn’t really good either.” It should be noted that Syracuse’s media contingent was told that Boeheim would address Williams’ absence after the game. It was just the latest in Boeheim’s well-documented run-ins with media.

Meanwhile, the septuagenarian head coach indicated that he would “probably” return for the 2023-24 season. Why?

For the past handful of years, Boeheim has shown an unwillingness to adapt to how college basketball is played and run today and the results have shown on the court. Syracuse hasn’t won more than 10 league games since the 2013-14, the last time the Orange were a true national title contender before flailing in the second round. Syracuse did get to the Final Four in 2016 as a No. 10 seed, but that was an unexpected run after the team squeaked into the tournament. This year’s team is unlikely to make the NCAA tournament, which would mark the first time since 2007 and 2008 that Syracuse failed to make the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons.

For years, Boeheim was able to get top recruits to come to Central New York, but it seems he can no longer do that, and with the emergence of NIL, it’s become even tougher. The top recruits the past two years, Judah Mintz and Williams, have both struggled. Kadary Richmond transferred out after one season. Brycen Goodine left after a year. Quincy Gurrier left after two years. The fact of the matter is, Boeheim no longer is in the running for the top recruits in the country and most of the good ones he is able to get don’t stay.

Boeheim is 78 years old. He is both the oldest and longest-tenured Division I coach in the country. If he returns in 2023-24, it will be his 48th season at the helm. Something that is forgotten in all of this is that he announced in 2015 that he would retire after the 2017-18 season, but the plan went awry when head-coach-in-waiting Mike Hopkins left to take the job at Washington. He would have retired before some of his old-guard counterparts in Krzyzewski, Wright and Roy Williams, but now he is one of the last few standing. At least one more will be gone after this season in Notre Dame’s Mike Brey.

There are two more-than-capable replacements on staff in Adrian Autry and Gerry McNamara, and a look outside of the Syracuse family wouldn’t hurt either. The only remaining question is why this hasn’t happened yet.

Jim, it’s time to go be with your family. Nobody is forcing you to do this to yourself. It’s time to give up the reigns.

By Aidan Joly

The final full month of the season has arrived and there is still plenty of questions left to be answered before the end of the regular season and postseason play begins. Here are six of my questions as we enter the last few weeks of the college basketball season.

Is Purdue far and away the best team?

Of the true national championship contenders, the Boilermakers are the only one with one loss. It is one of two teams in the country with only one loss, Florida Atlantic being the other. Heck, it it one of four teams in the country with two losses or less, with Houston – another title contender – and Charleston being the only two-loss teams in the country. The overall record of 22-1 (11-1 Big Ten) may look better than what it is due to the lackluster nature of the rest of the Big Ten, but it still extremely impressive nonetheless. Nobody should declare the Boilermakers national champs, but if things hold up, this program might have its first national title ever.

Who will win the Big 12 and the Big East?

The Big 12 has been a collision course all year and now has six teams in the top 15 of this week’s AP Poll. Any of the six between Texas, Kansas, Kansas State, TCU, Iowa State and Baylor could end up winning the league. Every single game matters. In the Big East, it seems to be down to two teams in Marquette and Xavier, with Providence waiting in the wings in third. Creighton could get hot, too. A date on February 15 between Marquette and Xavier in Milwaukee looms, with the winner getting a major lift to the Big East regular season title.

What will Kentucky’s March look like?

It has certainly been a season of basketball in Lexington this year. Fans were calling for John Calipari to get the ax following a 3-4 stretch in December and January that included losses to Missouri and South Carolina. However, the Wildcats have gone 5-1 since the loss to South Carolina, including a huge win over Tennessee. Now, it is 6-3 in SEC play and 15-7 overall. It’s tough to predict how the rest of the season will go in Lexington. It could really go either way.

Will the bluebloods (outside of Kansas) do anything in March?

This is kind of a part two to the last question. It’s tough to tell with Kentucky. Meanwhile, Duke and North Carolina both sit at 7-4 in a mediocre ACC, both having disappointing seasons by program standards. Neither of them have been nationally relevant all year, it seems. Expect both to be in the bracket, but maybe not do too much. Also, if you want to call Indiana a blueblood – the Hoosiers are the only other ranked team in the Big Ten but are still just 6-5 in the league. It is also sure to drop out of the rankings following a loss to Maryland on Tuesday, a loss that snapped a five-game win streak after a 2-5, 3-6 stretch. It seems like a one step forward, two steps back season in Bloomington. Second round seems to be the ceiling for all three of these teams.

Can we trust Tennessee?

Conventional wisdom says, sure, trust the Vols. However, the offense of this team has been incredibly inconsistent and has put up a few putrid performances shooting the ball. That was on display on Wednesday night, when it only managed 54 points against unranked Florida and lost by 13, shooting just under 28% from the field along the way. This is a team where you might not be sure what you’re going to get. It feels like the Vols are on the way to the Elite Eight, or a second round exit.

Could Gonzaga lose the WCC regular season title?

This is one of the weaker Gonzaga teams in recent memory and it is showing with the on-court product. It has only lost one game in conference play, but it was against a Loyola Marymount team that will not sniff the NCAA tournament. Meanwhile, St. Mary’s is rolling, undefeated in the league and hasn’t lost a game since December 18. Gonzaga and St. Mary’s are set to face off the first time this season on Saturday, a game that could be very telling in how the rest of the regular season will go in that league. Gonzaga has won 10 WCC regular season titles in a row and that streak is in danger of being snapped (and it has only not won it once since 2000).

By Aidan Joly

Another weekend gone in the college basketball season.

The thing that became most important for me and very apparent this weekend is how bad Louisville is. Sure, we knew that, but it lost by 14 on Saturday to a team that had one win in the ACC coming in (Notre Dame) and the game wasn’t even that close, with the Cardinals trailing by 20+ for most of the afternoon.

Louisville dropped to 0-10 in the ACC with this loss and 2-19 overall and has now dropped into the 300s in KenPom, right in between Tennessee Tech and Idaho. You now have to question if this team is even capable of winning a conference game. Its only two wins came in December, against Western Kentucky and Florida A&M. It seemed bad after the first three losses all the way back in November, but it’s tough to think that it would get this bad. No ACC team has gone 0-the conference since Pitt’s 0-18 campaign in 2017-18.

This is happening in Kenny Payne’s first season after Chris Mack was fired midseason last year. It’s interesting to fathom how a program with the resources of Louisville can blow a hire this badly, because it’s already trending in that direction. It’s tough to see him getting fired at the end of this season even if the Cards don’t win a game the rest of the year, but he’ll surely go into next year on the hot seat.

Elsewhere, both Creighton and West Virginia seem to finally have some momentum. Creighton was a top-10 team coming into the year, but a six-game losing streak in November and December dropped it to 6-6 and causing many to label the team as a bust – albeit with some injuries at the time. However, the Bluejays have gone 7-2 since that loss to Marquette on December 16 and are up to 7-3 in Big East play, good for fourth in the conference. It is also No. 11 in KenPom in Monday’s rankings. Maybe that preseason hype was worth something.

Another team that’s gaining momentum is West Virginia. The Mountaineers started Big 12 play 0-5 after going 10-2 in nonconference play. Since that losing streak ended, WVU has won three of four, including a nonconference upset win against Auburn on Saturday in the Big 12-SEC Challenge. West Virginia is still just 2-6 in league play and will probably have to get to seven or eight league wins to go dancing, but right now the momentum is on its side.

Another notable result in the Big 12-SEC Challenge was Oklahoma’s decimation of No. 2 Alabama, 93-69. It was a thorough beatdown in Norman and Grant Sherfield put on a fantastic performance, scoring 30 points on 11-20 shooting, including 4-5 from three. The Tide shot just under 38% from the field overall and 6-22 from three, while Oklahoma shot 57% from the field and 9-13 from three.

One final Big 12-SEC game to talk about with Kansas getting a much-needed win against Kentucky at Rupp Arena, 77-68. It limited Wildcat big man Oscar Tschiebwe in ways that other team this season hadn’t, even if that’s him scoring 18 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Jalen Wilson is a bonafide star for the Jayhawks as he put on another show, scoring 22 points on 9-18 from the field. Kansas has its rematch with Kansas State on Tuesday, this one at Allen Fieldhouse. Should be a great one. If it’s anywhere close to the first game between the two, it will be.

Finally, one Big Ten and one Big East piece to hit on. Ohio State lost by 16 to Indiana on Saturday, dropping the Buckeyes to 3-7 in the Big Ten and 11-10 overall. It’s a real down season in Columbus this year and it would need to do a lot to get to the NCAA tournament. It would be surprising if Chris Holtmann were to lose his job for this, but it is interesting to see if he would leave for Texas if offered, to kind of get out of there before Ohio State’s administration can get rid of him.

Another floundering team is Villanova, who blew a late lead and lost to Providence on Sunday. It is now 4-6 in Big East play and 10-11 overall. That happened in Justin Moore’s return to the court in his first game since he tore his Achilles in Villanova’s Elite Eight win last March. It’s not looking good in Kyle Neptune’s first season at the helm and it now seems likely that the bracket won’t include Villanova for the first time since 2012.

My top games this week:

• Baylor at Texas, Monday, 9 p.m.
• Kansas State at Kansas, Tuesday, 8 p.m.
• West Virginia at TCU, Tuesday, 9 p.m.
• Providence at Xavier, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.
• San Francisco at St. Mary’s, Thursday, 11 p.m.
• Kansas at Iowa State, Saturday, 12 p.m.
• Miami at Clemson, Saturday, 3 p.m.
• Purdue at Indiana, Saturday, 4 p.m.
• Texas at Kansas State, Saturday, 4 p.m.
• Gonzaga at St. Mary’s, Saturday, 10:30 p.m.

By Aidan Joly

Believe it or not, we are going to have a bracket in less than seven weeks and the Round of 64 gets underway seven weeks from today.

That being said, it’s time to take a look at three dark horses to make the Final Four based on some metrics. The first one being does it have a star player, or a group of guys who the team can use to carry it to the Final Four, does this team have strong play in the backcourt and does this team have a good coach who can make his team tough to prepare for it.

So, time to get right into it.

Miami

This is a popular dark horse pick. The Hurricanes made a surprising run to the Elite Eight last season and currently sit at 7-3 in ACC play, 16-4 overall.

The Hurricanes can roll with a star who got them to the Elite Eight last year, that being Isaiah Wong, who averages 16.3 points per game and shoots over 36% from behind the three-point arc. He’s become an opportunistic defender as well, with 1.5 steals per contest, and rare does he turn the ball over as a point guard. He’s a guy who has been through the wringer, averaging 21.5 points per game in the first two rounds of the tournament last year before struggling against Iowa State and Kansas in the second weekend, an experience that probably left a sour taste in the mouth of the veteran.

Wong has a backcourt partner in Jordan Miller, who averages just under 15 points per game and stepped up his production once ACC play got underway. Really, this answers the question of if the Canes have strong backcourt play, which it without question does. Its greatest strength is in guard play, but in the frontcourt Norchard Omier averages a double-double, creating a nice contrast. Nijel Pack is a strong supporting cast piece as well.

Its coach, Jim Larranaga, has a reputation of being a tough coach to prepare for. There’s a reason he has over 700 career wins to his name. His guard-heavy scheme is a modern system that some coaches are starting to use, but some others still shy away from it. He led George Mason’s charge in 2006 to the Final Four, so he’s no stranger to getting a deep run out of his teams. With Larranaga in charge, it’s easy to feel comfortable.

Xavier

One of the most quiet, yet impressive, teams in the country right now. The Musketeers are 9-1 in the Big East and 17-4 overall. That already includes a sweep over the flailing UConn, one that was finished off on Wednesday night. Xavier has only lost one game since November 27.

This team has a number of stars it can rely on. Right now, guard Souley Boum is the leading scorer at 16.8 points per game. The Musketeers also boast a couple of stalwarts in the frontcourt, with Zach Freemantle and seven-footer Jack Nunge, making this a very good team on the boards on top of Freemantle’s 15 points per game and Nunge’s 14.3. Another solid guard in Colby Jones is there as well as Adam Kunkel, albeit Kunkel being a bit inconsistent at times. So that being said, it’s not just guard play with Xavier, but it also has two great forwards who can make life difficult for just about any team you could think of.

One thing that goes against the Musketeers is a lack of NCAA tournament experience, the program having not made the Big Dance since 2018. That being said, it might be a run similar to that of Miami’s last season, where, from lack of a better term, where the players don’t know any better and make a run without really thinking too much about it.

The man on the sidelines may end up being a major part of that. Sean Miller, formerly disgraced from Arizona, is back in Cincinnati for the first year of his second stint with the program. He never did get to the Final Four with Arizona, but he got to the Elite Eight three times. He has 19 NCAA tournament wins to his name. Say what you will about him, but there’s no question that Miller can flat-out coach. All of this makes Xavier a prime candidate to make a deep run.

Iowa State

I’m old enough to remember not liking the TJ Otzelberger-to-Ames hire. Did that blow up in my face. The Cyclones are 6-2 in a stacked Big 12 and 15-4 overall this year. Obviously, that record itself is a bit deceiving, since it plays in the Big 12, where it sees a war every night.

It’s not really star that leads this Iowa State team, but it’s more of a collection of good players. A pair of St. Bonaventure transfers are key players on the team in Jaren Holmes, who is the leading scorer, as well as Osun Osunniyi, who used to terrorize Atlantic 10 teams with his size and rebounding ability. His stats have taken a small dip this season, but his minutes have also done that.

However, the two guys to watch out for are both in the backcourt, Gabe Kalscheur and Caleb Grill. Both of them have the ability to have ridiculously good games, especially from Grill, who dropped 31 points on 7-11 from behind the three-point line in November against North Carolina, one of the better college basketball performances on a national stage in recent memory. That being said, it’s not a star that will knock you down, it might be death by a thousand paper cuts with the Cyclones.

Last season, Iowa State reached the Sweet 16 in Otzelberger’s first year at the helm and did it after having a losing record in conference play, earning a No. 11 seed. This is the same guy who went 27-3 in Summit League play in his final two years as head coach at South Dakota State. He is a very good coach who is bringing Iowa State back to the heights it saw during the Fred Hoiberg days. It’s easy to believe in his abilities as a coach. One thing is for sure, this team will have been battle-tested coming into the tournament. Maybe, it will take that next step from last year.

By Aidan Joly

It’s the thick of the college basketball season and we are starting to see the good and the bad teams weed themselves out. Some thoughts from a busy weekend of hoops:

The most notable result came Sunday while football was on, with Temple taking down No. 1 Houston 56-55 at Fertitta Center. It was a grind-it-out type win as the Cougars struggled to put the ball in the basket, while Temple did just enough to win. They did it the day after the late John Chaney would have turned 91 years old, too.

One of the major storylines across the country was UConn’s struggles as conference play began. After winning its first three in the Big East, the Huskies dropped five of six games to bring them down to 4-5 in the league after starting 14-0 and peaking at No. 2 in the country.

One could have thought a road game against a struggling Seton Hall team would be the game to get right, but it came one game later after UConn loss to the Pirates 67-66. UConn finally looked like November and December UConn on Sunday with a convincing 86-56 win against Butler. The Huskies have a major test coming up on Wednesday against Xavier as it hopes to split the series with Sean Miller’s Musketeers.

The Huskies can still make a deep run, but it can’t afford another stretch like that.

Pitt’s tournament hopes took a hit on Saturday when it suffered a 71-64 loss at home to Florida State, which is the Panthers’ first Quad 4 loss of the season. Rebounding from a Quad 4 loss isn’t easy, especially when you have now lost three of five after a stretch of winning 10 of 11 from November 20 until January 3.

One should have expected Saturday’s game between TCU and Kansas to be close, but it wasn’t. The Horned Frogs went into Allen Fieldhouse and blasted Kansas by 23, 83-60. It was TCU’s best performance of the season as it improved to 15-4 overall, but only 4-3 in the hyper-competitive Big 12.

The Horned Frogs certainly look like a second weekend team. Meanwhile, Kansas is still a Final Four contender but has now lost two in a row. Monday night’s game against Baylor in Waco feels like a huge one for the Jayhawks.

The stunner of the week came on Thursday night, when Loyola Marymount snapped No. 6 Gonzaga’s 75-game home winning streak to hand the Zags their first home loss since January 2018, 68-67.

Loyola Marymount hadn’t beaten Gonzaga in Spokane since 1991. The program hadn’t won a game against a top-10 opponent since 1961. On the flip side, Gonzaga hadn’t lost a conference game to a team not named St. Mary’s or BYU since February 2014 (San Diego) and hadn’t lost a WCC home game that wasn’t to either of those teams since February 2007 (Santa Clara).

This was an unprecedented loss for Gonzaga, who followed it up by struggling against Pacific late Saturday night, the game tied at the half but the Zags won by nine. This is Mark Few’s weakest team in a number of years.

The Atlantic 10 is really bad. There is a ton of mediocrity in the middle of the pack, while the two teams that are 6-1 in the league, VCU and St. Louis, have non-conference losses to Jacksonville and SIU-Edwardsville, respectively. The league is well on its way to being a one-bid league for the first time since 2005.

It’s worth noting that it would have been a one-bid league last year if not for Richmond, who stunned its way to the conference’s automatic bid while Davidson was a team you couldn’t leave out. No teams in there have an at-large resume right now.

Finally, there has been a dynamic shift in the WAC this year. Seattle is at the top of the league at 7-0, trying to get to the tournament for the first time since 1969. It had an impressive 81-60 win against Southern Utah on Saturday. Chris Victor is doing a great job in his first season as permanent head coach after being the interim last year. On the other end, New Mexico State is still reeling amidst a scandal where one of its players, junior Mike Peake, is accused of shooting and killing another man on the campus of University of New Mexico in November. It has gotten really ugly.

On the court, the Aggies are 0-8 in league play and haven’t won a game in over a month.

By Aidan Joly

On Thursday, it became official that Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey will step down and retire at the end of the season.

Replacing the 63-year-old Brey will be no small task. He has been at the helm in South Bend since 2000 and at 481 wins to date, he is the winningest coach in program history.

Brey had gotten the Irish to the Elite Eight as recently as 2016, but the program has fallen on hard times in recent years, having only been to one of the past four NCAA tournaments. This news had felt inevitable for a year or two now.

In theory, the Notre Dame job should be a prime gig. You are in the ACC and arena upgrades to boot and the Notre Dame brand speaks for itself, but it’s tougher than that. You have the academic expectations and a football program that gobbles up attention and resources. So, the search begins to find someone who can balance that. Here’s eight (and one) candidates who may be able to do just that.

Martin Ingelsby, Delaware head coach

A Notre Dame alum and longtime assistant under Brey, Ingelsby is the first name that comes to mind here. Ingelsby inherited a 7-23, 2-16 team when he arrived in 2016 and this past year, got Delaware to the tournament for the first time since 2014. This is really a question of if Notre Dame wants to “keep it in the family” or not. It’s something to consider with the recent dip in results.

Chris Quinn, Miami Heat assistant

A popular former Irish guard, Quinn has been on Erik Spoelstra’s staff in Miami since 2014 after a professional career that lasted from 2006-2013. He spent one year as a college assistant, under Chris Collins at Northwestern in 2013-14. Quinn is still young, at just 39. It’s hard to imagine Notre Dame not giving Quinn a call.

Micah Shrewsberry, Penn State head coach

This would be a home run hire. Shrewsberry has a great reputation as a tactician as well as in player development, which is what you need in a program like Notre Dame that has mostly four-year guys. He’s developed Jalen Pickett into one of, if not the, best point guard in the country. Like Notre Dame, Penn State is a basketball program that is overshadowed by a football program, so he understands what needs to be done.

Dusty May, Florida Atlantic head coach

May is one of the hottest names in college basketball right now. He has Florida Atlantic in the top 25 for the first time in program history with an 18-1 record. May is an Indiana native. It certainly helps his case that his athletic director, Brian White, is the son of former Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White.

Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon head coach

It wouldn’t be surprising if Drew wants to get back into the high major game after being fired Vanderbilt at the end of the 2018-19 season. Since he has taken the job at Grand Canyon, he got the program to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history in 2021 in its fourth year of eligibility after making the transition to Division I. Drew is someone who could inject some excitement into the program.

Jason Williford, Virginia assistant

Williford came to Virginia with Tony Bennett in 2009 and has been there since, having been promoted to associate head coach in 2017. He also had stops at American and Boston University. Add that all up and he has been coaching college basketball for 22 years, but never as a head coach. We have seen a recent trend of success with longtime assistants becoming head coaches (looking at Tommy Lloyd and Jerome Tang here), maybe Williford could be next in that line.

Pat Kelsey, Charleston head coach

Similar to May, the 47-year-old Kelsey is again one of the hottest names in college basketball. He has Charleston ranked in the AP Poll for the first time in two decades as the Cougars currently sit at No. 18 in the country with a 20-1 record. He is a Cincinnati native who has ACC ties dating back to his days working at Wake Forest from 2001-2009. Another guy who could inject some life into the program.

Porter Moser, Oklahoma head coach

Moser had wanted to be a high-major coach, but Oklahoma always seemed like a strange fit given his regional ties to the Chicago area. He loved the culture of Loyola Chicago, and if you remember, he was offered a 10-year deal to stay at Loyola when he was offered the Oklahoma job. Notre Dame could offer the best of both worlds and give him a chance to avoid the cesspool of SEC recruiting that is coming soon. He likely has a sizeable buyout, which could make it tough, but maybe Notre Dame could make an offer he can’t refuse?

Monty Williams, Phoenix Suns head coach

This is the (and one). He’s one of the all-time greats in the history of the program, but he has a comfy NBA job and a ton of talent. However, the injury-riddled Suns currently sit 11th in the Western Conference, on the outside looking into the playoffs less than two years removed from an NBA Finals appearance. It’s a “make him say no” call, but maybe they shock the basketball world and have the cash and are able sell the emotional pull to him.

Prediction: Ingelsby seems like a good choice and if I had to guess, I’ll go with him. However, given the resources that the the does have, it wouldn’t be shocking to see them put together a heck of an offer to Shrewsberry or Moser and one of them gets it.