Author: Aidan Joly

By Aidan Joly

Much was made of the lack of upsets in this year’s NCAA tournament and the fact that the Final Four was made up entirely of 1-seeds for the first time since 2008.

How many complaints are there now?

We saw two instant classics on Saturday night at the national semifinals in San Antonio, with Florida beating Auburn 79-73 and Houston stunning Duke 70-67 to advance to Monday night’s national championship game.

The one everyone is talking about is the second game of the night. Duke led by 14 points with 8:03 to go. It led by nine with 2:06 to go. It led by six with 35 seconds left.

Yet, Houston went on a 10-1 run in the final 1:14, including scoring the final nine points of the game, to pull off an improbable comeback win.

A three from Emanuel Sharp with 34 seconds left cut the deficit to three. That was followed up by a steal from Mylik Wilson, which led to a Joseph Tugler layup with 24 seconds left to cut it to one. Then a Tyrese Proctor miss from the free throw line that led to a questionable foul call on Cooper Flagg. J’Wan Roberts hit the biggest free throws of his life to give the Cougars the lead. Flagg missed again, L.J. Cryer hit two more free throws to make it 70-67, and Duke never found a good shot in the final seconds.

For the first 32 minutes or so of this game, it was all Duke. Freshman phenom Flagg played well and it just felt like every time Houston had some life, Duke hit a big bucket to take the wind out of the sails.

Flagg dunked with 10:31 to go to make it 58-45 and that was the beginning of the end. The Blue Devils hit just one field goal the rest of the way as it was suffocated by Houston’s defense, the same defense that has allowed it to win 18 games in a row and has not lost in regulation since November. It went 19-1 in Big 12 play and won the conference tournament in what is Kelvin Sampson’s best coaching job to date. It’ll play in the title game for the first time since the days of Phi Slama Jama, going for the program’s first-ever championship.

Duke came into this season with tons of promise. The consensus No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft flanked by other future lottery picks, along with veterans, although the year-to-year experience was there. There were certainly skeptics coming in.

Flagg and Kon Knueppel are not to blame for this loss – they finished with a combined 43 points and 14 rebounds. However, it’s fair to say the big buckets we were waiting for never came.

Duke’s season is certainly not a failure. The Blue Devils won 35 games, went 19-1 in the ACC, won a conference championship and made the Final Four. But the way the season ends is excruciating, even more than losing to 11-seed NC State in the Elite Eight last season. Duke has made it further in the tournament each year of Jon Scheyer’s three seasons than the season before. A national title is coming for Mike Krzyzewski’s heir. But it’ll have to wait.

The first game of the night featured the evening’s first come-from-behind victory.

Florida trailed fellow SEC squad Auburn by eight at halftime, and it felt like Auburn would end up cruising in the second half and getting to the national championship game.

Nope. Florida erased the deficit and took the lead in less than five minutes thanks to key scores from Will Richard, Walter Clayton and Alijah Martin. Until the final 1:33 no side had a lead larger than four, until Clayton had a three-point play to put the Gators up six, allowing them to stomp on Auburn’s neck and get to the national championship game since 2007.

All year, we have spent a lot of time talking about the two best players in the country: Flagg and Johni Broome. This tournament, Clayton has emerged as the consensus third best player in the country, and the argument can certainly be made that he has been the best player of the postseason.

Clayton has averaged 24.6 points per game through five tournament contests, and last night scored 30+ for the second straight game. He finished with 34 on Saturday night. According to Fox Sports Research, Clayton is the first player to have back-to-back 30+ point performances in the Elite Eight or later since Larry Bird. He is the first player to drop 30 in a national semifinal since Carmelo Anthony for Syracuse in 2003, and the fifth player to have 30+ in a Final Four game since 2000.

Not bad from a player who was a zero-star recruit out of high school in Florida, was considered a better prospect in football and began his college basketball career at Iona under none other than Rick Pitino.

This is the third game in this tournament Florida has escaped from. It barely beat UConn in the second round, and then found a way against Texas Tech in a classic Elite Eight game. Clayton, Martin and Richard have found a way.

Florida has won 11 in a row and 17 of 18. It won the SEC championship and got a 1-seed out of the best conference in college basketball history. Coach Todd Golden, in his third year in Gainesville by way of San Francisco, will now try to do what Billy Donovan did twice – bring a national title to swamp country.

By Aidan Joly

As the NCAA tournament roars on, as does the college basketball coaching carousel for the teams no longer alive.

Some of the biggest jobs on the market have been filled, some others remain open, while other hires have created domino effects for other schools. Let’s take a look at the power conference openings, plus a few more.

Florida State

Out: Leonard Hamilton | In: Luke Loucks

After 22 years at the helm in Tallahassee, Leonard Hamilton has retired. Hamilton won more than 450 games in his time with the Seminoles, but the program has slipped in recent years. It has not finished above .500 in ACC play since the 2020-21 campaign. It just finished a season where it went 8-12 in ACC play and 17-15 overall.

In his place is Luke Loucks, an alum of the program who will turn 35 next week. He was previously an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings.

Indiana

Out: Mike Woodson | In: Darian DeVries

A middling 41-39 in the Big Ten and 82-53 overall across four seasons was enough for Indiana to make a move off of Mike Woodson. Indiana is now on its sixth coach in 25 years with Darian DeVries, the former Drake coach who spent the 2024-25 season at West Virginia.

The other big name here was Ben McCollum, who Indiana was very interested in before going back to DeVries. DeVries went 150-55 in six seasons at Drake and made the NCAA tournament three times between 2021 and 2024, before a 19-13 campaign at West Virginia this year.

Iowa

Out: Fran McCaffery | In: Ben McCollum

The McCaffery era at Iowa came to an end after 15 seasons. McCaffery won nearly 300 games with the Hawkeyes, but back-to-back years missing the NCAA tournament was enough to prompt a change. He led them to the tournament seven times but never got to the second weekend.

In his place is the aforementioned McCollum, the Division II savant who spent spent a year at Drake, going 31-4, winning the Missouri Valley as well as an NCAA tournament game. A phenomenal hire in Iowa City.

Miami

Out: Jim Larranaga (Bill Courtney interim) | In: Jai Lucas

Larranaga announced his retirement the day after Christmas with his team sitting at 4-8. Interim coach Courtney didn’t do any better, going 3-16 as the team finished 7-24, one of the worst seasons in program history. A Final Four appearance two years ago feels much longer ago than that.

Duke assistant coach Jai Lucas, 36, takes the program over. A massive roster flip has begun as Lucas tries to right the ship in Coral Gables.

Minnesota

Out: Ben Johnson | In: Niko Medved

Johnson struggled in his four years with Minnesota, going 22-57 in Big Ten play, never finishing higher than tied for ninth in the league, and 56-71 overall. The program needs better financial backing in order to get top talent to compete in the Big Ten.

In his place is former Colorado State coach Niko Medved, a Minneapolis native and an alum of the program. He was the clear-cut favorite for the job and had been for some time. He went 143-85 in seven years with Colorado State and 78-50 in Mountain West play. He reached the NCAA tournament three times and was a buzzer beater shy of going to the Sweet 16 this year.

NC State

Out: Kevin Keatts | In: Will Wade

Keatts and NC State went on a miracle run to the Final Four one year ago, now he is out in Raleigh after a 12-19 season that saw the Wolf Pack go 5-15 in ACC play.

Wade, the exiled former LSU coach who returned to the game with two years at McNeese that culminated with a round of 32 appearance this year, is next up for the job. He was looking to get a power conference job and had been a candidate for just about every one that opened up. NC State wins those sweepstakes.

Texas

Out: Rodney Terry | In: Sean Miller

It never truly felt like Terry was going to be a long-term solution in Austin, but forced the school’s hand after going 22-8 and going to the Elite Eight as an interim head coach two years ago. Overall, he went 62-37 overall and 27-27 in Big 12 and SEC play over his time in Austin.

Replacing him is former Xavier coach Sean Miller. Now in the SEC, the program’s goal should be to be a top 10 program in the sport and compete for national championships. We will see if Miller, who went to the Elite Eight three times at Arizona, is able to make that happen.

Utah

Out: Craig Smith (Josh Eilert interim) | In: Alex Jensen

Smith was fired with four games remaining in the regular season with Utah sitting at 15-12 overall and 7-9 in the Big 12. The timing of the move was certainly strange.

However, in the end, it helped Utah get a head start on hiring Alex Jensen, a member of the program’s 1998 national title team. He was previously an assistant with the Dallas Mavericks. This is another program that does not have a great NIL situation and will need to get that up in order to compete in the Big 12.

Virginia

Out: Ron Sanchez | In: Ryan Odom

Ron Sanchez took over for the season following the sudden retirement of Tony Bennett in October weeks before the season began. It did not go well, with Virginia finishing 8-12 in ACC play and 15-17 overall.

Odom was a fairly obvious choice. His father was an assistant coach for the program in the 1980s and Odom has had success at fellow Virginia school VCU. Overall, he has a record of 201-117 as a Division I head coach between Charlotte, UMBC, Utah State and VCU. You’d also be remiss if you didn’t mention that he was the coach of UMBC when he shocked Virginia, becoming the first 16-seed to beat a 1-seed in the NCAA tournament.

Xavier

Out: Sean Miller | In: Richard Pitino

Miller departs for Texas, marking the end of his second tenure with Xavier. His second stint, three seasons, came with two NCAA tournament appearances and a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2023.

Replacing him is former New Mexico coach Richard Pitino, it was reported on Tuesday night. Pitino returns to the power conference ranks after struggling at Minnesota, but rebuilding his reputation at New Mexico, where he went 88-49 across four seasons and went to the tournament twice, including getting to the second round this year.

This also means we get Rick Pitino vs. Richard Pitino conference games.

Power jobs still open

Villanova

Out: Kyle Neptune

Villanova did what had been inevitable since November or December, moving on from Jay Wright’s successor after three seasons. It was the right hire at the time, but it just never worked out. Neptune went 54-47 overall and 31-29 in Big East play during his tenure.

Reportedly, this seems to be down to two names: Maryland’s Kevin Willard and New Mexico’s Richard Pitino. Maryland is still playing, which might delay a hire for at least a few more days.

West Virginia

Out: Darian DeVries

DeVries left West Virginia for Indiana after just one season in Morgantown. The Mountaineers went 19-13 and 10-10 in the Big 12 before surprisingly missing the NCAA tournament.

Utah State’s Jerrod Calhoun was seen as an obvious candidate, but that speculation was seemingly put to bed on Tuesday as he signed a big contract extension keeping him with Utah State. I’ve seen North Texas’ Ross Hodge thrown around as a backup plan.

Hopefully, this hire will bring some much-needed stability for the program. The new coach will be the fourth coach in four years at WVU.

Other notable changes

Colorado State: Niko Medved is done at CSU after taking the job at Minnesota. Associate head coach Ali Farokhmanesh is the obvious pick here. He was a major part of Colorado State’s success and is ready for a head coaching gig.

Drake: Another program looking for a new coach after its coach departed for a power conference gig. Drake is a very good job and its last three coaches (McCollum, DeVries, Medved) are all coaching in the Big Ten. The new coach will need to keep that goung.

Fordham: Keith Urgo is out after just three years on the job. Fordham went 25-8 in his first season at the helm in 2022-23, but the Rams plummeted to 12-21 and 3-15 in the Atlantic 10 this season. Fordham is a very hard job, deep down in the Atlantic 10 pecking order.

Iona: The school’s administration was blasted for moving on from Tobin Anderson after just two seasons and a trip to the MAAC title game this season. Expectations are sky-high at that program, but moving on after just two seasons is tough to justify. Replacing him is Dan Geriot, a former New Orleans Pelicans assistant.

La Salle: Philly legend Fran Dunphy has retired at the age of 76. Dunphy won more than 600 games in a coaching career that lasted half a century, one of the most accomplished coaches at his level. Replacing him is former Radford coach Darris Nichols, who went 68-63 in four seasons with that program.

McNeese: After Will Wade departed after two seasons, Baylor assistant Bill Armstrong is the new head coach in Lake Charles. He will look to keep the program’s momentum going after back-to-back Southland conference titles.

Sacramento State: This one came out of nowhere. Fourteen-year NBA veteran Mike Bibby is the new coach of Sacramento State. Bibby’s only coaching experience came at a Phoenix-area high school from 2014-2019. We’ll see how he does. He replaces Michael Czepil, who went 7-24 in his lone season after taking over for David Patrick, who left to take an assistant job at LSU.

South Florida: This is a sad one to include. Former Arkansas State head coach Bryan Hodgson is the new coach at South Florida after the untimely death of Amir Abdur-Rahim in October. Abdur-Rahim was a rising star and went 16-2 in the AAC and 25-8 overall in his only season there. Ben Fletcher ran the team this year and went 13-19. Hodgson went 45-28 in two seasons with Arkansas State.

UNLV: Josh Pastner is back in the game after taking two seasons off. The former head coach of Memphis and Georgia Tech has been to the NCAA tournament five times and has an ACC title to his name dating back to 2021. He replaces Kevin Kruger, who was underwhelming in four seasons. The Runnin’ Rebels went 18-15 this season.

VCU: The Rams have another hire to make after Ryan Odom departed for Virginia. The job is consistently one of the top mid-major jobs in the country.

By Aidan Joly

Between Thursday and Sunday, 48 teams had their dreams of winning a national championship dashed, leaving just 16 left in the tournament.

Overall, it’s been a chalky tournament. All of the 1-seeds, three 2-seeds, two 3-seeds and three 4-seeds remain. Only one double digit seed is left, and that is 10-seed Arkansas.

That means we have a ton of high quality teams still left in the tournament. Let’s rank the 16 of them.

1: Duke

The Blue Devils have not had a problem in either of their tournament games so far, with a 93-49 win against Mount St. Mary’s in the first round and followed it up on Sunday with a 89-66 win against Baylor to advance.

Right now, Duke should be the favorite to win the national championship. They have been great against each opponent. Tyrese Proctor has been the best player on the floor in both games and was particularly great in the second round game, scoring 25 points on 9-10 from the field. Cooper Flagg had 14 points in the first game and 18 in the second as he returns from injury.

Final Four seems like the absolute bare minimum for what the Blue Devils will do. They see Arizona on Thursday night.

2: Florida

The Gators survived an outstanding performance from two-time defending national champion UConn on Sunday, what ended up being a 77-75 win. It came after an easy win against Norfolk State in the first round.

Alijah Martin was huge in the win for the Gators, but it was Walter Clayton’s shot making late in the game, headlined by a three with 1:07 to go that put Florida up six. He had 23 in the win.

The three-headed trio of Martin, Clayton and Will Richard is very, very good. In the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2017, Florida will face Maryland on Thursday night in San Francisco.

3: Houston

Another team that survived a charge from a lower seed in the second round, Houston advances to the Sweet 16 after an 81-76 win against Gonzaga on Saturday.

Defense has been the reason why this team is so good, but its offense can’t be overlooked. LJ Cryer had 30 points in the win against Gonzaga, while J’Wan Roberts had 18 and hit big shots the whole way.

The Cougars, in the Sweet 16 for the sixth straight year, will need its defense to step up in a big way against Purdue on Friday night, one of the best offenses in the country. It will be a de facto road game Houston as well, being played in Indianapolis just an hour away from Purdue’s campus.

4: Auburn

The Tigers looked to be on the ropes a little bit in its second round game against Creighton, but a pair of 10-0 runs in the second half allowed them to put away the Bluejays by 12.

Tahaad Pettiford was great off the bench, scoring 23 points on 7-14 from the field, while Chad Baker-Mazara had 17 and Denver Jones had 15. Johni Broome only had eight, but he finished with 12 rebounds.

The Tigers have dominated on the boards in each of their first two games, out-rebounding their opponents 75-56 through the first two games.

The next game is a huge test though. The Tigers will face Michigan and their pair of seven-footers, Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin, on Friday night in Atlanta.

5: Tennessee

The Vols have looked good on both ends of the floor in the second round win against UCLA, leading by as many as 19 and ended up beating the Bruins 67-58.

The defense stepped up as UCLA only shot 37% from the field, including just 7-23 from three. The Vols shot 50% from three. Chaz Lanier was great, with 20 points, while Zakai Zeigler had 15.

Tennessee will face SEC conference-mate Kentucky on Friday in Indianapolis. The Wildcats swept the Vols in two meetings this season, winning 78-73 in Knoxville on Jan. 28 and 75-64 on Feb. 11 in Lexington. Now, they meet with a spot in the Elite Eight on the line.

6: Texas Tech

Texas Tech never truly put 14-seed UNC Wilmington away until the closing minutes of Thursday’s first round game, winning by 10. It then turned away 11-seed Drake in the second round 77-64.

The Red Raiders have gotten to this point thanks to two great performances from JT Toppin, who is shooting 17-21 from the field in this tournament. Darrion Williams had 28 points in the second round win.

More good news is coming for the Red Raiders: they have a shot at getting Chance McMillan back, who hasn’t played since the Big 12 quarterfinals, and they get to play another double digit seed. Texas Tech will face 10-seed Arkansas in San Francisco on Thursday.

7: Alabama

Alabama could have been sent packing early. The Tide trailed 15-seed Robert Morris by one with seven minutes to go in Friday’s first round game before coach Nate Oats had to use a “break glass in case of emergency” move in bringing Grant Nelson in for the final seven minutes. Ultimately, Alabama won by nine.

The Tide looked much better on Sunday against Saint Mary’s, never letting the Gaels get close and winning by 14.

Having Nelson healthy is a welcome addition for an offense that already has a ton of guys. The Tide will play BYU on Thursday in Newark. It’s a game between two top-10 offenses in the country, so it should be a shootout. First to 90 wins?

8: Michigan State

I probably have Michigan State ranked a little lower than I should, but alas.

The Spartans had some trouble with New Mexico in the second round on Sunday night, but escaped with a 71-63 win. It got the win while having a dud from Jase Richardson, who shot just 1-10 from the field and finished with six points, his lowest point total in a month and a half.

Jaden Akins and Tre Holloman picked up the slack, finishing with 16 and 14 points respectively.

The Spartans will face Ole Miss in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Atlanta. The Rebels are a team that defends the three-point line very well, something the Spartans will surely have to game plan for.

9: Maryland

Maryland has lost on a buzzer beater three times this season.

On Sunday night the Terps finally came out on the right end of one, with Deriq Queen hitting a floater at the horn to give his team a 72-71 win against 11-seed Colorado State. A cool story: the hometown kid from Baltimore, a freshman, hitting a buzzer beater in the NCAA tournament. It’s also the only buzzer beater of the tournament so far.

Going from Seattle to San Francisco means Maryland is likely staying on the west coast for the week. Will that give it an edge against Florida? We shall see. I still like them as a sleeper Final Four team. It just had some March Magic.

10: Kentucky

How about Mark Pope’s first season in Lexington? It’s hard to believe it has been this long, but Kentucky is in the second weekend of the tournament for the first time since 2019.

It got here by having no problem with 14-seed Troy in the first round, and then beating Illinois on Sunday 84-75. The Wildcats led by five at the break and then went on a 10-0 run to start the second half, opening the lead up to 15. That essentially put the game away as Illinois was only able to cut it to six in the final two minutes.

Koby Brea had 23 in the win against Illinois on 10-16 from the field, while Lamont Butler had 14 on 4-5 from the field.

Going back to having faced Tennessee twice in the regular season and winning both matchups, it should go into this one feeling confident it can do it again.

11: Arizona

Arizona started its second round game on Sunday night in a poor fashion by trailing 19-4, but clawed its way back to beat to lead Oregon at the half by four and eventually won 87-83 in a game that had some old Pac-12 flavor.

It had no problem with Akron in the first round in an impressive 93-65 rout.

Caleb Love was good Caleb Love on Sunday, scoring 29 points on 10-18 from the field while adding on nine rebounds.

Love, ever inconsistent, will need to have a repeat performance if the Wildcats want to have a chance against Duke on Thursday night. We’ll see how it goes.

12: Purdue

The Boilermakers have played a pair of mid-majors so far. After High Point hung tough for the majority of Thursday’s first round game Purdue pulled away for a 75-63 win. After that, it took care of business by beating McNeese 76-62 on Saturday, a game that wasn’t even as close as the score indicated.

Trey Kaufman-Renn was terrific in the second round win, scoring 22 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. He had 21 and 8 against High Point.

The Boilermakers’ forwards will certainly have their work cut out for them on Friday night against a super physical Houston team. On top of that, the shooters will need to be in excellent form if they want to pull off the upset.

13: Michigan

The Wolverines survived a test in the first round by pulling out a win against UC San Diego, and then erased a 10-point deficit to beat Texas A&M in the second round on Saturday.

The two forwards, Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin, have been as advertised in the tournament so far. Goldin had 23 points and 12 rebounds in the win against Texas A&M, while Wolf has grabbed 20 rebounds for the tournament so far. In the second round win it was Roddy Gayle who came up huge, scoring 26 points on 7-14 from the field.

The Wolverines, still going in a remarkable turnaround in year one under Dusty May after an 8-24 campaign last year, will have their work cut out for them against Auburn as they try to keep their season alive.

14: Ole Miss

The Rebels were awesome on offense in the second-round win against Iowa State on Sunday, shooting 58.2% from the field, including 57.9% from three, in a 91-78 win. Sean Pedulla had 20 points, while Jaemyn Brakefield had 19 off the bench. Malik Dia had 18, forming an excellent trio.

Ole Miss is very good at taking care of the basketball, which is a key factor in allowing them to get to this point. It only had eight turnovers in Sunday’s win.

This is semi-uncharted territory for the program. It has only been to the Sweet 16 once in program history, back in 2001, and has never gotten further than the Sweet 16. It faces Michigan State on Friday in Atlanta. If they win, it could very well set up a fourth(!) matchup against Auburn this season.

15: BYU

Hot shooting has allowed the Cougars to this point. In a 91-89 win against 3-seed Wisconsin on Saturday night they shot 46% from three, making 12 of them.

BYU is certainly a team getting hot at the right time, having won 11 of its past 12 games. Richie Saunders has been a joy to watch so far in this tournament.

This marks the first time BYU has been to the Sweet 16 since 2011, when Jimmer Fredette was in Provo. A lot of credit goes to Kevin Young and the direction he has this program going. It’ll try to keep going against Alabama.

16: Arkansas

The only double digit seed remaining. John Calipari’s Razorbacks got an ugly upset win against St. John’s on Saturday. The teams shot a combined 4-41 from behind the three-point line. Zvonimir Ivicic fouled out in just 10 minutes of action.

Despite that, Arkansas frustrated St. John’s and held Big East player of the year RJ Luis to 3-17 from the field – he was controversially benched with just under five minutes to go.

On the morning of Feb. 1, Arkansas was 1-6 in SEC play, 12-8 overall and was headed into Rupp Arena in Calipari’s return to Lexington. It won that game. Including that win, Arkansas went 7-4 in SEC play the rest of the year and is 10-5 since.

Now, the Razorbacks head from Providence to San Francisco to face Texas Tech.

By Aidan Joly

The play-in games for the NCAA tournament begin on Tuesday night, and then the full bracket begins on Thursday.

By April 7, one of the 68 teams will cut down the nets in San Antonio. Who could end up being that team, and how we will get there?

Let’s get into all of it, going region by region.

South Region

No. 1 seed Auburn is easily the class of this quadrant of the bracket as well as potentially the entire tournament. The Tigers finished the regular season with a record of 28-5, but have oddly lost three of their past four games, dropping each of the last two regular season games and then losing in the semifinals of the SEC tournament.

Still, Auburn should be the favorite to get out of this region and go to the Final Four. Johni Broome, Chad Baker-Mazara, Miles Kelly and sensational freshman Tahaad Pettiford is a group that you can put up against just about anyone in the nation.

The top jobbers to the Tigers in this region will be 2-seed Michigan State and 3-seed Iowa State. Michigan State was the class of the Big Ten this season and has won 27 games behind some fantastic guard play from Jaden Akins, Jase Richardson and Tre Holloman. For Iowa State, the Cyclones have a very good seed but could see trouble as early as the second round. Coach TJ Otzelberger said right after the bracket announcement that second-leading scorer Keshon Gilbert will not play in the tournament due to a nagging groin injury. If the higher seeds win, Iowa State will be forced to play a very solid Ole Miss team in the second round, a team that has seen a lot of success in year two under coach Chris Beard. Personally, I like Ole Miss to get to the Sweet 16 in this region.

This is a bracket where a double digit team could get to the Sweet 16, and that team is the 12-seed, UC San Diego. The Tritons are in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history, went 30-4 and cruised through the Big West tournament. UC San Diego is rightfully so the trendy upset pick in the first round, namely due to them being one of the best teams in the country at forcing turnovers, and will be going up against 5-seed Michigan, a team that has struggled with taking care of the ball all season. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones and Tyler McGhie are getting ready to be household names later this week.

Thursday’s action gets going with the 8/9 matchup in this region, that being Louisville taking on Creighton. Louisville is back in the tournament for the first time since 2019 in year one under coach Pat Kelsey. Louisville went 27-7 overall, 18-2 in ACC play and reached the conference title game. It certainly feels under-seeded as an 8-seed, but only has to travel less than 100 miles to play in Lexington, so they will be essentially playing home games to begin.

The 7/10 matchup here is Marquette and New Mexico, an intriguing matchup that feels like it could go either way. It will feature a fantastic guard matchup between Marquette’s Kam Jones and New Mexico’s Donovan Dent, who has become one of the premier non-Power 5 players in the nation.

Also North Carolina is in this region as a team heading to Dayton. Quite simply, the Tar Heels should not be here and was a laughable decision by the selection committee, especially when there were several deserving teams ahead of them. West Virginia is the most glaring NCAA tournament omission in several years. I’d have put Indiana and Boise State ahead of the Tar Heels as well. None made it.

I expect Auburn to make it to the Elite Eight at the very least, but the second team feels fairly wide open as to who they could face. There are a numbers of candidates to do it.

West Region

Moving onto the bottom left quadrant of the bracket, this group is headlined by Florida, who made a late push to earn a No. 1 seed and won the SEC, a league that is sending a new NCAA tournament record 14 teams to the tournament.

The Gators have been a revelation all season, going from an under-the-radar-could-be-sneaky-good team to a squad that is a trendy pick to win the national championship. It went 30-4 behind the group of Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard, and recently got back Micah Handlogten in a role player status after missing much of the season due to injury.

Right in their path to the second weekend though, is two-time defending national champion UConn. The Huskies have taken a considerable step back this season and are an 8-seed after going 14-6 in Big East play and 23-10 overall, making a nice recovery after a disastrous Thanksgiving week at the Maui Invitational, where it went 0-3 and raised serious questions about how good the team would be. News flash: still pretty good. Alex Karaban, Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson are the only notable players from last year still wearing a Husky jersey, but Dan Hurley knows how to win in March. However, Florida is a tall task, and it would even have to get past Oklahoma to get there.

A fellow Big East team is one of the top teams in this region. St. John’s, the 2-seed in the West, is back in the tournament for the first time since 2019 and has its highest seed since 2000. Coincidentally, this was the most recent time St. John’s won a game in the tournament. It will certainly have a great shot, going up against 15-seed Omaha in the first round. Omaha is in the tournament for the first time ever.

It was a masterful job done by Rick Pitino, in his second season with the Red Storm, going 18-2 in the Big East and 30-4 overall, winning the Big East tournament without serious challenge. RJ Luis Jr., Zuby Ejiofor, Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith have all been great for the Johnnies. They have a real chance to win this region and get to the Final Four.

In the other first round game of their pod you’ll find a matchup between legendary head coaches whose teams have struggled this year, in Bill Self’s Kansas team going up against John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks. Kansas has not been Kansas all season after starting the season as preseason No. 1 in the nation, but it just has not come to fruition. Arkansas looked dead in the water a few weeks ago, but winning four of its last five regular season games and winning a SEC tournament game pushed them into the field.

A Final Four sleeper is the No. 4 seed in this region, Maryland. The Terrapins have a great group of players in Deriq Queen, Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Rodney Rice and Julian Reese and has a shot to win at least two games. However, standing in their way is Memphis, although I think they are going to lose, or Colorado State, the 12-seed in this region. The Rams have playing as well as anybody in the country right now but still needed to win the Mountain West tournament to get a bid, which they did. Nique Clifford is a fantastic guard and he should give Memphis fits. However, the first round game does feel like one where PJ Haggerty scores 30 to lead Memphis to a win. We’ll see.

The 6/11 game here is intriguing as well, with Missouri going up against Drake. After a miserable 0-18 season last year Dennis Gates led Missouri to a 10-8 SEC record this season after re-tooling in the portal. Mark Mitchell and Caleb Grill have led Mizzou to a good season. However, Drake is a very tough draw. First-year coach Ben McCollum went 30-3 with his group of former Division II players, led by Bennett Stirtz, Daniel Abreu, Tavion Banks and Mitch Mascari. Heading into the season it was going to be fascinating to follow how this team did, and they passed every single test. Now, we see if they can win a tournament game.

This feels like a region where almost anyone could make a run. This didn’t even mention 3-seed Texas Tech, which also has a ton of tools. This is a very deep, and very good, region where many teams can win.

East Region

Moving onto the top right quadrant of the bracket to the East Region, the top seed in this corner is Duke. The Blue Devils had a dominant season in the ACC, going 31-3 overall and 19-1 in league play, cruising through and winning the ACC tournament along with that.

The main story right now is around freshman phenom Cooper Flagg. He suffered an ankle injury in Duke’s ACC quarterfinal game last week and was out for the remainder of the tournament. However, Flagg is expected to return for Duke’s opening round game against either American or Mount St. Mary’s on Friday. Mississippi State or Baylor will await Duke in the second round.

Duke certainly has the pieces to win a national championship, something the program now has not done in a decade. The top competition to the Blue Devils will be Alabama. The Tide made the Final Four for the first time in program history last season and arguably have a better team this year, behind one of the best players in the country in Mark Sears, topping the group off with Grant Nelson and Aden Holloway.

The rest of the region feels relatively weak. Wisconsin is a good team but I don’t expect the Badgers to make it to the Elite Eight. Arizona could make a run if Caleb Love and Jaden Bradley can go on a run – Love has plenty of tournament experience from his time with the Wildcats as well as North Carolina.

An intriguing team in this region is the No. 11 team, that being VCU. The Rams won the Atlantic 10 and went 28-6 this season, including 15-3 in league play. Max Shulga and Jordan Bamisile are an intriguing duo to keep an eye on. They will have their hands full in the first round with BYU, though. But, if the Rams can make it past the first round, they will have a real shot at making the Sweet 16.

Maybe the most interesting matchup in this quadrant is the 7/10 game, that being No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s against the No. 19 seed in Vanderbilt. Saint Mary’s had looked good all season and beat Gonzaga twice in the regular season, but looked bad in the WCC championship game, a game they it lost by seven, but it felt like a lot more. On the other side of the matchup is Vanderbilt, which has had a resurgent season in coach Mark Byington’s first season at the helm. It returns to the tournament for the first time since 2017. The Commodores shoot the ball well and take care of the basketball.

This region is certainly one that is very top heavy. It seems like a crash course for Duke and Alabama to meet in the Elite Eight, but that’s why they play the games. We’ll see. Personally, I have Duke not only winning this region, but also cutting down the nets in San Antonio.

Midwest Region

We head down to the bottom right quadrant in the bracket for the final region to discuss.

Houston is the top seed in the region. The Cougars have had a spectacular season, going 30-4 and 19-1 in Big 12 play, winning the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City last week. The group of LJ Cryer, Emanuel Sharp, J’Wan Roberts and Milos Uzan is so, so good.

Tennessee is the No. 2 seed in the region in another top SEC team that has a chance at making a run for the national title. Chaz Lanier is one of the best guards in the country and should have some great games in the tournament.

A team that I really have my eye on here is the No. 8 seed, that being Gonzaga. The Zags are easily the most under-seeded team in the entire tournament, but it’s because of their results – the Bulldogs were not as dominant in the WCC as they have been in previous years. The predictive metrics still love Mark Few’s squad – it is a top 10 KenPom team and ranks No. 11 in BartTorvik. Graham Ike, Nolan Hickman and Khalif Battle all have plenty of NCAA tournament experience. The Zags will play Georgia in the first round before what would end up being a top-10 matchup in the second round should they advance. Houston is the 1-seed that gets the tough draw. If there’s a 1-seed that goes down in the first weekend, it’ll be Gonzaga beating Houston. Gonzaga has made the second weekend of the tournament nine years in a row. Will that streak continue?

There are two real upset potential games in the first round. In the 5/12 game you have a mid-major darling in McNeese facing Clemson. McNeese went 19-1 in Southland play and 27-6 overall as coach Will Wade rebuilds his coaching career. The Cowboys were a sexy upset pick last season but lost in the first round. This year, they are back in the tournament and looking to make the next step.

The other is in the 4/13 game between Purdue and High Point. It’s very fair to say that Purdue has taken a step back in the post-Zach Edey era after making the national title game a year ago. Still, the Boilermakers boast one of the best point guards in the country in Braden Smith. High Point, in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history after winning the Big South, will have to have a game plan for him in order to have a shot.

A third double digit seed that could win a game – should it get through the First Four game, is Xavier. The Musketeers made a late charge into the field by winning seven in a row to close out the regular season and made it as one of the last four teams in. After missing all of last year to injury, Zach Freemantle has had a very good season. Xavier will play Texas in Dayton on Wednesday night for the right to play Illinois, a team that has played .5oo basketball in the past month and are ripe to be picked off.

UCLA and Utah State will be the 7/10 matchup here. The Bruins have had a solid season in their first year in the Big Ten, going 13-7, while Utah State dominated the early parts of the season before falling off a bit, finishing 26-7 and 15-5 in Mountain West play in Jerrod Calhoun’s first year on the job – and could end up being his last (more on that probably early next week). Ian Martinez is a fantastic player who could gain even more attention should the Aggies advance.

Overall, there are a bunch of teams in this region that can be the one to get out of it. I do think Houston can get picked off early. That being said, I’ll go with Tennessee to win it.

All in all, this is the best week of the season and what we have spent the last four-plus months getting ready for. Enjoy it!

By Aidan Joly

We are officially in the final week of the regular season. What does the bracket look like?

In the second edition of the year, I have locked 37 teams into the field, put five teams in the “should be in” category and have put 14 teams in the “work to do” category, putting them on the bubble to be included in the field.

There’s a clear divide between teams that are locked in and teams that have more to do, with only five teams squarely in the middle of that. That all being said, let’s get into it.

ACC

Locks: Duke, Clemson, Louisville

Should be in: none

Work to do: North Carolina, Wake Forest, SMU

The ACC could see as few as three bids in what has been a really down year. Duke is in contention for the No. 1 overall seed, while Clemson and Louisville have done more than enough to be in the field.

North Carolina has been a point of contention for the bubble all season long. The Tar Heels are still squarely on it. UNC is 12-6 in the league and 19-11 overall. However, 13 of those wins are either Q3 or Q4, and it has an ugly 1-10 record in Quad 1 wins. No team with a record that bad in Quad 1 has ever received an at-large in seven years of the quadrant system. It is No. 42 in the NET.

It can certainly tip the scales in their favor with a win over Duke in the regular season finale on Saturday or by making a deep run in the ACC tournament next week, which they will certainly have a shot at doing, but right now those things are tough to see.

Wake Forest pretty much ended its chances with a loss to Duke on Monday night. SMU still has something of a chance, but it will have to go on a miracle run in the ACC tournament with wins against high quality opponents.

Big 12

Locks: Houston, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Arizona, Kansas, BYU

Should be in: Baylor, West Virginia

Work to do: Cincinnati

The locks here speak for themselves, all of them will be in the field and seeded throughout the field.

Baylor doesn’t have the highest odds in the world, but I would put them in the field. The Bears are No. 32 in the NET and have won five Quad 1 games, putting them in the range of a 9 seed.

West Virginia is pretty close to a bid and can probably lock that up by winning another game or two before Selection Sunday. It has a similar resume to Baylor with the same overall record and similar in conference – Baylor is 9-9, West Virginia is 8-10. The Mountaineers should be included.

Cincinnati still has a chance despite a 7-11 record in the league and 17-12 overall record, but similar to North Carolina that is a team that is just 1-10 in Quad 1 games, but to be fair is 9-2 in Quad 2 games, taking care of business for the most part. A strong 10-1 non-conference schedule with wins against Dayton and Xavier is helping.

Big East

Locks: St. John’s, Creighton, Marquette, UConn

Should be in: none

Work to do: Xavier

How about St. John’s? Rick Pitino’s team clinched a Big East regular season championship and the top seed in the league tournament over the weekend. The Red Storm are 17-2 in the league and 26-4 overall.

Marquette, Creighton and the two-time defending champions UConn will all be in the field too.

Every year, there is always a team or two that towards the end of the season you look up and they have a NCAA tournament resume just by winning the games they need to win. This year, that team is Xavier.

The Musketeers are in fact only 1-9 in Quad 1 games, but only has one loss outside of Quad 1, that being a Quad 2 loss to Georgetown on Jan. 3. Overall though, Xavier is 11-7 in the league and 19-10 overall. It has winnable games to close the regular season, on the road against Butler on Wednesday and home against Providence on Saturday.

It does probably need to win both of those games, but both of them are certainly games they can win. If they can win both, and then likely a game in the Big East tournament, Sean Miller’s squad will find themselves in the field.

It’s also worth noting that the selection committee caught a lot of heat for only including three Big East teams in the field last year when many thought more were deserving, so I can see them giving a Big East team the benefit of the doubt.

Big Ten

Locks: Michigan State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan, UCLA, Oregon

Should be in: none

Work to do: Indiana, Ohio State, Nebraska

Indiana has been under intense scrutiny all season long. The Hoosiers looked dead in the water for much of the season, leading to coach Mike Woodson announcing he would retire at the end of the season, amid calls for his job.

Since the announcement, Indiana has suddenly flourished. Since then the Hoosiers are 4-2, including a pair of massive wins against Michigan State and Purdue that have put them right back in the conversation.

Indiana would certainly have to head to Dayton for a play-in game should it end up making the field. But it has a chance to be there. It plays Oregon on Tuesday before a big game against Ohio State on Saturday in the regular season finale.

Speaking of the Buckeyes, they are in the bubble conversation too. They are No. 36 in the NET and have five Quad 1 wins, but OSU has four Quad 2 losses. They are a team that will need some wins between now and Selection Sunday to start feeling comfortable. Still, they won’t have an easy two weeks.

Nebraska still has a chance, but I’m not really counting on them making it.

SEC

Locks: Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Georgia

Should be in: none

Work to do: Arkansas, Oklahoma

Georgia locked themselves into the field with a win against Texas over the weekend, a loss that certainly put the Longhorns on the outside of even being on the bubble. A NCAA tournament miss could spell the end of Rodney Terry’s tenure in Austin.

Arkansas had a little momentum going in recent weeks, but had a complete n0-show on Saturday against South Carolina, who came into the game 1-14 in league play. The Razorbacks lost by 19 and the game wasn’t even that close. They did not look like anything close to a tournament team in that loss.

Still, you have to consider the four wins in Quad 1 games and South Carolina is only a Quad 2 loss, but it’s still a 19-point loss to the worst team in the conference. It has to be considered.

Oklahoma still has a little bit of a chance, but is certainly on the outside looking in.

Mountain West

Locks: New Mexico, Utah State

Should be in: San Diego State

Work to do: Boise State

New Mexico and Utah State will both be formidable opponents in the first round of the tournament. San Diego State looks good and if the season ended today, the Aztecs would be in, but another win or two to close the regular season – they play at UNLV on Tuesday and home against Nevada on Saturday – will make them feel good.

Boise State has all of the sudden put themselves in the conversation. It has won four straight since a loss to San Diego State on Feb. 15, beating both New Mexico and Utah State as part of that streak. They have also won eight of the last nine games.

It has three Quad 1 wins to boot, but does own a pair of Quad 3 losses, which were to Boston College and Washington State during the n0n-conference.

Still, the Broncos will be a team sweating it out until Selection Sunday. It goes at Air Force on Tuesday before hosting Colorado State on Friday before the league tournament.

The rest

Locks: Saint Mary’s, Gonzaga, Memphis

Should be in: VCU, UC San Diego

Work to do: Drake, UC Irvine, North Texas

VCU has been able to put together an at-large resume, but only has one Quad 1 win, but only had two opportunities to get one. It is 6-3 in Quad 2, but does have a bad Quad 4 loss to Seton Hall. Still, as long as it makes probably the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament, it should be included in the field.

The committee tends to give the nod to mediocre power conference teams over great mid-major teams, but UC San Diego could be an exception. The Tritons are now up to 16-2 in the league and 26-4 overall. They have UC Irvine to worry about in the league tournament.

Drake is a very, very good team, but likely has to make the Missouri Valley title game to feel alright. Despite a 27-3 overall record, it has a real shot at being left out if it doesn’t win the AAC. Same goes for the aforementioned UC Irvine.

North Texas is a good team and has a shot at being a bid stealer by winning the American Athletic tournament.

By Aidan Joly

The Craig Smith era has come to an end in the midst of his fourth season at the helm.

It was a semi-surprising firing as Utah has a respectable league record of 7-9 in the program’s first year in the Big 12, plus by the idea of making the move with four regular season games to go rather than waiting until the end of the year.

Smith did not go to the NCAA tournament during his tenure and was not going to this year, but the program won games against Kansas and Kansas State last week, the team’s best wins of the season. It raises some questions.

Anyway, about the job. Utah lacks NIL resources and it’s fair to say the program was not financially ready to make the jump to the Big 12. Getting more money will be important. Look what in-state rival BYU did, it brought in Kevin Young in a move that invigorated the fanbase, leading donor to shell out the dollars to land the top prospect next season in AJ Dybantsa.

It makes you wonder if Utah will go the same NBA route that BYU did. That being said, here are six potential candidates for the job. Assistant coach Josh Eilert, who served as interim head coach at West Virginia last season, will serve as interim for the remainder of the season.

Alex Jensen, Dallas Mavericks assistant

Hinting that the program could go the NBA route, Jensen’s name has to top that list. He was a starter on the 1998 team that made the national championship game under Rick Majerus and he is a Utah native. He also spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach for the Utah Jazz before heading to Dallas.

He also has international ties, serving as an assistant coach for the German national team in 2015 and served as the head coach for Team USA in the FIBA AmeriCup in 2022.

BYU has had success with a former NBA assistant with international ties. Young and Jensen have similar resumes.

Andre Miller, Grand Rapids Gold head coach

Another former Utah player who starred on the 1998 team, Miller would bring significant name recognition to Salt Lake City.

Miller played in the NBA for nearly two decades before retiring in 2016. He took a few years off before resurfacing as the head coach of the G League Grand Rapids Gold in 2022 and has been in that position since.

He doesn’t have any other coaching experience outside of that and has never coached college basketball. There would be some question marks around the hire, but would follow the trend of programs hiring former players.

Johnnie Bryant, Cleveland Cavaliers associate HC

Bryant, who played for Utah from 2004-2007, still holds the program record in three-point percentage.

He got his coaching start in 2014 with the Jazz under Quin Snyder and was there until 2020, leaving to become associate head coach of the New York Knicks, and then leaded to Cleveland this past year for the same position under first-year coach Kenny Atkinson, who has led the Cavs to an NBA-best record of 48-10.

Young is young, just 39, but knows the program and region well. It would be a good hire as long as he surrounds himself with coaches who know the college landscape well.

Jerrod Calhoun, Utah State head coach

Could Utah go back to the Utah State well? Smith was the head coach at Utah State before coming to Utah, and the Aggies’ program has become known for churning out power conference head coaches.

Calhoun, in his first season in Logan after coming from Youngstown State, has the Aggies at 14-3 in the Mountain West and 24-4 overall and in line to make the NCAA tournament.

Calhoun began his head coaching career at Division II Fairmount State and has won over 250 games as a head coach.

Speaking of, I can very much see a Craig Smith-Utah State reunion if Calhoun leaves for another job.

Leon Rice, Boise State head coach

Rice is an intriguing candidate for Utah. Rice has been the head coach at Boise State since 2010 and has won over 300 games, while leading the Broncos to each of the past three NCAA tournaments.

Before he served as Boise State’s head coach he was an assistant coach at Gonzaga for more than a decade.

The semi-issue here is age, Rice is 61 years old and the vibe is that Utah wants somebody young to take over the program and be there for the long haul. Rice likely would not be that guy, as he is very much in the second half of his career.

Eric Olen, UC San Diego head coach

Olen is quickly becoming a very hot name in the coaching ranks. He has led the program from the Division II level and is 24-4 in the program’s first season of NCAA tournament eligibility, good enough to merit at-large consideration should it not win the Big West tournament.

Olen is 44 and his entire coaching career has been in San Diego after growing up and going to school in Alabama. He is still young but experienced and may wait for the right opening.

The drawback is that he does not have any area ties. Still, on coaching acumen alone, it deserves consideration.

Prediction: Jensen. I can see him or Miller, but I lean Jensen based on the fact that he is more experienced and has the international connections that Miller doesn’t. Both are beloved former players who the boosters would be willing to shell out money to bring in.

By Aidan Joly

Three key bubble wins, a statement victory for Alabama and St. John’s and Duke’s destruction of two teams in a 16 hour period in the same building highlighted the weekend of college hoops.

Let’s get into what happened around the nation.

Bubble watch

Three teams: Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Indiana, picked up key wins on Saturday that put them closer to making the tournament.

Oklahoma did so by beating No. 21 Mississippi State 93-87 in Norman, Vanderbilt beat Ole Miss 77-72 in Nashville later in the afternoon, and then Indiana picked up a big one on Sunday, beating Purdue 73-58 in Bloomington.

It gets closer to having close to double digit or 10+ SEC teams in the NCAA tournament, possibly breaking the record for most teams from one league in the tournament. Oklahoma has an eyesore of an SEC record of 4-10, but thanks to those league wins being key and good non-conference results, it has a chance. It also snapped a six-game losing streak. Vanderbilt is now 6-8 in the league and is close to being confident in its chances.

Indiana, after stumbling around all season, somehow now has a good chance of being in. After all of that.

Duke’s domination of Illinois

In a rare late season non-conference neutral site game, Duke put on a show while Illinois had a huge stinker, with the Blue Devils winning 110-67 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

It was a total destruction from beginning to end, with Duke dominating every facet of the game. Seven Blue Devils finished in double figures and the team as a whole shot 55.6% from the field and 52.5% from three, while holding Illinois to 37.7% of the field and an ugly 2-26 from three. The Illini missed 18 straight attempts from deep to start the game.

Cooper Flagg had 16 points in his MSG debut while Kon Knueppel had 15, but Isaiah Evans had 17 to lead the team. He is quickly becoming perhaps the best sixth man in the country

It feels like this Duke team, along with Auburn, is on the fast track to being in the Final Four. It is just that dominant.

St. John’s dominates UConn

Around 15 hours later in the same building Duke dominated Illinois, it was St. John’s turn to put on a show.

The Johnnies beat UConn 89-75 in a game that wasn’t even that close to improve to a Big East-best 15-2 and 24-4 overall. St. John’s has won 13 of 14. The Johnnies also finished up a season sweep of UConn for the first time since 1999-2000.

All five Red Storm starters were in double figures led by 18 each from Kadary Richmond and Zuby Ejiofor, while RJ Luis Jr. had 14 in his return to the lineup after missing the previous game against DePaul.

Rick Pitino, man. He has brought this program back to national relevancy after being just average for so long. Right now, St. John’s is likely to be a 2 or 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. This is a program that has not won a tournament game since 2000. That streak will surely end in a month.

Georgia hangs with Auburn, which is more than what most can say

Georgia only lost to Auburn by 12 on Saturday and hung around most of the way, which is more than what most teams that have played the Tigers this season can say.

The Bulldogs are very talented this year and are still have a chance to make the program’s first NCAA tournament since 2015. Asa Newell has been great, while Silas Demary and Blue Cain have made for a solid trio. Again, a 4-10 league record isn’t pretty, but so be it. It was great in the non-conference and has a win against Kentucky. It has three winnable games in the four to close the regular season.

Johni Broome had 31 for Auburn in the win. Just an unstoppable group.

Michigan State’s good win

After struggling in the first half, Michigan State turned it around in the second half to come back and beat Michigan in Ann Arbor on Friday night 75-62. The Spartans only trailed by four at halftime but it did feel like more.

Tom Izzo made the necessary adjustments and MSU out-scored Michigan 41-24 in the second half. Freshman Jase Richardson had 21 on 7-12 from the field, and Tre Holloman had 18 on 6-10 from the field.

This is one of the best Spartans teams in a handful of years. There had been some questions about Izzo and how much longer he had left at MSU, and maybe if the game had begun to pass him by, but this team proves he still has it.

Oregon’s quality win

Staying in the Big Ten and with teams that had second half turnarounds, Oregon trailed by 12 at the break at Wisconsin, forced overtime, and then did enough in the extra period to grab a 77-73 OT win.

After losing five in a row and six of seven, a streak that really raised eyebrows about how good this team really was as it got into the meat of its first season of Big Ten play, the Ducks have won four in a row and have changed opinions.

Nate Bittle, Keeshawn Barthelemy and Jackson Shelstad, along with TJ Bamba, have made for a very quality group. It’s a group that will have a chance at getting a solid seed and winning a game or two in the tournament. Also important, the win is crucial in staying in the top nine in the league and avoiding playing on the first day of the league tournament in Indianapolis.

The Ducks are now 9-8 in the league and 20-8 overall. Three regular season games to go, getting a week off before playing again on March 1 against USC.

Alabama makes a statement with win

Alabama kept things rolling in a big way, grabbing a 96-83 home win against Kentucky on Saturday.

It was another performance from the Tide like we have seen all year, where they made 52.5% of their field goal attempts and hit 11 from behind the three-point arc. Mark Sears led the way with 30 points and Clifford Omoruyi had 11 points to go along with 15 rebounds.

Alabama plays like a 1 seed and should be a 1 seed. It closes the regular season with four straight ranked games, beginning with a tilt at home against Mississippi State on Tuesday. It has some wiggle room to stay as a 1 seed, but things do indeed get tricky.

Lanier goes off in Tennessee win

Staying in the SEC, Tennessee went on the road and grabbed a 77-69 win against Texas A&M on Saturday.

Chaz Lanier had one of the best games of the season you’ll see anywhere, finishing with 30 points on 10-18 from the field, eight of his field goals coming from three. That’s the type of performance the Vols will need from him in March.

Unfortunately for Tennessee they may not end up on the 1 line despite deserving to. Just too many good teams ahead of them. However, a win in Saturday’s game against Alabama will certainly help their case.

Concerns with Iowa State

Granted, losing to Houston on the road is certainly acceptable, but it is worth noting that Iowa State has not won a game against one of the top teams in the Big 12 since beating Kansas on Jan. 15.

In that time it has lost to West Virginia, Arizona, Kansas State, the second matchup against Kansas and now Houston. It has wins over two wins over UCF and one over Arizona State, TCU, Cincinnati and Colorado.

It’s not something overly concerning, but it’s something to monitor. It plays at Oklahoma State on Tuesday night before two straight games against ranked opponents in Arizona on Saturday and BYU on March 4.

Speaking of BYU…

The Cougars went on the road and got what was perhaps their biggest win of the season, beating Arizona 96-95.

Granted they got help in the final seconds on a questionable call, but it still goes in the books as a great win for Kevin Young. Young has done a fantastic job in his first year in Provo and has the program in a very, very good place.

Richie Saunders had 23 points in the win on 8-10 from the field, one of five Cougars to finish in double figures.

Now sitting at 10-6 in the league and 19-8 overall, BYU is sitting pretty to get a good seed in the tournament. Things are going very well in the program’s first year in the Big 12. Credit to Young and what he has been able to build so quickly.

Time for a Gonzaga conversation?

Gonzaga lost to Saint Mary’s 74-67 in Spokane on Saturday night to drop to 12-4 in the league and 21-8 overall. For the first time since the 2015-16 season, the Gaels sweep the regular season series.

By Gonzaga standards this has been a very pedestrian season. This will be the first time in the Mark Few era (since 1999) that the program will fail to win at least a share of the regular season title in back-to-back seasons.

Furthermore, Gonzaga only has one win against a projected safe at-large team, that being the season opener against Baylor all the way back on Nov. 4. It does have wins against a pair of bubble teams in San Diego State (Nov. 18) and Indiana (Nov. 28).

Right now Gonzaga is in the field, but it doesn’t look as safe as it has in recent years. The Zags have the second longest NCAA tournament streak in the country, having not missed since 1998. With another couple losses, it may be in jeopardy. And if it does make it, the program’s nine straight second weekend appearances, one of the sport’s craziest streaks, would be even more in jeopardy.

UC San Diego deserves an at-large

UC San Diego, a team that is in its first season as a full Division I member after making the four-year transition, is a freight train.

The Tritons under coach Eric Olen are 14-2 in Big West play and 24-4 overall. They dropped an 83-44 beatdown on Hawaii on Saturday to win their ninth game in a row. The win got them all the way up to No. 35 in the KenPom rankings, ahead of the likes of Arkansas and UConn. It is also No. 36 in the NET.

Under the group of Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, Tyler McGhie, Hayden Gray and Nordin Kapic, this is one of the best mid-major teams in the country and is deserving of an at-large selection should it not win the conference tournament. The top jobber in UC Irvine is also a very, very good team, sitting at 13-3 in the league and 23-5 overall. The two split their regular season matchups.

The last time the Big West was a multi-bid league was in 2005, when both Utah State and Pacific made it before moving on to larger conferences.

By Aidan Joly

On Tuesday night, Dajuan Harris played his 166th collegiate game. Hunter Dickinson played his 155th. Shakeel Moore played his 141st. KJ Adams played his 131st. Zeke Mayo played his 126th.

In that game, Kansas went to Provo and lost to BYU 91-57, the Jayhawks’ worst loss of the season as it fell to 8-7 in Big 12 play and 17-9 overall.

Usually, this would be a team that we are praising for having a pretty good season. However, not this team.

The Jayhawks started the 2024-25 season as the No. 1 team in the country. Now, it is set to fall out of the rankings for the first time this season after the loss to BYU. It plays Oklahoma State on Saturday before the next version of the rankings come out on Monday, but a win there likely won’t be enough to keep them in the rankings.

Kansas’ issues this season have been pronounced and there seems to be several of them.

The first one I have already eluded to is the real lack of leadership on this team, and it is a strange as to why the team has this issue. Eight of its nine rotational players have played 84 or more collegiate games, and five of them have played 100 or more, while a sixth in Rylan Griffen has played in 99 games.

Somebody on this team should be stepping up, and it is simply not happening. It’s happened in several games this season that somebody should have taken charge when things were beginning to unravel, and nobody really did. This seems to be even more of an issue in road games. The Jayhawks are 3-7 this year in true road games – those three wins coming against TCU, Cincinnati and UCF – and is 208th in the country in BartTorvik offensive efficiency when it comes to road games. It is 16th in home games.

Which brings to the next point, is there perhaps an issue with the way the roster is constructed?

Coach Bill Self kept around a core of wings in Adams, Dickinson and Harris, and added a group of key transfers in Mayo, Griffen and AJ Storr.

Mayo has been as advertised, but Griffen and Storr have both seen significant decreases in production that have made them liabilities on the court at times. It’s even more pronounced with Storr, who averaged 16.1 points per game at Wisconsin last season and shot 43.2% from the field. This season, he has seen those numbers drop to 6.2 points per game on 38.2% from the field. These issues have forced Kansas to play down a productive guard and has thrust Harris into the spotlight, one that he should really just be a sixth man role player type. Storr has seen his minutes dwindle and has played seven or less minutes in four of Kansas’ last eight games.

Even Dickinson has seen a drop in productivity. His PPG has only dropped from 17.9 PPG last year to 16.3 this year, but his overall shooting numbers have dropped from 54.8% last year to 52.1% this year, and his three-point numbers have dropped by 12 percentage points, from 35.4% to 23.1%.

Self is 62 years old and has been the Kansas coach for more than two decades. Is he starting to lose a step? That’s really only for him to decide. However, it is a fact that Kansas’ worst two seasons since he has been there have been this season and last season. Last season, Kansas went 10-8 in the league and lost in the round of 32. This season, and get this stat, there is a very real chance that the Jayhawks will be outside of the 1-4 line in NCAA tournament seeding for the first time since 2000. Sure, he won a national championship three years ago, but it hasn’t been super great since then. That national title in 2022 is the most recent time Kansas has been in the second weekend of the tournament. He has even seemed more and more defeated in press conferences last year and this year.

So, what is there to do for the Jayhawks here? Unsure. It does have the aforementioned Oklahoma State game on Saturday followed by going to 1-14 Colorado on Monday, so those games are opportunities to get right. It doesn’t get easier after that though, with a home game against Texas Tech on March 1, at Houston on March 3 and wrapping up the regular season at home against Arizona on March 8.

We will see how Kansas fares there and in the Big 12 tournament. If things go well, maybe they get some faith back. If not, the odds may be stacked against them in the NCAA tournament.

By Aidan Joly

Florida State needs a new head coach for the first time in over 20 years.

The school announced Monday that Leonard Hamilton, who has been the head coach in Tallahassee in 2002, will step down at the end of the season. With 456 wins, he is the winningest coach in program history, brought the program to the NCAA tournament eight times, made the Sweet 16 four times and the Elite Eight once.

Now, FSU will move on after the past few years haven’t gone so well, and considering that Hamilton is 76 years old, it’s time to make a move.

Now, who could take this job?

FSU has never been a hoops juggernaut, but it has had success before. Outside of the name brands in the league like Duke and North Carolina, it has as much potential as any of the other middle tier jobs in the league. With the league’s struggles, there’s certainly room for the next coach to elevate the program.

Below, here are seven potential candidates for the job.

Luke Loucks, Sacramento Kings assistant

Loucks, a popular young NBA assistant at 34, played at Florida State from 2008-2012 and made the NCAA tournament all four years he was with the program. After his playing career ended he has worked his way up through the coaching ranks beginning as an intern with the Golden State Warriors and currently serves as Sacramento’s de facto defensive coordinator. He has never been a head coach nor has he worked at the college level, but he knows the landscape well. He would fit into the mold of NBA assistants that colleges have begun to target the past few seasons.

Sam Cassell, Boston Celtics assistant

Another former FSU player in the NBA assistant ranks. Cassell is a program legend, helping lead the program to the Elite Eight in 1993 and has his jersey number retired. He has a similar path in that he worked his way up through the coaching ranks, but has never worked in college and has never been a head coach. He’s still regarded as one of the best assistant coaches in the league. Cassell is 55, so the question is would he be interested in leaving his situation with the best team in the NBA to go to the college ranks.

Dennis Gates, Missouri head coach

If this job opened up while Gates was at Cleveland State he would surely be the top candidate. Gates served as an assistant coach in Tallahassee from 2011 to 2019 and was crucial to the program’s on-court success as well as recruiting some of its best players at the time such as Jonathan Isaac and Malik Beasley, who are both in the NBA. He has a strange resume, Missouri was great in his first season before going 0-18 in SEC play last year, but Gates has righted things this season. Still, going from Missouri to Florida State would be considered a downgrade, and his buyout is close to $20 million.

Bucky McMillan, Samford head coach

McMillan has one of the most unique coaching stories out there. He went directly from coaching high school basketball to the Samford job in 2020. At Samford he is 95-46 with his high speed, press defense, three-point launching style of play, dubbed “Bucky Ball.” Samford won the Southern Conference last season and scored 89 points while being a bad call away from upsetting Kansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament. This year, he has the Bulldogs at 18-5 and 8-2 in the league. It’s only a matter of time before he is coaching in the high majors.

Takayo Siddle, UNC Wilmington head coach

Siddle checks a lot of boxes here and should be a hot name in this upcoming cycle. He is a native of ACC country in North Carolina, played and assisted under NC State head coach Kevin Keatts, has ACC assistant coaching experience in Raleigh, and he has head coaching success. He inherited a program that had struggled in the few years before he took over. After a first season under .500 he has led the Seahawks to three straight 20+ win seasons and is on track to do it for a fourth year, sitting at 18-5 and 8-2 in the CAA, good for second place in the league. He hasn’t made an NCAA tournament yet, but his name will get even hotter if UNCW does.

Chris Mack, Charleston head coach

Mack, the former head coach at Xavier and Louisville, has excelled in his return to coaching this season. He was fired from Louisville midway through the 2021-22 season and was out of the game until being brought back by Charleston this year. He has the Cougars at 17-6 and 7-3 in CAA play. Might he want to return to the high major ranks?

Will Wade, McNeese head coach

Wade is easily the hottest name on the market for this off-season. He is most known for his stint at LSU that unceremoniously ended due to NCAA violations, but he resurfaced at McNeese and has done a great job there, dominating the Southland and making the NCAA tournament and has a chance to do it again this season. He’s still only 42 as well. He’ll bring some negative PR, but he’s the best coach on the market. People forget that he got his coaching start in the ACC as a grad assistant at Clemson.

The pick: Let’s go with Siddle. He checks all of the boxes and has the ties and the success. At 38 he’s still very much on the younger side, allowing him to come to Tallahassee for the long haul.

By Aidan Joly

It’s all of the sudden the last full month of the college basketball season.

Several teams across the country have begun to lock themselves into the field with their performances so far this season, some are not quite there yet but look good so far, and some more have some more work to do.

Let’s break it down. Heading into Monday’s games I have locked 25 teams into the field, have 12 teams designated as “should be in,” while I have put 19 teams in “work to do.”

The 25 locks are teams I feel like will for sure be in the tournament barring any extreme circumstances. “Should be in” encompasses teams that if the season ended today they would be in the field and have a chance to lock into the field over the next few weeks, but could also drop into the “work to do” category if they struggle.

The “work to do” category is pretty simple. It’s the bubble teams that can really go either way at this point. When you look at these teams, you can argue either way whether they should be in the field or not.

I did amend my formula slightly from last year to give teams the benefit of the doubt when it comes to moving up categories, but this is still not an exact science. Selection Sunday is still a month and a half away.

Using the format of going conference by conference, let’s get into it.

ACC

Locks: Duke, Louisville, Clemson

Should be in: Pitt

Work to do: North Carolina, SMU, Wake Forest

I’ve locked three teams from the ACC into the field so far. Duke is self-explanatory as a top-two team in the country and will surely be on the 1 seed line.

Louisville and Clemson have both had very good seasons and sit at the top of the ACC behind the Blue Devils. Louisville is 4-5 in Quad 1 games and only has one loss outside of Quad 1, and its schedule is fairly easy the rest of the way, with five of its remaining nine regular season games in Quad 3 or 4. Clemson’s schedule is a little tougher, but they have a better record than the Cardinals.

Pitt and North Carolina have interesting cases. Pitt has not looked good in the past few weeks and is only 1-6 in Quad 1 games, but is 13-1 in its other games, including a win over North Carolina that feels big in terms of tipping the scales in the Panthers’ direction. I have them in the field for now. UNC is a little more murky. It is 1-9 in Quad 1 games and does not have a signature win and just got blown out by Duke. It is also 45 in the NET, compared to Pitt’s 35. A 6-5 league record and 13-10 overall isn’t good on paper, either.

SMU and Wake Forest still have outside chances, so we’ll leave them on for now.

Big 12

Locks: Houston, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Kansas, Arizona

Should be in: BYU, Baylor, West Virginia

Work to do: UCF, Arizona State

I’ve locked in five teams so far from the second best league in college basketball. All of these teams will have good seeds, despite their varying levels of winning against each other.

I was close to locking BYU into the field, but I decided not to considering its three Quad 2 losses, one of which was to lowly Providence during the non-conference portion of the season. If it can win one of its next two or two of its next three, all Quad 1 games, I would feel much more comfortable doing it.

Baylor and West Virginia are under similar circumstances of being very close to locked in, but I’m not going to do it yet. West Virginia has struggled as of late, having lost five of eight. But it snapped a three-game losing streak on Sunday by beating Cincinnati.

The odds for UCF and Arizona State are low, but we’ll keep them on the board for now.

Big East

Locks: Marquette, St. John’s, Creighton

Should be in: UConn

Work to do: Xavier

The three locks will be in the tournament. Marquette and St. John’s both project as being seeded on the 4 line or better.

Creighton and UConn are probably more on similar lines when it comes to seeding, the 6 or 7 line, but I decided to give the edge to Creighton. Realistically, UConn will be in, but if it somehow takes a bunch of bad losses in the next few weeks things could get interesting. But as long as the Huskies take care of business, it will be in the lock category in short order.

Xavier is on the outside looking in here. The Musketeers are 1-7 in Quad 1 games and only have one more Quad 1 game the rest of the season, and it’s a road game against Villanova, so that’s not a second signature win. It does have one over Marquette though. Overall though, the wins are just not there.

We raised our eyebrows at Georgetown for a second, but they have fallen off the bubble.

Big Ten

Locks: Purdue, Michigan State, Michigan, Maryland, Wisconsin, Illinois, Oregon

Should be in: UCLA, Ohio State

Work to do: Indiana, Nebraska

This is a league that will have somewhere from 8-10 bids. The locks are the locks, and UCLA and Ohio State have both played well enough this year to probably put themselves in the field, but neither are locks just yet. Oregon is quietly second in the country with eight Quad 1 wins. Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin all have six.

The two teams to really talk about here reside in the “work to do” category: Indiana and Nebraska. The Hoosiers have really struggled this year and feels like a team that has almost gotten worse as the year goes on.

Indiana is 14-8 overall and 5-6 in league play, but has lost five of its past six games, save for a one-point overtime win against Ohio State on Jan. 17. It still has a chance to turn things around but right now it feels like the Hoosiers are on the outside looking in.

Nebraska seemed dead in the water a few weeks ago as it lost seven in a row to start 2-7 in league play, but back to back big wins against Illinois and Oregon have put the Cornhuskers right back in contention. Some more big games loom. Nebraska will need some of them to stay in the conversation.

SEC

Locks: Auburn, Alabama, Missouri, Texas A&M, Florida, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Mississippi State

Should be in: Texas, Oklahoma

Work to do: Georgia, Vanderbilt, Arkansas

This league is why the bubble feels relatively small this year: because the SEC is going to get so many teams in.

It’s the consensus best league in the country. I’ve already locked nine teams into the field, and the league could have upwards of 13 teams in the league. It may not get there, but it could get very close.

Texas and Oklahoma look good to get in right now. There were some conversations about Texas in recent weeks, but winning four of its past six, including wins against Missouri and Texas A&M, have made it safe for now. Oklahoma, who has won three of four, is in a similar boat.

One team to discuss here is Vanderbilt. The Commodores were in decent shape before this weekend, but an ugly loss to Oklahoma on Saturday has put a ding in their hopes. At 4-4 in the league and 16-5 overall, it still has a shot. All but one of its remaining regular season games are Quad 1 opportunities, so it has a chance to really get its resume back up to where it needs to be.

Arkansas had a dreadful start but a road win against Kentucky on Saturday puts the Razorbacks back on the fringes of contention. It was their second Quad 1 win of the season.

It feels like seven league wins is the number to get to in order to get a bid out of this league. Auburn and Alabama are the only ones already there, but two others have six and three others have five.

Mountain West

Locks: none

Should be in: New Mexico

Work to do: Utah State, San Diego State, Boise State

After a banner year last season that saw it get six NCAA tournament bids, the Mountain West has fallen back to earth this season. At most, it’ll get four bids.

New Mexico has had a very good year, sitting at 10-1 in the league and 18-4 overall, owning a pair of Quad 1 wins and six Quad 2 wins. Most of the games between the top teams in that league are Quad 2.

Utah State, San Diego State and Boise State are the teams to discuss here. Utah State has the best chance of the group, but San Diego State is not far behind. Utah State is 9-2 in the league and 19-3 overall in Jerrod Calhoun’s first season, while SDSU sits at 8-3 in the league and 15-5 overall. San Diego State had a bad Quad 3 loss to UNLV, so that hurts it slightly.

Boise State is on the outside looking in, but still has a shot if it goes on a really good run in the last month of the season.

The rest

Locks: none

Should be in: Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, Memphis

Work to do: VCU, Drake, Dayton, Bradley

Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and Memphis are all good teams that will all probably in the field, but they play in weak leagues that have the chance to produce some really bad losses.

Gonzaga has three losses in WCC play and much was made of the loss to Santa Clara, but at the end of the day it shouldn’t be the end of the world to the committee. Its other two losses were to Saint Mary’s and Oregon State. Saint Mary’s has taken care of business and is the best team in the WCC.

Memphis took a very bad loss to Arkansas State during the non-conference. Like Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s, Memphis plays in an AAC that has the ability to produce some ugly losses. However, winning the games they should win should make them OK.

VCU and Dayton come from the A10, which traditionally produces two bids but may be one this year. VCU has a better at-large chance than Dayton does, it feels like. George Mason feels like a team that can win the A10, despite the fact that they don’t really have a shot at an at-large bid. If it continues to win all these games, we may have to add them.

Drake’s back-to-back losses to Murray State and UIC really hurt them, but if those are the only games they lose and then lose to Bradley in the MVC final, a conversation is maybe had. Bradley also lost to UIC, as well as Northern Iowa.