With the NCAA Tournament down to 16 teams now and the number of teams still in their seasons dwindling, coaching news continues to take precedence in the sport’s silly season.
Monday included hirings and rumors of near hirings, in many cases proceeding now after the conclusion of teams’ seasons made coaches available to hire or talk to. In some cases, it already has gotten truly silly.
One change finalized Monday was Ron Sanchez being named head coach at UNC Charlotte. Sanchez was the top assistant to Tony Bennett at Virginia and has been with Bennett the past 12 years, including nine at UVA plus three years before that with him at Washington State. This will be his first head coaching position, and he takes over a Charlotte program that was an NCAA Tournament regular not that long ago, but hasn’t been there now since 2005.
Memphis’s anticipated hiring of Anfernee (Penny) Hardaway also is expected to be finalized today. Tiger fans will love having a famous alum in charge of the program. Just like they did when Larry Finch when he came on board in the 80s. Then he was forced out after some of them became disgruntled. Hardaway is expected to be a conduit to those city recruits that Memphis folks so often talk about, and it’s a fair point-why wouldn’t a school want local talent if it can get it? Whether he can coach a high-level college program? Who knows?
The saga that will be watched this week is with current Rhode Island coach Dan Hurley, who has been connected to openings at Connecticut and Pittsburgh. Some were already reporting that Hurley was very close to taking the UConn job, while others said he was still up in the air, and some saying he would really like to stay at URI on some conditions. It would seem Hurley might be a little tentative to jump to struggling programs, especially when Rhode Island was clearly better than both schools the past couple years and is positioned well to stay near the top of an Atlantic 10 that has a vacuum at the top, but his leaving may eventually come down to program improvements, or lack of in his view. Bill Koch of the Providence Journal has written about this in the past, including here.
Side Dishes:
- The latest epidode of College Basketball Tonight has been posted on Hoopville, with Phil Kasiecki joining Ted Sarandis. They’re also joined by guest Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal and columnist for Basketball Times, and topics of discussion include the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament plus coaching changes. You can listen here.
- The NIT now has its quarterfinals set. Oklahoma State rallied to top Stanford 71-65, winning its second straight NIT game for the first time in school history. That’s incredible for a school with a history of postseason success with a 38-27 record all-time in the NCAA Tournament including six Final Four appearances.
- Utah jumped all over LSU early and cruised to a 95-71 win. Five scored in double figures for the Utes, who now will face Saint Mary’s after the Gaels held off stubborn Washington 85-81. Jordan Ford more and more looks like the next great Gaels guard, and he scored 26 in this one while Emmett Naar posted a crazy single-double: one point, 12 assists.
- Also advancing was Western Kentucky, which won at USC 79-75 and now plays at Oklahoma State with a chance to get to Madison Square Garden. The Hilltoppers have had a very nice season and are another team that would’ve done just fine being competitive in the NCAA Tournament.
- The CBI is now down to its final four teams after its quarterfinals Monday night. Among the advancing teams is Campbell, which got 35 points from scoring machine Chris Clemons and a 18-foot pull-up jumper by Cory Gensler with less than a second left for a 71-69 win over New Orleans. Also winning: Jacksonville State, which pounded Central Arkansas on the road 80-59; North Texas, which drilled Mercer 96-67, and San Francisco, a 78-73 winner in a good one with Utah Valley. The Dons are the type of team that can really benefit from this experience.
- One game in the CIT: Sam Houston State is still alive after a 69-62 win over Eastern Michigan. Josh Delaney scored 19 for the Bearkats, who outrebounded lanky EMU 45-36 and withstood a furious second half rally. The Eagles’ bizarre night in defeat included making 14 of 38 from three, 8 of 22 from two-point range, and 4 of 12 from the foul line.
- News from Tuesday morning: to absolutely no one’s surprise at all, Oklahoma guard Trae Young has declared for the NBA Draft and will hire an agent. Young is expected to be a lottery pick in the draft, and his departure will leave the Sooners in building mode and will give us perspective next year on the talent that was around him this year, whether it was as bad as some surmised or if it was simply overwhelmed by Young’s dominance of the ball.
Tonight’s Menu:
- The NIT jumps right into its quarterfinals with the first two teams to punch their tickets to New York City. Penn State is at Marquette (7 p.m. Eastern, ESPN), with the game played on campus at the Golden Eagles’ Al McGuire Center. These two have a little bit of NIT history, having met in the 1995 tourney semifinals. Then, Mississippi State goes to Louisville (9 p.m., ESPN), the Bulldogs looking for their second straight road win after defeating Baylor on Sunday.
Have a super Tuesday.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
