Welcome to the latest edition of Talking Hoops With Ted Sarandis, and the first on the new-look Hoopville. We hope you are enjoying the new look and have found it useful in finding what you may be looking for.
We begin this podcast by talking about a big subject we have spoken of more than a few times: transfers. There is still more news on them, with the apparent final tally since last off-season coming in at over 800 players. A good number of them will be eligible in 2018-19 and will be counted on by their new school to make an impact.
We also touch on legalized sports betting, a subject we got into at some length in our prior podcast. It appears to still be off the NCAA’s radar, but that is likely not a good thing.
Next, we go on to some news that was a bit surprising, which is that another school will move up to Division I in 2019-20. Merrimack College, located in North Andover, MA, will join the Northeast Conference and begin its five-year transition to Division I. It was surprising in the sense that there was not much talk about this, and there was reason to believe that new Division I entrants would continue to slow down; it was not surprising given that the school has been on an ambitious plan of growth in recent times, which was even highlighted in the Boston Business Journal not long ago.
Of note, since the recording of this podcast, Bert Hammel, who guided Merrimack to over 500 wins from 1980-81 to the 2015-16 season, has passed away. A little over a year earlier, Hammel suffered a heart attack that nearly took his life, but recovered enough to go home. His run at Merrimack was only part of his story, however, as he was beloved in the Merrimack Valley for all the work he did away from his job with the youth of the area that touched many lives.
From there, we touch on UNCW having to move off campus due to the effects of Hurricane Florence as it made landfall in the southeastern United States. UNCW went up the road to Chapel Hill, where head coach C.B. McGrath was a long-time assistant before taking over in Wilmington last season. This could ultimately help the Seahawks, who are an interesting team in the CAA with some talent returning but at first glance projecting as a middle-of-the-pack team.
Some better news closes out the podcast, as we talk about the return to practice of Andrew Jones at Texas. Jones, you will recall, was diagnosed with leukemia back in January. It’s far from a given that he will ever play again, including this season, but that he is healthy enough to practice is a wonderful sign of progress from a health standpoint.
We hope you enjoy the podcast and share it with your fellow college basketball fans. Be sure to come back for our next one soon.
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