Welcome to the latest edition of Talking Hoops With Ted Sarandis. The Final Four beckons, but during the week leading up to the national semifinals and championship, there is plenty of other activity to talk about.
Coaching changes is the subject that tends to lead the way, and this time around is no different. We talk about Buzz Williams leaving Virginia Tech to go home to Texas A&M in a move that surprises no one. Buzz has won where he has coached, so this is a great move on the part of Texas A&M. Who will succeed Buzz in Blacksburg? Perhaps UMBC head coach Ryan Odom.
We also look at openings at UCLA, where Jamie Dixon appears to be a real possibility, and a pair of SEC schools in Arkansas and Vanderbilt. In the former case, the firing of Mike Anderson did not seem to make sense; in the latter case, it has appeared recently that former North Carolina and NBA star Jerry Stackhouse could be the man, but nothing has been formalized yet. At UCLA, meanwhile, they could be waiting to see if Tony Bennett will be interested, but they have to wait until Virginia is done playing.
This also brings us to Kentucky, where John Calipari engaged with UCLA and then was given essentially a lifetime contract at Kentucky. There are few, if any, better fits in college coaching that Calipari at Kentucky, and it would have been surprising if he left. The Wildcats could have a strong candidate for preseason No. 1 in the polls if enough underclassmen come back, but a weak draft is an X-factor for a lot of teams, Kentucky included.
One other coaching change of note is Fairfield tapping long-time Division I assistant Jay Young to lead their program. Young has paid his dues in the assistant coaching ranks, while also being head coach at Division II New Haven at one time as well.
We then look at the championship games in the other three tournaments, two of which were played on Thursday night. Texas won the NIT over Lipscomb, giving the Longhorns a solid end of the season after they were consistently inconsistent during the season. Marshall used a big second half to win the CIT over Green Bay, with this championship game surprisingly not televised. On Friday night, DePaul will host South Florida in a third and deciding game in the CBI. Related to this, we mention a fine article talking about the importance of the CBI and CIT in the college basketball landscape.
Finally, we look ahead to the national semifinals on Saturday night. Can either of the lower seeds pull off another one? There is plenty of reason to say no, but do you bet against Auburn or Texas Tech at this point?
We hope you enjoy the podcast and share it with your fellow college basketball fans. Be sure to tune late Sunday and early Monday morning for the next edition of College Basketball Tonight, where we break down the national semifinals and look ahead to the national championship game to be played on Monday night.
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