Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Fast and furious P5 coaching moves

 Big 10: I guess it was the $$$ that motivated Kevin Willard to exit Seton Hall(BigEast) after 12 years and join the Terps. He'll certainly give Rutgers a recruiting battle in the NY/NJ corridor. BTW, Seton Hall is focused on Saint Peter's coach Shaheen Holloway.

SEC: I'm still shaking my head over Miss St signing Jans away from New Mexico St because he's mostly a West Coast guy except for one season at Ball St. And, I also don't get Missouri hiring Cleveland State coach Dennis Gates. FLA hired Golden from San Francisco when White took the UGA job.
South Carolina is set to hire Chattanooga's Lamont Paris, who's last three seasons have been solid. LSU hired Murray State's Matt McMahon who showed he could win after Ja Morant went to the NBA.

ACC: Louisville hired Kenny Payne, who was on Denny Crum's 1986 Cards title team, and has been assistant at UK and with the NY Knicks.

Big 12: Kansas St hired Baylor assistant Jerome Tang
March 26, 2022
Frank Martin , a part of the Bobby Huggins coaching tree, is the new HC at UMass(Atlantic 10). It's his first HC gig in a non power 5 conference after HC stops at Kansas St(B12) and South Carolina(SEC). A10 is a solid hoops conference and usually gets two or three dance tickets.
Steve Prohm, who left Murray St for Iowa St in 2015 and was out of coaching last  season, returns to Murray St(OVC).
March 31, 2022
Lamont Paris had a nice run the last two seasons with Chattanooga(Southern), but I'm not sold on that being enough to the HC at South Carolina(SEC).
As expected, Holloway left St Peters for Seton Hall(Big East).
Archie Miller gets the job at Rhode Island(A10) one year after getting canned at Indiana. The matchups with Dayton , where he was HC from 2011-17 will be interesting.
April 1, 2022
Miami(FLA) is losing Asst Coach Chris Caputo who will be the new HC at GW(A10). He has strong recruiting ties to the talent-rich  D.C., area which was a key factor  in the success of both Miami(ACC) and George Mason's(A10) programs.
 Butler fired HC LaVall Jordan after five seasons, and Ohio(MAC) HC Jeff Boals is considered  a leading candidate, but they may need to look around at some top assistants on other Big East teams.
April 4, 2022
I thought Matta was older than 54 and didn't see this was coming. Butler hires Thad Matta, ex-Ohio State. He was an associate athletic director for basketball at Indiana for the past year.
April 20, 2022
Greg Oden and Jon Diebler, both former Ohio State players under coach Thad Matta, are joining Matta’s Butler staff at Butler.
June 28. 2022
The Big 12 is targeting Brett Yormark, the current COO of Jay-Z's Roc Nation and also a former CEO with the Nets (NBA), to be its next Commissioner. I thought they'd at least look for a football guy.
July 3, 2022
BTW,  Yormark and Calipari are longtime buds. That's a high level of slick.
July 24, 2022
GG Jackson, the No. 1 prospect in 2023 who had committed to North Carolina, will reclassify and join South Carolina this season. Quite a steal for HC Lamont Paris.
Dec 15, 2022
I'm moving like a snail toward some O5 hoops blogs. I watched some of the WKU/Louisville game last night and thought the Hilltoppers would keep Louisville Coach Kenny in pain, but the Cards prevailed. Jamrion Sharp, the 7'5 WKU center, is quite sight on the court. 
Jan 5, 2023
Perhaps Georgetown should've made a move. Big East is big time hoops. Georgetown's woes under sixth-year coach Patrick Ewing hit a new milestone yesterday with its 25th consecutive Big East loss, surpassing DePaul's previous record during the 2010-11 season. The stretch goes back to March 2, 2021 against Xavier, the team's last regular-season league win.
Jan 27, 2023
Reviewing some of the moves in my initial post. Big 73-55 win for the Terps over Wisky last night. 

Tang has been superb for KSt.

As far as the SEC hires. FLA and Mizzou are doing Ok.

 Payne remains in pain at Louisville (ACC). 
Feb 5, 2023
Willard is starting to make me a believer. Terps crushed Minnesota and are shopping for sneakers to wear to the Dance.
I've been wondering if Huggy should retire and then this:  Erik Stevenson scored 34 points in a West Virginia 93-61 rout of Oklahoma 93-61.
Feb 6, 2023
Buckeyes lost to Mich and fell behind Nebraska, who beat Penn St. 

Ohio State 3-9
Minnesota 1-11

 Nebraska should keep Hoiberg, but the Buckeyes may not have much patience with Holtman.
Feb 12, 2023
I was looking at the Big 10 and Big 12 scores yesterday and Indiana eked out a win over Mich, while the Terps got a big won over Penn St. It sure looks like we're heading for another Dance selection that gives the B10 too many teams. 

B12 is nuts. KSt looked like they made the HC hire of the year with Tang, but now it just appears to be a decent hire. They fell to 7-5 in b12 play after cellar dweller Texas tech knocked them off yesterday. And OK is sliding fast. It's HC may need to call the nuns of Loyola of Chicago and ask for some prayers. 
Feb 17, 2023
Texas hurried up to fire Beard because he "engaged in unacceptable behavior that makes him unfit to serve as head coach at our university."

Felony charge against former Texas coach Chris Beard dropped two months following arrest. Will a Power conference hire him in the off-season? I think so and it will be funny if its the SEC, where Texas is headed.
March 9, 2023
Looking back to the last spring hires.

SEC: Miss St and Mizzou hires appear to be OK, but some of the other not so much, particularly Paris at S. Carolina. Gamecocks lost to cellar dweller Ole Miss in rd1 of the SECT. It appears Chris Beard will be the Rebels next HC and won't that be interesting when TX plays Ole Miss in SEC action.

ACC: Adrian Autry, a Syracuse alum, will replace Boeheim who is retiring after 47 years as the Cuse HC. He!! of a career for JB but he got on my nerves 90% of the time. 
Payne has delivered pain for the Louisville fans.

Big East: GTown has no choices but to axe Ewing after another horrible season. Thad Matta's return to coaching has been unimpressive for Butler U fans.

Big 10: Willard has taken the Terps on a roller coaster ride this season. We'll get to the Dance but that's about it.

Big 12: I thought Huggy would start considering retirement, but West Virginia has perked up and could be on the bubble. They beat Texas Tech in rd1 of the B12T. TT and Coach Adams parted ways cuz of the Bible incident, and AD Holcutt could be heading for the exit.

Pac 12: Cal (3-29) has to be swinging the axe on Marx Fox.



Tuesday, March 15, 2022

O5 post -op on March 15

 I'm rooting big time for the Cowboys to rope the Hoosiers in during a Dance play in game today because the Big 10 doesn't deserve 9 tickets. Wyoming had an erratic finish to the season and as usual will rely heavily on Hunter Maldonado and Ike Graham.
NIT games:
 Interesting intrastate battle in Texas for teams who thought they'd be Dancing. TX ST(Sunbelt) faces NTX(CUSA). Mean Green of NTX looked lean in CUSAT so I'll roll with  the Bobcats to scratch out a win in Denton.
I'll hang with former with UMBC Head coach Odom, who may remind his Utah St Ags that he was the coach who took  down the 1 seed UVA Cavs in the Dance a few years ago. USU(MWC) 67 Oregon 65 as the Ducks descent continues.
List of HC openings in the O5: Ball St, ECU, Western Michigan, and Tulsa. I've heard rumors that Mike Anderson will leave St Johns for Tulsa but not sure at this point if anyone can get SJU back to its glory days of Chris Mullen and Walter Berry.
March 16, 2022
Maldonado had a solid night but it wasn't enough for the Cowboys. IU 76 WYO 68
In the NIT ,NTX beat TX St and Oregon beat Utah St.. Tonight  Toledo(MAC) faces Dayon(A10) and SMU(AAC) faces Nichols(Southland)
march 17, 2022
Toledo got crushed by Dayton  and SMU beat Nichols in NIT play.
I like UAB upsetting Houston, Boise St beating Memphis, and Colorado St beating Michigan in rd1 of the Dance.
March 22, 2022
O5 has Houston left in the Dance and no teams remaining in the NIT.
Tulsa(AAC) hires La Tech's HC Eric Konkol.  ECU (AAC) hired Mike Schwartz, ex Associate HC at Tennessee. In the MAC, Ball St and WMU are looking for  new head coaches.
I didn't see this coming.  SMU's Tim Jankovich retires. Well, we know the next coach won't be Larry Brown.
MARCH  26, 2022
UCLA assistant coach Michael Lewis is the new HC at Ball St (MAC). He played for Bobby Knight at Indiana and coached under Brad Stevens at Butler.
March 27, 2022
Houston lost a low scoring game to Nova 50-44 so no F4 for the Cougars
Allegations of major violations have been levied against the Memphis. They stem from the recruitment and short stint(3 games) of former top recruit James Wiseman. It looks bad but how tough has the NCAA enforcement been recently so Penny may not be dropped from coaching quickly.
March 28, 2022
SMU named Rob Lanier as HC after he took Georgia State(Sunbelt) to the Dance this season.
He was 53-30 in his three seasons at Georgia State. He took Siena(MAAC) to the Dance in 2002 and had been an assistant for Billy Donovan and Rick Barnes. I recall his Sienna team giving Loyola of Baltimore fits in his MAAC days. I'm still a bit surprised at the hire.
March 31, 2022
Talvin Hester, an ex asst at Texas Tech, is the new HC at La Tech
April. 6, 2022
Jonas Hayes, interim coach who led Xavier to its first NIT championship in 64 years, is the new Georgia State's HC.
I thought WMU(MAC)  forgot they had an opening. After 19 seasons as an assistant at Michigan State, Dwayne Stephens is the new W. Michigan HC.
April 12, 2022
Transfer portal gets nuttier: SMU Mustangs guard Kendric Davis, AAC Player of the Year, is in the portal. He played at TCU before joining SMU.
 Lofton is leaving La Tech.
April 14, 2022
Nate Oats looks toward his former conference, the MAC, and signs Former Ohio U point guard Mark Sears, who averaged nearly 20 points a game last season. Sears is from Muscle Shoals, ALA
June 2, 2022
O5 guys leaving 2022 NBA draft pool: Sasser returns to Houston U. DeAndre Williams will return to Memphis U.
June 16, 2022
While reading a list of International players and others who removed themselves from  early entry in the 2022 NBA draft , I found  Dhieu Deing, who played for UTSA(CUSA)  last season  . Wise move ! He's a 6'5 guard with this stat line from last season     PTS13.6 ,REB  5.3, AST1.5, FG% 34.5 .
June 24, 2022
AAC (2) Memphis — (2): Jalen Duren (13), Josh Minott (45) both to the Hornets
Mountain West (1) Colorado State — 1:David Roddy (23)  to the 76ers
MAC (1)        Toledo — 1:Ryan Rollins (44)--to the Hawks

Duren got traded to Knicks then Detroit. Rollins was traded to GSW.


Friday, March 4, 2022

O5 tourney time in March 2022

 Sunbelt tournament tipped off in Pensacola, FLA last night with some mild upsets. Ark-LR(3-11) knocked off South Bama(9-7) 75-71 and Georgia Southern (5-11) knocked off CCU(8-8) 70-64.  In other action ULL beat UTA and Ark St beat ULM.
No upsets in AAC action as its tourney nears Memphis, Houston, SMU, and Tulane won last night.
NTX beat UTSA and should be the 1 seed in the CUSAT.
San Diego St needed two OTs to edge Fresno St 65-64 and will not catch Boise St for the top seed in the MWCT.
March 5, 2022
Heading toward the MACT: I was impressed at how Kent St held off a hot Buffalo squad. Toledo rolled Bowling Green, and I haven't forgotten Akron who edged CMU last night.
March 6, 2022
And just like that, TX St ain't Dancin. Jordan Brown scored 31 to lead ULL to an upset of TX St. The other SBCT winners yesterday were: Troy over Ark-LR, App St over Georgia Southern, and GA St over Ark St. Today's matchups Ga St/ULL, App St/Troy.
In the CUSA North Texas was upset by UTEP yesterday, but they 'll still be the top seed in the CUSAT ahead of UAB.
March 7, 2022
Penny has the Memphis Tigers in high gear. They owned Houston yesterday and their only loss in the last eleven games is to SMU who now sits on the bubble.
March 8, 2022
Georgia St is the Sunbelt Dance ticket holder. Corey Allen scored 29 points for GA St in an 80-71 win over ULL.
March 11, 2022
MACT: I'm surprised that CMU(7-23) took Toledo to the brink before losing 72-71. Others advancing: Ohio, Akron, and Kent St
CUSA: LA Tech beat WKU which is a minor upset. NTX, UAB, and MTSU advance.
MWCT:  Boise St survived a battle with Nevada(13-17). Colorado st, Wyoming, SDST keep playing.
March 12, 2022
CUSA: What a difference in games. UAB 102 MTSU 98 in 3OTs. NTX only scored 13 points in the 1st half and lost 42-36 to LA Tech.
MAC:  I've been tracking Akron who beat Toledo and thought it would be interesting to see Coach Cooper face his former team Ohio in the MACT final, but Kent St knocked off Ohio.
MWC: SDST knocked off # 23 Colorado St and Boise St beat Wyoming. I don't see the MWC getting four Dance tickets.
AAC:  Houston vs Tulane. Memphis vs SMU. I think Memphis and Houston are Dancing, but Tulane and SMU need to win the AACT for a Dance ticket.
March 13, 2022
"Jelly'' Walker sunk 11 of 11 from the free-throw line and scored 27 points for UAB in an 82-73  win over La Tech  in the CUSAT final
Freeman (23 PTS 8 REB 2 AST) led Akron to a 76-55 win over Toledo in the MACT final and a Dance ticket.
Boise St edged SDST 53-52 in the MWCT final
In the AACT Houston rolled Tulane and Memphis beat SMU 72-63 setting up a Houston/Memphis game today. SMU hung tough and may be on the bubble but  it depends on how deep the Dance Committee goes in the SEC and Big 12. Plus Va Tech upset Duke in the ACC final. 
Frank Haith resigned from Tulsa and Dooley is out at ECU.
March 14, 2022
Jax St (future CUSA) gets Auburn in an intrastate matchup. UAB(CUSA) gets Houston(AAC).
March 25, 2022
The chip is getting bigger for Houston who beat Zona last night. Man was I wrong on them in the Dance. Picking UAB over HOU in rd1 haunts me.

DI Baseball peek in April 2024

 UC Irvine 24-4 (10-2 Big West) Joichiro Oyama 5HR 28RBI 4SB ULL 24-8 (11-1 Sun Belt) LP Langevin has four saves. Eyes on WKU who just kno...