Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in men’s college basketball (trash cans sold separately in Omaha).
Beware The Dream Job
Your alma mater has called you home, to a blueblood program where you were a hero player. It has bestowed upon you the job of a lifetime. Dream come true, right?
Well, there are some expectations that go along with it. And at three locations in particular, this past weekend was not great. A look at the situations for three alum coaches who took brutal losses and are facing heightened criticism:
Hubert Davis (1), North Carolina Tar Heels. Weekend debacle: being blasted by the Duke Blue Devils (2). That is never a game in which Carolina easily tolerates getting played out of the building, but it happened Saturday night. It was 23–6 within minutes, then 40–13, then 77–45 before some late cosmetics made the final score 87–70. That leaves the Heels an ugly 13–10 on the season, 6–5 in the mediocre ACC, on the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble and desperately in need of a strong closing run.
In his fourth season, Davis remains a boom-or-bust coach. He might have the two greatest wins over Duke in North Carolina history, shocking Mike Krzyzewski in his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2022 and then ending his career in the Final Four a month later. He won the ACC last season and earned a No. 1 NCAA tourney seed. But Carolina also missed the Big Dance in ’23 after starting the year ranked No. 1, and now is in danger of missing it again. The last time the Heels were left out of March Madness twice in such a short span of time was the program’s second and third seasons under Matt Doherty—who did not get a fourth.
Consistent winning was the hallmark of Dean Smith’s tenure at North Carolina, and Roy Williams sustained that. Davis has been all over the map. Still, it seems unlikely the school would fire him this season, given the high points he’s hit. Davis’s buyout wouldn’t be overly daunting, but UNC is concurrently making a massive investment in football with Bill Belichick that could discourage major expenditures elsewhere.
The Heels have a week off before playing again. Davis needs to use that time to gear up his team for a big finish.
Mike Woodson (3), Indiana Hoosiers. Weekend debacle: dropping a heartbreaker against the rival Purdue Boilermakers (4) on Friday night. Indiana played well in Mackey Arena, perhaps its best game of the season. But the Hoosiers were outscored 6–0 in the final 12 seconds, losing for the fifth time in their last six games, and the cumulative effect of those disappointments is weighing heavily in Bloomington, Ind. At 14–8 overall and 5–6 in the Big Ten, Indiana is more of a tournament outlier than North Carolina at this point—but also has more Quad 1 opportunities ahead.
Woodson, one of the stars of the Bob Knight era as a player, is also in his fourth season at his alma mater. He’s in a much more precarious position than Davis, though, having never advanced to the NCAA second weekend and never won his conference. After a disappointing 2023–24 season, this has not been the expected bounce-back year—despite a considerable investment in the roster. Five of the eight losses have been cringey blowouts.
Plenty of IU fans wanted Woodson gone last year, especially with native son and rising star coach Dusty May on the market. Indiana stood pat, May went to Michigan, and now the job market is murky if the Hoosiers wade into it. The Minutes’ suggestion for IU: kick the tires on Mick Cronin (5), who does not seem to be loving the travel-intensive new Big Ten lifestyle at UCLA—even though his Bruins are on a five-game winning streak.
Mark Pope (6), Kentucky Wildcats. Weekend debacle: being upset at home by former coach John Calipari and his previously reeling Arkansas Razorbacks (7). There are no true must-win games for Pope in what has been an overachieving first season on the job, but this was the closest thing to it. His Cats fizzled badly, getting outworked and out-executed by a team that was tied for 14th in the SEC coming in.
Pope’s first season at the program he captained to the 1996 national championship has been marked by unexpected wins and unexpected losses. Kentucky has upset Duke, Gonzaga, Mississippi State and Tennessee; it also has been upset by Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, Vanderbilt and now Arkansas. Playing up or down to the competition keeps things interesting, but the mood swings can wear on a demanding fan base.
Generally speaking, Big Blue Nation is overjoyed by Pope. He pulled together a roster out of thin air to create a team that is a virtual lock for the NCAAs, and he’s displayed a humility and respect for the program the previous coach lacked. But losing to Calipari signals the pink cloud phase of the job is over, and injuries will make the stretch run in the brutal SEC even more difficult. Pope alluded to guard Lamont Butler, arguably his best player, possibly being out for an extended period of time—if he returns at all. Point guard Kerr Kriisa already was lost for the season in December.
While The Minutes is on the subject of discontented bluebloods, what’s up with the Kansas Jayhawks (8)? They started the season No. 1 and stayed there through a 7–0 start, but have since been a rocky 8–6. A fan base preoccupied with winning Big 12 championships might well go a second straight season without one for the first time since 2000 and ’01. The Jayhawks currently are 6–4 in the league and in a three-way tie for fifth, with two stunning collapses in their last three games.
Kansas twice blew late six-point leads against the Houston Cougars at home on Jan. 25, coughing up the first one in the final 70 seconds of regulation and the second in the final nine seconds of the first overtime, then losing in double OT. Even more shockingly, the Jayhawks turned a 21-point advantage into defeat against the Baylor Bears on Saturday in Waco, Texas, the largest blown lead in a loss in program history.
Kansas has been dealing with some key injuries itself—forward KJ Adams Jr. missed three games and point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. missed one. But the Jayhawks were at full strength for the collapse at Baylor. Roster construction could be an issue—Wisconsin transfer AJ Storr hasn’t had much of an impact, and fifth-year senior Hunter Dickinson (9) has generally had declining returns as his career has progressed from a team perspective.
As a freshman at Michigan, Dickinson helped the Wolverines to a No. 1 NCAA seed and the Elite Eight. As a sophomore, Michigan was a No. 11 seed that made the Sweet 16. As a junior, the Wolverines missed the NCAA tournament altogether. After Dickinson transferred to Kansas, the Jayhawks were a No. 4 seed and eliminated in the round of 32—their lowest seed since 2019. Now Dickinson’s fifth and final college season is on the brink.
Hiring Cycle Home Runs
Several programs dipped down a level to make a coaching hire last offseason and struck gold in the process. A bumper crop of mid-major coaches are crushing it in their new, upgraded locations. A quick Minutes rundown:
Pat Kelsey (10), Louisville Cardinals. Previous job: Charleston Cougars. Current season: 16–6, No. 30 KenPom ranking. Louisville last year on Feb. 2: 6–15, No. 207. Up 177 spots. Kelsey was maybe the fourth choice for the job but has knocked it out of the park, fashioning a roster out of thin air and ridding the program of the two-year Kenny Payne malaise. The Cards reeled off a 10-game winning streak from before Christmas through January before losing on the road to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday.
Mark Byington (11), Vanderbilt Commodores. Previous job: James Madison Dukes. Current season: 16–5, No. 50 KenPom ranking. Vanderbilt last year on Feb. 2: 5–15, No. 188. Up 138 spots. Vandy has a shot at its first NCAA bid in eight years after bringing in Byington, who guided the Dukes to a 32–4 record and the NCAA round of 32 last year. Vandy is playing fast but taking care of the ball, with 121 fewer turnovers than their opponents thus far. Memorial Magic remains real and spectacular, with Vandy 11–1 at home.
Josh Schertz (12), Saint Louis Billikens. Previous job: Indiana State Sycamores. Current season: 13–9, No. 109 KenPom ranking. Saint Louis last year on Feb. 2: 8–13, No. 233. Up 124 spots. If Indiana State had defeated Drake and earned the Missouri Valley Conference automatic bid to the NCAA tourney last year, there’s a strong chance he would be the coach at Louisville today and not Saint Louis. As it is, the Billikens made a strong push to grab Schertz immediately after their NIT runner-up finish, and he brought two starters with him from Indiana State. (Two others transferred to Texas and a third went to Xavier, an indication of how good that starting five was last year.) The A-10 is wide open as SLU tries to earn its first NCAA bid since 2019.
Dusty May (13), Michigan Wolverines. Previous job: Florida Atlantic Owls. Current season: 16–5, No. 20 KenPom ranking. Michigan last year on Feb. 2: 7–14, No. 86. Up 66 spots. May retained two significant contributors who were Wolverines last year, building the rest of the lineup via the portal. Michigan is playing two 7-footers at once much of the time in Yale transfer Danny Wolf (12.2 points, 10 rebounds, 3.7 assists per game) and FAU transfer Vlad Goldin (15.6 points, six rebounds). Not coincidentally, the team is shooting 60.1% from two-point range, fifth best in the nation. Six of the Wolverines’ final 10 games are in the Crisler Center, where they are 10–0 thus far.
Darian DeVries (14), West Virginia Mountaineers. Previous job: Drake Bulldogs. Current season: 14–7, No. 43 KenPom ranking. West Virginia last year on Feb. 2: 8–13, No. 131. Up 88 spots. Some helium had escaped the WVU balloon after an incredible 11–2 start that included wins over Kansas, Arizona and Gonzaga. The Mountaineers lost three straight, struggling offensively, and are missing the coach’s standout son, Tucker, who has been out since early December with an unspecified upper body injury. But West Virginia started February strong with a road win over Cincinnati on Sunday, and the rest of the month looks manageable for making a push that secures a Big Dance bid.
Who Could Be Next?
Six more mid-major coaches doing work that could earn them an upgrade in the spring:
Richard Pitino (15), New Mexico Lobos. Current status: New Mexico is leading the Mountain West at 18–4 overall, 10–1 in the league, in Pitino’s fourth season. The Lobos went 26–10 last year, winning the MWC tourney and making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014. Pitino The Younger spent eight years at Minnesota, getting the job at the too-young age of 32, and would likely be a better power-conference coach this time around if given a second opportunity. New Mexico is playing at a blistering pace, with the seventh-fastest tempo in the nation.
Ryan Odom (16), VCU Rams. Current status: VCU is 17–5 overall, 7–2 and in second place in the Atlantic 10, in Odom’s second season. Odom won 50 games the previous two years—24 last year with the Rams and 26 in 2022–23 with the Utah State Aggies—but could actually benefit from staying at VCU a bit longer since he’s had three different jobs in the last five seasons. VCU is a proven springboard job, with the previous five coaches moving on to Penn State, LSU, Texas, Alabama and Oklahoma, but only Will Wade stayed as few as two seasons.
Tony Skinn (17), George Mason Patriots. George Mason is 17–5 overall, 8–1 and leading the A-10 in Skinn’s second season. The native of Nigeria was a Kevin Willard protégé, working three seasons with him at Seton Hall and one at Maryland before getting the job at his alma mater. With a vigilant defensive team, Skinn is close to leading George Mason to its first back-to-back 20-win seasons since 2011–12 and 2012–13.
Chris Gerlufsen (18), San Francisco Dons. San Francisco is 18–6 overall, 8–3 and in second place in the West Coast Conference. He could be next in the USF upgrade pipeline, following Kyle Smith (now at Stanford, via Washington State) and Todd Golden (now at Florida). Gerlufsen is on the verge of winning 20 games in each of his three seasons as head coach, although leading scorer Malik Thomas (19.7 points per game) missed the game Saturday against Washington State with an apparent arm injury.
Ross Hodge (19), North Texas Mean Green. North Texas is 16–5 overall, 7–2 and tied for second in the American Athletic Conference. The Mean Green took a bad loss Saturday, at home to sub-.500 UTSA, but remain in the AAC title chase. Hodge spent 12 seasons assisting Larry Eustachy and Grant McCasland, so he knows some defense. Like McCasland before him in Denton, Texas, Hodge plays at a snail’s pace but shoots good percentages from three-point range and the foul line.
Russell Turner (20), UC Irvine Anteaters. UC Irvine is 20–3 overall, 10–1 and in first place in the Big West Conference. The 54-year-old Turner has become an improbable institution at UC Irvine, now in his 15th season and 13th straight with a winning record. He seems overdue for a bigger job and might have a springboard with this team, which ranks eighth nationally in defensive efficiency. Turner has only one first-year transfer in his starting lineup, building his roster in a more old-school fashion.
Domino Effect Fallout
When SMU somewhat unexpectedly made a coaching change last year after a 20-win season, it set off a five-school chain reaction that shook the job market. A quick look at how those coaching moves have worked out thus far:
SMU Mustangs (21). Old coach: Rob Lanier, who went 20–13 and played in the NIT last season. New coach: Andy Enfield, who left the USC Trojans when his 11-year tenure in Los Angeles ran out of gas. SMU’s record to date: 17–5, 8–3 and tied for fourth in the ACC. Year-over-year change: up one spot in KenPom ranking, from No. 47 to 46. Verdict to date: Upgrade.
USC (22). Old coach: Enfield, who went 15–18 last year with Isaiah Collier and Bronny James in the backcourt. New coach: Eric Musselman, who left the Arkansas Razorbacks after four good seasons and one bad one. Record to date: 13–8, 5–5 and in eighth place in the Big Ten. Year-over-year change: up 35 spots in KenPom ranking, from 94 to 59. Verdict to date: Upgrade.
Arkansas (23). Old coach: Musselman, who went 16–17 in 2023–24 after four consecutive 20-win seasons and three consecutive runs to the NCAA Sweet 16 or better. New coach: John Calipari, who arrived from Kentucky. Record to date: 13–8, 2–6 and in 14th place in the SEC. Year-over-year change: up 60 spots from 107 to 47. Verdict to date: Downgrade, but trending better after the shocking triumph in Rupp Arena on Saturday.
Kentucky (24). Old coach: Calipari, who went 23–10 in 2023–24 to end a 15-year run of some glory and some disappointment. New coach: Mark Pope, who arrived from the BYU Cougars after five winning seasons and three NCAA berths. Record to date: 15–6, 4–4 and tied for eighth in the SEC. Year-over-year change: up one spot from 23 to 22. Verdict to date: Upgrade, but it’s complicated (see above section on Pope).
BYU (25). Old coach: Pope, who went 23–11 in 2023–24 but was upset in the NCAA first round by Duquesne. New coach: Kevin Young, who arrived from an assistant role with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. Record to date: 15–6, 6–4 and tied for fifth in the Big 12. Year-over-year change: down 22 spots from 9 to 31. Verdict: Downgrade, but with great upside when 2025 No. 1 prospect AJ Dybantsa arrives next season.
This Week in SEC Murder Ball
The SEC is the best league in America by a wide margin at this point, with as many as 13 teams crowding into some mock brackets—and two No. 1 seeds. It’s a week-by-week brawl that The Minutes will track through the stretch run. Here are the highlight games this week in SEC Murder Ball:
Kentucky at the Mississippi Rebels (26), Tuesday. The Wildcats have scored some huge wins away from home, but the twin blows of losing to Calipari and the likely continued absence of Butler make this a major challenge. Ole Miss, meanwhile, has lost four of its last five games after starting league play 4–0. The Rebels are still safely in the tournament in the latest Sports Illustrated Bracket Watch, but with five remaining road games after this, they need to avoid a prolonged tailspin that could produce some angst. KenPom prediction: Ole Miss 70, Kentucky 67.
Missouri Tigers (27) at the Tennessee Volunteers (28), Wednesday. Mizzou is the biggest revelation in the league at this point, third in the standings at 6–2 and 17–4 overall. The Dennis Gates experience has been all over the map in three seasons: a pleasant 25–10 surprise in 2022–23; an injury-plagued, 8–24 debacle in 2023–24; and then this year’s powerful bounce back. The Tigers have a couple of huge road wins, upsetting the Florida Gators in Gainesville and routing the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville, but this will be an even tougher test. The Vols showed their mettle Saturday by crushing Florida despite being down two starters, including program pulse Zakai Zeigler. During league play, Mizzou leads the SEC in free throw rate, while Tennessee defensively allows the lowest free throw rate. Who gets the whistle will play a big factor. KenPom prediction: Tennessee 71, Missouri 52.
Florida Gators (29) at the Auburn Tigers (30), Saturday. Auburn easily has the best résumé in the nation at this point, with a 20–1 overall record and a 12–1 mark in Quad 1 games. The Tigers are good at just about everything, but the notable improvement has come in ballhandling and shot selection—their turnover rate of 13.8% is the lowest in 11 seasons under Bruce Pearl, and their effective field goal percentage of 56.4% is the highest under Pearl. The Gators were remarkably bad at Tennessee on Saturday, putting 44 points on the board after not scoring fewer than 70 all season. How do they bounce back this week? KenPom prediction: Auburn 83, Florida 75.
Stock rising: Alabama Crimson Tide (31). Their stock has been high all season, but it’s crept up a bit more on their current five-game winning streak. Winning in Rupp on Jan. 18 was a highlight, as was pulling out a thriller in Starkville on Jan. 29. The zen is all positive once again after a strange, 17-minute, zero-point performance from star guard Mark Sears against LSU on Jan. 25. Bama has no midweek game before heading to Arkansas on Saturday.
Stock falling: Mississippi State Bulldogs (32). Consecutive home losses to Alabama and Missouri have underscored the reality that this is not your standard Chris Jans defensive unit. Some of that is intentional—Jans built a team geared to play faster and score more this season—but the regression on defense is startling. Opponents are getting good shots and making them, or rebounding their misses. State is 2–5 in its last seven games, and both wins came in overtime. They’re off until Saturday at Georgia, which should be a welcome break to reset for the stretch run.
The Heated Hurley Brothers
The most fascinating family in college basketball has made its share of triumphant headlines over the past three-plus decades, but recent news has not been the most flattering for the Brothers Hurley.
UConn Huskies coach Dan Hurley (33) essentially pulled royalty privileges on an official during UConn’s game against the Butler Bulldogs on Jan. 22. “Don’t turn your back on me,” Hurley barked at the ref. “I’m the best coach in the f---ing sport!” It was a true statement from the reigning two-time national champion, but an ugly one, too. It was Hurley putting himself on a pedestal and telling an official that he’s inferior.
Just a theory here: Dan Hurley is so driven to succeed that arriving at the mountaintop has only made him paranoid about falling off the summit. Whatever offseason exhale he’s allowed himself has been brief, and is long gone by the time the next season starts. Turning down the Los Angeles Lakers might have exacerbated the internal pressure to maintain his preeminence. There is no chill, only compounded urgency.
Hurley might talk like an emperor, but does he actually feel like one? Perpetually combustible, is the chase of a three-peat bringing out some of his worst traits? His team took a big step back toward contender status Saturday with a win at Marquette, and could make another stride forward if/when standout freshman Liam McNeeley (34) returns from an injury suffered in early January.
Hopefully playing better leads to Dan Hurley comporting himself better. But he’s still going to ride the ragged edge of rage the rest of the season.
Meanwhile, big brother and Arizona State Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley (35) continued his contentious relationship with the rival Arizona Wildcats (36) on Saturday. Losing for the 15th time in 19 meetings with Arizona, Hurley pulled his team off the floor and went directly to the locker room without going through the customary postgame handshake line.
Hurley’s instincts might have been correct—a game that featured seven technical fouls, two ejections and a lot of trash talk was in danger of turning into a confrontation afterward, so why not avoid the possibility altogether? But even if he didn’t want to put his players in that situation, Hurley himself could have stood up and done the “good game” handshake shuffle with the Wildcats. Instead, this gave the impression that he couldn’t handle yet another loss in the lopsided series, so he walked off.
Nobody wants to turn passionate basketball coaches into robots. But a baseline level of decorum isn’t too much to ask, either. Winning with class and losing with class are still possible.
Shot of the Week
Each week The Minutes will recount one basket that altered the outcome of a game—and perhaps the season. This week’s shot: Steven Ashworth (37) of the Creighton Bluejays kissing a baseline three off the glass to beat the Villanova Wildcats, 62–60.
The situation: Creighton trailed Villanova on the road 60–59 with 8.8 seconds left and was awarded possession on a borderline timeout call by Jasen Green, who grabbed an airball and called time while flying out of bounds. The officials—who were in good position on the play, and reviewed it—ruled Green had possession of the ball before landing out of bounds. That sent up a baseline inbounds play the Bluejays ran perfectly.
Point guard Ashworth screened for 7-footer Ryan Kalkbrenner, who cut to the basket and drew two defenders, with ’Nova apparently expecting a lob. Ashworth then popped to the corner and was wide open—but Creighton’s top three-point shooter needed a little luck to hit the shot. His jumper grazed the glass—just enough to veer it into the basket, not too much to outright reject it—for the win.
“I missed it a little left,” Ashworth told Omaha.com afterward. “But that’s why the backboard’s there.”
The shot helped keep Creighton (16–6, 9–2) in Big East contention while doing more damage to the job security of third-year Villanova coach Kyle Neptune, whose record at the school now stands at 47–43.
STEVEN ASHWORTH FROM THE CORNER 🔥 😱 @stevenAsh_15 x @BluejayMBB pic.twitter.com/kotrxAhgIu
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) February 1, 2025
Coach Who Earned His Comp Car This Week
Jerome Tang (38), Kansas State Wildcats. It has not been a glorious season for K-State, but perhaps the turnaround is at hand. After starting 7–11 and 1–6 in the Big 12, the Wildcats have won three straight—including one of the biggest shockers of the season. On Saturday, a K-State team that had lost 15 straight road games went into Ames, Iowa, and beat an Iowa State Cyclones team that had won 29 straight at home. And it wasn’t some nip-and-tuck upset; this was a 19-point beatdown. KenPom favored Iowa State by 18 points coming into the game.
Coach Who Should Take the Bus to Work
Doug Gottlieb (39), Green Bay Phoenix. He didn’t quit his day job to become a college basketball coach, maintaining his gig as a national radio show host. The multitasking isn’t working out terribly well thus far—Green Bay is 2–22 and hasn’t won since before Thanksgiving. A lot of people in the coaching profession who scoffed at the idea of Gottlieb sailing into this job with no Division I experience are getting a laugh at the way this season has gone.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Forde Minutes: Evaluating Coaching Performances Around Men’s College Basketball.
