Marching to Madness

Coach Calhoun and I chatted about the Aggies as I saw them play at Disneyland twice last week when they defeated two excellent teams in North Texas and St. Bonaventure to win the NIT Preseason Tip-Off. Coach Calhoun discussed what has been overall, a strong offense for Utah State this season as well as the play of Ian Martinez and Mason Falslev. Topics of Discussion Include: Flaslev's 28 points in...

Coach Terry saw his Longhorns pick up a pair of wins in the Barclay Classic in Brooklyn as they defeated Syracuse and St. Joe's last weekend. Coach and I recorded the show before the Longhorns' 90-68 win over Delaware State on Saturday evening. Freshman Tre Johnson is a major competitor on the point for Texas as he averages 21.1 points per game and is a solid playmaker at the D-1 level. Arthurs Ka...

Coach Penders returns on "Marching to Madness" as we chat about the differences when he played at UConn in the mid-60s and now with the transfer portal and NIL atop the stories in college basketball. We discuss the Texas Longhorns who won the Barclays Classic over Syracuse and St. Joseph's and thoughts on the Houston Cougars. Coach Penders built Texas basketball into a national entity while return...

Looking at the UNC Greensboro Spartans, Coach Mike Jones had to refurbish his roster, but he has put together a quality unit that will look to once again become a challenger in the Southern Conference. Coach Jones opens his fourth season as he has back-to-back 20-win seasons which allowed the Spartans to be able to challenge in each of the past two campaigns. We recorded our show the day after UNC...

Coach Jim Harrick is back on "Marching to Madness" as he won 67 percent of his games and took his teams to the NCAA Tournament in 17 of 23 seasons at UCLA, Pepperdine, Rhode Island, and Georgia. Coach Harrick led the Bruins to the 1995 NCAA title when the Bruins defeated Arkansas and squelched the Razorbacks' chances for back-to-back championships. Topics of Discussion Include: The High-Post offen...

Coach Beard once again joins "Marching to Madness" as he discusses lots of his philosophies on both offense and defense as well as players who make up key parts of the team. Ole Miss has a balanced offense as seven players currently average from 6.3 to 14 points per game. We recorded our show before Ole Miss defeated Oral Roberts, 100-68, behind 19 points each from Matthew Murrell and Sean Pedulla...

Coach Chris Jans comes back on "Marching to Madness" to talk about the start for his MSU Bulldogs as they were 3-0 at the time of the recording and they moved to 4-0 earlier this afternoon with a 78-73 win over Utah. We chatted about the brilliance of point guard Josh Hubbard, who led all scorers with 23 points this afternoon, as he made five three-point field goals. The Bulldogs nailed down a tou...

Coach Eran Ganot has built a solid basketball program at Hawaii and his Rainbow Warriors are off to a 3-0 start as they just won the Rainbow Classic earlier in the week. Hawaii again features a strong post-attack with 6-10, 245, Tanner Christensen in the middle. Coach Ganot solidified his roster with a strong transfer portal where guard Marcus Greene transferred in from Houston Christian. The Rain...

Coach Driscoll and I recorded this on Friday, which, of course, was before Sunday's 105-93 win over Georgia Tech. The Ospreys have moved to 3-0, starting with wins over South Carolina and Charleston Southern. To begin the season, the Ospreys defeated an SEC and an ACC opponent. Coach Driscoll explains the team's makeup as a unit and discusses players who will step up, forming Coach Driscoll's cult...

Fullerton State was smitten with injuries a year ago and Coach Taylor had to spend the season without three talented players who were a springboard to the finish in '22-23. The Titans bring back four of their top five scorers as they have the potential to be able to score at a fa ster pace than a year ago. Kaleb Brown, who came over from Missouri, gives the Titans a nice inside threat in the confe...

The Anteaters once again have an eye on the top of the Big West Conference after finishing first in the conference a season ago. Coach Turner returns key players in Justin Hohn and Andre Henry at guard, with Bent Lecturn and Jurian Dixon as key contributors inside and on the wing, respectively. Coach Turner begins his 15th season as the winningest coach in Anteaters history with 289 wins, as he ha...

Coach Shrewsberry begins his second season as the head coach of Fighting Irish basketball. He returns seven of his top eight scorers from last season as Marcus Burton and his son, Braeden Shrewsberry will take charge of the depth on this team. Watch Burton's talents on the point in attack mode and Braeden Shrewsberry consistently nails the three. Topics of discussion include: The tenacity of Burto...

Coach John Jakus takes over the Owls after Dusty May moves to the head coaching seat at Michigan. Coach Jakus has an extensive background as a head coach overseas. He worked for three years under Coach Mark Few at Gonzaga before joining Scott Drew's staff at Baylor. He was the associate head coach at Baylor for the last two seasons. An irony in his career is that he was on Drew's staff when the Be...

Coach Hamilton returns to "Marching to Madness" as he will feature another group of Colonels who can follow the team's first conference championship in 45 years. Building the program with his quality approach has allowed him to win ASUN Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons. The Colonels will run the floor, look for the early three, and feature many types of presses to wreak havoc on defense w...

Coach Drew is back for his 22nd season, leading the Baylor Bears. It's amazing to trace back to how he took a wavering program and built it into a national champion in 2019. Baylor will be a Big 12 challenger is what has become one of the deepest conferences in the nation. The Bears will look to a backcourt of Jeremy Roach and VJ Edgecomb as complementary tools to Norchad Omier and Josh Ojianwuna...

Stephen F. Austin returns to the Southland Conference after the Lumberjacks have spent their last three seasons in the WAC. Coach Keller's 'Jacks tied for the regular season WAC title in year one before the team was besieged with injuries in the last two seasons. Before the move to the WAC, SFA went to the NCAA Tournament in 2018 and 2020 as the later was the season where Keller's forces took an 8...

Coach Hamilton starts his 23rd year as the Seminoles head coach as he has recorded 443 wins at FSU with 643 overall. He and his staff have worked throughout the recruiting season to put together a squad that will challenge in the ACC. Coach Hamilton returns Jamir Watkins as he is the only returning player in the ACC to be in the Top 10 in the league in both scoring and rebounding. Think back to 20...

Pittsburgh head coach Jeff Capel returns to MTM as he starts his seventh season with the Panthers and brought Pitt back into the NCAA Tournament in 2023 for the first appearance since 2017. The Panthers were 22-11 last year and were erroneously left out of the NCAAT despite winning 11 of their last 14 ACC games. Pittsburgh returns a solid group of contributors from a year as Ish Leggett could be t...

Coach Kyle Smith comes back onto "Marching to Madness" as the new head coach of the Stanford Cardinal. He built Washington State back into an NCAA Tournament contender as the Cougars were a 7-seed last season and defeated Drake to get into the Round of 32. Stanford hasn't been in the NCAAT since 2014, but the Cardinal had a run of 13 tournaments in 14 seasons under legendary Mike Montgomery. Coach...

Coach Pitino is bringing back the tradition of New Mexico in The Pit in Albuquerque as he has a 61-41 record after three seasons. Last year, UNM won 26 games and went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. The Lobos won the Mountain West Tournament with four wins and four days as they took a 68-61 decision over San Diego State in the MWC Finals in Las Vegas. Topics of Discussion inc...

Louisiana head coach Bob Marlin joins us on "Marching to Madness" as he begins his 15th season as the head coach of the Ragin' Cajuns. He has recorded 260 wins at Louisiana in a 32-year career that has seen him at Pensacola JC and Sam Houston State. Coach Marlin is currently the Sun Belt Conference leader in wins with 150. Topics of Discussion Include: The injury to star Hosana Kitenge A backcourt...

Coach Dru Joyce debuted on MTM as he was the associate head coach to Coach Keith Dambrot who retired after the 23-24 campaign and after a 40-year career. Joyce's ability was a key concept in last season's 25-12 record, A-10 Tournament championship, and the Dukes' 71-67 win over BYU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He is a lifelong friend of NBA superstar Lebron James as LBJ broke the new...

Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl returns to the layup line on "Marching to Madness" as he brings back numerous talent, leadership, and a bevy of players that can make another run towards the top of the SEC. Pearl has led these Tigers to a pair of SEC Tournament titles in 2019 and 2024 while finishing on top of the league in the 2018 and 2022 regular seasons. His 676 lifetime wins give him a 72...

Coach Johnson has gotten the Golden Gophers on firmer ground as Minnesota won 19 games a year ago and made it to the second round of the NIT. The Golden Gophers welcome back Big Ten Player of the Year candidate Dawson Garcia, who can match up and be a factor on both end of the floor. Quality transfers entering the program include Mike Mitchell, Jr., (Canisius), Lu'Cyr Patterson (Charlotte), and Ty...

Coach Justin Gray makes the move from Western Carolina to Coastal Carolina after he led the Catamounts to 22 wins last season, their highest win total since 2010. He now takes the position as legendary Hall of Famer Cliff Ellis retired early last season. Justin played for the late, great Skip Prosser in the 2Ks at Wake Forest where he averaged 37.1 percent from the three and was a key component in...