Marching to Madness

We catch back up with Oregon State head basketball coach Wayne Tinkle as his Beavers were a freshman/sophomore-oriented team that lost nine games by eight points or less during the season. Coach Tinkle finished his 18th season as a head coach as he finished his 10th season at Oregon State after eight years at Montana. Next season, Oregon State and Washington State will play in the WCC as the Beave...

Coach Cantu checks back in on "Marching to Madness" as he and I discuss the tournament from lots of angles, including our thoughts on the misses the NCAA made in seeding and placing teams. We also went around the country and discussed the Big 12 and SEC as well as teams we thought could pull upsets. Coach Cantu also named his Final Four and national champion. Topics of Discussion Include: Big 12 a...

Coach Jones is no stranger to basketball in Florida as he was an assistant at Florida for 11 years and built teams at Marshall and UCF as head coaches at both schools. He came into DeLand, Fla. five years ago and led the Stetson Hatters to 22 wins this season.  They finished second in the Atlantic Sun and won the tournament on Sunday with a 94-91 victory over a tough Austin Peay Governors squad. ...

Coach Penders returns to MTM as we talk Big 12 and how Houston made the trek into the conference from the American Athletic Conference. The Cougars didn't miss a beat behind Coach Kelvin Sampson as they won by two games over Iowa State. Coach Penders also chats about his life as a coach at 7 different schools where he was at seven stops and won a total of 649 games. He took Rhode Island, Texas, Ge...

Coach Kerns led the Mountaineers to the best conference record in school history at 16-2 in the rigorous Sun Belt Conference. The 26 wins were the most in a regular season in App history as well. The Mountaineers won a pair of tight four and six-point victories over James Madison as they finished one fame ahead of the Dukes for the regular season title. Topics of discussion include: The defensive...

Coach Hodge steps onto the hardwood at "Marching to Madness" as he is in his first season as the North Texas Mean Green head coach. He discusses his team's defensive philosophy as he spent six seasons as coach Grant McCasland's assistant in Denton, Texas. Coach Hodge coached at the junior college level as he rolled up a 146-24 record at Paris JC and Midland College. Topics of discussion include: C...

Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson comes back onto the "Marching to Madness" college basketball podcast as his Cougars are sitting at No. 1 this week while they lead Iowa State in the Big 12 race by one game. We chat about the toughness and backcourt skills of Jamal Shead, LJ Cryer, and Emanuel Sharp and posts, J'Wan Roberts and Ja'Vier Francis. The Cougars defeated Cincinnati, 67-59, on Mo...

The Washington State Cougars have had a strong season in the Pac-12 as they sit one game behind Arizona for the league lead. Coach Smith and I talk about the Cougs' trips into Arizona State last week as well as look at the two home matchups with USC and USC at the end of this week. WSU features a big lineup with Isaac Jones in the middle and Myles Rice, Jaylen Wells, and Andrej Jakimovski as consi...

Coach Turner once again has his Anteaters battling for the top spot in Big West basketball. Currently, they hold a one-game lead over UC Irvine and they match up with a solid rival in UCSB on Thursday night before playing at UC San Diego on Saturday evening. This team is known for it's stingy defense as well as connectivity on offense as those are two keys in building a tough team that has potenti...

Coach Drew returns to MTM as his Baylor Bears have won four of their last five following a three-game losing streak where all of the losses were one possession. Baylor is one of the top offenses in the nation as the Bears average 82.6 points per game and are ranked fourth on kenpom.com in raw offensive efficiency. Ja'Kobe Walter leads six Bears in double figures as the Baylor offense is one of the...

The Charlotte 49ers are off to their best start in a league since 2005 in Atlantic 10 play. Coach Aaron Feaene and his staff have developed a physical team that is one game back of first place behind South Florida and tied with Florida Atlantic as they and the Owls have two losses in the AAC. Charlotte is a physical team with several options on offense as they play Pack-Line Defense as their ultim...

Yale Bulldogs head coach James Jones is back on MTM with his Bulldogs in the Ivy League lead at 16-6, overall, and a perfect 7-0 in Ivy League play. Yale has won nine consecutive games as they defeated Cornell, 80-78, to take the outright Ivy lead. Watch 7-0 Danny Wolf, who posted 25 points and 10 rebounds against the Big Red as his versatility gives Jones the ability to run a 5-out offense with W...

Coach Senderoff and the Golden Flashes are in the middle of the Mac right now where seven teams are within two games each. The MAC only brings eight teams to its conference tournament, so Kent State is among the teams that hope to keep winning down the stretch and create one of those top eight seeds for Golden Flashes hoops. Kent State is a solid three-point shooting team which is a key to their s...

Coach May has seen his Florida Atlantic Owls portray a solid follow-up to last season's Final Four as they have recorded an 18-4 record and 8-1 in the AAC at this point. The Owls are tied for first place with South Florida as both currently have once loss each and FAU has currently won seven in a row. Coach May discusses his roster as well as the high level of offensive intensity which has the Owl...

Coach Alan Huss makes his initial entrance to the "Marching to Madness" college basketball podcast in his first season as head coach of the High Point Panthers. Coach Huss has led HPU to a 20-4 record and the Panthers are currently alone at the top of the league with a 9-0 BSC record. High Point is one of the fastest and most viable offenses in the country, averaging 84.9 points per game. Topics o...

Coach Simon joined MTM on Friday as we discussed the transition from Southern Utah to Bowling Green, the play of Marcus Hill, and the play of power forward Rashaun Agee. The Falcons picked up an 81-72 win over Ball State last Wednesday before a tough 77-76 loss to Central Michigan on Saturday. Topics of discussion include: Major parts of Marcus Hill's overall game Improvement of Rashaun Agee over...

Coach Becker discusses his 16-5 Catamounts who are also 6-0 and lead the American East Conference. We talk about Saturday's 67-57 win over Bryant as that left Vermont alone atop the AEC. Coach Becker and I also discuss his defense and how it is a major point in the Catamounts' attack again this season. Topics of discussion include: The win over Bryant and the defensive effort in that win How Vermo...

Utah State Aggies head coach Danny Sprinkle is in his first season as the Aggies' head coach after four seasons at Montana State where he led the Bobcats into the NCAA Tournament last season. Coach Sprinkle has led USU to a 17-2 overall record and 5-1 in the Mountain West where the Aggies are tied for first with Boise State. Coach Sprinkle joins us on a milestone 900th episode of  "Marching to Mad...

Coach Newman makes his debut on MTM as his Cal State Northridge Matadors check in at 4-2 in the Big West and 13-5, overall. They are on a collision course with their first winning season since 2008-09 and if they continue to win, CSB can position itself for a high seed in the Big West Tournament. This team plays an exciting style of offense which allows them to shoot 47.2 percent per game. Topics...

Coach Casey Alexander is back on MTM as his Bruins have once again been a tough out in the MVC with the transition and three-point games that are clear indicators of the program. The Bruins were tied for first with four other teams going into the weekend after defeating Drake and Illinois State last week. Malik Dia is a huge key for Belmont and could be a possible MVC Player of the Year if he cont...

Coach Dawkins once again joins "Marching to Madness" as we chatted about the Knights' 65-60 win over Kansas on Wednesday evening. Coach Dawkins also gave some information on BYU, who visits the Knights on Saturday. Ibrahima Diallo was major in the middle as he scored 13 points and held Kansas big man Hunter Dickinson to 12. The Knights' had an advantage in athleticism and versatility as those both...

Coach Pitino discusses the season so far as the Lobos are currently 13-3 overall and 1-2 in what is always a tough Mountain West Conference. We discussed the backcourt of Donovan Dent, Jamal Mashburn, Jr., and Jalen House. we talked about some analytics and we talked about the potential of freshman JT Toppin. Topics of discussion include: New Mexico's 77-60 win over Wyoming followed by an 83-73 lo...

Coach Pearl has entered his tenth season as the Auburn head basketball coach and his Tigers are off to a 7-2 start as they created a strong week with a 104-76 win over Indiana and an 87-62 victory over UNC Asheville. Pearl discusses Auburn's depth, two monumental wins this week over Indiana and UNC Asheville, as well as his players and Sunday's matchup with USC at Neville Arena. Topics of discussi...

Coach Smith is back on MTM as he led his Utah Utes to a 73-69 win over rival BYU on Saturday evening which was his first win against the Cougars as Utah's head coach. The Utes have a deep team that is one of the Top 25 in the nation in offensive efficiency, according to kenpom.com. Seven-foot center Branden Carlson has become a tough matchup as he takes 29.5 percent of the Utes' shots and leads th...

Coach Ingelsby discusses Delaware's 87-80 win over Xavier as well as the effectiveness of Jalun Trent in the win as well as a key overall player. We also discuss the shooting ability of Jyare Davis and Cavan Reilly, as Reilly has shot 45.1 percent from three. Coach Ingelsby has a solid team in finding the open man inside of the offensive structure. Topics of discussion include: Key points in how t...