This year marked the school’s 20th consecutive season missing the NCAA Tournament.
With Holtmann coming in, DePaul has a window to finally improve its standing in the Big East.
Holtmann is on a six-year deal and, per sources, he had every contract request/stipulation met.
It’s a best-case scenario for the Blue Demons.2Out: Kenny Payne To no one’s surprise, Louisville cut ties with Payne after two disastrous seasons.
It was near-impossible to think Louisville could have been as bad as it’s displayed the past two seasons.
Many assumed Dusty May would pick Louisville, but instead, he’s a Michigan man.
Three names who are involved: Seton Hall’s Shaheen Holloway, USF’s Amir Abdur-Rahim and Charleston’s Pat Kelsey.
May is making a jump, but this is no sure thing; he was the hottest name on the carousel this season.
Michigan finished last in the Big Ten and will have a major roster flip.
Diebler, 37, is a Valparaiso graduate who has worked at Ohio State since 2019.
OSU beat Cornell Tuesday night in the NIT and will face Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Diebler’s deal is for five years and starts at $2.5 million annually. 5Out: Mike Boynton Jr. Boynton lasted seven seasons and made one NCAA Tournament.
This job is falling lower in the pecking order, though I’ve been told Weiberg has been able to be aggressive in his offers to a few candidates.
6Out: Rob Lanier With SMU moving from the American Athletic Conference to the ACC in a few months, this job now qualifies as high-major.
In a stunner, SMU fired Rob Lanier after two seasons — and coming off a 20-13 campaign, including an NIT appearance.
The belief is that SMU will be able to reel in a bigger name to match with its conference upgrade.
Still, the money will exceed north of $3 million annually and it is going be competitive in NIL.
7Out: Jerod Haase Stanford was a job that many thought should have opened two years ago.
Haase is a good man and he’ll be welcomed on many a staff for his acumen and temperament.
Now the Cardinal has to bring on someone who can navigate the move to the ACC.
Washington State coach Kyle Smith, Colgate coach Matt Langel, Yale coach James Jones and Princeton coach Mitch Henderson are my top choices the school should target.
I expect the job to get filled by Monday morning on the West Coast at the latest.
The job is extremely tough at the power-conference level in 2024, particularly given Stanford has the odd-bedfellow arrangement in the ACC starting this year.
8Out: Jerry Stackhouse Vanderbilt fired Stackhouse after a 9-23 season and five years on the job.
This has been something of an odd search, but one key detail: Vandy was waiting on Dusty May.
9Out: Mike Hopkins There’s a lot of noise around Danny Sprinkle’s candidacy at this job, but we’ll see.
Washington State coach Kyle Smith is also a rumored target, but would UW hire a Wazzu guy?
Others believe this school is fated to be just another high-major caught in an 18-school Big Ten with limited upside.
An interesting job opening in a faraway footprint in the Big 12, but with a passionate fanbase.
Athletic director Wren Baker ultimately tapped the guy he put at the top of the list after the conclusion of West Virginia’s season.
The 19-12 Bulldogs finished third in the America East.2Out: John Smith Smith only managed 30 wins in five seasons.
This is a bottom-tier Big West job.3Out : Reggie Witherspoon The Golden Griffins severed from Witherspoon after eight seasons.
This program has been D-I since 2006 and not yet qualified for an NCAA Tournament.
It needs to nail the hire to avoid a plunge in the Missouri Valley.10Out: Keith Dambrot Dambrot announced he will retire following the conclusion of the team’s run through the NCAA Tournament.
The school last made the NCAAs in 2007.14Out : Dusty May As expected, May moved on.
The Pirates won nine games this season, their second in the CAA after moving up from the Big South.
Houston Christian (formerly Houston Baptist) has been led by Cottrell since 1990, when the program was revived as an NAIA school.
Monson has coached The Beach since 2007, but he told CBS Sports the break was mutual and that he initiated the split.
Ford lasted six seasons but never broke out of the Missouri Valley to make the NCAAs.
Mike Jones, an assistant at Maryland, has longstanding D.C. area ties after a 19-year tenure coaching DeMatha High School.
Few campuses have better living than this one, so even despite not making an NCAA Tournament in 22 years, this job will attract some talent.
He was there eight seasons and went to one NCAA Tournament.
Tough business, especially considering he may well have taken the Saints to the NCAAs in 2020 had there been a tournament.
Andrew Garcia will serve as interim coach.31Out: Bryan Mullins Noise increased in the past month that Mullins could be coaching for his job in March.
Aft
SPOKANE, Washington. San Diego State is unjust like this. This is not cool, San Diego State, especially when all the opposition has to offer is a fantasy. This version turned up on Sunday and gave an utterly cruel performance, depressing optimistic and joyous Yale for nearly the entire duration. On defense, San Diego State performed as usual. Additionally, it took an offensive action that it hardly ever takes. The Bulldogs’ coach, James Jones, was seen repeatedly taking deep breaths and looking at the ground.
Being sucked into an Aztec rock fight is one thing. It’s a different story when they have every rock.
The 85-57 victory, the defeated team’s dejected demeanor, or even finishing last in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 16 weren’t the motivators, though. What awaited them on a night when San Diego State was almost at its best was what lay beyond. It was Connecticut. Once more.
retaking the Thursday night 2023 national championship game. examining and having the chance to address any and all regrets. Perhaps UConn has improved since April of last year. Four days prior to this rematch, San Diego State very clearly looked terrifying in its own right. It is most likely no coincidence that, approximately fifteen minutes after his team left the Spokane Arena floor, Brian Dutcher—the self-described man of singular focus on the next opponent—seemed singularly focused on that opponent.
During the postgame debrief, the Aztecs coach began by saying, “We’re heading to play a road game against UConn in Boston, and I think this group will be up for the task.”. “.
Everything fell apart quickly. San Diego State saw right away that UConn was ranked #1. One seed in total one week prior. Naturally, San Diego State calculated the number of people who would probably be in line if it managed to win two games in Spokane. San Diego State naturally began to consider what it had done to the overall No. 1 seed the previous season—it defeated Alabama, to refresh everyone’s memories—and the assurance it can draw from that history.
Naturally, everyone recalled the agony of watching the confetti fall for someone else on the final day of the previous season after coming up well short—by 17 points in the 2023 championship game, but who’s counting.
Star player for the Aztecs Jaedon LeDee described it as “a little bitter taste in our mouths” on Sunday, and it’s true. Very little.
Just moments later, Aztecs guard Darrion Trammell said, “We’re just excited we get another crack at them.”. Though I believe we were there, they took home a national championship the previous year. I believe we’d be willing to try again if given the chance. We can accomplish it as a team. “.
Do they? That’s going to be the crux of the next four days’ tension.
Hard to argue if Sunday was the only available data point.
Yale’s Cinderella story was thrown into a kiln by San Diego State. The game began with a 10-0 lead. At halftime, they were up 24. Before Dutcher began to pull rotation regulars in what was more of a calculated calculated move to preserve strategic depth, the score was up by 31. In the entire game, the Aztecs and Bulldogs were tied for 48 seconds, and the Aztecs were behind for 0 seconds.
It is expected to limit a team to 37 percent shooting from the field and to control the glass when they miss, with Yale only managing five offensive rebounds overall. San Diego State carries out this activity. It was impressive how the Aztecs made 13 3-pointers. In accuracy from beyond the arc, as a group, they came in ranked 309th nationally, so that was a season-high. The 52 points and 7 percent shooting percentage overall is just the fifth time this season that the Aztecs have made more than half of their shots in a game. Elijah Saunders, a sophomore forward, summed up the evening as “just fantastic.”. We seemed to be clicking for the first time that season, in my opinion. “.
Dealing with a team that is so incredibly confident it will get enough stops to win—which it usually does—that it doesn’t care if it misses shots is challenging enough. With San Diego State scoring 1 point288 points per possession and providing zero outs, Yale’s chances of winning were almost nonexistent. “I told the guys in the locker room that they couldn’t shoot 7-for-15 in the second half, and they shot 6-for-12,” recalled Jones. “So I suppose I was in error. “.
But there are other data points besides this game.
Compared to 35 other teams, the Aztecs’ offensive strategy was not extremely concerning. It wasn’t particularly good at jumping shots at any level. LeDee has continuously displayed All-American level play; add another 26 points on Sunday to the mix, and the threat levels elsewhere have not been consistently high. Up until an unexpected shooting performance blew up the math, Yale’s plan to be concerned primarily about LeDee near the rim wasn’t all that bad.
Therefore, the Sunday’s game was more of an exception than a rule. Approximately the only resemblance between Yale and UConn is their governor.
For San Diego State to realize its most outrageous fantasies of retaliation, it must once again become this San Diego State. It’s still unclear if it’s possible. “We’ll be prepared,” Saunders declared.
Ultimately, it’s UConn. If any team could draw San Diego State’s attention more than any other, this one is the opponent who could spur the Aztecs to extraordinary offensive prowess.
The players didn’t appear unduly concerned about what lay ahead following Sunday’s victory. They were aware of what was approaching. And it seems like they wouldn’t have it any other way.
With a laugh late on Sunday, Dutcher remarked, “That’s the beauty of being young.”. We’re going in with a game plan and a group of guys who think they can win, so even though I’ll be scared, I’ll get them ready to play. And we’ll see how it turns out. “.
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Kirby Lee / USA Today (Photo).
