2026-27 Coaching changes and movement

The Bonnies rear their head from time to time. When I was there as a Freshman (1962) they had regularly been a Top 10 school nationally for the previous 4-5 yrs.

This was before their greatest all-time player ever, Bob Lanier, attended. They made the Final Four in 1969-70, along with UCLA, New Mexico State, and Jacksonville. You can guess who won the title.
1962! That’s awesome. Much respect.
 
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Oh man! You got deep roots.

And Lol yeah i can; hollyWoodending fasho.

Yeah they will never get back to consistently being great however they can def shake up the A-10 every few years; which is enough for them at this stage.

I can see the tournament expanding to 96 or even 138 teams in the near time future too.
I'm not a fan of tournament expansion. In this new era, even less reason to do so. The mid-majors are now just a showcase for players moving up to the bigger, better and richer programs.

As for that 1970 Final Four, that was Coach Wooden's 4th straight NCAA Championship at UCLA, and 6th overall. They beat Jacksonville (with the two 7 footers, Artis Gilmore and Pembroke Burrows) in the Championship game, 80-69. Wasn't really that close.

The founding of the Big East Conference in 1979-80 is what killed the Bonnies (and many other Eastern teams) as a national power. Prior to 1979, all the Eastern teams except the Ivy League played as Independents. Those not getting into the Big East suffered badly.
 
In fairness, so was the Jai Lucas hire but there are some similarities.
Justin Gainey has a reputation of being a very good recruiter for Tennessee and he has no prior head coaching experience.
He does recruit the State of North Carolina well so that works in his favor.
Probably too good the more I think about it because I think he was the guy recruiting Cody Peck to Tennessee.
The good is that Tennessee is probably no longer a destination for Cody Peck.
The bad is that Justin Gainey is the head coach at NC State with $14M in NIL to fill out his roster.
No, his name doesn't win the press conference nationally but being a NC State grad keep the fanbase actively supporting the program.
Jai's resume is better. NBA dad as his mentor. Played for Donovan and Barnes. Coached for Barnes, Calipari and Scheyer. Those are all Hall of Fall coaches. The common coach is Barnes. I think Gainey did time with Buzz Williams.
 
Jai's resume is better. NBA dad as his mentor. Played for Donovan and Barnes. Coached for Barnes, Calipari and Scheyer. Those are all Hall of Fall coaches. The common coach is Barnes. I think Gainey did time with Buzz Williams.
Speaking of Buzz Williams.

Compare the job that the inexperienced Lucas did at Miami with a complete rebuild to the job the highly-experienced Williams did facing the same turnover at Maryland. Night and day.
 
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Speaking of Buzz Williams.

Compare the job that the inexperienced Lucas did at Miami with a complete rebuild to the job the highly-experienced Williamns did facing the same turnover at Mayland. Night and day.
Always thought Williams was decent but way overrated. Tom Crean left a very good program at Marquette.
 
First to report the Tommy Lloyd news



I suspect Ben McColum will sign an extension soon than later; certainly before the NBA season is over.

Billy Donovan going back to UNC just made too much sense from the jump. Pat Forde said he heard back when Billy Donovan was at Florida and again in the NBA that Carolina was a job he always coveted.

So my hunch it was going to be him for the jump was on point. My logic was that the Knicks job was tailored made for him however the Bulls didn’t make him available to be interviewed; and by doing just that with an inadequate roster; they set themselves up to sign Donovan to a second extension. Then they decided to be uncompetitive altogether.

Now both parties can go their separate ways as the Bulls try to shed/create cap space and draft players that can fit around Josh Giddey. That Patrick Williams extension remains the worst contract in the NBA.
 
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Nikola Jovic
One less year, no player option, and less money annually; he has a really good chance of getting taken by the Vegas or Seattle expansion team(s) in the 2028 expansion draft.

That one is pretty bad too though.

Adam Silver being too scary to give us back our 2027 first rounder & Pelle’s trajectory accentuates the badness of that contract.
 
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