Iowa State, Auburn climb in pre-tournament top 25 coaches poll update

The last coaches poll ahead of the NCAA Tournament sees Iowa State and Auburn climbing.

The Iowa State Cyclones might not have received much love with their No. 2 seed in the East bracket, but they did jump into the top four of the latest coaches poll. Iowa State quickly dispatched the then No. 1-ranked Houston Cougars in the Big 12 championship game, 69-41 to secure the title.

Focus for the Cyclones now will shift to the No. 15 seeded South Dakota State in the first round. Much like Iowa State, the Auburn Tigers saw a rise in the latest polls after winning the SEC Tournament over the Florida Gators on Sunday. The Tigers are currently No. 7 overall and earned the No. 4 seed in the East bracket. The aforementioned Gators jumped six spots into the top 25 to land at No. 23.

No team had a more massive fall than the Nevada Wolfpack going from No. 22 to No. 30 after getting bounced in the first round of the Mountain West Tournament by the Colorado State Rams, 85-78. They will take on Dayton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon.

A look at the full Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports:

Rank Team Record Points Change
1 UConn 31-3 800 (32) +1
2 Houston 30-4 752 -1
3 Purdue 29-4 740
4 Iowa State 27-7 697 +4
5 North Carolina 27-7 672 -1
6 Tennessee 24-8 595 -1
7 Auburn 27-7 573 +5
8 Marquette 25-9 560 +2
9 Arizona 25-8 544 -2
10 Illinois 26-8 508 +4
11 Creighton 23-9 506 -5
12 Kentucky 23-9 415 -3
13 Baylor 23-10 411
14 Duke 24-8 400 -3
15 Saint Mary’s 26-7 297 +5
16 Gonzaga 25-7 220 -1
17 South Carolina 26-7 218 -1
18 Alabama 21-11 197 +1
19 Utah State 27-6 193 -1
20 Kansas 22-10 188 -3
21 BYU 23-10 182
22 Texas Tech 23-10 134 +1
23 Florida 24-11 130 +6
24 Wisconsin 22-13 110
25 San Diego State 24-10 74 +2

Schools Dropped Out

No. 22 Nevada; No. 24 Dayton; No. 25 Washington State

Others Receiving Votes

New Mexico 68; Washington State 63; James Madison 30; Dayton 30; Nevada 29; Drake 29; Nebraska 12; North Carolina State 11; Colorado 4; Indiana State 2; Boise State 2; Pittsburgh 1; Michigan State 1; McNeese State 1; Grand Canyon 1

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4 bid thieves force bubble teams to sweat before Selection Sunday reveal

Four college basketball programs stole bids for the 2024 NCAA Tournament by winning their conference championships ahead of Selection Sunday.

A college basketball season full of parity and upsets culminated in an insane final few days of conference tournament championships – with a pair of Power-6 conferences being won by teams not expected to earn at-large bids in the NCAA Tournament.

First it was the Wolfpack of NC State, who became the second program ever to win five straight games in five days to win a conference championship, starting as the 10 seed in the ACC and mowing down five teams that all won a national championship this past decade in Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Then the Oregon Ducks knocked off Washington State in the final Pac-12 championship, resulting in Dana Altman’s team taking a bid.

Additionally, a pair of mid-major conferences had potential bid thieves as well. The AAC championship will be between UAB and Temple, while FAU could still earn an at-large bid despite losing in the semifinals. And finally the Atlantic 10 conference had a wild weekend where each of the top four seeds were upset on the same day, resulting in a championship battle between Duquesne and VCU, while a ranked Dayton team will likely earn an at-large bid giving the conference two teams in the big dance.

All this bid thievery is bad news for teams who were on the right side of the bubble, and is a likely death sentence for the teams who were borderline. Fans of Indiana State, Seton Hall, Providence, St. John’s, Texas A&M, and Colorado will be extra sweaty for the next few hours until the bracket is revealed starting at 6:00 PM ET.

This mistake by Stanford men’s basketball could haunt them for years to come

Stanford basketball coach Jerod Haase was let go on Thursday, magnifying the Cardinal’s mistake not hiring Mark Madsen last offseason.

They say hindsight is 20-20, but Stanford’s decision to retain head coach Jerod Haase after last season – instead of hiring prominent alumni and Utah Valley coach Mark Madsen – was viewed as a crucial mistake at the time.

And it looks even worse now.

Madsen instead took the head job at Cal and is clearly in the process of turning the Golden Bears around, while Stanford floundered in mediocrity for another season before ultimately doing what should have been done last year, letting Haase go.

Haase was dismissed shortly after Stanford’s loss to Washington State on Thursday in the Pac-12 Tournament, and held himself accountable for the team’s struggles in an emotional postgame press conference.

“I have not won here to the level that I expect,” Haase said. “Just like I hold my team accountable, I’m being held accountable, and I have no issue with that.”

Stanford failed to make the big dance in all eight of Haase’s seasons in Palo Alto, finishing with a nearly perfect .500 record at 126-127 overall. While he was able to add high-end talent as a recruiter, including Harrison Ingram and Andrej Stojakovic, the on-court results just were not there and the program wanted to find new leadership before moving to the ACC.

Meanwhile, Cal has a full year head start on their rebuild – and it adds a little salt to the wound that Stanford’s bitter rival is in a better place because of Madsen, who almost certainly would have taken the Cardinal job if they had made it available one year ago instead of giving Haase one more – ultimately uninspired – season.

All-ACC first teamer Hunter Sallis latest transfer portal success for Steve Forbes at Wake Forest

Hunter Sallis was named to the All-ACC first team, another successful transfer portal guard addition for Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes.

Wake Forest junior guard Hunter Sallis was among the five players selected to the All-ACC first team on Monday, becoming the third consecutive Demon Deacons guard to earn that honor after transferring to Steve Forbes’ team.

Sallis, who spent the first two years of his career out west at Gonzaga, was joined on the All-ACC first team by RJ Davis at North Carolina, PJ Hall at Clemson, Kyle Filipowski at Duke, and Blake Hinson at Pitt.

This has become a trend at Wake Forest under coach Forbes. First it was Jake Laravia, who transferred from Indiana State and earned All-ACC honors in 2021-22 – and was selected 19th overall in the 2022 NBA draft. Then it was Tyree Appleby, a grad transfer from Florida who averaged 18.8 points for the Demon Deacons in 2022-23 on his way to an All-ACC nod as well.

Now the honor goes to Sallis, who paced Wake Forest in scoring at 18.3 points per night, while adding 4.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.0 steals per game on 41.6% shooting from three – a huge increase from the 25.8% he shot from distance in two years with the Zags.

Wake’s second leading scorer this year is Kevin Miller, another transfer guard coming over from Central Michigan and averaging 15.4 points per game.

Forbes’ success with transfer portal guards is no accident, as he has been able to find players who fit his system and help them thrive both offensively and defensively.

However, the influx of talented guards has yet to result in an NCAA Tournament for the Demon Deacons under Forbes, and this year’s team is squarely on the bubble heading into the ACC Tournament which gets underway this week.

Jose Perez’s strange college basketball journey ends with him quitting on Arizona State

The Arizona State Sun Devils will compete in the Pac-12 Tournament without Jose Perez, who abruptly ended his college basketball career after the team’s win over USC.

We should have known Jose Perez’s college basketball career would end with one final confounding headline.

Perez dropped 25 points for Arizona State on Thursday in the loss to USC, and after participating in postgame activities he vanished – like a thief in the night – leaving the Sun Devils short handed in an eventual 59-47 loss to UCLA on Saturday.

‘Personal’ was the reason given by school officials, and Pac-12 Network broadcaster Cavan Malayter was told he is pursuing professional opportunities.

So ends the final season of Perez’s tumultuous college basketball career, which began back in 2018-19 at Gardner-Webb in the Big South – where he posted back-to-back 15 point per game seasons. That led to him spending one season at Marquette, where he only appeared in 10 games due to injury.

What followed was another transfer and an outstanding season at Manhattan (18.9 points per game) and then – you guessed it – another transfer, this time to West Virginia. He left Manhattan due to his coach getting let go, and despite the NCAA normally granting a waiver in these cases he was not, forcing him to sit for the 2022-23 season.

Perez planned to return to WVU and finally see the floor, even after coach Bob Huggins was fired, but a messy academic dispute resulted in Perez suddenly leaving the Mountaineers and ultimately ending up in Tempe with Arizona State in September.

The 6’5 guard finished his final collegiate season averaging 13.5 points for the Sun Devils – second on the team behind Frankie Collins – and some of his final words to the press came after the team’s surprise win over then No. 21 Washington State two weeks ago:

“We gotta go out with pride,” Perez said. “Our pride gotta get in the way. We go, win out, get the best seed possible and see the standings, who we match up with. It’s all about matchups in March.”

Arizona State earned the No. 11 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and will square off against No. 6 Utah on Wednesday – and they’ll have to make their run without their second leading scorer.

Georgia Tech’s success against top college basketball teams continues with Wake Forest win

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are 4-1 in Quad 1a games, giving them among the most unique NCAA Tournament resumes of all-time.

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets pulled off a surprise victory on the road over Wake Forest on Tuesday, 70-69, thanks to a floater from Baye Ndongo with 0.4 seconds remaining.

The loss for the Demon Deacons likely puts them out of the NCAA Tournament at-large picture, making an ACC Tournament victory their only secure path to the big dance.

While no one is clamoring for Georgia Tech, who sits 14-16 overall and 7-12 in the ACC, as an at-large team – they do have one of the most unusual college basketball resumes of all-time.

Since the NET rankings have gone in to place, only three teams have ever entered Selection Sunday with four or more Quad 1A victories, and one or fewer Quad 1A losses – Gonzaga in 2021, Baylor in 2021, and Arizona in 2023. A Quad1A victory is the top half of a typical Quad 1 victory, meaning a home win over a top 15 NET team or a road win over a top 37 NET team.

This year two teams qualify: Purdue, who is 8-0 in Quad 1A games, and Georgia Tech, who is 4-1 in such games.

Of course, no one is truly comparing this year’s Tech team to the epic Gonzaga and Baylor teams of 2021, Arizona’s great season last year, or this year’s Purdue team, but the fact they have won 80% of their five toughest matchups this season is a testament to the great work first year head coach Damon Stoudamire has done in getting his team ready for big matchups.

The Yellow Jackets picked up those wins at home against Duke, on the road against Clemson, at home against North Carolina, and now on the road against Wake Forest. The only loss was a road game at Cameron Indoor against the Blue Devils – a game Georgia Tech led by 10 in the second half and only trailed by one with two minutes left.

Now, for Stoudamire and the Yellow Jackets to take the next step they’ll need to find a way to be far more consistent in the rest of their games – as they have gone 0-4 in Quad 1B games, 4-7 in Quad 2 games, and just 3-4 in Quad 3 games, leaving them nowhere near an at-large bid despite ridiculous success against the premier programs in the ACC.

Georgia Tech closes the season on the road at Virginia on Saturday, with tip-off slated for 8:00 PM ET on the ACC Network.

Pepperdine star Houston Mallette among first big transfer portal targets

Pepperdine guard Houston Mallette has reportedly entered the NCAA transfer portal, among the first college basketball stars to do so.

One day after it was announced the Pepperdine Waves were firing longtime head coach Lorenzo Romar, star junior guard Houston Mallette reportedly entered the NCAA transfer portal to look for a new school to play out his final year of college basketball eligibility.

Mallette is one of many outstanding players to have played for Romar at Pepperdine – although the influx of talent did nothing to help the Waves in the win column: an unfortunate trend that followed Romar his entire career particularly while as the head coach of the Washington Huskies.

Mallette just wrapped the best season of his career in 2023-24, averaging a career-high 14.7 points along with 3.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists while shooting a blistering hot 41.5% from beyond the arc.

Mallette’s former teammate, Mike Mitchell Jr, transferred last offseason to Minnesota where he averaged 10.6 points and 2.7 assists while shooting an even 40% from three, so certainly a handful of Power-6 programs will take a look at Mallette and his sharp shooting ways this offseason.

Mallette initially committed to Penn State in 2020 before decommitting and enrolling at Pepperdine, and the 6’5 guard from Newport Beach also had interest from Washington State, James Madison, and Santa Barbara out of high school.

Additionally, programs like Washington, USC, San Diego State, and Colorado who are expected to lose multiple backcourt players after this season could show interest as well.

Houston Cougars maintain top spot in NCAA basketball coaches poll

Houston maintains the top spot as Kansas continues to struggle on the road.

The Houston Cougars remained in the top spot after surviving a scare against the Oklahoma Sooners this past weekend. Jamal Shead hit the game-winning shot in Norman with just 0.4 seconds remaining to give the Cougs the 87-85 win.

The top four teams remained in their spots from last week with Arizona jumping back into the top five from No. 7 last week. The Wildcats have won three straight since the three-point loss to a streaking Washington State Cougars squad.

The big risers this week were the Illinois Fighting Illini and Gonzaga Bulldogs, who each moved up four spots in the updated rankings. The biggest fall came from the Kansas Jayhawks after a loss to Baylor and BYU this past week. Speaking of BYU, the Cougars jumped back into the top 25.

A look at the full Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports:

Rank Team Record Points Change
1 Houston 26-3 795 (28)
2 UConn 26-3 757 (3)
3 Purdue 26-3 745 (1)
4 Tennessee 23-6 705
5 Arizona 23-6 644 +2
6 Iowa State 23-6 629
7 North Carolina 23-6 628 +1
8 Duke 23-6 541 +2
9 Marquette 22-7 531 -4
10 Creighton 22-8 487 +2
11 Baylor 21-8 452 +3
12 Illinois 22-7 423 +4
13 Kentucky 21-8 396 +2
14 Auburn 22-7 376 -3
15 Kansas 21-8 366 -6
16 South Carolina 24-5 298 +2
17 Alabama 20-9 289 -4
18 Gonzaga 24-6 215 +4
19 San Diego State 22-7 194
20 Washington State 23-7 182 +1
21 Saint Mary’s 24-7 175 -4
22 Utah State 24-5 151 +1
23 BYU 21-8 140 +3
24 South Florida 22-5 88 +1
25 Florida 20-9 42 -1

Schools Dropped Out

No. 20 Dayton

Others Receiving Votes

Dayton 31; Texas Tech 24; Nevada 24; Boise State 16; App State 13; James Madison 10; Oklahoma 8; Northwestern 7; Indiana State 5; Clemson 5; TCU 4; Wake Forest 3; Nebraska 1;

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Breaking: Marquette star Tyler Kolek to miss remaining regular season games

Marquette will be without star point guard Tyler Kolek for the final two Big East regular season games as he recovers from an oblique injury.

Things went from bad to worst for Shaka Smart and the Marquette Golden Eagles here in March. Not only did Marquette get beat by Creighton over the weekend, they got word that starting point guard and 2022-23 Big East Player of the Year Tyler Kolek will miss the final two games of the regular season due to an oblique injury.

Kolek did not suit up against the Blue Jays in Marquette’s 89-75 loss, and it was clear how much he was missed when the Golden Eagles had seven total assists – where Kolek averages 7.6 assists on his own.

Additionally, Kolek is also averaging a career-high 15 points and 4.7 rebounds while shooting an even 40% from three and 88% from the free throw line.

Smart and Marquette will hope some extra rest can get Kolek healthy enough to participate in the Big East Tournament – although keeping him rested and ready for the Big Dance is likely the more important thing so this program can avoid what happened last year when as a two seed they lost to seven seeded Michigan State in the Round of 32.

How many teams could the SEC send to NCAA Tournament?

Could the SEC send nine teams to the NCAA Tournament?

In recent years, few conferences across college basketball have sent more teams to the NCAA Tournament than the SEC.

As you’d expect as well, this season will likely be no different, as the SEC is in a position to be well-represented in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The question however remains – How many SEC teams will go dancing?

When asking yourself this question, I believe that you first need to look at the teams who are likely 100% locks to go dancing later this month, regardless of how they finish the regular season.

In the SEC currently, you could make that argument for seven different teams likely as a lock to make the NCAA Tournament – Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Of that group, at least two teams (Alabama and Tennessee) are likely to receive a one-through-three seed, while the others are all comfortably in and off the bubble conversation.

As for the remaining teams in NCAA Tournament contention, at least two are squarely on the bubble, Texas A&M and Ole Miss, with both currently on the outside looking in. The other five programs (Arkansas, Georgia, LSU, Missouri, and Vanderbilt) would likely have to win the SEC Tournament to go dancing this March.

How many teams will the SEC send to the NCAA Tournament? Time will ultimately tell, but it seems to be at least seven, with eight to nine also a real possibility as well.