Trojans Wire discusses Andy Enfield to SMU, USC coaching search on Press Box Radio Show

We discussed Andy Enfield’s move to SMU and USC’s new coaching search on the radio Thursday morning.

The Andy Enfield-to-SMU news is a huge topic of conversation right now in the national college basketball world. That story and the Pat Kelsey hire at Louisville have dominated the college basketball conversation in the hours before the Sweet 16 begins Thursday afternoon. Trojans Wire joined the Press Box Radio Show to discuss Enfield, SMU, the new USC basketball head coaching search, and the Sweet 16. It’s a packed show with college basketball at the center of the conversation.

Whom should USC focus on in its coaching search? We told Press Box Radio that the Trojans have to make a phone call to a few elite coaches, even if those coaches aren’t likely to take the USC job. There are almost always certain candidates an athletic director has to call in a coaching search. The athletic director must force those candidates to say no. Then an athletic director can move to other, more realistic candidates. We broke down the elite candidates who should get the first few phone calls from USC’s Jennifer Cohen. Then we moved into the more realistic candidates for the Trojans. It’s all part of our appearance on the Press Box Radio Show at PressBoxRadio.com.

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Did Kobe Johnson know that Andy Enfield to SMU was a real possibility?

Was Kobe Johnson’s thought process already established before any Enfield-to-SMU rumors emerged?

It’s that time of year. Much like 2022, when Andy Enfield’s name surfaced for the head coaching vacancy at Maryland, he is now among the top choices to take the helm for the SMU Mustangs basketball program. This raises a question: Did Kobe Johnson hear through the grapevine at USC that SMU was courting Enfield and that the coach leaving was a realistic scenario, or did Johnson have his mind made up well in advance?

Enfield has been at USC since 2013, when he parlayed a deep run in the NCAA Tournament with “Dunk City” at Florida Gulf Coast into a Pac-12 coaching job. Enfield has been one of the most successful coaches in USC history, passing legendary USC coach Bob Boyd for program wins. USC’s ability to place players in the NBA has had an uptick under Enfield with Jordan McLaughlin, Onyeka Okongwu, Chemezie Metu, and the Mobley brothers, Isaiah and Evan, among others.

The Trojans are coming off a very disappointing, injury-filled season in 2024. They were picked to finish second in the preseason Pac-12 media poll, but limped to a ninth-place finish in the league and a second-round exit at the Pac-12 Tournament. A team that was expected to be a shoo-in for the NCAA Tournament finished the season four games under .500 on the year and 9-9 in the conference. Was Kobe Johnson ready for the portal no matter what, or did any Enfield-to-SMU rumor shape his decision? It’s an interesting question.

SMU recently parted ways with Rob Lanier after just two seasons in Dallas. The Mustangs move to the ACC next season and need a new head coach.

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ACC Tournament will feature top 15 teams beginning in 2025

The Irish men will have to get better fast.

The ACC will include California, Stanford and SMU beginning with the 2024-25 season. That will bring the total number of conference members to 18. With that clearly being too high of a number for its conference basketball tournaments, the conference decided a change was needed.

Starting in 2025, only the teams that finish in the top 15 in the conference standings will be invited to the ACC Tournament. This follows a cue from a recent decision by the Big Ten, which also will be expanding next season to the point where it also only will invite the top 15 teams in the conference standings to its tournament.

While Notre Dame’s 16th-ranked women’s team is not expected to slide to the bottom of the ACC anytime soon, the men already are there in a rebuilding season. If the new rules went into effect for this season, the Irish wouldn’t be invited to the tournament.

Hopefully, with a year of experience under their belt, the young men’s Irish team will improve enough that they still will play in the 2025 ACC Tournament. There’s a long road ahead though, and there’s no guarantee of things being any better next year. Best of luck to [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] and his team in reaching this new goal.

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Texas A&M RB Earnest Crownover III named a finalist for Barstool Sports’ Lowman Trophy

RB Earnest Crownover III announced Thursday that he has declared for the NFL Draft and he may be headed to the league with some hardware.

Texas A&M running back Earnest Crownover III announced Thursday that he has declared for the 2024 NFL Draft and he may be headed to the league with some hardware.

The Aggies graduate student was named a finalist for the Lowman Trophy, presented by Barstool Sports to the best fullback in college football. While Crownover may not technically be a fullback, he did line up countless times in the backfield between the quarterback and running back during his time in College Station.

The other two finalists for the award are Kansas State redshirt junior tight end Ben Sinnott and SMU redshirt sophomore fullback Stone Eby. The winner will be revealed during the Arizona Bowl between Toledo and Wyoming, which begins Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CT.

Before De’Von Achane became a Dolphin and led millions of people to fantasy football glory this year, he starred at Kyle Field. Crownover was the ultimate teammate to Achane, blocking for him on several touchdown runs, including during a 2022 game at South Carolina.

Crownover also displayed his ability to catch passes out of the backfield as a fullback, like during the Southwest Classic at AT&T Stadium, which was a 34-22 win against Arkansas back in September.

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Former Texas A&M sophomore DB Deuce Harmon chooses SMU in transfer portal

Former Aggies sophomore defensive back Deuce Harmon has chosen SMU as his new home in the NCAA Transfer Portal, he shared via X on Friday.

Former Texas A&M sophomore defensive back Deuce Harmon has found his new home in the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Harmon chose SMU, which he shared via X on Friday evening. He entered the portal on Dec. 8.

The 5-foot-10, 185-pound redshirt sophomore was a 4-star recruit two years ago. He played football and ran track at Denton Guyer High School in Corinth, Texas.

Following the departure of junior safety Jardin Gilbert for LSU and junior cornerback Tyreek Chappell’s entrance into the portal, Harmon figured to be a starter for new defensive backs coach Ishmael Aristide and head coach Mike Elko. Instead, he’s headed north to Dallas to play for the Mustangs.

In 2021, Harmon appeared in all 12 games and made three starts during his true freshman season in College Station. He battled injuries in his sophomore year, playing in four games and making two starts, which led to him taking a redshirt season to maintain a year of eligibility.

Harmon returned to form this year, appearing in 11 games and making six starts.

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Boston College QB Thomas Castellanos scored 2 TDs in the Fenway Bowl and fans all made the same joke

The Eagles’ QB led plenty of deep drives on Thursday

Boston College had a tough task on Thursday when it entered a bowl matchup against No. 24 SMU.

For starters, the 11-win Mustangs boasted am offense that averaged the sixth-most points in the nation during the regular season and a defense that gave up the 12th fewest. But the Eagles had much more working in their favor: a homefield advantage playing at Fenway Park, continuous rain pouring down and, maybe most importantly a quarterback with the same last name as a famous slugger leading them on a baseball field.

Boston College’s Thomas Castellanos did everything in the Eagles’ 23-14 upset, passing for 102 yards, rushing for another 156 and scoring two touchdowns on the ground.

And it was that type of performance that led to baseball fans and college fans joining forces to make the most obvious — and necessary — joke possible.

Post Game Recap: No. 13 Texas A&M defeats SMU 79-66 on the road to reach 3-0 on the season

Texas A&M takes down the SMU Mustangs 79-66 on the road to stay undefeated early in the season

No. 13 Texas A&M (3-0) beat the SMU Mustangs (3-1) in Dallas for back-to-back road wins as they slowed the speedy SMU offense down with the patented suffocating Buzz Williams defense.

The first half was full of second-chance points for both teams, snatching offensive rebounds from each other for a total of 17 between the teams. Like the Ohio State game, the Aggies started off shooting poorly but did a good job mirroring SMU’s pace, keeping the game close for most of the first half.

Another timely Buzz Williams timeout put an end to that sluggish play. With more pep in the step now, the action picked up the final three minutes with both teams getting hot, mainly All-SEC guard Tyrece Radford and SMU’s Chuck Harris (13 points).

Radford scored the last eight points of the half for the Aggies, going 6-10 with four three-pointers to lead all scorers with 16. The left-handed guard closed out the half, sucking all the energy out of the SMU crowd, hitting a step-back three at the buzzer, giving the Aggies a 39-32 lead at halftime.

The start of the second half premiered the A&M’s smothering defense, helping the Aggies pull out to a ten-point lead with about 12 minutes left. As the time ticked away, the Mustangs started to claw back, giving the fans in Moody Coliseum something to cheer about pulling within four.

That was short-lived when Henry Coleman III scored on a foul under the basket and hit his free throw, converting the three-point play. The defense clamped back down again, returning the lead to a 61-52 advantage with five minutes left.

Little would change over the remainder of the game outside SMU knocking down occasional three-pointers to keep them within ten points. Ultimately, the Aggies were too much for the Mustangs in the 79-66 road win, moving Texas A&M to an impressive 3-0 on the season.

GAME NOTES:

  • Free throw shooting improved (22-27, 81.5%)
  • Perimeter defense needs some work, as they allowed ten made threes on 23 attempts for a 43.5% average

Below are the Aggie critical contributors from the game:

Wade Taylor IV: 15 points / 5 assists / 2 rebounds

Tyrece Radford:  21 points / 3 assists / 7 rebounds

Henry Coleman:  13 points / 2 assists / 15 rebounds

Texas A&M will be back in Reed Arena to take on Oral Roberts on Friday, Nov. 17. The game will air on ESPN+ and SEC+.

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SMU raised $100 million in a week for ACC transition

With no ACC television money for nine years, SMU boosters will give $200 million to the program, The Athletic’s Chris Vannini reports.

After it was reported last month that SMU would not receive television money for an extended number of years in order to join the ACC, The Athletic’s Chris Vannini reported Monday that the Mustangs raised $100 million over the course of a week to help the move and account for the nine years of lost revenue.

The school said the staggering amount of money came from a group of about 30 donors.

Vannini’s story said the television revenue creates a difference of about $25 to $30 million a year.

“SMU has enough boosters to make up for that in a couple of hours,” entrepreneur Rogers Healy said in the story.

SMU accepted the invitation to join the ACC on Sept. 1. The move will go into effect next summer.

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Notre Dame women’s hoops’ all-time results vs. future ACC opponents

The Irish aren’t far removed from playing any of these teams.

If you’re a college sports fan, you undoubtedly know by now that the ACC will be growing in 2024. Specifically, California, Stanford and SMU are joining the conference. That’s two schools from the soon-to-be-extinct Pac-12 and one from the AAC that seemingly came out of nowhere. Such is the reality of a college landscape that’s changing on what seems like a daily basis now. You can’t really be blamed if you’re having a hard time keeping up with all of this upheaval.

While this decision, like all others these days, was made with football in mind, it also will affect every other sport, including basketball. With Notre Dame being part of the ACC for all sports outside of football and hockey, the time is right to see how the Irish have done against the teams they soon will see on a yearly basis. The meetings aren’t very extensive for any of these opponents, but that’s to be expected:

Notre Dame basketball’s all-time results vs. future ACC opponents

See how the men have done against their future competition.

If you’re a college sports fan, you undoubtedly know by now that the ACC will be growing in 2024. Specifically, California, Stanford and SMU are joining the conference. That’s two schools from the soon-to-be-extinct Pac-12 and one from the AAC that seemingly came out of nowhere. Such is the reality of a college landscape that’s changing on what seems like a daily basis now. You can’t really be blamed if you’re having a hard time keeping up with all of this upheaval.

While this decision, like all others these days, was made with football in mind, it also will affect every other sport, including basketball. With Notre Dame being part of the ACC for all sports outside of football and hockey, the time is right to see how the Irish have done against the teams they soon will see on a yearly basis. The meetings aren’t very extensive for any of these opponents, but that’s to be expected: