Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college basketball, where Dickie V is always welcome.
Life Begins at 70
Surely you’ve heard the assertion that the changes in college basketball—NIL and the transfer portal, specifically—are driving out the coaching old guard. The game has passed them by, etc. Fact is, that narrative only holds true in the Atlantic Coast Conference, where legends keep leaving—Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Tony Bennett and Jim Larrañaga, with Leonard Hamilton on the way out next.
Look around the rest of the power-conference landscape, though, and you see something much different. There is a veritable Gray Panther movement at the top of the standings (even if they’re all dyeing their hair). The old guys getting it done:
Rick Pitino (1), St. John’s Red Storm. Age: 72. Status: Leading the Big East at 21–3, 12–1 in the league, coming off a comeback win over the two-time champion UConn Huskies. Age-defying secret: Always demands exceptional effort, and always gets it. (Having an NIL rainmaker like St. John’s booster Mike Repole also helps.)
If Pitino had less wanderlust and fewer scandals, his record would rival Coach K’s as second only to John Wooden’s. He’s simply that good, and has been for decades. As it is, he’s going to make more history come March, becoming the first coach in men’s basketball to take six different schools to the NCAA tournament. (The other five: Boston U., Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona.) The Johnnies will be next—and they have Final Four potential. They are astoundingly good defensively, able to apply a distressing press but also lock in and lock down in the half court. That allows St. John’s to overcome some sketchy shooting—it is simply undeterred by missing a boatload of shots, figuring it’ll get putbacks and points off turnovers.
Tom Izzo (2), Michigan State Spartans. Age: 70. Status: Tied for second in the Big Ten, a half-game out of first, at 19–4 overall, 10–2 in the league. Age-defying secret: The standard never changes.
There have been a few tweaks and modernizations over the years, but Izzo’s latest formidable team is straight off the traditional blueprint: leading the Big Ten in defensive efficiency, offensive rebounding rate and free throw percentage. They still do the tough stuff as well as anyone in the country at Michigan State, but this season they’re playing at a faster rate than any time since 2009. (So far. There are a lot of tough games to come that could slow things down.) Freshman Jase Richardson, son of a Michigan State great Jason Richardson, might have had his coming-out party Saturday with a career-high 29 points to lead a comeback win over the Oregon Ducks.
Rick Barnes (3), Tennessee Volunteers. Age: 70. Status: Hunting a potential NCAA tournament No. 1 seed with a 20–4 overall record, 7–4 in the brutal Southeastern Conference. Age-defying secret: He’s combined portal home runs with player development.
Barnes has coached many very good teams, but he’s never earned a No. 1 NCAA seed. This team has a chance, owning the No. 1 defense in the nation, according to KenPom. The problem historically has been finding enough offense, and Tennessee is showing signs of breaking out in that regard—the Vols erupted for 57 second-half points against Missouri last week, and 45 in the first half of the next game against Oklahoma.
Kelvin Sampson (4), Houston Cougars. Age: 69. Status: Tied for the lead in the Big 12 at 19–4 overall, 11–1 in the league—and that’s after winning the conference last year in their first season. Age-defying secret: Remarkable player development and adherence to basic tenets.
Some people have been waiting for Sampson to retire for a few years now, but why should he when he’s still on top of his game? Houston is on pace for a fourth straight season of 30 wins, which would trail only Gonzaga’s five straight from 2017 to ’21. In addition to the forever commitment to defense, this is one of Sampson’s better offensive teams—the Cougars lead the Big 12 in league games in offensive efficiency, turnover percentage, offensive rebounding percentage and three-point accuracy. They’ve got five guys who can rip it from deep and a low-post power in J’Wan Roberts.
Getting slightly younger, Bruce Pearl (5) of the Auburn Tigers will be 65 before his team plays its first NCAA tournament game this year. Status: Tied for first in the SEC, even after a shocking home loss to the Florida Gators on Saturday. Age-defying secret: Recruiting and developing deluxe athletes.
Keeping Johni Broome in school one more season has been the cornerstone move to Auburn’s dominant season and push for a No. 1 NCAA seed. But the cast around him has been excellent as well, capable shooters and defenders and playmakers. Pearl has steadily improved the program’s decision making over recent years, getting players who are less reckless and more wise in terms of shot selection and ballhandling.
At the other end of this, as mentioned above, is the ACC, where all the old coaches have showed themselves out over the past few years. Now it’s the province of 37-year-old Jon Scheyer (6) and a bunch of relatively young guys chasing him. Aside from the retiring Hamilton, the only coach in the league who is in his 60s is Mike Young of the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Duke Blue Devils finally lost their first ACC game Saturday at Clemson, which did a nice job guarding superstar Cooper Flagg and keeping the Blue Devils from getting to the rim with smart drop coverage. (Duke’s 38.7% shooting from two-point range was by far its lowest of the season.) But the Blue Devils look much like the best in the ACC, and among the very best in the nation.
Bubble Crashers
It’s that time of the year where teams that had been disappointing for months start putting it together for whatever reason—lineups jelling, key players getting healthy, delayed-onset urgency—and making a run. The Minutes examines a handful of late arrivals to the NCAA tournament bubble watch:
Kansas State Wildcats (7). Whoa, where did this come from? Three weeks ago K-State was languishing at 7–11 overall and 1–6 in the Big 12, with a loss to Wichita State and no quality wins on the résumé. Now the Wildcats have won five straight, with a road stunner at the Iowa State Cyclones and yet another home victory over the Kansas Jayhawks in that streak. (Jerome Tang is now 3–0 in Manhattan, Kan., against the in-state rival, which will help a coach’s approval rating.) With six of the top seven players new to the roster, it has taken time to coalesce. Talented but erratic Illinois transfer Coleman Hawkins is consistently producing now, averaging 13.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 steals per game in the current winning streak.
Tourney prognosis: A .500 or better Big 12 record will demand consideration, and K-State is now there at 6–6. The Wildcats have another huge Quad 1 opportunity Tuesday when Arizona visits the Little Apple, then a fairly manageable closing stretch. With a No. 73 NCAA NET rating and a 12–11 overall mark, they need to stack victories.
Arkansas Razorbacks (8). The Hogs were a failed chemistry experiment—until leading scoring Boogie Fland got injured. Thumb surgery put the highly touted freshman on the shelf, but it set transfer Johnell Davis free and unlocked an improved offensive flow. (Not the first time John Calipari’s fixation with a five-star freshman has inhibited team development.) Arkansas has won three of its last five after starting SEC play 1–6, with consecutive road wins over the Kentucky Wildcats and Texas Longhorns serving notice the Hogs will be a tough out the rest of the way.
Tourney prognosis: Arkansas is kind of the inverse of K-State, with a worse league record (3–7) but a higher NET rating (No. 43). An early neutral-site win over Michigan is a big chip, as is the triumph in Rupp Arena, and there are no really bad losses. But the Razorbacks need to get closer to .500 in league play. The selection committee will insist it doesn’t look at the number of teams it takes from any league, but putting a 14th SEC team in the bracket will face some opposition.
SMU Mustangs (9). They’ve won four straight and seven of their last eight to move into the top tier of the ACC at 9–3. Forward Matt Cross, at his fourth school in five years, has particularly stepped up his game of late, averaging 15.8 points and 9.8 rebounds in the current winning streak. This is a dangerous three-point shooting team that has been hot from outside lately; we’ll see if having six days between games cools off the Mustangs this week.
Tourney prognosis: They’re a healthy No. 40 in the NET, but an 0–4 Quad 1 record stands out as a significant impediment—and there aren’t a lot of Quad 1 opportunities left in a league rife with slightly above average teams. SMU seemingly has two must-win home games this week against fellow bubble aspirants, the Pittsburgh Panthers and Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and another big home game Feb. 22 against Clemson. The Ponies could be one of the hotly debated teams in the closing weeks.
Nebraska Cornhuskers (10). This is another revival that was hard to see coming. The Huskers lost six straight games in January, including a 36-point embarrassment at Purdue and a 28-point beatdown at Wisconsin. Since then they’ve won four straight, with notable home takedowns of the Illinois Fighting Illini and Ohio State Buckeyes bracketing a 2–0 swing to the Pacific Northwest. Juwan Gary has become a more consistent force alongside leading man Brice Williams, averaging 18 points and 6.3 rebounds in the four wins.
Tourney prognosis: The Huskers are No. 49 in the NET, with a 5–6 Quad 1 record and no bad losses. A November road win over the Creighton Bluejays keeps looking better, as does a Jan. 4 victory over the surging UCLA Bruins. Four of the final seven games are at home, including big opportunities against the Michigan Wolverines and Maryland Terrapins. Hold serve in Lincoln (not easy) and grab at least one road win (also not easy), and Nebraska should be right in the mix.
Colorado State Rams (11). They got a big home win over the San Diego State Aztecs on Saturday night, elevating the Rams to third in the Mountain West behind the New Mexico Lobos and Utah State Aggies. They’ve won five of their last six, losing only to New Mexico, with wing Nique Clifford carrying the Rams. He’s an underrated player nationally, leading the team in scoring (17.4 points), rebounding (9.8), assists (4.1) and steals (1.2). Coach Niko Medved is steaming toward his fifth 20-win season in the last six.
Tourney prognosis: At No. 77 in the NET, CSU still has a long way to go—beating the TCU Horned Frogs hasn’t aged as well as hoped, and neither has losing to the Colorado Buffaloes. Two remaining games against Utah State could be make or break, with the first one in Logan, Utah, on Tuesday. The MWC is without question a multi-bid league, but we’ll see whether it can go three or four deep.
VCU Rams (12). The Atlantic 10 has been a sprawling mass of mostly undistinguished teams this season, but the Rams and George Mason Patriots have separated a bit at the top. VCU has the better at-large résumé of the two, including a win over Colorado State in Las Vegas, but the real work has been done in winning nine of the last 10 over the past month-plus. VCU has been smashing teams at home, going 12–0 there and winning all of them by 12 points or more. This has been a classic, athletic Rams team, leading the league in block rate, steal rate and offensive rebound percentage.
Tourney prognosis: The Rams are 37th in the NET, but more than half of their games (12 of 23) have been Quad 4. They have a couple significant matchups coming, though: at George Washington on Wednesday, then home against George Mason on Feb. 22. VCU needs to keep winning.
San Francisco Dons (13). They’ve won four straight, including a big one over the St. Mary’s Gaels, and now reside in second in the West Coast Conference—a half-game ahead of perennial power Gonzaga Bulldogs. Being 15–0 at home helps, but adding a road win at Loyola Marymount over the weekend is significant, too. Guard Marcus Williams has stepped up during the winning streak, averaging 15.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists.
Tourney prognosis: With only five games left in the regular season and a No. 60 NET rating, it’s go time. Two of those are against Gonzaga, so achieving a split seems mandatory to get into serious consideration. A game at the Oregon State Beavers also looms large.
Lightning-Rod Players
The season has gone on long enough that familiarity with certain players breeds contempt. While it’s easy to identify the biggest lighting-rod coach (hello, Dan Hurley), it’s taken some time to identify the players fans love to hate. The current Minutes list:
Hunter Dickinson (14), Kansas. O.K., this one wasn’t hard. Dickinson is in his fifth season of mixing it up inside in college ball, curating a large collection of haters in both the Big Ten and the Big 12 by getting into passive-aggressive dustups. Kansas fans think he gets fouled more often than it’s called; opposing fans think he gets away with too much (especially chippy stuff). Coleman Hawkins, who has played against Dickinson at both Kansas State and Illinois, made a point of tallying up his record in their matchups Saturday.
Coleman Hawkins asked about his rivalry with Hunter Dickinson
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) February 8, 2025
*starts mentally adding up the wins*
"6-1? I think I'm 6-1 against him now? 🤔😏"pic.twitter.com/7TFb4wj8k5
Chad Baker-Mazara (15), Auburn. He’s the SEC’s greatest provocateur since Marshall Henderson. His mouth never stops running, which can lead to some things. His elbows can stray into an opponent’s body. He was ejected three minutes into Auburn’s NCAA tournament game last year against the Yale Bulldogs—a game the Tigers lost—for tossing a ’bow while running downcourt. He also got a technical last week against Oklahoma that fouled him out of the game. Good player, but a handful to officiate.
Kon Knueppel (16), Duke. There are a few nominees in the ACC—Cameron Hildreth of Wake Forest, Ian Schieffelin of Clemson—but Knueppel might have surged to the top by being called for a flagrant tripping foul against Clemson on Saturday night. Knueppel has earned a spot in Duke’s rich tripping history, alongside Grayson Allen (set the bar) and Kyle Filipowski (who denied a tripping allegation last year against North Carolina).
Dawson Garcia (17), Minnesota Golden Gophers. He’s the Big Ten’s leading scorer in league play, and a lot of those points come at the foul line. By effort and guile, Garcia has a way of getting calls—and annoying opposing fans by doing so. The frosted hair tips give them one more reason to yell at him.
Steven Ashworth (18), Creighton. The 24-year-old married father would look more at home in an office cubicle than Creighton’s starting backcourt. He’s the classic Nerd Assassin, the kind of guy who wouldn’t get picked first in a pickup game but then rains down jumpers from all over. If fans are most critical of players who look like themselves, Ashworth is that guy.
Transfer Upgrades
In the free-transfer era, grabbing the right rising talent from a lower level is vital. Six teams that have hit immediate home runs in that area this season:
Danny Wolf (19) and Vladislav Goldin (20), Michigan. Dusty May brought in two 7-footers and paired them with great success, landing Wolf from Yale and bringing Goldin with him from the Florida Atlantic Owls. They’re combining for 28.4 points, 16.0 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game, giving Michigan an element of length and strength that is difficult to match. The two scored 14 of the Wolverines’ last 16 points in the close win at the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday.
Chaz Lanier (21), Tennessee. He hasn’t quite been a Dalton Knecht–level instant addition, but Lanier has stepped in as the new leading scorer after arriving from the North Florida Ospreys. He’s averaging 17.7 points per game and is tied for third nationally in three-pointers made with 84. On a team that can guard and bang with anyone, he’s this year’s x-factor scorer.
Bennett Stirtz (22), Drake Bulldogs. This is a team full of transfer upgrades, and Stirtz is the best of the bunch at 18.6 points per game and a Missouri Valley Conference–leading 57 steals. Coach Ben McCollum imported Stirtz and three other key contributors on this team with him from Division II Northwest Missouri State, and it’s clear they can play D-I ball, too—Drake is 22–2, with a 3–0 record against power-conference opponents.
Jason Edwards (23), Vanderbilt Commodores. It’s been a steady upward climb for Edwards, who went from redshirting his first year at Division II Miles College to Dodge City Community College to the North Texas Mean Green to the leading scorer at Vandy. He’s averaged 18.5 points over his last eight games despite averaging just under 28 minutes in that stretch.
Terrence Edwards Jr. (24) and Reyne Smith (25), Louisville Cardinals. Pat Kelsey threw together an entire new roster, and two of the key pieces came from the James Madison Dukes and his former program, the Charleston Cougars. Edwards had 27 points and 10 assists after having to take over much of the point guard duties against the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday—and perhaps the foreseeable future—after a groin injury to star Chucky Hepburn. Smith, one of three Charleston transfers, is second in the nation in threes made with 91.
Life After POY
The presumption in men’s college basketball was that the Purdue Boilermakers (26) would take at least a moderate step back after the graduation of two-time national player of the year Zach Edey. They were still the preseason pick to win the Big Ten, but ranked 13th and 14th in the coaches and AP polls, respectively. You lose a 7' 4" tower of power and a downturn seems predictable.
Well, the downturn is quite minor to this point. Purdue is 19–5 and ranked seventh in the polls released Monday. The Boilers lead the Big Ten with an 11–2 mark and are on a four-game winning streak heading into a showdown at Michigan on Tuesday. This is classic Matt Painter work, with veteran players ready to step into bigger roles when the opportunity comes. Junior point guard Braden Smith, rocking quite the Amish beard, is playing like a first-team All-American (16.1 points, 8.8 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 2.6 steals). Junior big man Trey Kaufman-Renn is Purdue’s top scorer (18.9 points) and rebounder (6.4), nearly tripling his scoring average year-over-year.
But even if Painter is making it look fairly easy to replace a national POY, it isn’t. The recent history before Edey:
Kentucky (27) after Oscar Tshiebwe won in 2022: The Wildcats slipped from 14–4 in the SEC to 12–6 the following season—even with Tshiebwe still on the team. There was a mild rally to 13–5 last year, but that ended poorly. Kentucky was 0–2 in the SEC tournament and 1–2 in the NCAAs in ’23 and ’24.
Iowa Hawkeyes (28) after Luka Garza won in 2021: Since earning a No. 2 seed in the ’21 NCAA tourney, Iowa has slid from a No. 5 seed in ’22 to a No. 8 seed in ’23 to the NIT in ’24. And this year’s team looks NIT bound, at best.
Dayton Flyers (29) after Obi Toppin won in 2020: The single saddest what-if of the pandemic in college basketball was the 2019–20 Dayton team, which went 29–2 and never got to prove itself in the postseason. The Flyers were 14–10 the following year before getting back to winning 20-plus games a season, and advanced to the NCAA round of 32 last year. But it’s never been as good as it was with Toppin, and it might never be.
Duke (30) after Zion Williamson won in 2019: Duke’s 32–6 record that season remains its best since winning the national championship at 35–4 in ’15. Duke was good the following year (25–6) but never got to find out how good it would be in the NCAAs. The 2020–21 season was a COVID-19 bust, then the Devils went to the Final Four in Krzyzewski’s farewell season. All things considered, the program was doing just fine before Williamson and is just fine after.
Villanova Wildcats (31) after Jalen Brunson won in 2018: Brunson led an absolute wagon of a team to the national championship as the only consensus national POY to do so since ’12. There was a step back the following year—’Nova went 26–10 and won the Big East tournament, but lost in the NCAA second round. By ’22, Villanova had returned to the Final Four, but that was Jay Wright’s last season and things haven’t been the same since then.
This Week in SEC Murder Ball
The SEC is the best league in America by a wide margin at this point, with as many as 13 teams crowding into some mock brackets, up to three No. 1 seeds and the top three teams in the AP poll this week. It’s a week-by-week brawl that The Minutes will track through the stretch run. Here are the highlight games this week in SEC Murder Ball:
Tennessee-Kentucky (32), Tuesday. Elite offense (Kentucky) vs. elite defense (Tennessee). The second meeting between these two old rivals shows how things can fluctuate in a league this deep. When the Wildcats won while shorthanded in Knoxville, Tenn., on Jan. 28, it was the Volunteers’ third loss in four games and looked like a major crisis point. Since then, Tennessee has won three in a row. Kentucky, meanwhile, followed that triumph with a cringeworthy home upset against Arkansas and a blowout loss to the Ole Miss Rebels before regrouping to beat the last-place South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday.
The Roundball Egg Bowl (33), Saturday. Ole Miss and the Mississippi State Bulldogs played a banger in Starkville, Miss., last month, with the home team winning in overtime. Expect another thriller this time, since both teams are addicted to close games. The Rebels have played four one-possession games in the last seven, including a ridiculous escape at the LSU Tigers on Saturday by scoring the last 13 points. The Bulldogs have played five games decided by five points or less in their last eight. Chris Jans is 4–1 against Ole Miss since taking over at State.
The Roundball Iron Bowl (34), Saturday. It’s not the Kick Six or fourth-and-31, but this looks like the biggest basketball game ever in the state of Alabama. The Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn are ranked 1–2 coming in—Tide on top in the coaches poll, Tigers leading the AP. They are tied for first in the league at 9–1 and playing arguably the most entertaining ball in the nation. Coming off a Final Four season, the Tide are on a six-game winning streak heading to Texas for a Tuesday tuneup for this Armageddon. Auburn is trying to shake off a shocking home rout at the hands of Florida (currently No. 3 in the AP poll) and must deal with Memorial Magic on Tuesday at Vandy’s infamous trap venue.
Stock up: Texas A&M Aggies (35). They’ve won three straight, including consecutive road contests. Wade Taylor IV delivered A&M at Missouri on Saturday, hitting a three-pointer in the final seconds for the win. With home games this week against the Georgia Bulldogs and Arkansas, the Aggies could reach 9–3 in league play—that would keep them strongly in the running for a top-four finish and double bye in the SEC tournament.
Stock down: Texas (36). It was a bad week for the Longhorns, getting housed at home by Arkansas and then losing at Vandy. At 4–7 in the league, the Longhorns are backsliding onto the bubble and need a big week in Austin against Alabama on Tuesday and Kentucky on Saturday.
Shot of the Week
With 2.2 seconds left in a tie game, here is how the Norfolk State Spartans (37) grabbed a moment of SportsCenter glory: Jaylani Darden inbounded to Kuluel Mading near midcourt, who then turned and hit Brian Moore Jr. as he streaked past. Moore didn’t even take a dribble, just two steps before elevating for a 27-foot runner. It banked home, and Norfolk State fans rushed the court to celebrate beating North Carolina Central.
It was a beautifully designed play by coach Robert Jones, and it was expertly executed by his players. Yeah, there also was some luck involved. But fortune favors the bold, and Norfolk State is now 16–8 overall and 6–1 in the MEAC.
Coach Who Earned His Comp Car This Week
Tommy Lloyd (38), Arizona Wildcats. The Big 12 newcomers are tied for first after winning six in a row, most recently beating the Texas Tech Red Raiders at home Saturday night. Lloyd’s excellent perimeter lineup might now have a productive tandem to anchor the interior in Tennessee transfer Tobe Awaka and blossoming sophomore Henri Veesaar. The 7-footer from Estonia is averaging 14.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks over the last three games. The next three games are whoppers: at Kansas State, home against co-leader Houston and at the Baylor Bears.
Coach Who Should Take the Bus to Work
Fran McCaffery (39), Iowa. It’s not for bad behavior this time. It’s just that his team is bad. The Hawkeyes have lost six of their last seven, with two road games upcoming this week.
Buzzer Beater
The Minutes kept it local in Louisville this week but ate a great meal at Seviche (40). Get the Argentinian skirt steak with chimichurri and a Power Chord IPA from Gravely Brewing Co. and thank The Minutes later.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Forde Minutes: Rick Pitino and the Coaches Thriving at 70.