Since 2002, VCU has had to hire a basketball coach seven times. The last five have all led the Rams to the NCAA Tournament. So, as he spoke to the media, boosters and fans on Thursday during his introductory press conference, Phil Martelli Jr. knew what kind of expectations he would be taking on as the latest coach in that line.
This Michigan basketball staffer was responsible for putting Auburn hoops on the map
A decade ago, K.T. Harrell went on a historic run for Auburn in the SEC tournament. He's now Michigan's director of basketball operations.
New SMU AD Damon Evans will try to build on momentum program hasn’t seen in decades
New SMU athletic director Damon Evans is taking over a department enjoying momentum it hasn't seen in decades after the Mustangs exceeded expectations in their first year in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The football team didn't lose an ACC regular-season game and qualified for the first expanded, 12-team playoff. The men's basketball team flirted with an NCAA Tournament bid before settling for the NIT and reaching the second round.
Does a rivalry game hit different in March Madness? Duke, UNC meeting in NCAA women’s tournament for the first time ever
The Tobacco Road rivalry is finally happening on the NCAA tournament stage on Friday.
Ole Miss basketball’s Chris Beard still runs one Tom Izzo, Michigan State drill
Ole Miss men's basketball coach Chris Beard talked about the one Tom Izzo drill he still runs every day and previewed their March Madness matchup.
Don’t write off future Cinderellas just because it’s an all-power conference Sweet 16, coaches say
Nearly every year there's at least one lovable underdog that rises from obscurity in the NCAA Tournament to capture the hearts of basketball fans and bust their brackets. All 16 regional semifinalists are from power conferences for the first time since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The popular theory is that the transfer portal has led to a concentration of the best players at the big schools paying the most NIL money and, soon, the most through revenue sharing.
Lakers sign Jordan Goodwin, waive Cam Reddish
The Lakers have signed guard Jordan Goodwin, who has been on a two-way contract since Feb. 7, for the rest of the season Thursday with a team option for next season.
To make room on the roster, the Lakers waived forward Cam Reddish.
Goodwin, 26, recently cemented himself in the Lakers' rotation. He used up all of his allotted days with the Lakers under the two-way deal as of Wednesday's win over Indiana.
The 6-foot-5 guard has averaged 6.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals in 20.5 minutes a game. In his 19 appearances with the Lakers, he shot 47% from the field, 41.3% from three-point range and 81.8% from the foul line.
Undrafted coming out of college in 2021, Goodwin in four NBA seasons has averaged 6.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 18.3 minutes a game with Memphis, Phoenix, Washington and the Lakers.
Reddish played in 33 games this season with the Lakers, averaging 3.2 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 17.9 minutes.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Szczerbiak: Transfer portal ‘is better’ for NCAA
Basketball analyst Wally Szczerbiak joins the Dan Patrick Show to discuss the transfer portal in college basketball, the toughest player he faced in the NBA, what teams are on upset watch in the Sweet 16 and more.
Penn hires former Iowa coach McCaffery to lift fallen program back into Ivy contention
Penn hired Fran McCaffery as its men’s basketball coach on Thursday, two weeks after he was fired at Iowa in a season where the Hawkeyes won their fewest games and had their lowest Big Ten regular-season finish in seven years.
Warriors' Gary Payton II out indefinitely with torn ligament in left thumb
Gary Payton II has become a solid part of the Warriors' rotation since Jimmy Butler arrived in the Bay Area. In his last 10 games, Payton has averaged 20.8 minutes a game off the bench, adding 11.1 points a game and shooting 50% on the 2.6 3-point attempts he takes a game, plus he is a quality perimeter defender Steve Kerr leans on in certain matchups.
Now the team will be without Payton indefinitely due to a torn ligament in his left thumb, a story broken by Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Payton had already been playing through an injury, wearing a mask since suffering a non-displaced nose fracture against the Hornets on March 3. The thumb injury is not something he can simply play through. Expect Steve Kerr and the Warriors to lean into Gui Santos and Pat Spencer for the team's remaining 10 regular-season games, or at least until Payton can return.
This is a rough time for Golden State to lose a key rotation player as it needs wins. The Warriors and Clippers are currently tied for the No. 6 seed in the West and avoiding the play-in, with the Timberwolves half-a-game back of both (Minnesota is one game back in the loss column). Whichever teams finish 7-8 will face each other in the first round of the play-in, and the loser of that game will need to beat the winner of the 9-10 game to advance as the No. 8 seed and face Oklahoma City in the first round.
Penn hires former Iowa coach Fran McCaffery to lift fallen program back into Ivy contention
Penn fired Steve Donahue after the Quakers went 8-19 in his ninth season on the job.
NBA and FIBA to take next steps for a new European league, sides announce
NBA and FIBA to take next steps for a new European league, sides announce originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The NBA may soon be significantly expanding its presence in European basketball, in the form of partnering with FIBA on a new league that the sides have been talking about for many years.
Specifics are few, with the initial target — for now — being that it would be a 16-team league. But the announcement made Thursday by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis is a major step forward after a long process of the sides going back and forth with ideas about what might work.
The league would likely use FIBA rules, such as a 40-minute game instead of the NBA’s 48-minute model, Silver said. But much of the other details — who, when, where — will be determined in the months ahead.
“We feel now is the time to move to that next stage,” Silver said, noting that NBA owners offered “enthusiastic support” for such a move.
The NBA and FIBA, the sport’s global governing body, were in discussions for some time about adding either an annual competition in Europe or having an NBA-operated league there. It was a topic at a Board of Governors meeting this past September, one where Zagklis took part.
Zagklis was back for this meeting, and clearly things were trending this way since at least last summer if not even longer.
“Coming out of the most successful World Cup and Olympics ever, we also believe it is the right time to take the next step for club basketball,” Zagklis said.
In January, speaking at the NBA Paris Games — when the league took advantage of the trip to France to meet with European stakeholders on the topic of the future of basketball on that continent — Silver said he believes the NBA remains “on track” in the process of expanding its footprint in Europe. That was also when he said the league’s governors would be briefed further at the March meeting.
“The response we’ve gotten from the marketplace is very positive,” Silver said.
Zagklis said FIBA’s leadership also unanimously agrees that it’s the right time to partner with the NBA on a new league.
“Our role as a federation is to unite the basketball ecosystem,” Zagklis said.
Todd Golden’s Bay Area return leading No. 1 Florida in NCAA Tournament is chance to show gratitude
Todd Golden knows he might need to leave NCAA Tournament tickets for a couple of VIPs, his special longtime mentors and former coaches at nearby Saint Mary’s College.
UConn’s Dan Hurley expresses regret over postgame remarks that were caught on camera
UConn coach Dan Hurley acknowledged there are things that “I wish I didn’t do” as he expressed regret over making profane comments about the officiating after the Huskies’ tournament loss to Florida.
College Basketball Is Getting Older—Except for Duke
Auburn small forward Chad Baker-Mazara, who scored 17 points in the Tigers’ second-round win over Creighton on Sunday, has not had a traditional college basketball career. After playing a postgraduate season at Spire Academy in 2020, he spent his freshman year at Duquesne, then transferred to San Diego State, transferred again to Northwest Florida State …