What’s the point of all this?

Not just the last 12 games of this Dallas Mavericks season. They’re probably going to lose a lot of those games, so you’re not watching for the thrill of victory. A lot of the players on the team right now will likely be gone after this summer, so you’re not seeing the beginning of some blossoming young team.

I’m going to watch at least half those games, if not more. Why?

It’s the same when the team is good, too, even when they’re great. Take a moment and think about all the great teams who didn’t win a championship, and then broke apart within five years. If you’re a Golden State Warriors or San Antonio Spurs fan, you’ve seen four championships in the last 25 years. That means 21 years of disappointment for fans of the most successful teams. For fans of less successful teams…well, it’s a lot of disappointment.

But we keep coming back. We watch championship teams, mediocre teams, lottery teams. Mostly it ends badly, sometimes even heartbreak. So why do we do this?

One easy answer is to see Cooper Flagg’s development. It looks like he’s going to be a superstar, and it’s always fun to be there for the beginning of something like that.

There’s also the other young guys, Max Christie and Ryan Nembhard. They’ll likely be role players at best, but it’s fun to get to know players like that and see if they become more.

There’s the chance that Jason Kidd will awake from his slumber and show a human emotion once or twice during a game. Maybe he’ll even raise his voice and get ejected, just for fun or sheer boredom.

If Dwight Powell gets enough minutes, he might break the career record for getting hit in the face with a basketball. Or he might break a real Mavericks franchise record simply by being around for a while (he’s less than thirty rebounds away from passing Erick Dampier for eighth all time).

Maybe you’re in full tank mode and are rooting for them to lose every game for the rest of the season so they get a better pick. That’s one way to stay entertained! Make sure you’re staying up to date on all the mock drafts.

You might just like seeing Klay Thompson shoot 3-pointers. He likely won’t pass any more historical marks this season, but he’s got a great shot, and it’s fun to see him when he’s shooting the lights out. Maybe Thompson has a game where he goes on an absolute heater and hits double digit 3-pointers.

Maybe around mid-March the players will just be sick of this season and get in a fight with another team. It’s not what you’re watching for, obviously, but it would break up the monotony of one of the weirdest and blandest seasons in years.

Maybe the best reason to be here, watching these games, caring about what’s going on, is the relationships you build through this dumb team. It creates bonds with your parents, your kids, your brothers and sisters, your friends, that will likely never go away. It’s why we get so happy when this team succeeds, and why we get so despondent when a historically incompetent GM trades away a top five player for almost no return.

So we keep showing up to see them lose by twenty to a championship contender, or lose by two to a fellow lottery-bound team. We watch the good games and the bad, even if we turn it off and go to bed early sometimes (especially those West Coast games with late start times).

Maybe there’s no real legitimate reason to watch a soon-to-be deconstructed team finish out a miserable season, and we’re all some sort of addicts. Addicted to basketball, whether it’s in it’s best or worst forms. If you stop and think about it too long, it really doesn’t make sense. We’re going to watch this team finish out 2-10, together, for fun?

But here we are, getting excited about Flagg making a play way too advanced for someone his age, or getting mad about Daniel Gafford’s lack of rebounding, or just getting bored. But we’re in it together, in this basketball purgatory together, thinking about better days on the horizon.

The Jayson Tatum return has been riveting. Every shot attempt, rebound, pass, and even high-five over these first seven games has been scrutinized. The overall early returns on the Tatum comeback have been sensational; however, his performance against the Memphis Grizzlies is a good reminder that he still has a way to go before he fully regains his superpowers. 

Coming out of the game against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, the Jayson Tatum and Boston Celtics Hype Train had left the station. The three-point efficiency, the explosive drives…it was easy to envision the Boston Celtics playing in the NBA Finals, with Jayson Tatum playing an integral role.

For at least another couple of days, the hype train has returned to the station for some maintenance.

Tatum’s performance against the Grizzlies doesn’t need to be belaboured. It was easily his worst game since returning – missed layups, sloppy turnovers, questionable shot selection, and a general lack of the intensity that has become a staple of the 2025-2026 Boston Celtics. I don’t want that assessment to be misconstrued. Tatum played poorly by his standards. We have to remember how incredible Jayson Tatum was before he ruptured his Achilles. In his final game before the injury, Tatum had 42 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks in what was one of the best games anyone on the planet played last season. It was a rough outing against the Grizzlies, but that doesn’t mean Tatum hasn’t already exceeded expectations since returning. 

It has been 313 days since Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles, and he is playing impactful NBA basketball for the two seed in the Eastern Conference. That’s the real story through seven games. In 29.6 minutes per game, Tatum has put up 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. The headline from that stat line to me is the 29.6 minutes per game. And over his last four games, Tatum is playing 31.6 minutes per game. I think if you told Jayson Tatum on the night of his injury that he would be back playing 32 minutes a night in just 313 days, both Jayson and Celtics fans would be overjoyed. They might even be tempted to fire up the duckboats. 

The fact that Tatum being out there playing basketball is the biggest win of all, but Tatum isn’t just out there. The Celtics have been crushing teams while Jayson Tatum has been on the court through seven games. With Tatum on the court, the Celtics are beating teams by 14.1 points per 100 possessions. And that’s despite Tatum struggling to put the orange ball in the basket consistently.

How is Tatum impacting the game at such a high level despite not being able to score efficiently? A significant factor is Tatum’s impact on the team’s turnover rate. The 2025-2026 Boston Celtics already led the league in fewest turnovers. Tatum has only amplified that strength. When Tatum has been on the court, the Celtics’ turnover percentage has been 9.5%. When Tatum is off the court this season (now 2,718 minutes), the Celtics’ turnover percentage has been 12.6% — best in the league. This year’s Celtics success has been driven by their dominance on the margins. Jayson Tatum has been a margins machine for years. He suppresses the team’s turnovers, he limits opponents’ offensive rebounding rate, he creates three-pointers for himself and others, and he defends without fouling. It’s almost as if Jayson Tatum was built in a lab for Mazzulla Ball. 

The most encouraging aspect of Jayson Tatum’s return has been his driving. There is still a lack of burst relative to pre-injury times. However, Tatum’s ability to get to the basket this early in his return is encouraging. Through seven games, Tatum is averaging 9.7 drives per game and shooting 54.3% on them, not far off his 2024-2025 season (10.3 drives per game, 56%). Tatum already being able to collapse defenses consistently should be a terrifying sign for opposing teams. 

One aspect of Jayson Tatum’s game that has been a glaring struggle since returning has been his scoring efficiency. Tatum currently has a true shooting percentage of 51.3%. For context, Tatum had a true shooting efficiency of 59% over his previous four seasons. The lackluster scoring efficiency can be mainly attributed to his cold start from three-point range. That number currently sits at 29.4%.

I’m not sure if we can attribute this cold shooting to rust or the Achilles injury. Sometimes players, and specifically Jayson Tatum, go through cold stretches. Derrick White has been ice-cold for large stretches this season. Tatum himself had a true shooting percentage of 50.5% and a three-point percentage of 26.3% in the 2024 NBA Finals. It’s hard to say if Tatum is missing shots due to getting back into rhythm or due to standard shooting variance. 

Lastly, the answer to the question that everyone was waiting for: could Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, a duo who have played over 14,000 minutes together, co-exist after Jaylen Brown submitted his resumé for the All-NBA First Team? A huge surprise to no one who has been paying attention to the previous eight years of Jays era basketball, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have been slaughtering opposing teams when they share the court through seven games. In 94 minutes on the court together, the Celtics are beating teams by 17.7 points per 100 possessions. Death, taxes, and Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum winning basketball games. 

It seems like a foregone conclusion that the NBA will lean toward adding more teams to its league.

The league's board of governors will meet next week to further discuss an expansion to a 32-league team and approve moving forward on bid offers for a future market in Las Vegas and returning to Seattle, according to ESPN.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said during a February news conference that in the March meeting the league won't be officially voting, but "will likely come out of those meetings ready, prepared to take a next step in terms of potentially talking to interested parties."

"It doesn't have to be a two-team expansion. Frankly, it doesn't have to be any number of teams. I think the logical next move would be to say, all right, we've had those discussions internally, we've made decisions about cities to focus on and what the opportunity is, and now we've got to go out into the marketplace," Silver said. "I think that's probably the most important step, to find out who is potentially interested in owning a franchise in particular cities, what's the value of that franchise. There's some work to do in terms of potential conference realignment. That's the next step there."

KD passes MJ on the NBA scoring list and reflects on the milestone, consistency, and legacy in a candid conversation for Boardroom Talks.

On a quiet night late in his career, with the rhythm of a season already deep in its grind, Kevin Durant squared up for another jumper with the same smooth motion basketball fans have watched for nearly two decades. The ball rose high, spun softly, and dropped through the net like it had thousands of times before, but each bucket now carries extra weight. Every point nudged him closer to Michael Jordan on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, with Durant finally passing him on Saturday night against the Miami Heat.

Durant sat down with Rich Kleiman for a special episode of Boardroom Talks to reflect on what it means to pass someone he's looked up to his entire life.

"It's cool because it speaks to how long I've been around and how consistent I've been as a player," Durant said. "It's cool to know that the formula works for you to be around for so long. But at the end of the day, it's really just another milestone that I'll hit, and I just want to keep going and see where I end up. But passing guys is just always cool to be in that same conversation as them more than anything."

Durant’s journey to this moment didn’t begin in packed arenas or under championship banners. It started in the gyms of Prince George’s County, Maryland, where a skinny kid with impossibly long arms learned that scoring wasn’t just about strength, it was about feel. Anyone who knows basketball noticed early that Durant didn’t shoot like other players his size. He glided across the floor, rose over defenders, and released the ball from a height few could contest.

By the time he arrived in the NBA in 2007, the league had seen prolific scorers before. But Durant’s game unfolded differently. He wasn’t just piling up points; he was perfecting a craft. The high-release jumper. The effortless handle for someone nearly 7 feet tall. The patience to let the game come to him. Four scoring titles followed, along with an MVP award and the sense that the league was watching one of the purest offensive players it had ever seen.

Now, as Durant passes Jordan on the scoring list, the moment feels less like a surprise and more like the natural evolution of a career defined by one thing: buckets. Because Durant didn’t chase scoring history loudly. He built it quietly, jumper by jumper, until one day, the numbers placed him alongside the legends he grew up watching.

“His imprint, his impact on the game is so big that it’s always historical, even coming close to what he’s done,” Durant said.

Be sure to catch the full conversation on Boardroom's YouTube page here.

Read More:

MusicMarch 20, 2026

Jack Harlow’s Hubris Overshadowed His Most Interesting Album

SportsMarch 18, 2026

Dwyane Wade, Sue Bird, Tom Brady, More Tapped for JPMorganChase’s Athlete Council

EntertainmentMarch 17, 2026

How Sean Penn Broke the Oscar Rule Nobody Talks About

Execs & EntrepreneursMarch 17, 2026

How Michael D. Ratner Built OBB Media Into One of Hollywood’s Quiet Powerhouses

FashionMarch 16, 2026

Interview: Chase B Joins Lids as Creative Director to Expand the Brand’s Cultural Reach

SportsMarch 13, 2026

Aaron Judge and Kevin Durant Share Team USA Pride: ‘It’s Everything’

If you skipped watching this game and just saw the box score, you’d probably think this was a pro forma elite team stomps on tanking team NBA win. And you wouldn’t be totally wrong: Oklahoma City Thunder scored 132 points, won by 21, and got 40 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and 20 rebounds and 10 assists from Isaiah Hartenstein.

But the details? Worth the watch.

First, the Wizards stayed close for three quarters because they made seemingly every open three-pointer they got, and even a few that weren’t open.

Second, the first half closed with I think the weirdest out-of-nowhere “fights” I’ve seen since I started watching the NBA. In 1978.

It was a competitive affair, but well- and fairly played. No obvious cheap shots or cowardly shoves or even much of the grifter bull butter that can grate on an opponent’s nerves.

And then, Oklahoma City’s Jaylin Williams and Justin Champagnie bumped into each other after Washington scored. And for whatever reason, they both decided that what really needed to happen was that they should bump into each other again. And then push each other.

The two separated, Bilal Coulibaly went over to Champagnie to calm him down, and a ref rushed in to defuse the skirmish. All routine pissing match stuff.

And then, Ajay Mitchell thought it would be a good idea to run up and yell at Champagnie while pushing Coulibaly and Champagnie. To which Champagnie responded by pushing Mitchell in the face. For some reason, Mitchell took umbrage, and he went after Champagnie — somehow kinda getting past Coulibaly, whose reflexes surely rank in the top 1% in all of human history.

At which point frigging everyone on the court and all the assistant coaches from both teams and arena security piled up in a huge scrum that spilled into courtside seats and…well…looked bad, at least live. The actual fight-fight was mostly a few guys pushing and shoving and a bunch of guys trying to break up the fight. While the whole group staggered into the mostly-deserted seats.

As an aside, big-time kudos to the man in black who shielded the woman sitting next to him from the incoming tsunami of NBA players by holding up his drink. Even bigger kudos to the woman, who never flinched from a ton-plus of humanity spilling off the basketball court directly at her.

Another aside: if the team didn’t give the man in black a replacement drink after Anthony Gill accidentally slapped it out of his hand, Gill needs to send the guy a $20.

Anyway, the refs reviewed the footage and emerged from their conclave to announce the ejections of Champagnie, Mitchell, Williams, and Cason Wallace. In the whole fracas, Mitchell and Wallace were the only guys interested in genuine conflict. Even Champagnie mostly seemed like a cranky unc who just wanted people to get out of his way and leave him alone.

My guess is that tomorrow, the NBA will fine and suspend Champagnie, Mitchell and maybe Wallace. It’d be a stretch to turn that push into a punch, but Champagnie’s hand did touch Mitchell’s face in anger, which is a big no-no. So, I’d be surprised if Champagnie gets less than two games. I’d guess one for Mitchell, and maybe two or three for Wallace, who provided much of acceleration of force that moved the conflict from the baseline into the stands.

Oh yeah, there was a game. The general gist of this one was that from the first quarter, it felt like the Wizards would be quickly vanquished if they ever cooled off from three-point range. In the meantime, Oklahoma City bludgeoned Washington on the boards, clowned them with skilled passing, and rode elite scoring from Gilgeous-Alexander. The Wizards started missing in the fourth quarter, and they were quickly vanquished.

How quickly? The Thunder didn’t need to bring Gilgeous-Alexander back in the game, but they did it anyway while up 18 so he could get to 40.

Thoughts & Observations

• What is the decision-making process that has the Wizards celebrating “Cherry Blossom Night” and the team NOT wearing those cherry blossom uniforms? Lemme just say, “BOOOOOO!” Those pink cherry blossom duds were the best ones the team has had, maybe ever.
• Kinda weird considering Gilgeous-Alexander went for 40, but I didn’t think the Wizards defended him badly. He’s just that good.
• The preceding bullet should not be construed as me saying the Wizards defended well. They did not.
• Odd and interesting offensive possession at 5:10 of the first quarter. The Wizards set a pindown screen for Coulibaly. For some reason, Gilgeous-Alexander top-locked (sought to deny Coulibaly from getting the ball from the off-ball screen). Coulibaly went back door, Sarr hit him with the pass, and Coulibaly converted the layup. Why was Gilgeous-Alexander trying to deny the ball? I have no idea. Most teams are happy to concede threes to Coulibaly. Perhaps Oklahoma City was working on something for a different opponent.
• At 1:37 of the first quarter, the Wizards ran a nifty backdoor action that got Anthony Gill an and-one. I rewound the play, wanting to give credit to Gill for the cut and Cooper for the pass only to learn that it was a case where OKC simply didn’t guard Gill. Seriously, Alex Caruso matched up with Jamir Watkins and let Gill go by…and there was no one behind him. Oops.
• General observation: OKC switches on defense are a work of art — and they weren’t even at their best last night.
• Coulibaly got aggressive offensively in the third quarter — repeatedly attacking and carrying the Wizards offense. Check out the possession at 4:27 of the third — he attacked off the bounce with multiple moves (made necessary by Tristan Vukcevic getting in the way on his first drive attempt). He kept his dribble alive despite aggressive pressure defense from Gilgeous-Alexander, and then finished by snaking past Kenrich Williams for a floater. That was high-level stuff.
• NBA defenders have a lot of trouble staying in front of Coulibaly when he goes into attack mode.
• The more he plays, the less like an NBA player Sharife Cooper looks.
• Cool moment: Early in the fourth quarter, Caruso turned down an open three and Oklahoma City had to reset after Washington nearly got a steal and knocked the ball out of bounds. During the stoppage, Hartenstein came over to Caruso and told him he needed to take that shot.
• The Wizards commit a lot of dumb and pointless fouls.
• Amusing moment: Gill erased a Coulibaly score by hanging on the rim while Coulibaly’s shot was in the cylinder. OKC broadcaster Michael Cage called it a youthful mistake.
• This victory marks 11 in a row for Oklahoma City. The loss is Washington’s 15th in a row.

Four Factors

Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).

The four factors are measured by:

• eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
• OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
• TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
• FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)

Stats & Metrics

PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).

PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.

POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.

ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average so far this season is listed in the Four Factors table above. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.

USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%. Median so far this season is 17.7%.

ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.

+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 115, the league — on average — would produced 23.0 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -3.0.

Players are sorted by total production in the game.

Selection Sunday was just one week ago, but the men's NCAA Tournament has already seen 44 teams eliminated from the field of 68. And by the end of Sunday, we will have our Sweet 16 locked in after eight second-round matchups take place across the country.

There's plenty of storylines to watch. No. 1 seeds Florida and Arizona hoping to avoid the upset bug that has typified previous editions of March Madness. Likewise, there's some potential danger for No. 2 seeds Purdue and Connecticut.

So how will the day unfold and where should you be focusing your attention with 12 hours of action on tap? We ranked all eight games and broke down each of the matchups. Enjoy the drama sure to unfold.

1. No. 4 St. John's vs. No. 5 Kansas

Time/TV: 5:15 p.m. ET, CBS

These are the classic matchups in the second round that match traditional powerhouses with teams capable of making deep tournament runs. And you've got one of the best coaching matchups of the second round with Rick Pitino facing off against Bill Self. Only one get advance to the regional round. St. John's, which has won 20 of its last 21 games, made light work of Northern Iowa with a balanced effort. Kansas got a needed big game for freshman standout Darryn Peterson, which could bode well for their hopes of advancing.

2. No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 5 Texas Tech

Time/TV: 9:45 p.m. ET, TBS

Both teams with be without standout players with the Crimson Tide missing point guard Aden Holloway after his arrest earlier this week and the Red Raiders dealing with a season-ending injury to forward JT Toppin. This game should be played at a frenetic pace with both teams shooting first and asking questions later. The depth of Alabama could play a critical role, but Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson has the ability to carry his team to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row.

CINDERELLA'S TIME: Ranking the most likely upsets in the second round

3. No. 2 Iowa State vs. No. 7 Kentucky

Time/TV: 2:45 p.m. ET, CBS

The Wildcats were seconds away from being out of the tournament before heroics by Otega Oweh forced overtime and they got past Santa Clara. The challenge will be much greater now with the Cyclones playing their best basketball of the season. Iowa State blew away Tennessee State in its opener with role players Killyan Toure and Nate Heise doing much of the damage. Veteran guard Tamin Lipsey may have more of the heavy lifting against Kentucky with forward Joshua Jefferson dealing with an ankle injury suffered in the first round.

4. No. 3 Virginia vs. No. 6 Tennessee

Time/TV: 6:10 p.m. ET, TNT

Orange will be the color of the day in Philadelphia with these border-state schools squaring off. The Cavaliers had a bumpy start against Wright State before pulling away late. They've not faced many teams of the caliber of the Volunteers in their ACC schedule, so a more-complete effort is needed. Ja'Kobi Gillispie was outstanding in Tennessee's blowout of Miami (Ohio) and will need to be on point again with freshman Nate Ament struggling to play effectively due to an ankle injury.

SAN DIEGO –  St. John’s men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino wasn’t ready to announce his retirement yet or anything. But a day before his team played a first-round game here in the NCAA tournament, the Hall of Fame coach did look into a future where nothing is certain, especially at age 73.

“I could be out of coaching next year,” Pitino said Thursday, March 19. “I really can be. You're 73.  And I want to have the greatest time of my life.”

Judging by what's happened so far in San Diego, he might be doing that right now. No. 5 seed St. John’s defeated No. 12-seed Northern Iowa 79-53 in the first round Friday.

And now comes the main event on Sunday:

Pitino and St. John’s vs. fellow Hall of Fame coach Bill Self and No. 4 seed Kansas.

Rick Pitino, Bill Self are 'standing the test of time'

Pitino has won more than 900 games in his career. Self, 63, has won more than 800.

Each has won two national championships.

But they’ve only faced each other once. And this time there are huge stakes as both keep battling two larger forces – time and change. Almost nobody has survived them quite like these two.

CINDERELLA'S TIME: Ranking the most likely upsets in the second round

“There's so many great coaches out there, but they have a tough time standing the test of time,” Pitino said Saturday. “Bill has stood the test of time every single year.”

Self took it a step further when asked about Pitino Saturday. Consider the fact that Pitino is the answer to a certain trivia question.

Who’s the oldest head coach in Division I men’s basketball?

That would be Pitino, but then consider this: Pitino has thrived despite massive change to the game since he started his head coaching career at Boston University in 1978. A 45-second shot clock was introduced in 1985. Then the 3-point shot came in 1986. Pitino led Providence to the Final Four in 1987.

“The coaches that are so impressive to me are the coaches that coached without a 3-point line and then became efficient with the 3-point line, without a shot clock, then became one of the best with the shot clock, always evolving with the game,” Self said Saturday. “And I think that he's done that as well as anybody maybe ever has.”

In recent years, more change has roiled the game, leading some top coaches to quit.  Since 2024, players have been allowed to transfer without restriction after previously being required to first sit out a year before playing with their new team. Since 2021, players were allowed to earn money for the first time from their names, images and likenesses.

ADAPTING: How Rick Pitino experimented with transfer portal at St. John's — and won

Pitino then adapted to become the transfer portal king at St. John’s in 2023, when he flipped the roster and revitalized the program by bringing in 10 transfer players.

Likewise, Self has adjusted successfully, too, after starting his head coaching career at Oral Roberts in 1993. He’s kept Kansas at a high level and successfully lured phenom freshman guard Darryn Peterson, who might be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft later this year.

Not everyone can do that or even wants to. Top coaches have quit amid the turmoil and changes to the sport, including Virginia’s Tony Bennett and Miami’s Jim Larrañaga.

Then there’s Pitino, who has evolved strategically, too.

“He's done it different ways,” Self said. “He's done it by pressing and zone pressing.  He's done it by just man-to-man pressure.  He's done it by being one of the first to take advantage of the 3-point line.  And now he's doing it by pummeling people inside and stuff, too. He's certainly adjusted to his roster, I think, probably as well as anybody in the game.”

SAN DIEGO – The big man of the moment here in Southern California goes by the name of “Zuby,” which is pronounced as “Zoobie” and is the nickname his mom gave him because it was easier to say than his real name – Chukwuebuka Ejiofor.

Get ready to hear it a lot on Sunday.

Zuby Ejiofor, a 6-foot-9 forward, started his college career at Kansas in 2022,  where he played for Hall of Fame coach Bill Self. Then he transferred to St. John’s in 2023 to play for Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino.

Three years later, Ejiofor, Pitino and No. 5 seed St. John’s face off against Self and No. 4 seed Kansas in a second-round men's NCAA Tournament game at Viejas Arena.

“We didn’t want him to leave,” Self said Saturday. “We’re really happy for his success. We just don’t … We just hope it doesn’t come against us.”

CINDERELLA'S TIME: Ranking the most likely upsets in the second round

Unfortunately for Self, Ejiofor happens to be on a monster run right now. He is the reigning Big East Conference player of the year, reigning Big East defensive player of the year and the leader of his team in scoring (16.3 ppg), rebounding (7.3 rpg), assists (121) and blocks (77).

Now comes the peak of his college career against his old team. Just don’t call it a revenge game. It’s not.

Why did Zuby Ejiofor transfer from Kansas to St. John’s?

Ejiofor (pronounced “edge-o-for”) sat in a chair Saturday surrounded by about 15 reporters and photographers at Viejas Arena. They wanted to know the story again: What happened at Kansas and why did he choose St. John’s?

“I had a fun time at Kansas,” Ejiofor said. “I wouldn’t lie: I didn’t really want to leave. But I knew that in order for my future to keep progressing the way I wanted to go, that I had to probably look elsewhere for a bigger opportunity.”

Ejiofor played in 25 games for Kansas as a freshman, when he averaged only 5.1 minutes per game. The Jayhawks finished with a 28-8 record that season and lost in the second round of the tournament against Arkansas. Ejiofor played seven minutes in that game and tallied two rebounds, one block and no points.

PORTAL KING: How Rick Pitino experimented with transfer portal at St. John's — and won

Then Kansas brought in a big transfer from Michigan in May 2023: 7-foot-1 Hunter Dickinson, who made the move in pursuit of more money for his name, image and likeness (NIL).

One day later, Ejiofor announced he was transferring out. He simply wanted more playing time and didn’t see him getting much of it with Dickinson there.

So Ejiofor signed with St. John’s, where Pitino had just been hired and was remaking his roster with 10 transfer players out of a roster of 14, including Ejiofor.

“I don't think I've enjoyed coaching a player as much since 1987 when I coached Billy Donovan (at Providence),” Pitino said of Ejiofor. “And I'm going to miss him terribly.  And I'm just going to appreciate him while I have him.”