Nearly every first-year coach has a learning curve after taking over a new program. A few weeks to get their feet wet, find their way around campus, learn the area.
That wasn’t the case for Sean Miller, who returned to Xavier after spending eight years with the Musketeers as an assistant and head coach in the early 2000s.
Which doesn’t mean everything is the same. The biggest change? Since Miller left in 2009, the Musketeers moved from the Atlantic 10 to the Big East.
“Being in the Big East Conference, how strong the Big East is right now, it makes an already really special place that much greater,” Miller told ESPN this week. “That’s no disrespect to being in the Atlantic 10. But Madison Square Garden, the pageantry, the 20-game season, it ignites the fan base. The profile, being in the Big East, that’s the biggest difference.
“But a lot of the things that made Xavier special are still in place. A university aligned with college basketball. They support it. They love it. With no football, basketball has always been the front porch here. It’s created a love affair between the city of Cincinnati and Xavier basketball. Now with the Big East next to it, it’s amplified it.”
Miller took over a program used to winning. Xavier went to the NCAA tournament in all but two seasons from 2001 to 2018 — but the Musketeers hadn’t gone dancing since Chris Mack left for Louisville after the 2018 tournament.
With four of their top six scorers returning from last season, though, Miller wasn’t planning on a rebuild.
“We had experience returning here. Jack Nunge, Zach Freemantle, Colby Jones, that’s three All-Big East performers. All veteran players,” he said. “For a new coach, that’s certainly a great setup.”
0:21
Souley Boum hits clutch late jumper for Xavier
Souley Boum gets the jumper to fall with less than a minute to play to give Xavier the go-ahead lead vs. Marquette.
When Miller took stock of the roster, he knew he needed one more key player, so he went into the portal for a scoring combo guard and came out with Souley Boum, who once had 16 points against Miller’s Arizona team in 2020-21. Boum was a high-level scorer at UTEP, but it was something else that caught Miller’s eye.
“A player who draws fouls over a four-year college career, they know how to do that. That’s not something they won’t carry with them,” Miller said. “We wanted a guard who could play, who could score. He’s a wonderful guy. He really is. I give him a lot of credit, he joined a group that had already been together. He just really has fit in extremely well.”
Boum is one of the best transfers in the country and leads the team in scoring, while Freemantle, Nunge, Jones and fellow returnee Adam Kunkel are all averaging double figures. The quintet has Xavier atop the Big East standings, and in position for a top-four seed come Selection Sunday. The Musketeers went on an 11-game winning streak after neutral-court losses to Duke and Gonzaga in late November.
The losses dropped Xavier to 4-3 coming out of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament in Portland, Oregon, but Miller wasn’t concerned.
“What it did was harden our group. I don’t think anybody really panicked,” he said. “It makes you aware of what you have to improve. November is sometimes fool’s gold. Not until you get against better opponents do you realize you’re missing something. We kind of knew from day one what we could do well and the things we needed to work on.”
1:40
Xavier hands UConn its first loss of the season
No. 22 Xavier upsets No. 2 UConn 83-73 to hand the Huskies their first loss of the season.
The team’s offense has taken off since, ranking fifth in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency in the past 13 games. Miller, not known for pushing the pace and free-flowing offenses during his time at Arizona, now has a team ranking in the top 15 nationally in tempo and fifth in the country in 3-point shooting percentage. By comparison, only one of Miller’s Wildcats teams ranked in the top 100 in tempo: his first, in 2010.
He credits his season away from coaching for the change.
“You start thinking, what are the things, if you get another opportunity, you would do differently? What are the things you believe in and want to keep?” Miller said. “Playing at a faster pace sounds good but you need the firepower that can do that. You can try to play fast, but if certain guys can’t score the ball or shoot the ball, it doesn’t work as well.
“But playing at a faster tempo, that’s something that’s here to stay.”
Based on Miller’s first three months back at Xavier, it looks like winning is there to stay as well.
Jerome Tang: National Coach of the Year favorite?
Last season, Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd was the longtime assistant-turned-head-coach who took the country by storm, guiding the Wildcats to a 33-4 record after spending 20 seasons as an assistant coach for Mark Few at Gonzaga.
Kansas State hoped for similar success when it hired Tang last spring, convincing him to leave Baylor after 19 years as an assistant with Scott Drew.
“When you spend that much time in one place and you work with a guy that closely, you have your beliefs but they allow you to insert some of you into the program.” Tang told ESPN this week. “Mark [Few] could go on vacation and not have to worry about anything. When Scott got COVID, he said the least of his worries is the basketball, the coaching. The responsibilities both of our head coaches gave us really just prepared us. The similarity is that Tommy and I both were hired by programs that gave us the resources that we needed.”
Despite Tuesday’s four-point loss at Iowa State, Kansas State is off to a 17-3 start, tied for first in the Big 12 at 6-2 — and ranked No. 5 in this week’s AP poll, its highest ranking since 2010-11. All this for a team picked to finish last in the preseason Big 12 poll.
“I knew we were a tournament team when practice started. When they picked us 10th, I thought, well, then, 10 teams from the Big 12 are going to the NCAA tournament,” Tang said.
After last season, Kansas State lost nine of its top 11 players, leaving just Markquis Nowell and Ismael Massoud. But Tang went into the portal to rebuild the roster, including two junior college transfers and former SEC Preseason Player of the Year Keyontae Johnson, the Florida forward who hadn’t played since collapsing on the court against Florida State in December 2020.
Tang took a chance on Johnson returning to his old form, and it paid off. Johnson ranks third in the Big 12 in scoring (18.3 PPG) and rebounding (7.5 RPG). Combined with Nowell, who is fifth in the league in scoring (17.1 PPG) and first in assists (8.3 APG), Kansas State has one of the elite duos in college basketball.
“It’s their experience. And they are both great human beings, great young men and their teammates love them. It’s easy to celebrate them,” Tang said. “And not just them. You’ve got Desi Sills. Baybe [Iyiola]. Tykei [Greene]. You’ve got guys who have played a lot. We can have tough and transparent conversations with them, where we’re at, where we need to get to, what needs to change. And they’re grown. They know how to handle things. They have emotional maturity.”
0:37
Kansas State takes down rival Kansas in hectic OT finish
Keyontae Johnson puts Kansas State ahead in overtime with a slam dunk and the fans storm the court as the Wildcats upset No. 2 Kansas.
Kansas State opened the season with 15 wins in its first 16 games, including back-to-back road wins at Texas and Baylor. Against the Longhorns, the Wildcats scored 116 points — then handed Tang’s former school a loss four days later.
That’s when Tang knew he had a legitimate top-15 team on his hands.
“It was just how they handled it,” he said. “How they handled one win to the next, the in-between preparation.”
At Baylor, Tang helped produce one of the biggest turnarounds in college sports history, with Drew taking over a program mired in scandal in 2003 and leading it to its first national championship less than 20 years later. While the rebuilding effort at Kansas State isn’t as severe, the Wildcats already have their most wins in a season since 2019, and are positioned for their highest NCAA tournament seed since 2010.
“I never saw Kansas State as a rebuild,” Tang said. “It simply needed to be elevated.”
It’s clear Tang has huge plans in Manhattan. After Kansas State’s overtime win over Kansas earlier this month, he grabbed the microphone once everyone had rushed the floor in celebration.
“I told y’all we’ll get you one court storming,” he said. “From here on out, expect to win.”
How the other new power-conference coaches are faring
Thad Matta, Butler Bulldogs
This stat from the weekend sums up how things have gone for Matta in year one at Butler.
Over #Butler‘s first nine seasons in the Big East, it lost nine games by 20+ points (one per year and never more than two in a season).
Midway through this year’s Big East season, the Bulldogs have already lost six conference games by 20+.
— Lukas Harkins (@hardwiredsports) January 22, 2023
There was plenty of promise early in the season: The Bulldogs beat Kansas State and BYU, with their only non-league losses coming to Tennessee, NC State and Penn State. But they opened Big East play with three straight 20-point losses to UConn, Creighton and Providence — to whom they’ve also lost their last three, also by 20-plus points — and haven’t been able to generate any momentum. Given it’s been five years since Matta last coached, some growing pains in year one were expected, however. Stylistically, the addition of Manny Bates down low has made the Bulldogs dramatically better at defending the rim then last season.
Jon Scheyer, Duke Blue Devils
Given a No. 1 recruiting class and a preseason top-10 ranking in year one, Scheyer had huge expectations to live up to after taking over for Mike Krzyzewski. It hasn’t quite clicked yet, with the Blue Devils dropping to 14-6 overall and 5-4 in the ACC after losing to Virginia Tech on Monday. There were preseason injuries to stud freshmen Dariq Whitehead and Dereck Lively II, a midseason injury to leader and point guard Jeremy Roach, and general inconsistency otherwise. (Besides Kyle Filipowski, at least.) From a style perspective, Duke isn’t playing nearly as fast as it did under Coach K, and is shooting a very low percentage from 3, comparatively speaking. With all the talent on the roster, though, there’s confidence this team can turn things around — depending on Whitehead’s injury diagnosis.
Todd Golden, Florida Gators
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UF’s Castleton on March Madness, upset of No. 20 Mizzou
After logging a career-high six assists along with 16 points and 13 rebounds in a 73-64 win vs. the Tigers, Colin Castleton emphasizes the Gators’ goals for March.
The Gators are starting to pick up some momentum after an inauspicious start to life in the SEC. They’ve won five of their last six games, with the lone loss coming by two at Texas A&M. That stretch came directly after Florida lost three in a row to fall to 7-7 overall and 0-2 in the league. Golden, whose San Francisco team last season ranked in the top 30 in defensive efficiency, has the Gators at No. 12 in adjusted defensive efficiency at KenPom. He’s used a combination of holdovers and newcomers, with Colin Castleton anchoring the defense on the interior and Belmont transfer Will Richard showing flashes offensively.
Mike White, Georgia Bulldogs
White’s relationship with the Florida fanbase had become too toxic, and his decision to leave the Gators for Georgia has been a huge plus for the Bulldogs. They’ve lost three in a row, including last night against Tennessee, but being 13-7 overall and 3-4 in the SEC is far ahead of schedule, considering the rebuild White was taking over. Remember, this is a team that won a single SEC game last season. White made some strategic portal additions and convinced Kario Oquendo to return. BPI currently projects Georgia to finish 18-13, which would exceed expectations. The biggest change from last season? Defense, an area where White excelled for most of his tenure in Gainesville.
Kenny Payne, Louisville Cardinals
Louisville is ranked No. 334 in the NET. That’s not a typo. Three hundred and thirty-four, tucked in between McNeese and UAB. It’s been a nightmare start for Payne at Louisville, who’s lost his first nine games of the season and is sitting at 2-18 overall, 0-9 in the ACC. The Cardinals have been noncompetitive in a number of games. There’s too much talent on this roster for them to be this bad. And some of the recruiting misses in the 2023 class have exacerbated the problems. That said, some of the calls to put pressure on Payne after one season feel premature. It was always going to be a process.
Matt McMahon, LSU Tigers
McMahon completely remade the Tigers’ roster after taking over last season, a difficult task given that every single player was in the transfer portal at one point. But with a combination of roster holdovers, players he brought with him from Murray State, other transfers and a few freshmen, McMahon had the Tigers off to a 12-1 start, with the lone loss coming by two points against Kansas State. Things have gone downhill quickly since then, with seven straight losses, including Tuesday’s 20-point loss at Arkansas. The offense has really struggled, breaking 56 points just once in the last six games and ranking last in the SEC with 0.88 points per possession. Things should improve with more roster continuity.
Kevin Willard, Maryland Terrapins
Willard made an immediate impact in College Park, guiding the Terrapins to eight straight wins to open the campaign — including an 18-point win over Miami and a home victory over Illinois to start Big Ten play. Maryland’s slowed down considerably since then, losing seven of its last 12 games. But it’s still in position to play in the NCAA tournament. Willard’s best teams at Seton Hall were always defense-first, and that’s exactly what helped Maryland early. The Terps were contesting inside and outside the arc, while getting a huge boost from having one of the most experienced teams in the country.
Chris Jans, Mississippi State Bulldogs
Jans was dominant during his time at New Mexico State, going to three NCAA tournaments and running the table in WAC play when the NCAA tournament was canceled in 2020. He brought those winning ways to Starkville early in the season, opening 2022-23 with 11 straight wins. In the five weeks since their Dec. 17 win over Nicholls, however, the Bulldogs have won just once. They’re 1-7 in SEC play, with the lone victory coming at home against Ole Miss. The defense that was so dominant in nonconference play — including a win over Marquette — hasn’t translated to league play. Jans is too good a coach for this to carry over to next season, though.
Dennis Gates, Missouri Tigers
Gates and the Tigers have made the preseason SEC poll, which had Missouri 11th in the league, look silly. Tuesday’s win at Ole Miss brought Missouri to 4-4 in the league and 15-5 overall, with wins over Illinois, Arkansas and Kentucky. The Tigers started 12-1 before some inconsistency in league play, but it’s still better than most expected. Gates rebuilt the roster via the transfer portal and brought his pressure defense from Cleveland State. Missouri ranks in the top 10 nationally in defensive turnover percentage, and is pushing the tempo and scoring incredibly efficiently — the Tigers rank No. 7 at KenPom in adjusted offensive efficiency.
Shaheen Holloway, Seton Hall Pirates
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Seton Hall completes improbable comeback with clutch and-1 vs. UConn
KC Ndefo earns an and-1 basket in the final seconds to help Seton Hall overcome a 15-point deficit in a comeback win over No. 15 UConn.
Holloway would have likely been the natural choice to replace Kevin Willard when Willard left for Maryland, but his run to the Elite Eight with Saint Peter’s certainly didn’t hurt his chances. It’s taken a couple months, but the Pirates are beginning to resemble the physical, tough teams Holloway had in Jersey City. They had an up and down nonconference campaign, beating Memphis and Rutgers but losing to Siena. In Big East play, though, they’ve picked up some momentum, winning four of their last five games — including at home vs. UConn — after starting 1-4. It’s been a defense-first team, just like Holloway wants it.
Lamont Paris, South Carolina Gamecocks
Paris had one of the biggest upset wins in the SEC so far this season, when the Gamecocks went into Lexington to beat Kentucky. But that’s the only conference win for South Carolina so far. There have been some bad losses (East Carolina, by 24 points at George Washington), but the Gamecocks also have a win over Clemson from back in November. This wasn’t going to be a one-year flip for Paris — despite landing five-star recruit G.G. Jackson last summer — especially with a dramatic change in styles from Frank Martin. SC’s playing slower with much less ball pressure defensively, relying far more heavily on 3-pointers.
Kyle Neptune, Villanova Wildcats
It’s never easy to follow a legend, as Neptune did when he was announced as Jay Wright’s replacement last April. But the Wildcats haven’t been able to get it going this season, and are sitting at 10-10 with one game left in January. There have been injury issues, with Justin Moore yet to play and Cam Whitmore missing the first seven games of the season, but the Wildcats simply don’t have the typical talent we’ve come to expect from them. They’re trying to play a similar style — smaller lineups, methodical in the halfcourt, shoot a lot of 3s — but they’re having to do it without the usual assortment of playmakers and shooters on the Main Line.
Three mid-major surprises
Keith Urgo, Fordham Rams
After Kyle Neptune led Forhdam to its best season in six years, going 16-16 overall and 8-10 in the Atlantic 10, there was some concern the Rams might slide back to the bottom of the league standings. But Urgo has kept the momentum going, and has Fordham poised for its highest win total in more than 30 years. The Rams had a 10-game winning streak from Nov. 15 until after Christmas, and have been competitive in the A-10. Urgo has Fordham playing faster than last season, getting to the free-throw line at a high rate, and defending the paint. There was a good amount of continuity from last season, but the addition of Georgia Tech transfer Khalid Moore has been a plus.
Bart Lundy, Milwaukee Panthers
Lundy already has the Panthers at 14 wins, the program’s most since 2018. They lost their first three games against Division I opposition, but have since gone 14-3 overall — and currently sit 8-2 in the Horizon League, tied for first place with Northern Kentucky. Lundy has made wholesale changes since coming in. He has one of the youngest teams in the country, with some of the least continuity from last season’s roster, and has it playing fast and defending aggressively. The Panthers rank in the top 20 nationally in 3-point defense and block percentage, and are averaging more than 70 possessions per game, ranking in the top 35 nationally.
Corey Gipson, Northwestern State Demons
Gipson might have the best team in the Southland this season. The Demons are the highest-ranked team in the league in the NET and at KenPom, and rank just behind Nicholls in the BPI. They sent a message back in mid-November, winning at TCU — the only loss the Horned Frogs would suffer until January 7. That sparked a seven-game winning streak, and after a five-game losing streak around the holidays, Northwestern State has again turned things around, winning four of five to move within a game of first place. Gipson has slowed the pace considerably from how fast the Demons were playing under Mike McConathy, but they’re forcing turnovers and guarding the arc.