Mailbag 11.13.23

It’s time for the weekly mailbag. Plenty to discuss after an awesome opening week in college hoops.

Mid-major star coaches to watch in next year’s coaching carousel? – @BetsBruce

Man there are so many good coaches at the mid-major level that deserve a shot at the big leagues. “Potential movers” as we like to call them:

Dustin Kerns (Appalachian State), Casey Alexander (Belmont), Leon Rice (Boise State), Pat Kelsey (Charleston), Niko Medved (Colorado State), Darian DeVries (Drake), David Riley (Eastern Washington), Dusty May (Florida Atlantic), Bob Richey (Furman), Bryce Drew (Grand Canyon), Speedy Claxton (Hofstra), Josh Schertz (Indiana State), Mark Byington (James Madison), Joe Gallo (Merrimack), Nick McDevitt (Middle Tennessee), Richard Pitino (New Mexico), Rob Jones (Norfolk State), Mitch Henderson (Princeton), Darris Nichols (Radford), Randy Bennett (Saint Mary’s), Pat Skerry (Towson), Mike Magpayo (UC Riverside), Joe Pasternack (UC Santa Barbara), Mike Morrell (UNC Asheville), Takayo Siddle (UNC Wilmington), Jerrod Calhoun (Youngstown State).

Whatever happened to this guy? – @chase_messer44

That guy was Cam Bacote and he somehow ended up at Georgetown!

Wtf is going on with Maryland and why do local 5-star recruits hate Maryland? – @BmoreJose24

I’ll have to do a deep dive into DMV recruiting one day. There are a lot of nuances at play in the area that muddy the waters with local talent. The bottom line is, for whatever reason, nothing is ever straightforward with DMV recruits.

As for this Maryland team, they look disinterested. Not playing hard enough. Last year’s team came out of the gates with their hair on fire. With Jahmir Young and Julian Reese back, plus an influx of promising talent (including local (!) Deshawn Harris-Smith), the ego stroking might have gotten to them during the off-season. I think Maryland will be fine in the long run and some will argue this rocky start is good for them. Willard is a good coach and I trust he’ll get it turned around.

Should I start a gofundme to keep Siddle in Wilmington? – @teacher_bracket

Yes. This man is due for a big opportunity and if they win the CAA, which I said he would, he’ll be on the shortlist of every high-major AD on the east coast.

Boozer twins update? – @TFarinias

The Boozer twins are currently making the rounds with their official visits. I was told they want to get all the officials out of the way before their senior year and then make a decision. The obvious choice for them is to follow in their father’s footsteps and go to Duke, but from what I gather I don’t think it’s a lock by any means. Kentucky and Miami are real threats here.

Who is your Mid-Major Cinderella team this year? – @WolverineSZN1

It’s hard not to overreact and say James Madison. The Dukes had the best opening week in the sport. Prior to this week I would’ve said Grand Canyon. The Lopes are well coached with Bryce Drew and they’re extremely talented for the level. Rayshon Harrison had plenty of opportunities to go high-major coming out of Presbyterian and a healthy Tyon Grant-Foster makes this team scary. GCU has a huge test this Friday against San Francisco, then they get the winner of South Carolina/DePaul. We’ll know more about this team by the end of the week.

Power rankings of the CBB media/personalities that know the most ball and the least ball? – @RobDauster

Great question, Rob. Who knows the most ball? It’s the Three Man Weave crew. Those guys are addicts and their podcast is awesome. Who knows the least ball? It’s Andy Katz (or whoever does his socials). I’m holding out hope that his lists are a bit or made by some intern that has never watched a single second of basketball in his life.

What Power 5 team that lost do you think will bounce back? – @jacob_liverman

It has to be Michigan State, right? Their three-point shooting percentage is historically bad right now. 6.5%. 6.5! Poor Tyson Walker has had to do it all by himself the first two games. In the last 10 minutes of the JMU game he had no choice, because every single one of his teammates looked terrified when they had the ball in their hands. Last year’s crew started out slow too and I think the preseason hype may have gotten to them a little bit. Izzo also did them no favors by scheduling the Sun Belt preseason favorite in game one. I trust Izzo and his staff to figure things out and get it turned around.

What’s Arizonas floor and ceiling? – @2_cents_todd

The Cats looked goooood against Duke the other night. The ceiling for this team is the national championship. I’m all in on the Caleb Love redemption arc and there’s something to be said about bringing in a proven winner in Keshad Johnson. Kylan Boswell looks way more comfortable out there too. The floor is a first round tourney exit. I don’t see a path to this team missing the tournament.

Team or teams that has the most at stake in November? Like a resume that could be fully made or fully broken (pre-conf play at least) before December 1 hits? – @statsbywill

I think the easy answer here is Florida Atlantic. Dusty May gave his team an absolute gauntlet of a schedule and they passed the first test in Loyola Chicago. I’m going to extend the deadline a week, because they’ve got winnable games with Eastern Michigan and Bryant this week, but then it gets cranked up quickly. They get Butler in the first round of the ESPN Events Invitational, then Penn State/Texas A&M. One more game there, then back-to-back home games vs. Liberty and Charleston. After all that they played Illinois on a neutral floor on December 5. We’ll know in a few weeks whether or not the Owls have what it takes to make another tournament run.

Can you explain the Travis Perry thing? How did everybody seem to get it wrong? – @EricYearian

Early yesterday afternoon I posted “Never trust a crystal ball” and I was referring to his recruitment. This was simply a case of a Kentucky kid wanting to play for the Cats. The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker did a great job outlining it here.

If this kid was born anywhere else, he likely ends up at Cincinnati. They put in the most effort and one source told me the UC staff had the best relationship with the kid, but ultimately he wanted to stay home. I never logged a prediction for this one because something didn’t add up for me. Cincy was the team I heard the most and I had a few reputable sources tell me that was the destination. A decision wasn’t relayed in any direction until the morning of, which usually means the information is wrong or it’s much less of a slam dunk than people think.

Who do you think has been the best non-major transfer to start the year, and what other thoughts do you have on Idan Tretout while we’re on the subject? – @CollegeHoopsT50

Idan Tretout has been awesome for Iona in their first two games. 17pts against Charleston and 34 (!) against Sacred Heart. A couple other standouts: TJ Bickerstaff (James Madison), Tyon Grant-Foster (Grand Canyon), Great Osobor (Utah State), Charles Pride (St. Bonaventure).

Is JQ going to Mizzou or Kentucky? – @devindoob

Funny you ask, because I just logged my prediction here. Source said announcement tomorrow.

Follow @trillydonovan on X (Twitter). Stay tuned to burnerball.com to keep up with all things coaching carousel and transfer portal.

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