UMass head basketball coach Frank Martin led the Minutemen to a 20-11 record, finishing 11-7 in the Atlantic-10 and receiving a double-bye in the A-10 Tournament. The 2023-24 season was UMass’s first 20-win campaign since 2013-14 when they were 24-9 and this was also the last season the Minutemen made it to the NCAA Tournament. Coach Martin took South Carolina to it’s only Final Four and Elite Eight in 2017. He had a five-year run at Kansas State where the Wildcats were in the NCAA Tournament in five of those seasons. K-State went to the Elite Eight in 2010. Topics of Discussion include: A 20 ..read more

Legendary Coach Jim Harrick is back on “Marching to Madness” as he posted ‘W’s’ in 470 games in his career. We remember 1995 when he became the only UCLA coach since John Wooden to lead the Bruins to a national championship. Harrick took UCLA to the national championship in 1995 as he was the National Coach of the Year and the Pac-12 Coach of the Year during that season. He is still the second-winningest coach at UCLA behind Wooden with his 192 wins. He led the Bruins to three Sweet 16s and two Elite Eights. Harrick started his head coaching career at Pepperdine, leading the Waves to five WCC ..read more

Coach Magpayo steered a young Highlanders team into a tough out from the middle to later part of the season. UCR ended up winning eight out of their last 11 games as they defeated a top UC Irvine Anteaters squad, 88-78, and made it to the semifinals of the Big West Tournament with a win over Cal State Bakersfield before losing to eventual champion Long Beach State. Barrington Hargress, Isaiah Moses, and Nate Pickens form a talented and complementary backcourt that should complement each other well. Topics of Discussion include: The Highlanders’ solid finish in winning those 8 out of 11 games ..read more

Coach Eran Ganot checks in after his Warriors finished the season with 10 wins in their last 14 games. The competitiveness gave them an opening night win in the Big West Tournament and put them in a position to face Cal-Davis in the semi-finals where they lost a tough 68-65 decision. Coach Ganot has led the Warriors to winning percentages in each of the last seven seasons as they posted their first back-to-back 20-win seasons since 2014-2015. Topics of Discussion include: The Warriors’ six seniors who provided them with a 20-win season Coach Ganot’s administration of a plan of attack on both ..read more

Coach Cantu checks back in on “Marching to Madness” as he and I discuss the tournament from lots of angles, including our thoughts on the misses the NCAA made in seeding and placing teams. We also went around the country and discussed the Big 12 and SEC as well as teams we thought could pull upsets. Coach Cantu also named his Final Four and national champion. Topics of Discussion Include: Big 12 and SEC Invitees to the Tournament Basketball discussions dealing with the reputations of different teams Teams that could crash the Tournament’s party Thoughts on players on teams that could make a d ..read more

Coach Jones is no stranger to basketball in Florida as he was an assistant at Florida for 11 years and built teams at Marshall and UCF as head coaches at both schools. He came into DeLand, Fla. five years ago and led the Stetson Hatters to 22 wins this season.  They finished second in the Atlantic Sun and won the tournament on Sunday with a 94-91 victory over a tough Austin Peay Governors squad. In addition, the NCAA Tournament bid will be the first in Stetson basketball history. Jalen Blackmon was phenomenal in the title game as the Hatters leading scorer netted 43 points for t ..read more

Coach Penders returns to MTM as we talk Big 12 and how Houston made the trek into the conference from the American Athletic Conference. The Cougars didn’t miss a beat behind Coach Kelvin Sampson as they won by two games over Iowa State. Coach Penders also chats about his life as a coach at 7 different schools where he was at seven stops and won a total of 649 games. He took Rhode Island, Texas, George Washington, and Houston and built those programs as he took the Cougars on the rebuild. Coach Penders turned all of these into NCAA Tournament teams and he not only made the tournament, but he to ..read more

Coach Kerns led the Mountaineers to the best conference record in school history at 16-2 in the rigorous Sun Belt Conference. The 26 wins were the most in a regular season in App history as well. The Mountaineers won a pair of tight four and six-point victories over James Madison as they finished one fame ahead of the Dukes for the regular season title. Topics of discussion include: The defensive characterization inside the on-court attack Only averaging 13 fouls per game The balance in scoring between the top seven players in the rotation The dynamics of Donovan Gregory, Terence Harcum, and ..read more

Coach Hodge steps onto the hardwood at “Marching to Madness” as he is in his first season as the North Texas Mean Green head coach. He discusses his team’s defensive philosophy as he spent six seasons as coach Grant McCasland’s assistant in Denton, Texas. Coach Hodge coached at the junior college level as he rolled up a 146-24 record at Paris JC and Midland College. Topics of discussion include: Coach Hodge’s coaching career The defensive mindset of the Mean Green Jason Edwards’ averaging 18.6 points and 14.2 shots per game “The Mastermind of the North Texas Defense” Much more ..read more

Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson comes back onto the “Marching to Madness” college basketball podcast as his Cougars are sitting at No. 1 this week while they lead Iowa State in the Big 12 race by one game. We chat about the toughness and backcourt skills of Jamal Shead, LJ Cryer, and Emanuel Sharp and posts, J’Wan Roberts and Ja’Vier Francis. The Cougars defeated Cincinnati, 67-59, on Monday as they scored 15 points off of 19 Bearcats turnovers. Topics of discussion include: The Cougars as a sustainable basketball team The backcourt presence of Jamal Shead, LJ Cryer, and Emanuel Sha ..read more