Marching to Madness

Coach Musselman moves back to the West Coast as he takes over at USC where the Trojans will now join the Big Ten with UCLA, Washington, and Oregon. Coach Muss moved back into college basketball as the head coach at Nevada in 2015 and Arkansas in 2019 where he turned both programs back into solid winners in the Mountain West and the SEC. After turning the roster over in LA, the Trojans will feature several key players, who joined him including two excellent freshmen in Isaiah Elohim and Jalen Shelley who both have been listed No. 40 nationally and were headed to Arkansas before Musselman moved on to Southern Cal.

Topics of Discussion include:

• Winning consistently at many stops, including both Nevada and Arkansas
• The development of resiliency in Coach Musselman's career
• The influence of his father, Bill Musselman, who coached the Cleveland Cavaliers and was the first coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves
• A quick analysis of the players who join his program

Coach Forbes has had the Demon Deacons on the cusp on the NCAA Tournament in the last three seasons, but Wake Forest has been unnecessarily left on the outside in all three of those tourneys. Forbes returns a potential ACC Player of the Year in Hunter Sallis, who was the fifth leading scorer in the league at 18 ppg. Coach Forbes also talks about his philosophies and ideas based on the game as it stands right now.

Today's Discussion Includes;

• How the team's decorum fits the school as well as the team
• The solid play and efforts of Hunter Salis, Cam Hildreth, and Efton Reid
• How the spring and summer months may have changed with the transfer portal
• Enabling players to create a positive mindset

Coach Lutz comes over to Oklahoma State from Western Kentucky where the Hilltoppers won the Conference USA Tournament which placed them into their first NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. He also had taken Texas A&M – Corpus Christi to two Southland Tournament titles, leading to NCAA Tournament berths in 2022 and 2023. The Cowboys return Bryce Johnson and Jamyron Keller as the only returnees among last season's top nine scoring leaders.

Today's Discussions Include:

• How Thompson and Keller can fit into the Cowboys rotation
• Arkansas transfer Devo Davis, former WKU Hilltopper Brandon Newman, and LaSalle's Khalil Bradley
• Coach Lutz's offensive approach which averaged 14.6 seconds last season, fourth in CBB
• Philosophies on the functions of the transfer portal

Coach Mills brought an impressive coaching career into Wichita as he coached as an assistant to Scott Drew at Baylor for 14 years and he took over the ORU Titans and turned them into a power where they won the Summit League championship and finished 18-0 in his last season there in Tulsa. In rebuilding the Shockers, he played a major non-conference slate which saw his team grow into a much tougher team in the second half of the season. His returnees and transfer portal recruits will have the experience to allow Wichita State to grow into a challenging team in the AAC this season.

Topics include:

• Work with Coach Drew and team-building at ORU
• Return of starters Xavier Bell, Harlond Beverly, and Quincy Ballard
• Georgia transfer Justin Hill
• How the history of the legendary Wichita State program is a key in the rebuild
• Much more!

Coach Dawkins comes back onto the "Marching to Madness" hardwood after his UCF Knights were a tough out immediately in the Big 12 after winning seven games and then they lost five of those 11 by 8 points or under. UCF's adjusted defensive efficiency was 21st in college basketball while their opponents shot only 41.2 percent from the field, 36th out of the 352 D-1 teams. The key will be on offense with the two returning scorers in Jaylin Sellers and Darius Allen. Coach Dawkins also added a pair of excellent scorers in UTSA transfer Jordan Ivy-Curry and former George Mason Patriot Keyshawn Hall.

The show's topics include:

• Sellers and Allen returning as talented shooters
• How Ivy-Curry and Hall possess dynamics in addition to scoring ability
• Philosophy of how to recruit the transfer portal
• Coach Dawkins' years with Coach K at Duke and in his nine seasons in the NBA

Coach Wayne Tinkle looks forward to the Beavers' being able to play in the WCC with Washington State after the Pac-12 was disbanded after 109 years. The Beavers will have a tough schedule as Saint Mary's and Gonzaga are generally the top two teams in the league. Still, the middle of the conference — San Francisco and Santa Clara are generally in the mix while San Diego — moved forward last season to create a new group of challengers. Michael Rataj is the lone returning starter for the Beavers as his leadership will be a huge key this upcoming 2024-25 season.

Topics of Discussion Include:

• The Beavers and the new home in the WCC
• Return of Michael Rataj and Josiah Lake
• International teammates for the Beavers
• The Oregon State-Oregon basketball rivalry
• Much more!

Coach Tony Skinn played at George Mason and was a starter on the Patriots' 2006 Final Four team, averaging 11.3 points in GMU's five games in that tournament. He scored 1,079 points in 68 games and was a two-time All-CAA selection. Coach Skinn was most recently with Kevin Willard at Maryland in 2022-23 when he worked to lead the Terps to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He spent three seasons with Willard at Seton Hall and left the Pirates to join Chris Holtmann at Ohio State in 2021-22. He led the Patriots to 20 wins last season as he and Coch Kim English put those back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since Paul Hewitt accomplished those 20 W's in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

Topics of Discussion include:

• Coach Skinn's philosophy and style of basketball
• Guard Darius Maddox coming back to Fairfax as the leading returning scorer
• Jared Billups, Woody Newton, and their ability to take their games to a higher level in 2024-25
• KD Johnson transferring from Auburn to George Mason
• Much more!

Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard is back on MTM, discussing plenty of analytics and ideas from his philosophies as well as his strategies and ideas. He discusses similarities and differences between the SEC and Big 12 with his approach through the SEC basketball courts in his first season. He notes offense and defense from his points of view which makes for an excellent knowledge base of basketball.

Discussions Include:

• Shooting and playmaking ability for Ole Miss, as of now
• Offensive rebounding ideas and philosophies
• Moving the program forward with more depth
• Ideas on eliminating your opponents' field goal attempts and trying to force opposing offenses deeper into the shot clock

Coach Dwight Perry checks in for his initial appearance on "Marching to Madness." He played for three seasons at Kentucky while also working as an assistant to Shaka Smart at VCU, Johnny Dawkins at Stanford, and Niko Medved and Bob Richey at Furman. He has helped to orchestrate five winning seasons at Wofford as he was Mike Young's assistant for two years and then became the associate head coach while finishing 17-15 in 2023-24 as the head coach of the Terriers. Wofford should be a challenger this upcoming season in a tough and deep Southern Conference.

Topics of Discussion Include:

• The Terriers' efficiency on both ends of the floor
• Coach Perry's background which led him to Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium as the Terriers' head coach
• Getting the best version of the team as a whole
• The three-ball which leads to other offensive facets at Wofford

Chipola Head Coach Donnie Tyndall has one of the best junior college teams and groups of players every season inside the game. He has placed 28 of his players at the D-1 level in four years. Homes for these kids have included Kansas State, Syracuse, and Florida State, among others. He has led the Indians to the Final Four twice in his four seasons and has won the tough Panhandle Conference in all four years he has been at Chipola.

Discussions of this episode of "Marching to Madness" include:

• Winning at a monumental level at Chipola
• Winning the Panhandle Conference, one of the nation's toughest JC conferences, in all four of his seasons with the Indians
• Players such as Greedy Williams, Dontae Walker, and JJ Walton
• The up-tempo reputation of junior college basketball