Marching to Madness

Coach David Riley comes into the Palouse after leading Eastern Washington to a 62-38 record in his three seasons as the head coach. The Eagles also won the Big Sky regular season title in the last two seasons. Coach Riley's brother, David is a defensive assistant with the Baltimore Ravens, and his uncle is Mike Riley the former head football coach at Nebraska, Oregon State, and the San Diego Chargers.

Topics of Conversation include:

• Being in the Eastern Washington program for 13 seasons
• The idea of the three-point field goal as his EWU teams shot 36 percent combined in all three of his seasons.
• Coaching philosophies and how they translate into a program
• Bringing Cedric Coward from Eastern Washington and adding a pair of former Pac-12 transfers in Washington's Nate Calmese and former Cal Bear ND Okafor.

Coach Randy Bennett checks in on "Marching to Madness" as his Gaels took both the WCC regular season championship and the tournament title this past season. Bennett has been at Saint Mary's for 23 seasons where he currently has posted a 533-216 ledger as he has won 71.2 percent of his games. SMC has enjoyed the success of Gaels basketball as Coach Bennett has presided over three WCC regular season championships and two Conference tournament titles since 2015.

Topics of Discussion Include:

• The longevity of the Gaels in Moraga, California
• The defensive reputation of Saint Mary's
• Transfers in Memphis guard Ashton Hardaway and former Arizona Wildcat Paulius Mursuskas
• The entrance of Oregon State and Washington State in to the WCC
• Much more!

Coach Will Wade led his McNeese Cowboys to a 30-4 record in his first season in Lake Charles, La. His Cowboys won the Southland Conference post-season tournament and the regular season. Coach Wade and his staff improved the program by 19 games last season as this was the best improvement by any team in the nation. McNeese had a superstar in Shahada Wells, who was the player of the year in the Southland Conference. He brings back two talented guards in DJ Richards and Jahvon Garcia and point guard Omar Cooper. Christian Shumate will be a key in the post where he averaged 12.1 points and 9.5 boards per game while shooting 56.1 percent from the floor.

Topics of Discussion Include:

• Intangibles to improve the record by 19 games
• Developing Shahada Wells into a key player in college basketball
• Ideas on developing Christian Shumate into taking the next step
• Creation of depth based on the transfer portal in addition to returnees

Coach Cuonzo Martin returns to Springfield, Missouri, for the second time as he is again the head coach of the Missouri State Bears, a position he held from 2008-2011. Coach Martin is a successful coach in a myriad of ways as he took Tennessee, Cal, and Missouri into the NCAA Tournament while winning 57.1 percent of his contests so far in his career. He also took Missouri State to the MVC regular season championship in 2011, but lost the MVC title game to Indiana State. He has always had quality teams on the defensive end of the floor and they are generally tough in allowing the three while providing tough matchups inside the arc.

Topics include:

• Returning to the Bears for a second run after a 61-41 record from 2008-2011
• Watching games the last two seasons when he wasn't coaching
• Adding Bears to the roster as Mozae Downing-Rivers and Wesley Oba check in as key players in the system
• Defensive philosophy and concepts

Michigan Wolverines head basketball coach Dusty May led Florida Atlantic to the NCAA Final Four in 2023 and now, Coach May is back in the Big Ten as he was an Indiana graduate and on the staff of the Hoosiers. Coach May discusses his time at Indiana and making Eastern Michigan a springboard for his coaching career. After a 60-13 record in his last two seasons, May moves to Michigan where the Wolverines look to return as a challenger in the Big Ten.

Topics of Discussion Include:

• The move to Ann Arbor
• Remaking the Wolverines' roster
• Former Auburn guard Tre Donaldson and North Texas transfer Rubin Jones as a pair of dynamic guards in the backcourt
• Working to reboot the Wolverines' defense which struggled last season

Coach Chris Jans returns to "Marching to Madness" after taking Mississippi State to its first appearance in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments since 2008-09. Jans loses big man Tolu Smith in the middle, but a major key will be the return of dynamic Josh Hubbard to the point guard position. Mississippi State has also had success with incoming transfers as the Bulldogs currently have six incoming transfers, one freshman, then they had five players leave MSU via the portal.

Topics of Discussion Include:

• Success in the SEC Tournament was key for the Bulldogs to travel to "March Madness"
• Coach Jans' development of defensive philosophy and implementation of new defensive ideas through the years
• Former SEC ballers Riley Kugel and RJ Melendez move into Starkville
• The entrance of freshman Dellquan Warren

Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim checks in as he led the Bulls to a record-setting season at an unbelievably high level in year one at USF. He led the Bulls to their first regular season title in school history and a 25-8 record where the 25 wins were the most in the biography of South Florida basketball. In addition, the Bulls went 16-2 and finished two games ahead of second-place Florida Atlantic. Those 16 conference wins were the most league 'W's" in USF history while the 15 consecutive wins in AAC play were also a school record. This happened after Amir's four-year run at Kennesaw State, where he built the Owls from a one-win team in his first season to a 26-9 campaign and an A-Sun tournament championship in year four, which resulted in an NCAA Tournament bid.

Discussions Include:

• How the Bulls players were responsible for setting all the records
• Four Bulls that hit the transfer portal
• Florida State transfer De'Ante Green and Jamille Reynolds, formerly of Cincinnati, coming aboard as two key transfers
• The "build it and they will come" addage and how it is synonymous with USF Bulls basketball

… And Much More!

Coach Lanier takes over the basketball program at Rice after the Owls slipped to 11-21, but won four of five games on the road. Lanier transitions from SMU where he took the Mustangs to 20 wins only one year after SMU only won 10 in the 2022-23 season. Before then, he took the Georgia State Panthers to the NCAA Tournament in 2021 when they won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as he compiled a 53-30 record in his three seasons in Atlanta. Lanier has brought in some new players in the transfer portal who should help him work incessantly on the rebuild. Rice struggled defensively last season and Coach discusses defensive ideas and philosophies.

Topics of Discussion include:

• Coach Lanier implements his defensive philosophy with the Owls
• Approach to rebuilding a program
• Transitioning from SMU to Rice
• Villanova guard Trey Patterson as a tansfer

… And much more!

Portland head coach Shantay Legans and his Pilots had a tough 23-24 season with some injuries and academic casualties. The fourth-year Pilots coach will look to build his team to improve from a season where they finished tied for sixth in the WCC. Legans talks about how he feels he should have handled and maneuvered the transfer portal better. He welcomes back Vukasin Masic while adding a pair of new transfers in the former American University center Jermaine Webb and Max Mackinnon, who comes over from Elon.

Topics of Conversation Include:

• Recruiting in Australia and globally
• Changing the Pilots' offensive output and defensive identity of the team
• Challenges and ideas in using the transfer portal
• Thoughts on the NBA Championship series between the Celtics and Mavericks

Coach Nick McDevitt is back on "Marching to Madness" as he discusses the Blue Raiders, who finished in a four-way tie for fourth in Conference USA this past season. He talks about the changes in CUSA since he came to Murfreesboro and a peak at resetting the roster for the '24-25 season.

Topics of Discussion Include:

• Upsetting La. Tech in the CUSA Tournament as three teams tied for fourth
• Building Elias King as a key player during his four-year career
• Arizona State transfer Kamari Lands and former TCU Horned Frog Eassam Moustafa coming aboard
• Changes in CUSA since he started at MT, seven years ago.

… And much more!!