Breaking News: Louisville head coach terminates contract with team after a background argument with management concerning….
It didn’t take long for Pat Kelsey’s name to emerge as a serious candidate for the head coaching position at the University of Louisville once Charleston lost to Alabama in the first round of the NCAA Tournament earlier this month.
And once Kelsey was named the head coach last Thursday, it didn’t take long for Charleston’s leading scorer to announce that he was following his coach to Louisville.
Senior guard Reyne Smith, who entered the transfer portal last week, became the first commitment of the Kelsey era at Louisville when announced on Saturday that he was transferring for his final season to U of L.
“It was way too good of an opportunity for me to even think about anything else,” Smith told Cardinal Authority.
The 6-foot-2 Smith, a native of Ulverstone, Australia, started 89 games in three seasons at Charleston. He finished as a double-figure scorer in each of those seasons, holding a career average of 11.9 points a game. He averaged 12.8 points this season and scored 13 points in the NCAA game against Alabama.
“Him wanting me to be that first commitment for him, obviously meant a lot with the trust he has in me,” said Smith, who committed to Kelsey when he was still at Winthrop and followed him to Charleston. “Especially with what we have been through the last three years together. It was definitely a feel-good moment to be going with him, especially going to the highest level of basketball in the ACC.”
Smith was in Las Vegas with his family last week when he first heard about Kelsey perhaps going to Louisville.
“When the season finished after the tournament, it was kind of funny because my family came from Australia to the tournament and they were staying for an extra week, so I spent a few days with them and I was in Vegas,” Smith said. “So, I was kind of away while everything was going on and got back and the news broke. It’s definitely been a crazy week.”
Smith said there were a number of reasons why he didn’t want to consider anywhere but following Kelsey.
And he said it was an easy decision.
“What I have said to like friends and stuff when we have been talking about it and they asked if I wanted to talk to other schools,” Smith said. “Kind of going in I was never planning on leaving Charleston unless coach Kelsey was going, but obviously he left, I went in (to the portal) and we spoke about how he really wanted me to come along with him.
“I didn’t even want to waste much time at all talking to other schools because I believe in what coach Kelsey does and with the opportunity of it being at Louisville, one of the best colleges in the country.”
When Kelsey was introduced on Thursday at U of L, Smith said he was watching the entire hour-long press conference. And Smith said he wasn’t surprised to hear that Louisville fans were blown away by Kelsey and his intensity during the presser.
“I watched the whole thing live as it was happening and I said to myself, ‘That’s just who he is’,” Smith said of Kelsey. “Everyone was saying how he crushed it and everyone was so impressed but to me I really wasn’t surprised by anything. Everything he said as a coach and just everything how he acted, that’s just who he is. He’s like that every single day with that intensity. You can have a joke with him but at the same time, he’s just always intense.
“He obviously, crushed the press conference but that’s kind of what to expect from him. And he is not going to change for anything. It is who he is and it’s every day with the energy.”
Louisville has only won 12 games during the past two seasons, which led to Kenny Payne getting fired. Smith is the first piece to the new roster for Kelsey – who added Charleston forward James Scott on Sunday –
“Everything that has happened in the past doesn’t really matter anymore,” Smith said. “It doesn’t affect the next season, it doesn’t affect if we are going to win or lose. It’s a completely new season and will be a completely new team.
“Like he said, if you don’t think you are going to win don’t put your shoes on. That’s the mentality we had at Charleston too, no matter who we were playing we were going to win. We had the mindset of winning. We had that mindset in games, in practices, and even in the smallest of drills that we did in practice. We had that mentality every single day and that’s why I wanted to follow him to Louisville – he’s a winner. I have no doubt that next year is going to be successful.”
by TaboolaSponsored LinksYou May Like
Get top forex trading strategies from an industry expert with this free ebook
Join over 10 million forex traders worldwide. Sharpen your forex trading skills with this free ebook!
Deriv.com
College Football Playoff expansion: Penn State, Tennessee benefit most from 12-team field
Playoff expansion could be a game-changer for these programs.
Carter Bahns
CARTER BAHNS
5 hrs
2
The 2024 college football season is the first with a new postseason format as the College Football Playoff expands this year to a 12-team model. The five highest-ranked conference champions and seven additional highest-ranked, at-large teams compete in December and January for the national championship in a first-of-its-kind event in FBS history.
With the changes to the Playoff come positive consequences for the nation’s most prominent teams. Access to the sport’s biggest stage increases, while the most deserving squads still have a leg up on the rest of the competition as they earn first-round byes. Teams outside the traditional top tier also have a shot at a championship, needing only to rank around the top 12 instead of inside the top four to get into the field.
Some schools benefit more from the expanded Playoff than others, though. Teams like Penn State and Tennessee, which have a history of finishing the season just shy of the cut line, stand to gain far more than CFP regulars and afterthoughts.
Get the latest football and recruiting scoop on your favorite college team today.
Here are the programs that benefit most from College Football Playoff expansion.
- TULANE GREEN WAVE
Jon Sumrall (Photo: Jeremy Reper, USA TODAY Sports)
Tulane exploded from a two-win team into the nation’s premier Group of Five program in the span of just one year, and even with head coach Willie Fritz departing for the same job at Houston, the Green Wave appears poised to run the American Athletic Conference for the foreseeable future. Had the expanded Playoff taken effect in 2022, Tulane would have been in the field during its inaugural year and would have finished one win shy of getting in last fall. A couple of CFP appearances could position Tulane for a step up to the power conference level the next time leagues realign.
- LIBERTY FLAMES
(Photo: Getty)
Jamey Chadwell guided Liberty into its first year of FBS conference membership and ran the table in Conference USA en route to a Fiesta Bowl appearance. The Flames’ resources, coaching and league competition make this program a strong candidate for perennial Playoff contention under the expanded model. While the likelihood of two Group of Five teams making the CFP remains slim, but if Liberty finds itself in an annual battle with Tulane for an automatic bid, it would be hard to complain about what is essentially a 50-50 chance of getting into the field — especially for a squad competing in the FBS’ weakest league.
- LOUISVILLE CARDINALS
(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
The ACC is wide open in the post-Clemson dominance era, and Louisville might be a legitimate candidate to compete for conference titles for the foreseeable future under coach Jeff Brohm. Playing at the highest level of a power conference should be enough to stand in the Playoff conversation on a yearly basis, as evidenced by the Cardinals’ No. 15 final ranking last season as the ACC runners-up. Brohm could guide his alma mater to the CFP even without winning the league, and playing on college football’s biggest stage would go a long way in helping him take this program to its greatest heights.
- MISSOURI TIGERS
(Photo: Todd Kirkland, Getty)
Across Missouri’s 12 years in the SEC, two of its teams finished a season ranked in the top 12 nationally. With the 2024 squad, on paper, measuring just as strong as last year’s breakout group, a Playoff berth could be on the table for Eli Drinkwitz. Should Brady Cook, Luther Burden III and company take this rising program to a level of national success it has essentially never seen before, the Tigers could build themselves into a perennial upper-half team in the crowded SEC. The 12-team field makes that attainable, whereas Mizzou had little chance of ever getting into a four-team Playoff that essentially required it to win the conference.
- OLE MISS REBELS
(Photo: Ole Miss Athletics )
Lane Kiffin is in the middle of a historic tenure at Ole Miss in which he just completed the first 11-win campaign in program history. The Rebels have more momentum than nearly any team in college football, particularly given their incredible talent acquisition efforts this offseason. With the advent of the 12-team Playoff, Kiffin does not even need to become the first coach in 62 years to lead Ole Miss to an SEC title in order to compete for a national championship. For a program that spent more than a half decade as a conference title afterthought, that the expectation in 2024 is to be one of the 12 best teams in America is a testament to tremendous coaching.
- FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
(Photo: Melina Myers, USA TODAY Sports)
There was no more controversial omission from the four-team Playoff across its decade of existence than the 2023 Florida State Seminoles, who went a perfect 13-0 but became the first power conference champion to be excluded from the field. That scenario is no longer possible under the new format. Playing in the ACC, arguably the shallowest of the four power conferences, will no longer hurt the Seminoles’ national championship hopes so long as they win the league, and even if they come up a win or two short of league supremacy, they would still have a decent chance of ranking in the top 12.
- UTAH UTES
(Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)
Twice, Utah won the Pac-12 but missed out on the Playoff. The Utes are easily among the best programs to have not reached the CFP, and they now have a much better chance of cracking the field. Winning the Big 12 will be no easy feat as it figures to be just as competitive, and likely more so, than the old Pac-12, but doing so would guarantee Kyle Whittingham and his squad a seat at the table. Neither of Whittingham’s conference championship teams won their Rose Bowl matchups, but both had the defensive strength to go toe-to-toe with national title hopefuls.
- TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS
(Photo: Saul Young / Knoxville News Sentinel, 247Sports)
The SEC should be well-represented in the Playoff moving forward as one of college football’s two premier conferences. Expansion bodes well for teams that consistently contend for conference titles but ultimately fall just short, like the Vols did in each of the last two seasons. Josh Heupel’s 2022 team figures to be one of the last 11-win squads to miss the CFP, and so long as he returns the program to that level of success after a slight step back last year, the Vols have the potential to be perennial postseason hopefuls.
- PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
(Photo: Getty)
No longer does Penn State need to get past Ohio State and Michigan on its path to the Playoff. Six times in the last eight years, the Nittany Lions finished the regular season inside the top 12 of the CFP rankings, but they have yet to qualify for the tournament due to their consistent inability to get over the hump and defeat one or both of the Buckeyes and Wolverines. The Big Ten gets tougher when four new teams arrive ahead of the 2024 season, but so long as James Franklin continues to lose no more than two or three league games per year, his program will finally make the Playoff and do so regularly.
- NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH
(Photo: Cory Fravel, 247Sports)
The lack of conference affiliation undoubtedly limited Notre Dame’s ceiling during the four-team era. Playing one fewer game than league champions consistently made a negative mark on the Fighting Irish’s résumé, which was especially costly during the 2021 season when they went 11-2 and finished No. 5 in the rankings — one spot out of the field. If Marcus Freeman leads another modest step forward this fall, his program will at the very least squeak into the Playoff for the first time since 2020. Moving forward, this consistent 10-win program will rarely be penalized for its inability to win a conference title game, though it remains ineligible for a top-four seed and first-round bye.
This article originates on 247Sports.
March Madness: College basketball’s most dominant NCAA Tournament champions since 1985
UConn has a chance to make history on Monday night.
Cody Nagel
CODY NAGEL
Apr 7th, 4:30 PM
0
UConn men’s basketball has an opportunity to rewrite the record books on Monday night. Not only can the Huskies become the first team to win back-to-back national championships since Florida in 2006 and 2007, they can also set a new mark for largest total margin of victory by the NCAA Tournament winner. The 1996 Kentucky squad holds that record at +129, but UConn sits at +125 heading into the championship bout with No. 1 seed Purdue.
The Huskies extended their streak of 11-consecutive NCAA Tournament wins by at least 13 points with an 86-72 victory against Alabama on Saturday in the Final Four. It is the narrowest margin of victory in the national tournament for UConn since the Final Four a year ago. Purdue also has a chance to join the ranks of some of the most dominant national champions in the modern history of college basketball.
The championship game tips off at 9:20 p.m. ET Monday night in Phoenix is set for 9:20 p.m. ET.
Get the latest football and basketball transfer portal news from 247Sports.
Below is a closer look at the 15 most dominant NCAA Tournament champions since the field expanded in 1985, ranked by total margin of victory:
- UCLA BRUINS (1995)
(Photo: Getty)
Total Margin of Victory: +86
UCLA needed some magic late in the second round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament to advance to the Sweet 16, but was dominant in almost every other game on its run to a national title. The Bruins trailed 74-73 against No. 8 seed Missouri with 4.8 seconds remaining when Tyus Edney went the length of the court for a buzzer-beater layup to give No. 1 seed UCLA the win. The Bruins faced just one double-digit seed in the tournament and won four of six games by at least 10 points. UCLA defeated No. 2 seed Arkansas, 89-78, in the national championship game.
- DUKE BLUE DEVILS (2010)
(Photo: Getty)
Total Margin of Victory: +87
Mike Krzyzewski captured his fourth national championship with Duke in 2010 when the Blue Devils defeated No. 5 seed Butler, 61-59, in the title game. But the championship run almost crashed in dramatic fashion when Gordon Hayward nearly hit what would have been one of the all-time greatest buzzer-beaters in March Madness history. The half-court heave missed off the backboard and the front of the rim. It was the closest finish of the NCAA Tournament for No. 1 seed Duke, which won six games by an average of 14.5 points. The Blue Devils routed No. 2 seed West Virginia, 78-57, in the Final Four.
T-12. BAYLOR BEARS (2021)
(Photo: Getty)
Total Margin of Victory: +92
Baylor won all but one NCAA Tournament game in 2021 by double-digits en route to its first national championship in men’s basketball. The Bears defeated No. 2 seed Houston, 78-59, in the Final Four before thumping No. 1 seed Gonzaga, 86-70, in the title game. The 16-point margin of victory in the national championship game is tied for the sixth-most since 1985. The only win that came by single-digits for No. 1 seed Baylor was against Arkansas, 81-72, in the Elite Eight. However, the Bears never trailed. Baylor was also dominant in the regular season, losing just two games.
T-12. MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS (2000)
(Photo: Getty)
Total Margin of Victory: +92
Michigan State became the first national champion to win every NCAA Tournament game by double-figures since the field expanded in 1985. The Spartans rolled to a national title under Tom Izzo in 2000, winning the six games by an average margin of 15.3 points. The tightest battle for No. 1 seed Michigan State came against No. 2 seed Iowa State in the Elite Eight, 75-64. That was one of only two games the Spartans faced versus a 4-seed or better in the tournament. Michigan State defeated No. 5 seed Florida, 89-76, in the national championship game.
- DUKE BLUE DEVILS (2015)
(Photo: Getty)
Total Margin of Victory: +93
Duke dominated its way to the fifth and final national championship for legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski in 2015. The Blue Devils’ narrowest margin of victory in the NCAA Tournament came in the title game against fellow No. 1 seed Wisconsin, 68-63. That final result occurred after Duke throttled No. 7 seed Michigan State by 20 (!!) in the Final Four, 81-61. That star-studded Blue Devils’ lineup included Quinn Cook, Tyus Jones, Jahlil Okafor, Justice Winslow and a young freshman Grayson Allen. Duke did face somewhat of a test in the Sweet 16 against No. 5 seed Utah, but held off a late rally by the Utes to win, 63-57.
- NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (1993)
(Photo: Getty)
Total Margin of Victory: +94
North Carolina won just three of its NCAA Tournament games by double-digits during a national title run in 1993. The Tar Heels total margin of victory was aided by a 45-point beatdown of No. 8 seed Rhode Island in the second round. The path to cutting down the nets was not easy for Dean Smith and UNC, which faced No. 4 seed Arkansas in the Sweet 16, No. 2 seed Cincinnati in the Elite Eight, No. 2 seed Kansas in the Final Four and No. 1 seed Michigan in the championship game.
The Tar Heels benefited from one of the most bizarre endings in March Madness history when Wolverines’ star Chris Webber tried to call a timeout with 20 seconds remaining to set up a game-winning attempt. But, Michigan did not have any timeouts left, resulting in a technical foul as UNC sealed the title at the free-throw line.
