Month: March 2025

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello reported on Sunday that Kevin Willard has been hired as Villanova’s new men’s basketball coach, and will leave Maryland after three seasons. Willard replaces Kyle Neptune, who was fired on March 15 after failing to make the NCAA tournament in any of his three seasons at Villanova. The Wildcats went 54-47 (.535) under Neptune.

The school officially announced Willard’s hiring on Sunday morning, with Villanova president Rev. Peter M. Donohue sharing in a statement: “Coach Willard quickly stood out among an impressive pool of candidates during a comprehensive national search. Throughout the process, Coach Willard demonstrated that he has the vision and experience to guide Villanova Basketball in the changing world of college athletics. Beyond his notable success on the court, we were also impressed by his ability to articulate how Villanova Basketball fits into the overarching mission of the University.”

Following his role as an assistant under Rick Pitino with the Boston Celtics and at Louisville, Willard began his head coaching career at Iona in 2007, registering a 45-49 record. He went on to spend 12 seasons as the head coach at Seton Hall (from 2010-2022), where the Pirates went 225-161 (.583). They also reached the NCAA tournament in five of his final seven seasons in charge and won a Big East title in 2020. After Seton Hall went 21-11 and made the NCAA tournament during the 2021-22 campaign, Maryland hired Willard.

Willard, 49, just finished his best season at Maryland, in which the Terrapins went 27-9 and reached the Sweet 16 in the 2025 NCAA tournament. Their 2024-25 season ended with an 87-71 loss to Florida on Thursday. He had been discussing a contract extension that reportedly would have made him one of the 10 highest-paid coaches in college basketball, but his frustration with the program went public, and he cited athletic director Damon Evans leaving for SMU as a reason a new contract hadn’t been worked out, saying “it’s kind of tough to negotiate with somebody that’s maybe not here.”

After news broke of Willard’s move to Villanova, Maryland president Darryll J. Pines said in a statement that a national search was underway to replace him: “We took a very proactive and aggressive approach to retain Coach Willard, offering a significant contract extension and salary increase, new staff, and one of the highest revenue-share budgets in the B1G Conference. We had long and thoughtful conversations about the program and shared the same vision for Maryland Basketball.”

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The University of Houston is heading to San Antonio for the NCAA men’s tournament ‘Final Four’ for the first time in four years, after defeating Tennessee 69-50 in the Midwest Region championship game on Sunday.

With 17 points from Big 12 player of the year L.J. Cryer and Emanuel Sharp with 16 points, the Cougars led by as much as 22 points in the first half and went into halftime with a 34-15 lead;

Coach Kelvin Sampson said maturity of the team’s leaders was the key to Houston’s success: “They care more about winning than they do statistics. They allow me to coach them the way I want to coach them. I think that’s important. We recruit these young men because of their high character and we tell them it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be hard. But they have to choose hard, and they do. And that’s why I love them.”

The Cougars will face Duke next weekend to try and advance to the men’s national championship.

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Auburn beat Michigan State 70-64 on Sunday and complete the sweep of No. 1 seeds advancing to the Final Four. The South Region champion Tigers, the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, became the last of the No. 1 seeds to advance to the Final Four — joining Florida, Duke and Houston.

Johni Broome had 25 points and 14 rebounds to help Auburn earn its second Final Four trip, led by head coach Bruce Pearl (who also led Auburn to its only previous Final Four appearance in 2019).

Auburn will face Florida (who defeated Texas Tech 84-79 in the West Region final) on Saturday in San Antonio.

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Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II has suffered a torn ligament in his left thumb and will be out indefinitely.  ESPN’s Shams Charania wrote on X: “Golden State Warriors G/F Gary Payton II has sustained a torn ligament in his left thumb and will be out for an indefinite period, sources tell ESPN. Brutal blow to the Warriors’ rotation.”

Payton suffered the injury during the Warriors’ 112-86 loss to the Miami Heat on Tuesday night; the guard played 20 minutes in the game, finishing with four points and seven rebounds.

During his nine NBA seasons, Payton has played for five teams, including the Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers. He has career averages of 5.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists and one steal, shooting 34% on 3s.

Payton is in his second stint with Golden State after playing for the team from 2020-22, then signing with the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland traded him back to the Warriors as part of a four-team deal during the 2022-23 season. The nine-year veteran is averaging 6.6 points, three rebounds and 1.3 assists while shooting 33% on 3-pointers.

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Penn announced they have hired ex-Iowa coach Fran McCaffery as its men’s basketball coach on Thursday, two weeks after he was fired at Iowa (where he was replaced by former Drake coach Ben McCollum.

McCaffery, 65, said in a statement: “I am excited and honored to return to my alma mater and the city of Philadelphia to lead the Penn men’s basketball program. It is a program that I have fond memories of from my previous time there as a student-athlete and assistant coach. My vision is to return Penn to prominence in the Ivy League and beyond and bring an exciting style of play to the Palestra.”

McCaffery was Iowa’s all-time wins leader (with a 297-207 overall record and 143-141 against Big Ten competition) and longest-tenured coach in program history after 15 years at the school. He is one of only five head coaches to guide teams to conference tournament titles in four or more different leagues (Big Ten, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Southern Conference, East Coast Conference). In 29 seasons, McCaffery has a 548-384 overall record with NCAA Tournament (6-12 record) stops at Lehigh, UNC Greensboro, Siena and Iowa.

Penn athletic director Alanna Wren said in a statement: “I am thrilled to bring Fran back to Penn and Philadelphia as our next head men’s basketball coach. Fran has had success at every level of Division I and is passionate about restoring our program to glory. His energy and enthusiasm for leading young men was apparent throughout the process and he has proven to be committed to player development and relationship-building with his student-athletes throughout his storied career.”

Penn fired coach Steve Donahue earlier this month; over the last 10 seasons he led the Quakers to a 131-130 record. including an 8-19 mark in 2024-25.

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