jja79 said:

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I remember me and my dad going to Texas Western games in 1966 when they beat Kentucky for the championship. Does that mean I'm old?

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Means you have "scoreboard" over a lot of us in basketball history. (adding my own "user name checks out")

Who was the UNC fan that used to post on here who always spelled it "Dook"?

Heading into the second full day of the head coaching search at North Carolina, ESPN's Jay Williams has pitched his top two candidates to replace Hubert Davis in Chapel Hill. He is swinging big.

During Thursday morning's edition of First Take, Williams pitched Alabama head coach Nate Oats and Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan as his two leading candidates. Oats is currently in the midst of his fifth Sweet 16 run at Alabama, while Donovan is heading towards the end of his sixth season at the helm of the Chicago Bulls.

Donovan has expressed interest but claimed he is only focused on the Bulls. I call Bull…

Nate has a better up and coming resume recently and likely is better with UNC's NIL and basketball blue blood aura.

Based on their evasive answers, you have to assume Oats and Donovan are both interested. As an "old" and more of a traditionalist, I'd favor Donovan. However, college basketball has changed so much since his heyday at Florida. Does he have the stomach for the 24/7 rat race of the transfer portal and NIL? Oats is in his ascendency but seems like an arrogant jerk. Of course, a fan's perspective changes when a coach is "your arrogant jerk." Am sort of hoping another candidate, maybe Byington at Vanderbilt, ultimately comes out the other side.

BubblesMcGee said:

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Based on their evasive answers, you have to assume Oats and Donovan are both interested. As an "old" and more of a traditionalist, I'd favor Donovan. However, college basketball has changed so much since his heyday at Florida. Does he have the stomach for the 24/7 rat race of the transfer portal and NIL? Oats is in his ascendency but seems like an arrogant jerk. Of course, a fan's perspective changes when a coach is "your arrogant jerk." Am sort of hoping another candidate, maybe Byington at Vanderbilt, ultimately comes out the other side.

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I think Oats has too much slime on him for the UNC brass to get behind, especially at the price point he would require.

UNC is slimmier than he is.

But they hide it better than Oats seems capable of doing. And UNC would have to pay a $10 million buyout. There are much less expensive options available IMO

I don't think UNC will be stopped solely by price. Slime might slow them down unless they think they have a perennial winner. The lack of an NC is unfortunate but the recent F4 and better recruiting makes Oats possible though hardly probable…

I generally agree with a caveat. Remember this is the same brain trust that brought "Chapel Bill" and company to town.

I think that works against Oates, actually. Belichik has been kinda disastrous for UNC, and recency bias might make those in the DM position hesitant with someone like Oates.

UNC's dream hire:
1a. Brad Stevens (already removed himself from consideration)
1b. Billy Donovan

It's Donovan once the Bulls are officially eliminated from playoff contention. The rest of the candidates are way down the list.

The Bulls have rarely been good the entire time he's been there. I wonder why now all of a sudden he'd think about leaving. I figured he'd just settled into NBA mediocrity and was good with it

I think it will be Otzelberger.

jja79 said:

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I remember me and my dad going to Texas Western games in 1966 when they beat Kentucky for the championship. Does that mean I'm old?

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Man, I thought going to the 1974 NCAA semifinals to watch David Thompson and NC State end UCLA's championship run with Bill Walton made me old.

Hi Junior.

Those weren't the first games we went to, just the first I thought you guys would recognize. My dad was a college basketball player and high jumper before the Marine Corps . His last 2 years in the Marines he was part of their travel team around the country. He was an outstanding athlete. He took me to see Bill Russell, Sandy Koufax, Jim Brown and lots of others as a kid.

GCP12 said:

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We are good! He’s not going anywhere! https://t.co/mlIvzDWAYe#RollTide 🏀 pic.twitter.com/4kRdwPooCV

— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) March 29, 2026

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Welp, he gone!

Vandy extended Byington.

Haven't seen any details. You'd think they'd back up the truck for their first basketball coach to win 20 games in back to back seasons leading to attendance being up 40%+.

GCP12 said:

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We are good! He’s not going anywhere! https://t.co/mlIvzDWAYe#RollTide 🏀 pic.twitter.com/4kRdwPooCV

— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) March 29, 2026

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lookin sharp in that custom Extra Medium hoodie

Caleb Wilson's injury did not doom Hubert Davis. Even with Wilson, they were at best 2nd weekend canon fodder. Losing Elliot Cadeau and Ian Jackson to the transfer portal, not making the tourney with a pre-season #1 ranking, getting knocked out as #1 overall seed in the sweet 16, not being competitive with Duke, not closing out games, not playing beautiful Carolina basketball, not recruiting well enough...it was time for him to go.

I'm a UNC grad, and as far as Duke goes, it's a great school for out of state undergrads. UNC is way ahead when it comes to grad programs and educating in-state students. Duke is a lot like Rice. If you grew up in Houston, made good grades, and wanted to go to Rice, you'd better not be white. If you grew up in North Carolina and wanted to go to Duke, you need to move far away first, preferably somewhere in the northeast to an expensive prep school.

I guess I'm not following. Duke doesn't like to take kids from in-state even if they have their academics in order?

I think he's saying that Duke prefers NE private school kids because their families are rich and could be good donors. Plus, they can afford the tuition.

What if you are just a smart white kid from a regular old high school in some rural small town in Texas? They like those kids over the smart kids from North Carolina?

MarcAg said:

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What if you are just a smart white kid from a regular old high school in some rural small town in Texas? They like those kids over the smart kids from North Carolina?

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Haha probably not. Don't fit the rich family dynamic

BasketballCoach2015 said:

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MarcAg said:

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What if you are just a smart white kid from a regular old high school in some rural small town in Texas? They like those kids over the smart kids from North Carolina?

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Haha probably not. Don't fit the rich family dynamic

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I guess my brother got lucky then.
What's funny is he does have twins that just started at expensive prep schools in NJ this year (one is all boys school and one is all girls school). Probably saw where most of his classmates at Duke came from and preparing accordingly.

I wanted to go there so bad as a kid.