← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
Portal Updates! Michigan begins reload with J.P. Estrella; Bill Self & Kansas have to start over + Michael Malone era at UNC
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- [00:00]
A
What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robinhood Prediction Markets. It's not you against the house, it's you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter. Robinhood Prediction Markets changes the game. It's people moving the action so when momentum shifts you you can move with it. I always knew the game, but never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge. Now I can actually take part live. In a market powered by people, you're no longer just a spectator. Play by play, you decide. Trade every play with Robinhood now available across the U.S. download the Robinhood app now to begin Futures and cleared Swaps Trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives llc, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Every spring I go through my closet and think, do I really need all of this? Hey guys, producer Josh here and lately I've been trying to keep fewer pieces in my closet. There's only so much room and I want things that feel good, look good and actually make getting dressed easier. We're finally getting some warmer weather and I'm excited to wear some of the linen items I have from Quint's. The Drawstring linen beach shorts are lightweight, breathable and comfortable and pair perfectly with the linen Camp shirt and their Flowknit activewear. Soft moisture wicking anti odor. Basically made to wear all day. What makes Quint so different is the value. By working directly with ethical factories and cutting out the middlemen, they give you premium quality at prices 50 to 60% lower than similar brands. Pieces that last feel amazing and make your wardrobe simpler. What's not to love? Refresh your wardrobe with quint. Go to quint.com I for free shipping and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com ieye for free shipping and 365 day returns.quints.com I.
- [02:28]
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Hey there. I am Gary Parish. Welcome back, CBS College Basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss Campbell fighting dodo birds. Leaky Black David Cobb is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube, there's only one way to honor Brandon Davies. You must smash the like button. If you haven't yet subscribed to the Ion College Basketball podcast, please do that. Wherever you subscribe to pods like Apple and Spotify, let's get into it. It's been four days now since Michigan won the 2026 NCAA tournament. 69, 63 victory over UConn. Since then I have traveled home. Since then, David Cobb has traveled home. And since then the Wolverines have bolstered their front court that is definitely losing one starter, probably losing two, and could lose all three. We'll get to that in a moment. But the headline on this morning is that Michigan has secured a commitment to from Tennessee transfer J. Tennessee transfer JP Estrella. David Cobb, good to see you on this Friday morning. Dusty May and his staff have turned transfer bigs into first round picks in consecutive years with Danny Wolf and at least A. Dimara. Is JP Estrella, is he going to be the first, I mean the next. And by, by first, I mean next?
- [03:43]
A
Yes.
- [03:43]
C
It's crazy because Tennessee's last game of the season, JP Estrella's last game as a volunteer Michigan Wolverines and I'm going to venture to guess it wasn't his performance in that game that that switched the light bulb on for Michigan staff. I'm gonna, I'm gonna guess they had already done their advanced work on JP Estrella before that meeting because if that game was all you're going off of and you're a Michigan fan and you're like, wait, that guy, that's the one we're bringing in to replace this, this convoy of bigs, I'd be a little underwhelmed. But if you look at the body of work GP I actually think JPS Strella compares pretty nicely to Morez Johnson Jr. In the, in the way he plays, right? Because you look at Yaxel, you look at Merez, you look at a Dai Mara, you're like, all right, which of these players does JP Estrella profile the the most closely to it definitely is not Yaxel. Definitely not Yaxel. And I don't think it's a Diamara either because JP Estrella has not shown that elite like paint protection sort of ability. Now granted, a lot of times he was playing next to Felix Akpara at Tennessee and Akbara was that elite rim protector. So JP Estrella was more off the ball in terms of being, you know, he wasn't always defending the fives, he wasn't always the last line of defense there at the rim. But if you look at their, their offensive profiles, JP Estrella, 60% field goal shooter on post ops according to Synergy. That's pretty comparable to Miraz Johnson Jr 56.4% on post ops according to Synergy. And then at the rim, I think is where there's a little bit of a difference. Tennessee fans would tell you that JP Estrella was a little disappointing at times at the rim against some of the bigger opponents on Tennessee's schedule. He still shot a very respectable 60% at the rim, but Mahrez almost 72% at the rim. So a little bit of a difference there. But JP Estrella is, is a really solid. Five years ago he would have been a five, no questions asked. Right. But in the way it's going now, the way Michigan likes to play, the way college basketball is structured, he's more of that four or five. And assuming Michigan's going to play next season the way it played this past season. Yeah, like you could, you could start JP Estrella at the four and play more that bully ball, smash mouth style.
- [05:50]
B
It seems like exactly what they did last year, which is identify role players from power conference programs that they can envision being something more like they hit it across the board with those guys. I know Yaxel wasn't a role player, but he was a star at UAB in the American. But Elliot Cadeau was a guy at North Carolina. Morris Johnson was a guy at Illinois. Adai Mara was a guy at ucla. None of them, the guys at those schools, and yet they collectively came together to create undeniably the best basketball team in the country. And here's another example of, of them I, I think going down a similar path. He only averaged JP Estrella 10 points and 5.4 rebounds. But that comes in just 18.3 minutes per game. So the per minute stuff is actually pretty impressive. And so you're exactly right. They didn't make this. They didn't. The transfer portal doesn't open and then Dusty May's like, so, hey guys, congrats again on the national championship. What are we doing about next year? Like this was, this was in the works and then they executed it and got it done, same way they did consistently last offseason in the transfer portal. And so I guess my next question for you is, does this tell us something about what the roster will look like next season in Ann Arbor? As you know, Jackson Lindenborg is gone. He has exhausted his eligibility. That's the easy one. The more difficult ones are Adai Mara and Morris Johnson Jr. Because they are both Mara, I think at this point is almost a lock to be a first round pick. It's do you want him in the lottery or do you want him 20? But he's going to be picked somewhere. And I think most people assume and it's just an assumption. But assume he will be in the in the 2026 NBA Draft. Whereas Johnson is like you can look at one mock draft and he's 23, you can look at another one, he might be 36. Right. And those are the type of prospects in this era of the sport where you can make a lot of money in college basketball. I can totally understand why if your options your realistic opt are maybe be picked in the 30s, maybe split time between an NBA franchise and a G league franchise and even when you are in an NBA uniform, you're probably sitting at the end of the bench and making whatever you're making. You could make more money than that being a star college basketball player. Charter flights, nice hotels and you're on national TV every game you're in sold out arenas basically every game. I could understand why you would say I'll just come back to college then. So as always I'll let these young men make their own decisions with the guidance of their families and agents. But I do have Michigan number one and we'll perhaps keep them there no matter what these decisions are. But my current roster projection in the top 25 and one has Yaxel gone, Adai Mora gone, Mo Johnson back with Elliot Cadeau, LJ Kayson and Trey McKinney giving Michigan four real rotation players back. Does this development should I change that? If you were doing the top 25 and one would you say this commitment makes me assume they must think Merez Johnson is actually out the door?
- [09:08]
C
Well, if Merez Johnson and Adai Mara are both gone and JP Estrella is like the guy down low from Michigan, I think you you got to look at maybe moving them down. I don't think that's going to be the case. Now. Could Morez Johnson and Dar both go? Yes. And if that happens, then I think Michigan's in the market for a big who might even be better than JP Estrella. Now, JP Estrella ranks 21st in our CBS Sports 24. 7 sports transfer portal ranking, so he's among the more highly rated bigs so far in the Portal. But you can't do what you did last year in terms of dominating teams on the interior. If JP Estrella is the focal point of your front court, he doesn't have the length, the wingspan to have you the number one ranked defense at Kenpom like Michigan had this past season. So if you get one of those guys back, I feel like JP Estrella is a really nice complimentary piece to them. But if both of them leave, then you're back in the market for another big time stud. And then, not to mention, like, how do you replace Jaxel? Because he was sort of the third member of that towering trio, but he played on the perimeter. They cast him more as a 3. Who is that guy in the portal this year? I don't see him yet. You know what I mean? Yaxel was one of one last year in terms of that archetype. So they're gonna have to, to kind of shift and mold this thing a little bit because the guards you mentioned, Cadot, McKinney, Cason, you know, they aren't though, that, that 6, 9, sort of versatile Dominican LeBron archetype. So. So there's still some molding and shifting to be done here for Michigan, but it's very, very early. And just because guys aren't in the portal right now doesn't mean they won't be. And there's somebody out there maybe who could play that, that role for, for Michigan. They, they could still, they could still hit the portal. You know, this thing is going to be open now for, for a handful more days.
- [11:02]
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Well, that's the thing. And I'm not, I'm not saying this about Michigan specifically, but Michigan as a brand, Michigan as a program, that is the type of place that can put people in the portal. In other words, there's a lot of different ways basketball players end up there. Sometimes it's because they're in search of more money. Sometimes it's because they're in search of more playing time. Sometimes it's because they got pushed there by their current staff. Sometimes it's because they got a phone call and said, hey, if you're happy, be happy where you're at. But, you know, if you got in that transfer portal, we could maybe make an offer that would convince you that you're not as happy at your current place as you thought you were. So Michigan is the type of like Michigan Duke, these big brands with big, you know, budgets. They're the types that can have somebody pick up the phone, get in touch with somebody and say, is your, is your six, eight wing at this place happy? Yeah, he's fine. Okay. But like, is he really happy? Could he be happier at this other thing? If so, you know, get him in there and we'll get him right out of there. So that's the type of thing that could go on as well. But either way, it look like almost regardless of what happens between now and the beginning of next season, we will, heading into it, have very reasonable and realistic conversations about, yeah, just like we thought UConn had a chance to go back to back and then three Pete. And just like we thought this season Florida on paper looked like a team good enough to go back to back. We're going to head into next season. Pushback if you want. Almost regardless of what happens between now and the opening day, thinking that Michigan's going to have at least a shot to be a back to back national champion. Would you agree with that?
- [12:45]
C
Well, yeah. And then don't forget too, I mean their, their actual high school recruiting class is, yeah, is highly ranked. I mean they've got a kid, 610 kid coming in who's a top 50 prospect. I mean he could play minutes for him in the front court too. Now that's not something we saw from Michigan this past season. We didn't see true freshman contributors for the Wolverines on any significant level whatsoever. I mean that, that could, that could change this next year if they've nailed these, these evaluations on a very, very highly ranked freshman class. So that's the other element to, to remember here. They don't have as many spots to fill, you might think because they do have a nice freshman class coming in as well.
- [13:25]
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Cobb, I feel, I feel we've lost GP for the time being. We'll see, we'll work on, we'll work on getting them here. I'll jump in for the time being until I see his, his statues start to start to move around again. Let me ask you this, Cobb. Starting we've starting with JP Estrella. What are you expecting in the next, I don't know, few days, couple weeks, even the next couple months to, to happen for Michigan as they start to piece together this reload.
- [13:57]
C
Well, first off, getting Elliot Cadeau back. Massive. And now I think we got GP back, which is also massive.
- [14:03]
D
There's a GP. We found GP.
- [14:06]
C
But my point was basically just like Cado.
- [14:08]
B
Apparently we're having Wi Fi problems here at FedEx forum. I hope to God LeBron doesn't hear about this.
- [14:14]
C
When did you move to Indiana? That's what I'm wondering.
- [14:16]
B
I, I, apparently I live in Bloomington now. I just got back from Indiana now I'm, I'm back in the, I'm back in, I'm back at FedEx form and I hope to God LeBron doesn't hear about our, our sometimes spotty wi fi@ FedEx forum. I, I can't, I can't bear, I can't take another, I can't take another stray from LeBron James this week.
- [14:35]
C
You know, they've, you know, GP they have never had WI FI issues in Nashville. They've never had them. It's amazing. They've never had WI FI issues in Nashville.
- [14:44]
B
Nashville has the, the most beautiful hotels and the most perfect WI fi and
- [14:49]
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they also just rip off, you know, like, there's a, do you know, there's a central barbecue in Nashville now. Like, I, I, I upsetting to me. That's upsetting that, that's, that's upsetting to me.
- [14:59]
B
But we have a head, he's be, we have a heady B's here in Memphis. So I think it's all fair.
- [15:04]
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What Gus is. Gus is, is in Nashville too. And I'm like, is there no loyalty anymore in the world?
- [15:09]
B
I think franchising Trump's loyalty. I think that's the world we live in. Franchising Trump's loyalty. I was actually at the original True Story Gus's Fried Chicken in Mason, Tennessee, the day that they were signing the contract to franchise Gus's. Like, I, like, like I would just coincidentally. And I was like, so, what's going on? And they were like, we're about to take the, I think the next one they built was in downtown Memphis and now they're all over the place. I think they're in Texas and, you know, throughout, you know, they're all over the place. But yeah, Gus's Fried Chicken, it's a, it's a Franchising Trump's loyalty. I think that's the way I was trying to answer your question. Anyway, I'm back. I, I, I'm on a, I'm on a personal hot spot now, so we'll see how this goes the rest of the way. Did you and Josh wrap up this Michigan conversation? Y More or less.
- [15:59]
C
Like, I was just commenting briefly on, on the significance of getting Elliot Cadeau back. I mean, when you get the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player returning. Not that there was a viable NBA alternative for Elliot Cadou, but nonetheless, at a point in the calendar where a lot of teams are still massively in flux, it does feel like Michigan has more of its structure in place. Now, obviously, the, the Mara and the, in the Miraz Johnson questions continue to loom, but in some way they've already begun to backfill there with Estrella, and then you've got the, the backcourt, which is in great shape with Cadou and case in and McKinney. So, yeah, I think you're well justified for the time being. GP and having the Wolverines at number one.
- [16:39]
B
All right, let's move on. Interesting developments at Kansas since the end of the season. First and foremost, Bill Self announced that he is returning to ku. He will be the coach of the Jayhawks for the 2026-27 season. And then just about everybody who was involved in KU program last season has subsequently announced they ain't going to be there for Bill Self next season. I get David Cobb's thoughts on that next first, let's get a word from our partners.
- [17:06]
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F
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- [18:29]
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- [19:00]
B
Self has announced that he is returning for another season at Kansas after there was some speculation, I guess, that he might retire Subsequently, basically everybody who played for Kansas this season has said we ain't playing for Kansas next season. Top six scores all gone. Leading returning scorer now projects as Cole Rosario 3.4 points in 11.6 minutes per game. Cobb, KU does have a top five recruiting class on the way, but still, I think we can all agree, and I think Bill Self would even co sign it. This isn't ideal to be losing this much of your roster year over year. Should KU fans be concerned?
- [19:39]
C
Well, sure, sure, you should be concerned. Absolutely. You're coming off four straight first weekend exits. Your entire roster's basically departing your freshman class. As you mentioned, it's highly ranked, but this is not like you got five McDonald's all Americans coming in. I mean, Taylor Kenny is very highly ranked as a guard and he should be the type of guy that will be among the better freshmen in college basketball next season. But after that, you don't have another top 50 guy. So you've got four players in that freshman class signed. But what's the realistic impact you expect from that class in this era? I would say relatively minimal. Now, on the flip side of this, outside of Florida, Badanga and my maybe Bryson Tiller, I mean, are you just totally devastated about the other guys who are leaving? I mean, I think the El Marco Jackson, Jamari McDowell sort of depth piece in the back court, you know, like those two had sort of run their course and hit their ceiling and you know, so it's not like outside of, outside of Badunga. These aren't devastating departures necessarily, but it does sort of make you realize like the fact that this Kansas program is just operating at a different level because you might have thought Bill Self recommits. He's not retiring. Tyron Stokes is going to commit ASAP as soon as he gets that information. Oh, we're good, you know, but we're still waiting. Kentucky seems to be firmly in the mix there as well. So it's crazy, man. Like you look at the four programs or the seven programs in college basketball who have won four or more national titles. Outside of UConn, who is still dominating college basketball like these other programs with the proud histories are kind of on the struggle bus right now. I mean, UNC, consecutive first round exits. Kentucky hadn't been past the sweet 16 since 19. Duke, in the midst of its longest national title drought since Coach K won his first. Indiana's missed seven of the last nine NCAA tournaments. Ucla, two NCAA tournament victories in the last three years. And now Kansas is a part of that conversation. I mean, like I mentioned, four, four straight first weekend exits and now you got a. A roster that you pretty much have to reconstruct fully here through the portal. So, yeah, plenty of reason to be concerned.
- [21:50]
B
I think it's just a reminder too that the brands, I don't want to say they don't matter. Like the Duke brand still matters and the Kentucky brand still matters, but they don't matter as much as they used to and they're not a needle mover in any sort of meaningful way. In other words, there was a time where Duke might offer a. Let's just for the sake of the conversation, assume everything was above board. I don't want to tell a hypothetical and then somebody say, well, you know what they really did, like, I got you. All right? But just for the sake of the conversation, Duke could offer a scholarship to somebody and a different school in a power conference, but a middle of the pack school in a power conference, certainly not a blue blood brand. Like, dude might tell the same prospect, we'll give you a scholarship and we'll also give your brother your, you know, a scholarship and we'll try to do a package deal to get this done. And a certain person might say, you know what, I'll just go to Duke anyway. I don't need the whole package. Like, you might pick the brand over what is theoretically a more lucrative situation for you and your family. But I don't know how true that is anymore. Right now, if, if you're a point guard and you're in the portal and one of the biggest brands in the country is offering you, you know, $2 million and a different brand is offering you $2.8 million, you're probably going to take the $2.8 million because that's what most normal people do. You know, that $800,000 in one year is a big difference when you're talking about, you know, a $2 million to $3 million salary, for lack of a better term. So whereas you would look at some of the best players in the country in years past, different eras, and you could sort of reasonably assume, well, I guess that guy's either going to Duke or Kentucky or here or here or here, or maybe his local university that's got some local ties. But outside of that, you could always assume with, in, you know, some sort of certainty that these types of schools were going to get these types of players, and now these types of players will go anywhere. We just lived through a season where, you know, A.J. deBonso was at, at BYU. He grew up in New England in a different era. He is playing at UConn or Kentucky or Duke, something like that. He went to byu. And so the advantages that used to be there for a Bill Self or you know, other coaches at these other big brands, they're just not there in the same types of ways anymore. And the job's harder. Like I, I I I've heard Rick Barnes recently say he thinks the job is easier now because at a place like Tennessee he's got the resources. You don't have to spend years recruiting now and the playing field's been a little leveled and can be leveled by money. And so he's enjoying coaching in this era. I don't want to put but that's more or less the sentiment and I think you can reasonably argue Bill Self's job has gotten harder because for a variety of reasons but Kansas is not the destination right now that it once was. And they I I assuming we're going to look up and that's going to be a preseason top 25 team. But we used to always look up and like you didn't even have to think about it. And right now looking at the current roster as constructed, you kind of would have to think about it.
- [25:13]
C
Do you have Kansas right now in your top?
- [25:16]
B
I do have them like in the 20s, but some of that is just out of respect for the program and Bill Self and like that. I just assume Kansas is going to be one of the 25 best teams in the country. Some of us just out of respect for that. But I if I'm being honest, if you took the name Kansas and the name Bill Self and just said GP this is the roster right now. April 10, 10:24am Eastern. This is the KU roster right now. Is that a top 25 roster in the country? I don't know.
- [25:48]
C
I mean they barely Rosario, Cole Rosario. You're carrying a lot of weight in that. On that roster right now you got
- [25:54]
B
a point guard and Cole Rosario, I mean you got a five star point guard at Cole Rosario. Now I'm assuming like the roster is going to improve obviously, but is it going to improve enough to where we are sitting here going? Oh yeah, Kansas looks like it could go back to another Final Four. In fact, let me ask you a question I was asked yesterday on radio in Kansas City, Seren Petro, I do a weekly spot with him during the season and he asked me yes or no, Bill Self will coach in a final Four again. What would you say? How would you answer that?
- [26:24]
C
I I would tend to lean? Yes, like, like, you know, I rattled off the shortcomings of the last five, six years of these programs that have won four plus national titles. But like, you know, we are still seeing, like, we are still seeing high level success from, from these programs. Now. It's not the wholesale dominance that it used to be, but they are still on the aggregate like having pretty high level success. And so I, I do think Kansas could get back, do I think Kansas will ever get back to where it was six, seven years ago? Pre Covid Kansas dominating the Big 12, you know, a one, two or three seed every single year? I don't think we're ever going to get back to that now. Could there be a single season where Kansas cycles up to that level? Yeah, absolutely. But I don't think it's going to be the Metronome just year after year after year after year where you just write them in. I, I think we're past that. I, I, I. It's been demonstrated the arrival of Arizona, the arrival of Houston, the staying power of Iowa State, along with the retention of TJ Otzelberger. It's really changed the landscape that Kansas competes against and, and made it a lot more difficult. And so yeah, I think, I think he'll get back there as long as he wants to continue coaching. And you know, he's, he, he's coming back, right? Like, does he, does he coach until his 70s? Like Kelvin Sampson, Rick Barnes, you know, some of these other guys who are, who are operating at such a high level? I think there's a huge question mark around that. I mean, I don't think anybody can deny the, the, the sense of curiosity over how, how much longer Bill Self has the appetite to keep going. But, but for as long as he does, I would, you know, I would have to imagine Kansas is going to be right there in the mix. And you know, this, this, this past season, you know, there were, the ingredients were in place and they had their, their moments and their flashes of like you could see it. And things didn't really pan out the way everybody hoped they would with Darren Peterson. But if you keep getting bites at the apple with talent of that caliber, with the talent that they had around Darren Peterson this year, you know, I would say the odds are in his favor that he gets back to the Final Four.
- [28:34]
B
Yeah, I think that's more or less the way I answered it. I said, but, you know, tell me how long he's going to coach. Like are we really doing one or two more years then? I guess from a probabilities perspective based on the current roster and then maybe you only get another year after that, then I guess the smart play would be no. But if you tell me he's going to coach into a 70s, I think then it shifts to probably just because he's Bill Self and that's Kansas and at some point it would click. But right now I think all of that is is is up in the air. Either way, in the short term they've got to, they've got to add players, Preferably, you know, high level players that make it where when you and I look at the roster, we're not debating whether Kansas should be in the top 25 and one right now it is kind of a debate. I have them in there, but you could certainly reasonably leave them out. I suspect the roster will be in a place where we remove that question from the conversation. Like it'll look like a top 25 team heading into things. But is it going to look the way we thought it was going to look even as recently as a week ago? Probably not. There's been a lot of players going from Lawrence, Kansas straight into the transfer portal. We'll see who they pull out of it in the coming hours and days and weeks and whatever we come back. I do want to get Cobb's thoughts on Michael Malone being introduced as the head coach at North Carolina. This obviously broke on Monday. Then we had the national championship game on Monday night. Norland Norlander and I podcasted after the game, but we were focused on Michigan and UConn then didn't really have time to deal with Michael Malone. Since then he has been introduced in Chapel Hill. It feels like the reaction to this is is moving a little bit. The initial reaction seemed to be what? And now people are starting to kind of talk themselves into it. I'll get cops thoughts next. First, let's get another word from our partners.
- [30:25]
H
K Pop Demon Hunters, Haja Boys Breakfast Meal and Hunt Tricks Meal have just dropped at McDonald's. They're calling this a battle for the fans. What do you say to that, Rumi?
- [30:34]
C
It's not a battle.
- [30:35]
H
So glad the Saja Boys could take
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C
breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day.
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B
It is an honor to share.
- [30:41]
C
No, it's our honor.
- [30:43]
B
It is our larger honor.
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C
No, really stop.
- [30:47]
H
You can really feel the respect in this battle. Pick a meal to pick a side
- [30:53]
B
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- [32:16]
C
making you feel incredibly old.
- [32:18]
B
Kraft Mac and Cheese Best thing ever. All right, Cobb. As we were getting ready for the Final Four, it was a lot of conversations about, is Tommy Lloyd at Arizona going to be the next head coach at North Carolina? He announced a week ago today that he's not going to be. He's staying at Arizona. There was also some interest in Dusty May reportedly reached out to Ben McCollum at Iowa eventually hired Michael Malone, the former NBA coach who, of course won a championship three years ago with Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. My initial reaction to this was, okay, if you'd asked me a month ago, who's going to be the next head coach in North Carolina if Hubert Davis is pushed out, I don't think I would have spit Michael Malone off the top of my top of my head. But I can, I can make sense of this. North Carolina has, you know, somebody whose job it will be to secure a roster by players. As long as the program is well funded, and it should be, then you're handing a basketball team to a guy who can clearly coach basketball. I can. I Can wrap my head around the idea of this actually works. And not just works okay, but works well. Where are you at on Michael Malone? Head coach, North Carolina Tar Heels.
- [33:38]
C
You know, did it feel a little random? Yeah, sure. It felt a little, a little random in the moment. I'm of the opinion that among high school prospects and players in the portal, players of the 17 to 22 year old age group, Michael Malone might be a more visible, attractive coach to play for than Billy Donovan. I, I know people ra probably think that's wild because we remember Billy Donovan winning consecutive titles with Florida, but players of 17 to 22 year old age range, they don't remember Billy Donovan winning back to back titles at Florida. They remember Michael Malone and Nicola Jokic winning an NBA championship at Denver three years ago though. So in terms of like an NBA coach who's going to resonate with college talent, I actually think Michael Malone checks that box in a more significant way than Billy Donovan. And let's not pretend like he has no college experience. Sure. Has the game changed in a quarter century since he was in college basketball? Yeah, absolutely. But it had changed a whole lot too since Billy Donovan left. So if you're, if you're doing the oh, it could have been Billy thing, I, I actually think Michael Malone maybe checks more of the boxes and could work out better in terms of a guy who you were going to bring in from the NBA coaching ran. So I'm, I'm reasonably optimistic on this, especially if Henry Vsar comes back. I mean we've seen Michael Malone build a championship level roster around Eastern European big man before so it would be exciting to kind of theorize about the possibilities of him doing that again. Now I do think they overpaid a little bit. I mean the, the top five level salary, the 80% owed on any buyout that, that seems like a little bit of an over commitment financially because in the moment you're like all right, this is great because they don't have to pay a 10 million dollar buyout on a sitting college coach and maybe they can save a little bit of coin there and then use that to fund the roster. Right. And the wheels are spinning on that and it's like oh man. Then you get the details of the contract and it's like wow, they, they, they really went all in on this. So I mean I get the, the complaint there, but I mean look like of their top five players from Evan Mia's BPR ranking this past season, three of them are not in the portal right now. So like Obviously, Caleb Wilson has gone to the draft. We assume Seth Trimble is out of eligibility, but Vsar was their, their top guy in terms of efficiency. Then Jaron Stevenson was third, Luka Bogavac was fifth. We've not seen any, any indication that any of the, the three of those players are, are leaving. And so you could have a nice returning nucleus there. Actually, if those three guys were to be retained. Now, we still got a long way to go before that's set in stone, but potentially you could have the building blocks there for Michael Malone's first roster.
- [36:27]
B
Yeah, I mean, I've got him 18th in the top 25 and one right now based off of those three players returning. And as I write, this ranking is based on the tar heels returning three of the top five scorers from a team that advanced to the first round of the 2026 NCAA tournament. Like, I, I, I, I'll just keep it like, obviously, you know, as always, we'll see. I, I've been doing this long enough where I've watched coaching hires happen that I thought would work brilliantly, and it just didn't. I've seen some that I thought would be disasters and they just weren't. So no way to know for sure. But just on paper, this makes sense to me. Like, I'll just ask some very simple questions. Is North Carolina going to fund its men's basketball program at an elite level? If it hasn't, I think it will moving forward because it knows it has to. Right. Like, you could guess over the past few years if you want, where this thing is going, how it's going to work, what's important, what isn't. We're not guessing anymore. It's money. Money drives all of this stuff. They're going to have to fund it. I assume that they will. Okay. Are they going to have somebody whose job it is to secure players? Yes. I can't tell you whether they'll be good at it, but if they are, then you're just handing over a lucrative, a big salaried roster with theoretically talented basketball players to a guy who can clearly coach. What's the problem? Why would that not work other than for the reason? Sometimes just things don't work. But like, that should work. If everybody involved does their job well, this should work just fine. And as for what they're paying him, I was a little surprised the numbers are that high, but I understand how you get there. It's. Who knows how many NBA jobs are about to open. He will, at least in theory, be a candidate for everyone. Or at least he'll be reported as a candidate for everyone. Somebody will float his name for all of them. All right, so if you're North Carolina and he's showing any hesitation whatsoever, this isn't a guy who has to take your job or he doesn't know what he's going to do tomorrow. He, he doesn't need the money, I assume he can get another job somewhere else. I assume. And he can hold all of that over your head in negotiations. And oh, by the way, the transfer portal is about to open. So, like, hey, do we really want to pay this much money for this particular coach? No. But a minute ago we were going to try to hire Tommy Lloyd. We're going to have to pay X amount of dollars in a buyout. We get to avoid that now. So if you, and this is the way you, any of us who have ever made big purchases like you start wrapping your head around, you know, when you think about it this way. And so I guarantee you somebody said, well, when you think about it this way, we're saving all this buyout money. So it's not that big of a deal if we throw a little extra here to get this done. Because big picture, we're still saving money relative to what we thought we were going to be spending a week ago when we thought we were maybe getting the Arizona coach. And so that's how you wrap your mind around it, I think, and you just get it done and then you hope for the best. But if the school can keep the just those three and then supplement the roster around them, I think we'll look up and Michael Malone will have a top 25 team competing with Duke in Virginia and whatever else at or near the top of the ACC next season. I am not nearly as out on this as so many other people seem to be initially.
- [39:54]
C
Yeah, I think he's made some nice moves too in retaining Sean May, Pat Sullivan. Eric hoots these guys who are Carolina through and through because this is a little bit of a culture shock for, for a program that has operated within its family for generations now to go to somebody outside that family. And I get it, his daughter plays volleyball there. But let's not pretend like Michael Malone has some illustrious history in the powder blue. So to retain those guys.
- [40:22]
B
He's been there some just like I've been there some like they're not much difference other than his. He apparently his, his, his, his daughter is an accomplished volleyball player there. So he does have that connection. I know he's been around the Campus. But yeah, he's certainly. This is not in the family hire. Nobody's suggesting otherwise.
- [40:39]
C
Yeah. And then the, the Chuck Martin hire from John Caliperi staff at Arkansas is nice hire because this is sort of a, a college basketball lifer. He's been a college basketball head coach. Now, he did have a brief stint as an NBA scout. I think that's a plus for him. But somebody who has the relationships throughout the sport, somebody who helped John Caliperi acquire talent, somebody who's been dialed in on the portal and player acquisition for months now, albeit at a previous institution, but one that competes for the similar type of player as North Carolina will be competing for here over the next few weeks. So I think that's brilliant as well. I mean, my one kind of concern on Michael Malone is like, all right, how dialed in on college basketball have you been? Like, you've been an NBA analyst, you've been an NBA head coach. Like, you've been out of coaching. So you have to have help navigating the intricacies of the sport when there are 1500 plus players available in the portal. Like, that is an overwhelming amount of talent to sift through and to sort through. And somebody like Chuck Martin can, can help with that. And so that, that's the key is, is having help with constructing the roster. Because if he has that and you give Michael Malone A top 20 roster, I'm of the opinion that this guy was an NBA, a successful NBA head coach for over a decade. And I know people want to do the, oh, well, here was his record without Nikola Jokic. But sure, like Denver was instructed specifically tailored to thrive around Nicola Jokic. Like, is it any shock that they had a worse record when he didn't play? No, just the same as it won't be any shock if they center this next roster around Henry Visar and struggle a little bit in the games where Henry Visar may not be available. Right. Like, that's just how basketball works. So I don't really look at that as any significant ding. I'll say this, the one player who I would love for North Carolina State to come back is like a Derek Dixon. He's in the portal. He had a nice freshman season. I was in the building in Rupp when he hit some big shots down the stretch as a true freshman two months into his career to help them get a big win there. And it's like, I hate seeing that guy get in the portal for UNC's sake. But. But yeah, I, I'm bullish on this you know, people want to liken it to Bill Belichick, like the, the guy who flamed out at the professional ranks, who UNC takes an unnecessarily big swing on. And I guess on the surface, like, I get the comp, but to me, I've made this comparison. I think it resonates more closely to like Pete Carroll going to USC after he got fired in New England, you know, 25 years ago, and he goes to USC. It took him a year to get his feet beneath him. But boy, the best years of of USC football in this century ensued after they rolled the dice on a guy who the professional game had decided it was done with. And so I don't know if Michael Malone has like that high level leadership thinking that we associate with Pete Carroll, but from a schematic perspective, you know, I think he absolutely can come in and you give this guy a decent roster, I think you can coach him up.
- [43:34]
B
It's, it's just way easier to flip it in basketball than it is football anyway. I mean, in basketball you can do it with one recruiting class. And by one recruiting class, I mean four guys. Like, you can't flip a college football program with four guys. You can flip a college basketball program with four guys. I mean, Michigan just did it he last office. You can flip the whole thing with two weeks of good work and lots of money. And so it might be a disaster like Belichick or could go brilliantly like Pete Carroll. Like again, I have guesses, but we all just have guesses we'll let it play out. But I would bet on it working I a well funded program with a high level NBA like Wally Zerbiak. When this broke, I was with Wally. We were at the final Four. Wally was like, he was my assistant coach in Cleveland when we won 66 games and I played with LeBron. He's awesome. Like, really knows his stuff. Like, you know, Wally played for a lot of coaches over a lot of years in the NBA. Trust me, he doesn't say they were all awesome. There are some. He's like, oh, that guy didn't know what he was doing, right? Unprompted, he was like, Michael Malone is a great basketball coach. All right, so North Carolina just hired a great basketball coach. And now if North Carolina can get him great basketball players, I assume it'll go. I'm assuming it'll go well. And the other thing, he's 54 years old. He's younger than you think, like, particularly in college basketball. He's 54 years old, like, he's not an old man. And in college basketball, like, he's. He's actually on the younger side. So he's one of the more accomplished, you know, under 55 coaches in college basketball immediately. And I do think having somebody like Chuck on staff and then we'll get out of here is important, but not from a coaching basketball perspective. I think once you get them in the gym now, it's just a basketball team. You could coach high school, NBA, anything in between. You're. You're just coaching basketball where. I think having somebody like Chuck is helpful. When you haven't been on a college campus in like a quarter century in any sort of meaningful way is like, just to ask very basic questions. Like, so when you guys travel to Clemson, how do you do that? All right, like, hey, when you go here, where do you stay? Hey, if you've got finals weeks, how do you guys handle that? Like, just. Just the very base. Just somebody right there who's. I've known Chuck forever. He's been a bunch of different programs, different parts of the country, work for different men. Like, there's nothing you're going to be able to put in front of him that he can't say, oh, yeah, I. We dealt with that before. Eligibility issue. Oh, yeah, I've dealt with that before. Hey, when, hey, compliance is being tough on me about this one. How do you handle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we had a situation like that back at wherever. Like, there's nothing you're going to put in front of him that he hasn't seen that he can't be helpful with. And I think if you are sort of parachuting in from a different world into college athletics, you don't have to have that institutional knowledge of how it all works, but it is helpful to have somebody around you who does. And I think that was smart to get somebody like that on his staff immediately. Just to. Just to stand next to him and, you know, even, hey, we're going to Peach Jam. Where do you park? It's just stuff like that. What's the best way to get in? How do you get from here to there? Where's court for just stuff like. Just having somebody like that who has seen it all, I think is helpful, and that's an encouraging step. If I'm a North Carolina fan, seeing that, seen that happen, I. That. That would make me think, here's somebody who clearly knows the type of people he needs around him to make this work. I like the move to echo what you said. All right. I think that's enough for a Friday morning. You think that's enough for a Friday morning?
- [47:20]
C
I think that's enough for a Friday.
- [47:21]
B
All right, before I get you out of here, let me ask you how you're feeling, because I know you weren't feeling so well at the final four. You're doing better. You look good.
- [47:28]
C
Thanks. Yeah, the left side of my mouth has been better. We are. I'm counting down the hours to a root canal. Like, I've never been more excited to get a root canal. It hurts to eat. Crushing. Extra strength ibuprofen. My final four was saved by the fact that my dentist called in a prescription that I literally jogged across downtown Indianapolis to get before the Walgreens shut down. But, yeah, we're doing all right. We're hanging in there. The medicine ran out last night, so I got to make it until Tuesday, knock on wood. We're feeling okay as of now, but, you know, it could. It could get dicey here over the. Over the next 96 hours or so.
- [48:07]
B
How does vodka work as a numbing. As a. As a numbing tool for. For teeth?
- [48:13]
C
GP I quite literally went and bought White Lightning moonshine just. Just in case. Like, I would never buy that otherwise. I would never buy it otherwise, but I was like. Like, we might have to get innovative here down the stretch.
- [48:27]
B
Here comes that southern man coming out in. You. You didn't. You didn't. Got you a bottle of moonshine. Every. Every man in the south got to have a bottle of moonshine in the cabinet.
- [48:35]
C
But you help me out, you hook me up, your guy, Dr. Mehdi's gonna. Gonna hook me up with a. A new prescription if things deteriorate here over the next couple of days. So I. I've got the systems in place to make it to the finish. Finish line, so we're. We're getting there.
- [48:50]
B
All right, buddy, well, that's good to hear. Hang in there. If you need the moonshine, text me. I'll pour. I'll pour me a little shot. I'll drink moonshine with you tonight if you need me. All right.
- [49:00]
C
Appreciate that. That's what. That's what a real teammate would do. Appreciate.
- [49:03]
B
Hey, the season's over. I could open a bottle of moonshine on a Friday night if I want to. All right? The season's over. All right. So text me if you need me. I'm glad you're feeling better. Let's get out of here. Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, South Carolina. Terry Teagle's a legend. Huck and Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching listening to the I Own College Basketball podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anywhere. You subscribe to Pods, Apple, Spotify. More of us than there are of them. That should be reflected in the comments. So do that. We'll talk to you again real soon. Till then, take.
- [49:45]
C
Paramount Podcasts.
- [49:48]
H
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