Men's College Basketball

Dick Vitale is cancer-free.

The ESPN announcer announced Wednesday that a PET scan showed he went from being in remission to being cleared of the disease:

Vitale has consistently kept fans updated on his recovery progress on his Twitter account, and he called Wednesday's news something he wishes every cancer patient can hear.

In October, he announced he was diagnosed with lymphoma just two months after he underwent multiple surgeries to remove a melanoma. Then, he revealed in December he was diagnosed with precancerous Dysplasia on the vocal cords and needed to take a break from broadcasting.

"Dr. Rick Brown had said I'm cured from melanoma, and they say we are making fantastic progress in my battle with lymphoma," he wrote in his December update. "My chemo treatments will resume tomorrow and I hope and pray that they continue to be successful."

While many basketball fans know Vitale from his time as an announcer for ESPN thanks to his distinct voice and catchphrases such as "Awesome, baby, with a capital A" and "diaper dandy," his journey in the game started well before he was the face of ESPN's college hoops coverage.

He was the head coach at Detroit Mercy for four seasons and then became the head coach of the Detroit Pistons for the 1978-79 season and 12 games of the 1979-80 season.

The college recruitment of Bronny James has become a hot topic with many speculating on which school is the favorite to land the oldest son of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.

On Tuesday, Jamie Shaw of On3 reported that Oregon is the front-runner to receive a commitment from Bronny. Not long afterward, his father responded to the report, saying it's still early in the recruiting process and Bronny will announce his choice when he makes it:

Bronny James is ranked as the No. 7 shooting guard in the class of 2023 by 247Sports' composite rankings, but surprisingly, his page doesn't list a single scholarship offer. ESPN's Paul Biancardi reported Friday that there is a "strong feeling" James will choose to attend college instead of playing professionally before he's eligible for the NBA draft in 2024.

Per Shaw, Ohio State and USC are the other teams actively pursuing James in addition to Oregon. Biancardi had listed UCLA and Michigan as also having interest in James, but Shaw noted those two schools were not actively recruiting him.

James had a solid showing recently at Nike's Peach Jam, averaging 15.8 points with a 2.5-to-1.0 assist-to-turnover ratio, according to Shaw. He also drew attention on social media after his thunderous poster dunk Monday during a Euro Tour exhibition game in Paris.

While James appears to be in no rush to announce his commitment, he is set for a crucial senior season at Sierra Canyon High School. All eyes will be on the son of one of the greatest NBA players ever as he tries to prove himself worthy of a Division I offer.

The Oregon Ducks men's basketball team may be appointment viewing during the 2023-24 season.

According to Jamie Shaw of On3 Sports, Oregon, Ohio State and USC are the three known schools to be recruiting Bronny James. He estimated that the Ducks had a 50 percent chance of landing LeBron James' son, while the other two programs each have a 25 percent chance.

"We are told James is going to go through the process," Shaw wrote. "At this point, the plan is to take virtual visits, Zooms, and in-person visits and go through the whole experience. Sources tell us that at this point, Oregon has a lead and that James will end up in Eugene."

The first connection that comes to mind with James and Oregon revolves around Nike. After all, LeBron signed a lifetime deal with the brand, and Phil Knight, who is the company's chairman, went to school at Oregon.

However, Shaw noted the younger James has a "comfort" with the program. It also doesn't hurt that Mookie Cook, who was travel teammates with Bronny in middle school, is part of the Ducks' loaded 2023 recruiting class.

That class already has Cook, who is a 5-star small forward, as well as 5-star power forward Kwame Evans Jr. and 4-star point guard Jackson Shelstad, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

It is currently the sixth-rated class and notably behind another contender in Ohio State (fourth), but adding James would certainly help it climb. James is a 4-star prospect and the No. 43 overall player, No. 7 shooting guard and No. 12 player from the state of California in the 2023 class, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

That is not to say this is a done deal.

USC is close to Sierra Canyon, where James attends high school. Former high school teammate Kijani Wright is also on the Trojans' roster.

As for Ohio State, the James family is from Ohio, and LeBron consistently supports the Buckeyes, be it by attending football games or shouting them out on Twitter. As Shaw noted, he even said he would have attended Ohio State if he played collegiately.

It seems as if this recruiting process will not end in the immediate future with James set to take visits to these schools and perhaps others, but Oregon apparently has the inside track for now.

Former Princeton men's basketball coach Pete Carril died Monday at the age of 92, the school announced.

"The Carril family is sad to report that Coach Peter J. Carril passed away peacefully this morning," the family said in a statement. "We kindly ask that you please respect our privacy at this time as we process our loss and handle necessary arrangements. More information will be forthcoming in the following days."

Carril was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998 after a storied career leading the Tigers from 1967-96. He accumulated 514 wins during his 29 years at the helm, winning 13 Ivy League titles and making 11 NCAA tournament appearances.

The architect of the "Princeton Offense" won four NCAA tournament games and was part of some of the most surprising results in March Madness history.

In 1996, the No. 13 seeded Tigers beat defending champion No. 4 UCLA in a low-scoring battle that ended 43-41. In 1989, No. 16 Princeton almost completed the biggest upset in the sport's history in a 50-49 loss to No. 1 Georgetown, a team that featured Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.

Carril also led his squad to an NIT title in 1975 while reaching as high as No. 12 in the Associated Press poll that season.

After stepping down as head coach at Princeton, Carril moved to the NBA and served as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings. He was on the staff as the squad reached the playoffs in eight straight years from 1999-2006, reaching the Western Conference Final in 2002.

Carril retired from coaching in 2011.

Amid speculation that changes were coming, it was confirmed Friday that the NIT men's college basketball tournament semifinals and finals will not be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 2023 or 2024.

According to ESPN's Jeff Borzello, the 2023 semis and finals will take place at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, while they will move to Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis in 2024.

With the exception of all NIT games occurring in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the semifinals and finals have been held at MSG every year since the tournament's inception in 1938.

It was initially reported by ESPN's Pete Thamel in March that the NCAA was exploring options outside of New York for the 2023 and 2024 NIT and was accepting bids from various cities and venues.

Sources told Thamel at the time that the decision for the NIT semifinals and finals to be played elsewhere was a mutual decision made by the NCAA and Madison Square Garden.

The NIT was once considered to be close to the same level as the NCAA tournament, but with the success of March Madness, that hasn't been the case in many years.

After no NIT tournament was held in 2020 because of COVID-19, big changes were made in 2021. In addition to the games being held in Dallas-Fort Worth, the field was reduced from 32 teams to 16 with no automatic qualifiers.

The regular format returned last season, as 32 teams were in the field and regular-season conference champions automatically qualified if they weren't already in the NCAA tournament.

Also, the opening rounds were held on campus before the semifinals and the championship game were played at MSG.

Xavier went on to win the NIT for the first time since 1958, beating Texas A&M 73-72 in the final.

It looks increasingly like Bronny James will choose college over pro ball for at least the 2023-24 season.

Paul Biancardi of ESPN reported there is a "strong feeling" James will attend college, with UCLA, USC, Michigan, Ohio State and Oregon among the schools that are heavily recruiting LeBron James' eldest son.

247Sports lists James as a 4-star recruit and the No. 43 overall player in the nation. He's in the midst of a European tour with the California Basketball Club as he prepares for his senior season at Sierra Canyon (California) High School.

The 6'3" shooting guard has shown he's inherited a high basketball IQ, flashing elite passing skills and demonstrating a heady feel for the game, particularly for a 17-year-old. He also uses his athleticism and smarts to play committed defense, and Biancardi noted he's able to keep his head in the game even when his shot isn't falling.

It's worth noting there are no official offers listed on James' 247Sports page. Being the son of an NBA legend allows Bronny to essentially dictate his own future, and every program in the country would be glad to have him simply on the basis of his association with his father.

There had been widespread speculation that Bronny James would bypass college and take the professional route. While the NBA does not allow players to enter the draft until they are one year removed from high school, James could join the G League Ignite in hopes of improving his draft stock.

It'll likely be nearly impossible to lock down any concrete information on James' future until he makes a decision. Being the son of LeBron opens up every opportunity in the basketball world, but that pressure and outside attention also make finding the right situation critical.

Former Texas Tech women's basketball head coach Marlene Stollings has reached a settlement with the school following a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit.

Per USA Today's Josh Peters, the settlement came after Stollings and the university filed a joint motion to settle on Wednesday and a judge dismissed the case on Thursday.

Stollings filed a lawsuit against the school and athletic director Kirby Hocutt in October 2020, two months after she was fired by the program. She said the firing was due to "discriminatory biases against female coaches" and also accused the school of fraudulent inducement, fraud, breach of contract and defamation.

Texas Tech announced Stollings' firing on Aug. 6, 2020, one day after USA Today's Jori Epstein and Daniel Libit published a report with allegations of abuse and a toxic culture during her two seasons with the program.

In the report, multiple Red Raiders players said Stollings and the coaching staff would call players "disgusting," "trash," "fat pig," "grossly out of shape" and "grossly disproportional."

Three international players told Epstein and Libit they were targeted by coaches and ridiculed over their English language skills.

One of the players, Marcella Lamark, who is from Brazil, said Stollings called her "dangerous" to teammates and gave her instructions to eat and train in isolation.

According to Peter, Stollings argued in her lawsuit against the school that "two internal reviews conducted by the school before the investigation was published cleared her of the allegations."

Peter noted Stollings was under contract through March 2024 at the time of her dismissal.

Stollings was hired by Texas Tech on April 9, 2018. She took the job after resigning from the University of Minnesota, where she spent four seasons as head coach.

The 47-year-old Stollings went 32-28 overall at Texas Tech (11-25 in the Big 12). She didn't make the NCAA tournament with the Red Raiders. She has a 164-117 career record in 10 seasons as a head coach with four different programs.

Krista Gerlich replaced Stollings as head coach at Texas Tech. She is 21-34 overall in two seasons with the program.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey believes it is time to start considering the possibility of expanding the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

According to SI.com's Pat Forde, Sankey wants to take a "fresh look" at March Madness in order to determine if it would be viable or necessary to add more teams to the field in the future.

Currently, 68 teams make the NCAA men's basketball tourney, and while Sankey said he is "not ready to make headlines there yet," he wants to have conversations about how more big-conference bubble teams can be included in the field.

Sankey referenced the 2022 College World Series to support his desire for more teams in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, as Ole Miss won the 2022 baseball national title despite being the final team in the field:

"If the last team in can win the national championship, and they're in the 30s or 40s from an RPI or [NCAA] NET standpoint, is our current approach supporting national championship competition? I think there's health in that conversation. That doesn't exclude people. It goes to: How do we include people in these annual national celebrations that lead to a national champion?"

While Sankey didn't make any mention of eliminating automatic bids for small conferences, Forde noted that small-conference commissioners and athletic directors are concerned about that happening if the field is expanded.

For Sankey's part, he wants to see more teams with top-flight talent in the tournament due to his belief that some of those teams who typically miss the tourney would have a legitimate chance to go on a deep run.

He specifically mentioned UCLA in 2021 and VCU in 2011 as teams that barely made the field and had to go through the First Four before ultimately making it all the way to the Final Four.

Sankey also noted that he felt Texas A&M, which went 27-13 last year, should have made the tournament last year and could have done some damage, although he admitted to being "biased" since the Aggies are an SEC team.

The current 68-team system has been in place since 2011. It was previously expanded to 64 teams in 1985 and then 65 teams in 2001 before going to the current format.

Although Sankey didn't provide specifics of how he would expand on the 68-team field, Forde noted that one popular proposal would see the field go from 68 teams to 80 teams with four First Four matchups in each region.

In that scenario, every conference would keep its automatic bid, meaning both large and small conferences would conceivably be happy with the system.

Sankey made it clear that nothing is imminent, but if the most recognizable commissioner in college sports is talking about expansion, there is likely a good chance it will at least be discussed.

Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops doesn't believe the program is the little brother to Wildcats men's basketball anymore.

Stoops pushed back against the idea expressed by men's basketball coach John Calipari that Kentucky is a "basketball school":

In an interview with The Athletic's Kyle Tucker, Calipari campaigned for facility upgrades and argued his case by pointing toward how important basketball is toward UK's identity:

And the reason is, this is a basketball school. It’s always been that. Alabama is a football school. So is Georgia. I mean, they are. No disrespect to our football team. I hope they win 10 games and go to bowls. At the end of the day, that makes my job easier and it makes the job of all of us easier. But this is a basketball school. And so we need to keep moving in that direction and keep doing what we’re doing.

Stoops' rejoinder is understandable and reflects the relative success he has helped deliver on the gridiron. Kentucky is coming off its second 10-win season under his nine-year watch, and its streak of four straight years with a bowl victory is the longest in school history.

When laying out its budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year, the university also reported higher revenues for football ($40 million) than men's basketball ($29.6 million). Football had a higher percentage of expenses as well.

Football is big business for the University of Kentucky.

Having said that, Calipari's position still reflects the reality of the situation to a large degree, and Stoops' recent contract extension is a perfect illustration.

Stoops signed a new deal last December, one that will pay him $6.75 million starting with the 2022 season. The 55-year-old is basically bulletproof in Lexington right now despite delivering zero national titles and zero New Year's Six bowl bids.

Calipari, by contrast, has guided Kentucky to one national title and four Final Four appearances. His 365 wins are second only to Adolph Rupp in school history.

Still, the immediate reactions to the Wildcats' first-round upset to St. Peter's in the first round of the 2022 NCAA tournament is a testament to how past achievements—no matter how significant—only counts for so much in the eyes of fans.

The gulf between Kentucky football and men's basketball is certainly closing, but Stoops might want to consider how perceiving the Wildcats to be a "football school" means more scrutiny and higher expectations.

Life in the shadow of Kentucky basketball isn't all that bad when you think about it.

Legendary Michigan State head basketball coach Tom Izzo isn't stepping away from the bench anytime soon.

The school announced on Thursday that the Hall of Famer has agreed to a new contract extension that will solidify him as a "Spartan for Life."

According to the university's press release, Izzo received a five-year rollover contract that includes "non-performance related compensation of $5.92 million per year, including a $2.43 million base (up from an initial $430K base on his 2018 contract), $3.09 million in supplemental compensation and $400K from footwear and apparel provider Nike." When adding in additional benefits such as airplane use, the total compensation amounts to $6.2 million per year.

"Twelve years ago, Tom Izzo said he would be a Spartan for Life, and today's announcement further demonstrates and renews this commitment," Michigan State Director of Athletics Alan Haller said. "We have worked collaboratively to come up with a contract which benefits the University, Coach Izzo and his family."

A 2016 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Izzo will be entering his 28th season has head coach of the Spartans in 2022-23. The 67-year-old has coached Michigan State to 24 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, a Big Ten record.

Izzo has been named National Coach of the Year eight times. Under his leadership, the Spartans have achieved 10 regular-season Big Ten Championships, six Big Ten Tournament titles, eight Final Four appearances and the 2000 NCAA National Championship. His career record of 666-267 gives him the highest win total of any coach in conference history.

With Izzo remaining in the fold for the next five years, the future appears to be bright in East Lansing. Per 247Sports, Michigan State's 2023 recruiting class is ranked third in the nation.