Pac-12 Basketball

UCLA continues to search for a new head basketball coach, and Rick Barnes has reportedly "emerged as a serious candidate," according to Evan Daniels of 247Sports.

Barnes has spent the past four years as head coach of Tennessee after 17 years at Texas.

The Bruins appeared ready to hire TCU coach Jamie Dixon, but the deal fell through as a result of his $8 million buyout.

Barnes would be one of the most proven coaches available for UCLA after compiling a 692-364 career record at the Division I level.

He has taken four different programs to the NCAA tournament in four different major conferences, beginning with Providence in 1989 before eventually moving to Clemson, Texas and Tennessee. He won more than 400 games with the Longhorns, going to the Final Four in 2003.

The 64-year-old has also showed he can turn around a major program in a hurry, transforming Tennessee from a 15-19 squad in 2015-16 to a national title contender this season. The Volunteers went 31-6 while reaching the No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press poll before suffering a Sweet 16 loss in the NCAA tournament.

Of course, postseason struggles are nothing new to Barnes, who has just a 24-24 career record in the NCAA tournament despite often having high seeds. This could be a concern for UCLA, which is hoping to improve upon the Steve Alford era that featured three Sweet 16 appearances in six seasons.

After a 17-16 season, however, the Bruins will hope to find anyone who can get the program back on track.

Jamie Dixon is not expected to be hired as the UCLA head coach despite a report earlier in the week that the Bruins had chosen the TCU Horned Frogs coach to fill their vacancy, according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.

Bolch noted that Dixon's $8 million buyout has prevented a deal from being reached. TCU is not willing to lower the amount, and UCLA is unwilling to meet that price.

Dixon signed a two-year extension with TCU through the 2023-24 season in April 2018.

Dixon has spent the last three seasons at TCU after spending 13 years at Pittsburgh. He has led the Horned Frogs to a 68-41 record and one NCAA tournament berth during his tenure. While they found themselves ranked in the top 25 multiple times amid a 12-1 start, they did not receive an invitation to the Big Dance following a 23-14 performance.

The 53-year-old has a career 396-164 record and 12 NCAA tournament appearances in 16 seasons.

Dixon was named the men's 2008-09 Naismith College Coach of the Year after leading the Pitt Panthers to a 31-win season.

Meanwhile, UCLA will continue its search for a head coach. Steve Alford was fired in December amid a 7-6 start, and interim coach Murry Bartow led the team to a 10-10 mark down the stretch. This season marked just the second time in seven years the Bruins have not gone dancing.

The storied program has not advanced past the Sweet 16 since 2008, though.

Assuming Dixon is indeed out of the running, UCLA may turn its attention back to Cincinnati Bearcats coach Mick Cronin, who Bolch identified as a finalist for the job. Cronin is 296-147 in 13 seasons at Cincinnati, leading the Bearcats to the NCAA tournament in each of the last nine years.

UCLA's search for a new men's basketball coach has led the school to engage TCU's Jamie Dixon in contract talks.

Per ESPN.com's Jeff Borzello, Dixon's representatives and UCLA "have engaged on contract parameters and his buyout" at TCU, but no deal has been agreed to at this point. Dixon and UCLA are looking to reduce the $8M buyout to a "substantially lower figure," according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.

The Bruins have been in the market for a new full-time head coach since firing Steve Alford on Dec. 31 following a 7-6 start to the 2018-19 season. 

Murry Bartow served as UCLA's interim coach, posting a 10-10 record over the season's final 20 games.

Per The Athletic's Seth Davis, UCLA tried to lure John Calipari away from Kentucky by offering him a deal worth $48 million over six years. 

Despite that heavy interest from the Bruins, Calipari confirmed on his radio show he's agreed to a new lifetime contract to remain at Kentucky. 

Dixon has gone 68-41 with one NCAA tournament appearance in three seasons at TCU. He agreed to a contract extension with the Horned Frogs last April that runs through 2023-24. 

Prior to being hired at TCU, Dixon spent 13 seasons at Pittsburgh. The 53-year-old led the Panthers to a 328-123 record, 11 NCAA tournament appearances, two Big East regular-season titles and one Big East tournament title. 

TCU Horned Frogs head coach Jamie Dixon and Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin are the "leading candidates" for the UCLA Bruins vacancy, according to the Los Angeles Times' Ben Bolch.  

UCLA fired Steve Alford on New Year's Eve, and Murry Bartow finished the 2018-19 season as the interim coach. Bolch reported the school wants to have a permanent replacement lined up "within the next week."

Bolch's report comes after Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari was linked to the opening.

According to The Athletic's Seth Davis, Kentucky was prepared to offer Calipari what amounted to a lifetime contract extension in order to ward off the Bruins. Stadium's Jeff Goodman spoke to a Kentucky spokesman who confirmed Calipari and the Wildcats had indeed agreed to a new deal.

Though neither Dixon nor Cronin can match Calipari's resume, either would be a good alternative for UCLA.

Dixon helped make the Pittsburgh Panthers a fixture in the NCAA men's basketball tournament and is in the process of turning TCU around. The Horned Frogs have won 20-plus games during each of his first three years and reached the Big Dance in 2018 before losing in the first round.

Cincinnati, meanwhile, just made its ninth straight tournament appearance under Cronin. The Bearcats reached the Sweet 16 in 2012.

Some Bruins fans might want to see UCLA hire a head coach with a bigger profile, but Bolch offered a harsh dose of reality in his piece, writing the school turned to Dixon and Cronin "after a bevy of more coveted coaches expressed no interest."

UCLA hasn't reached the Elite Eight since 2008, which also served as the last of the team's three straight Final Four appearances. A gulf seems to exist between where the fanbase sees the Bruins and where the program actually is relative to other top teams in the country. Three Sweet 16 appearances in five full seasons weren't enough to save Alford's job.

Historically speaking, UCLA remains one of the most prestigious programs in college basketball. At the moment, the Bruins are well below the standard set by Kentucky, Duke, Michigan State and Virginia, among others.

Hiring Dixon or Cronin—and not a more prominent name—might be an acknowledgment by the administration that a new coach will need time to leave his imprint on the team.

Washington sophomore guard Jaylen Nowell announced his intention to enter the 2019 NBA draft on Sunday:

The Pac-12 men's basketball player of the year scored 16.2 points per game on 50.2 percent shooting for the 27-9 Huskies, who finished first in the conference regular-season standings and made the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The 6'4", 200-pounder also hit 44.0 percent of his three-pointers and grabbed 5.3 rebounds per game.

Opinion is mixed on Nowell's NBA future.

Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report ranked him 69th on his latest big board, writing the following:

"Draft buzz hasn't followed the Pac-12's Player of the Year. He takes questionable shots and contested two-point jumpers. But for a 6'4", 200-pound guard averaging 16.2 points on 50.0 percent shooting and 43.8 percent from three, his positional tools and three-level scoring should earn him second-round looks."

Nowell is not listed on ESPN.com's top-100 prospect list for the 2019 draft class.

Others think higher of Nowell's prospects. Aran Smith of NBADraft.net ranks him 39th, and the site's mock draft places him on the New Orleans Pelicans in the early second round.

Although Nowell has announced his entry into the NBA draft, he can still change his mind and return to Washington for his junior season.

Per an Aug. 8 article from Marc Tracy of the New York Times, "college basketball players who declare for the NBA draft will be allowed to hire agents after two NCAA boards adopted a series of reforms to the sport's rules on Wednesday."

Furthermore, Tracy wrote that "players who declare for the NBA draft but are not selected will be allowed to return to their college teams."

The NCAA Academic and Membership Affairs and Enforcement Staffs also wrote in a March 13 memorandum that early-entry players who still have collegiate eligibility can return to school if they withdraw their name from the NBA draft and notify their collegiate athletic directors of an intention to return to school by May 29.

Nowell's college head coach, Mike Hopkins, seemingly expected this decision. He told KJR Radio (h/t Percy Allen of the Seattle Times) that he expected the sophomore to "test the waters."

"I'm sure Jaylen will test the waters," Hopkins said Tuesday. "He's an NBA-caliber player. He's an incredible kid. My goal with Jaylen is to obviously be able to give him the information. With information you can make great decisions. He's earned an opportunity to test the waters, I'm sure."

We'll see how NBA teams feel about Nowell shortly as the predraft process ramps up. For now, Nowell should be getting ready for the NBA Draft Combine, which will take place May 14-19 in Chicago.

After sitting out the 2018-19 season, Mark Fox will reportedly be back in the college coaching ranks at the University of California. 

Per CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein on Friday, Fox is finalizing a contract to become Cal's next head basketball coach.

The Golden Bears were in the market for a new coach after Wyking Jones was fired on March 24 following back-to-back eight-win seasons. 

Following Jones' dismissal, John Canzano of The Oregonian reported former Cal star and Basketball Hall of Famer Jason Kidd was the school's top choice to take over the program. 

Per Evan Daniels of 247Sports, Cal hired Todd Turner of the College Sports Associates consultancy firm to help find its next head coach. 

The 50-year-old Fox will be tasked with building up a program that hasn't made the NCAA tournament since the 2015-16 season. 

In 14 seasons with Nevada and Georgia, Fox went 286-176 with five NCAA tournament appearances. He was fired by Georgia in March 2018. 

After two years at UCLA, guard Kris Wilkes has announced he is turning pro. 

Wilkes wrote on Twitter he has hired an agent and declared for the 2019 NBA draft: 

Wilkes recently completed a strong sophomore campaign for the Bruins. He led the team in scoring (17.3 points per game) and was named to the All-Pac-12 second team.

B/R's Jonathan Wasserman doesn't have Wilkes ranked among the top 75 draft-eligible prospects in his most recent big board update.

There are some red flags in Wilkes' game that hurt his draft stock. The 20-year-old shot just 43.2 percent this season, and his three-point percentage dropped from 35.2 as a freshman to 33.7.

Even with those rough stats, Wilkes could be a first-rounder in this year's class. He's listed at 6'8" on UCLA's official website, and 247Sports rated him as a 5-star recruit coming out of high school two years ago.

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UC Irvine head coach Russell Turner called Oregon forward Louis King "Queen" in an attempt to rattle him during Sunday's second-round matchup.

After the game, Turner told reporters:

"I was saying 'double-team Queen' to try to see if I could irritate him. And I did. And I kept talking to my team about what we wanted to do. We were calling him 'Queen' because I knew it might irritate him, because of how important he is to their team, the queen in chess. It was a play on his name of King.

"And it bothered him, started thinking about me, started thinking about Max [Hazzard]. But he came back and finished the game really strong. And he'd had a thing or two to say to me during the game, and I wanted to let him know that what I'd done was out of respect."

On Monday, Turner would release a statement apologizing for his actions, via James Crepea of OregonLive:

"I recognize my actions were inappropriate and insensitive. I share UC Irvine's belief that inclusivity and diversity are paramount values, and I apologize for not understanding that my actions during the game suggested otherwise.

"I respect Oregon's men's basketball program, its student-athletes, and its coaches. Since the conclusion of the game, I have spoken to Louis, his parents, and to Oregon's head coach Dana Altman. They have graciously accepted my explanation and apology."

King had just three points on 1-of-4 shooting in the first half, along with an assist and a rebound. He finished the game with 16 points and four rebounds, knocking down four threes and playing a pivotal role as Oregon pulled away for a 73-54 win over Irvine.

If King was bothered by the taunting, he did not let on. He made no public comment on the matter, and it was only addressed by Turner.

That said, Turner could wind up reprimanded for what some could perceive as sexist comments.

The California Golden Bears announced Sunday that they fired head basketball coach Wyking Jones after just two seasons with the team.

Jones produced just a 16-47 record during his two years at the helm, including an 8-23 mark in 2018-19. The squad lost its first 15 games in the Pac-12 this season and won only five conference games in his two years.

The Golden Bears had a 21-13 record the year before he took over, winning at least 20 games in seven of the last nine seasons. 

This was the 46-year-old's first head coaching job after serving as an assistant at a variety of locations, including two years with Cal under Cuonzo Martin.

Athletic director Jim Knowlton discussed the decision in a statement:

"This was a difficult decision to make and comes after a deliberate and holistic review of our men's basketball program. As always, we were guided by the best interests of our student-athletes, as well as the values and objectives of Cal Athletics and our University. As we quickly turn toward our search for a new head coach for our men's basketball program, I am certain that we will attract a strong, talented and highly qualified pool of candidates. I am confident that we will find someone who will help lead us on a path to being exceptional." 

Among those possible candidates is Basketball Hall of Famer Jason Kidd, according to Marc J. Spears of ESPN:

Kidd starred at Cal as a player but could want to continue his career as an NBA coach after serving the role for parts of five seasons.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN noted the Los Angeles Lakers could be an option for Kidd:

The Golden Bears would likely want to hire a new coach before the Lakers job even becomes available, which could complicate this search.