Marching to Madness Blake Lovell

Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim checks in as he led the Bulls to a record-setting season at an unbelievably high level in year one at USF. He led the Bulls to their first regular season title in school history and a 25-8 record where the 25 wins were the most in the biography of South Florida basketball. In addition, the Bulls went 16-2 and finished two games ahead of second-place Florida Atlantic. Those 16 conference wins were the most league ‘W’s” in USF history while the 15 consecutive wins in AAC play were also a school record. This happened after Amir’s four-year run at Kennesaw State, where he built the Owls from a one-win team in his first season to a 26-9 campaign and an A-Sun tournament championship in year four, which resulted in an NCAA Tournament bid.
Discussions Include:
How the Bulls players were responsible for setting all the records Four Bulls that hit the transfer portal Florida State transfer De’Ante Green and Jamille Reynolds, formerly of Cincinnati, coming aboard as two key transfers The “build it and they will come” addage and how it is synonymous with USF Bulls basketball … And Much More!

Coach Lanier takes over the basketball program at Rice after the Owls slipped to 11-21, but won four of five games on the road. Lanier transitions from SMU where he took the Mustangs to 20 wins only one year after SMU only won 10 in the 2022-23 season. Before then, he took the Georgia State Panthers to the NCAA Tournament in 2021 when they won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as he compiled a 53-30 record in his three seasons in Atlanta. Lanier has brought in some new players in the transfer portal who should help him work incessantly on the rebuild. Rice struggled defensively last season and Coach discusses defensive ideas and philosophies.
Topics of Discussion include:
Coach Lanier implements his defensive philosophy with the Owls Approach to rebuilding a program Transitioning from SMU to Rice Villanova guard Trey Patterson as a tansfer … And much more!

Portland head coach Shantay Legans and his Pilots had a tough 23-24 season with some injuries and academic casualties. The fourth-year Pilots coach will look to build his team to improve from a season where they finished tied for sixth in the WCC. Legans talks about how he feels he should have handled and maneuvered the transfer portal better. He welcomes back Vukasin Masic while adding a pair of new transfers in the former American University center Jermaine Webb and Max Mackinnon, who comes over from Elon.
Topics of Conversation Include:
Recruiting in Australia and globally Changing the Pilots’ offensive output and defensive identity of the team Challenges and ideas in using the transfer portal Thoughts on the NBA Championship series between the Celtics and Mavericks

Coach Nick McDevitt is back on “Marching to Madness” as he discusses the Blue Raiders, who finished in a four-way tie for fourth in Conference USA this past season. He talks about the changes in CUSA since he came to Murfreesboro and a peak at resetting the roster for the ’24-25 season.
Topics of Discussion Include:
Upsetting La. Tech in the CUSA Tournament as three teams tied for fourth Building Elias King as a key player during his four-year career Arizona State transfer Kamari Lands and former TCU Horned Frog Eassam Moustafa coming aboard Changes in CUSA since he started at MT, seven years ago. … And much more!!

Coach Ingelsby has built a solid foundation for the Delaware Blue Hens. in the challenging CAA. Delaware has posted five winning seasons and a CAA Tournament title in his eight seasons with the Blue Hens. He posted another solid recruiting season with Jyare Davis heading to Syracuse and Gerald Drumgoole bound for Pitt.
Topics of Discussion Include:
How additions and subtractions of players via the transfer portal can be complementary to the program How players embrace Delaware and use their opportunities better in respective games The returning leading scorers in post Niels Lane and guard Cavan Reilly The challenge of the depth in the CAA

Coach Golding initially appears on the “Marching to Madness” CBB podcast, discussing his UTEP Miners who tied for fourth in the Conference USA basketball regular season. Then, the Miners made it to the conference tournament championship game for the first time since 2011, but they lost a 78-71 decision to Western Kentucky. Coach Golding discusses raising Abilene Christian, his alma mater, from D-2 to D-1 and then the Wildcats winning two of their last three Southland titles which saw them with a pair of NCAA bids, where the previous embodied a victory over Texas in Round 1.
Topics of Discussion include:
The culture that is developed for players to participate and win in league tournaments Losing the top two leading scorers in Sid Powell and Tae Hardy The return of Otis Frazier and Corey Camper as Frazier works at power forward while Camper made the second most three-point field goals for the MIners The defensive philosophy that allowed the Miners to lead CUSA in allowing only 5.8 made threes as well as a 32.2 percent three point percentage for opponents