Keenan Slusher

Green Bay hires Wyoming assistant Sundance Wicks as head coach

Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
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GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay has hired Wyoming assistant Sundance Wicks to take over its program.

Athletic director Josh Moon announced the hiring. Green Bay had been seeking a permanent replacement for Will Ryan, who was fired Jan. 24 after going 15-61 in 2½ seasons.

Wicks has been an assistant coach at Wyoming the last three seasons after posting a 30-32 record as the head coach at Division II program Missouri Western State from 2018-20.

Missouri Western State’s 2019-20 team went 18-14, producing the program’s first winning season since 2009-10.

Wicks also has been an assistant coach at Colorado (2006-07), Northern Illinois (2007-11), San Francisco (2015-16) and Northern State (2016-18). He was the skill instructor and director of the Arizona Power Basketball Academy from 2011-15.

Wicks will try to rejuvenate a Horizon League program that has gone 16-71 over the last three seasons. Green Bay hasn’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 2016, which marked the last of three straight seasons in which the Phoenix won at least 23 games.

Green Bay went 3-29 this season. Freddie Owens posted a 1-10 record as interim head coach after the exit of Ryan, the son of former Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan.

“There is a history of winning and a tradition of excellence that is dormant right now, not dead, and we will RISE that tradition from its ashes,” Wicks said in a university statement.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ousts Southeast Missouri State in NCAA First Four

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
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DAYTON, Ohio — Isaac Mushila had 15 points and 12 rebounds as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi held off Southeast Missouri State 75-71  to earn the first NCAA Tournament win in program history.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi went 3 of 4 at the free-throw line in the final 15 seconds to ice the game and advance to play top-seeded Alabama in the South Region.

“To find a way to win, I couldn’t be more excited and more proud for those guys, obviously for the city, for the university and all of the Islander fans that are across the country watching this game,” Texas A&M-Corpus Christi coach Steve Lutz said. “They’ve got to be pretty excited.”

The 16th-seeded Islanders (24-10), winners of the Southland Conference, returned to the First Four for a second straight season and led for all but 23 seconds.

Southeast Missouri State (19-17) erased a 10-point deficit in the opening game of this NCAA Tournament and tied it at 64 when Chris Harris made both free throws with 3:07 left.

Trevian Tennyson scooped in a layup off the glass to give Texas A&M-Corpus Christi a 72-69 lead with 22 seconds left, but Phillip Russell drove for a layup on the other end to bring the Redhawks within one.

Jalen Jackson made two foul shots with 14 seconds remaining to extend the lead to 74-71, and Russell came up short on a good look at a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds to go.

Mushila grabbed the rebound and sank one of two free throws for the final margin.

Jackson led the Islanders with 22 points, going 14 of 18 at the free-throw line. Ross Williams added 13 points, Tennyson scored 12 and De’Lazarus Keys pulled down 10 rebounds.

“It’s a surreal moment,” Jackson said. “We were in this position last year, but on the other side.”

Harris scored 23 points before fouling out for No. 16 seed Southeast Missouri State, the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament champion. The Redhawks went 9 of 20 at the free-throw line and shot 47% from the field.

“That’s all these guys have done all season long is continue to fight and to claw and make timely shots and make big plays and get defensive stops, put yourself right back in position to maybe take the game,” Southeast Missouri State coach Brad Korn said. “Free throws and rebounding cost us that opportunity.”

SIMPLE IS BETTER

Lutz is no stranger to the March Madness spotlight.

The former Purdue assistant took the Islanders to their second NCAA Tournament last season, losing on the same floor where they won Tuesday. Lutz spent four seasons with the Boilermakers, and they reached the postseason every year – including an appearance in the Elite Eight.

This time around, Lutz wanted to make sure his squad learned from the past.

“A little bit of it is you also want to make sure that your guys embrace the moment, but don’t think the moment is too big,” Lutz said. “It’s still another basketball game and we’re playing a team that’s a good team. So as long as we can get back on track, I felt like we would be fine.”

STICK TOGETHER

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s leading scorer had four points and went 1 of 4 in the first half.

But in the second, Jackson scored 18 points and stepped up in crunch time by going 12 of 14 at the free-throw line.

Jackson scored seven of the final 11 points for the Islanders, all after Southeast Missouri State tied the game at 64.

“Just staying together. Basketball is a game of runs,” Jackson said. “We knew at some point they were going to make a run, so we just had to stay together.”

BIG PICTURE

Southeast Missouri State: Foul trouble plagued the Redhawks in their second NCAA Tournament appearance. They were whistled 31 times, which helped Texas A&M-Corpus Christi go 27 of 35 at the line.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: The absence of Terrion Murdix, the team leader in assists and steals, will challenge the Islanders. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi had 14 turnovers, its most in six games.

UP NEXT

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will play No. 1 overall seed Alabama.

“Our guys are battle tested. They’re not scared of the moment,” Lutz said. “You’ve got to go play and you’ve got to embrace it. But history tells you that not many 1 seeds beat 16 seeds, so that’s why we have the NCAA Tournament.”

Edey, Jackson-Davis, Wilson headline AP All-America Team

Alex Martin/Journal and Courier/USA TODAY NETWORK
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Purdue’s Zach Edey and Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis gave the Big Ten Conference a third straight year with multiple first-team Associated Press All-America picks, while Kansas had a second straight first-teamer in Jalen Wilson.

The 7-foot-4, 305-pound Edey appeared on all 58 ballots as a first-team selection from AP Top 25 voters as the lone unanimous pick.

The selections of the Boilermakers’ Edey and the Hoosiers’ Jackson-Davis came a year after the Big Ten had three first-team picks. And it gave the league seven through the last three seasons; no other league has more than three.

The Big Ten has had at least one first-teamer for five straight years and eight of the last nine.

Houston’s Marcus Sasser and Alabama’s Brandon Miller joined Edey and Wilson on the first team in representing each of the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seeds.

Edey has commanded the national spotlight all year. The Big Ten player of the year ranks sixth nationally in scoring (22.3), second in rebounding (12.8) and first in double-doubles (26).

“Everybody goes: ‘You go to him so much,’” Purdue coach Matt Painter said after the Big Ten Tournament title win against Penn State. “If they call it by the rules, they’re fouling him on every possession. So why shouldn’t we get it to him and just try to get in that bonus early and steal points?

“Obviously he can make tough post-ups and he can get at the rim, and he gets offensive rebounds when you take him away.”

Jackson-Davis, a 6-9 fourth-year forward, is Indiana’s first first-team selection since Victor Oladipo in 2013. He’s averaging 20.8 points and 10.9 rebounds while taking a leap with his passing (4.1 assists, up from 1.9 last year).

“I probably have pushed him harder than any player on this team and I know there’s been days that he’s walked out of here thinking that, ‘Hey, is this guy really in my corner, based on how he’s pushing me?’” coach Mike Woodson said. “But at the end of the day, he’s gotten better as a player.

“We have benefited from it, you know, with our ballclub, in terms of how we played as a team. And he’s been the driving force behind it.”

Wilson, a 6-8 fourth-year forward, was a returning complementary starter from last year’s NCAA title run. He thrived in an expanded role, becoming Big 12 player of the year and nearly doubling his scoring average (20.1, up from 11.1) to go with 8.4 rebounds.

It marked the fourth time in seven seasons that the Jayhawks had a first-team pick going back to national player of the year Frank Mason III in 2017.

“He’s an elite competitor,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said after a Big 12 Tournament loss to the Jayhawks. “He gets to the glass. He makes cuts. He makes it hard. He does so many things.”

Sasser, a 6-2 senior, was a starter on the Cougars’ Final Four team two years ago and is the star of another title threat this year. He’s averaging 17.1 points as the program’s first first-team selection since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984 during the “Phi Slama Jama” era.

Miller, a 6-9 freshman, was a McDonald’s All-American who became an immediate star on the way to being named the Southeastern Conference player of the year. He’s averaging 19.6 points and 8.3 rebounds for the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed.

Miller has been involved in a murder case that has overshadowed the Crimson Tide’s successful run, leading to capital murder charges against former Alabama player Darius Miles and another man for the January shooting death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris. A police investigator testified last month that Miles texted Miller to bring him his gun that night, though authorities haven’t charged Miller with any crime.

SECOND TEAM

Pac-12 player of the year Jaime Jaquez Jr. of UCLA was the leading vote-getter on the second team that included Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, last season’s AP national player of the year.

Gonzaga’s Drew Timme was a second-team selection for the third straight year, while Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis and Penn State’s Jalen Pickett rounded out the second quintet.

THIRD TEAM

Kansas State’s surge led to the Wildcats earning third-team selections in Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson, their first AP All-Americans since Jacob Pullen in 2011.

Big East player of the year Tyler Kolek of Marquette, Iowa’s Kris Murray and North Carolina’s Armando Bacot rounded out the third team.

HONORABLE MENTION

National scoring leader Antoine Davis of Detroit Mercy, who averaged 28.2 points and fell three points shy of tying “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s all-time career scoring record, was the leading vote-getter among players who didn’t make the three All-America teams.

Players earned honorable-mention status if they appeared on multiple voters’ ballots. This year’s list includes Memphis’ Kendric Davis, Xavier’s Souley Boum and Miami’s Isaiah Wong.

Temple ousts coach Aaron McKie after 4 seasons

Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports
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PHILADELPHIA — Temple coach Aaron McKie is out after four years and no NCAA Tournament appearances and will become a special advisor to the athletic department, the school announced.

McKie, who starred at Temple under Hall of Fame coach John Chaney and played for the Philadelphia 76ers in a long NBA career, went 52-56 in four seasons, including 16-16 in 2022-23.

“Aaron has been a role model both as a student-athlete, a professional player and as our coach, representing the university and the program in the finest manner. We are extremely grateful for his service to Temple and the men’s basketball program,” athletic director Arthur Johnson said.

The Owls finished fifth in the American Athletic Conference this season with a 10-8 record and were the only AAC team to defeat No. 1 Houston in the regular season, a 56-55 road win on Jan. 22. It was one of two wins over AP Top 25 opponents. Temple also beat then-No. 16 Villanova 68-64 on Nov. 11.

But that wasn’t enough for McKie, who succeeded Fran Dunphy, to keep his job. Temple hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2019.

“Temple has been and always will be home for me and I wish the program nothing but success,” McKie said.

Kansas coach Bill Self out of hospital after heart procedure

Amy Kontras-USA TODAY Sports
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LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas coach Bill Self was discharged from a Kansas City-area hospital where he’d been recovering after a procedure to treat blocked arteries in his heart, and the Hall of Famer will rejoin the No. 3 Jayhawks for the defense of their NCAA championship.

His longtime assistant, Norm Roberts, said Self would probably be back in the office to begin preparing for Howard. That’s who the top-seeded Jayhawks will open the NCAA Tournament against in Des Moines, Iowa, after they were surprisingly put in the West Region by the selection committee.

“He talked to the guys earlier today and they were so excited to hear his voice,” Roberts said. “He was talking and getting after it like he normally does. He said, ‘Guys, I’m back. I’m ready to go.’ And he just talked about the things we need to do to be successful.”

Self went to the emergency room shortly after watching the Jayhawks in a final shootaround ahead of their Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal, and was complaining of chest tightness and concerns with his balance.

Dr. Mark Wiley, the chief of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Kansas Health System, said the 60-year-old Self underwent a standard heart catheterization and had two stents placed to help treat the blocked arteries.

“Coach Self responded well to the procedure and is expected to make a full recovery,” Wiley said.

Roberts also served as acting coach earlier in the season, while Self was serving a school-imposed four-game suspension. Kansas beat West Virginia and Iowa State in the Big 12 tourney with Roberts again on the bench before getting blown out 76-56 by seventh-ranked Texas in the championship game.

Now, Self is back.

“I’m so thankful for the amazing staff at the University of Kansas Health System for the excellent care I received,” Self said in a statement. “I am proud of our team and coaching staff for how they have handled this and am excited to be back with them as the best time of the season gets underway.”

Self is 581-130 during two decades at Kansas, and 788-235 in 30 seasons as a head coach, which includes stops at Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois. He led the Jayhawks to the national title in 2008 with an overtime win over Memphis. Kansas then hung a sixth championship banner in Allen Fieldhouse after its win over North Carolina last April.

The Jayhawks, who won the regular-season Big 12 title, hardly seemed to be bothered by their lackluster loss to Texas, when they also were missing injured defensive stopper Kevin McCullar Jr. Instead, they were looking forward to the NCAA tourney and getting both McCullar and their coach back on the court.

“He’s one of the greatest coaches of all time so that’s a big bonus for us,” Jayhawks guard Dajuan Harris Jr. said. “We missed him last weekend. Coach Rob is great but having (Self) back is great for us. He’s been in March Madness a long time. He knows what he’s doing. We just have to have his back.”

Will Wade hired by McNeese State a year after LSU firing amid probe

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
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Will Wade, who was fired last year by LSU because of alleged recruiting violations, has been hired as head coach at McNeese State.

The hiring of Wade was announced by athletic director Heath Schroyer just days after former Cowboys coach John Aiken was fired following his second season.

“I will not make excuses for why we can’t win and win big. Quite frankly, there is no excuse,” Schroyer said. “The days of us celebrating making conference tournaments or accepting mediocrity in all of our sports, let alone in basketball, are over.”

While Wade was a controversial figure at LSU and spawned an ongoing NCAA investigation into the program’s alleged offering of improper benefits to players – before the current Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) era – his teams were competitive.

The Tigers won a Southeastern Conference regular-season championship in 2019 and received bids to the NCAA Tournament in 2019, 2021 and 2022. (There was no tournament in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

When LSU fired Wade, President William F. Tate and athletic director Scott Woodward, said Wade’s tenure and the allegations that followed him place the men’s basketball program “under an exhausting shroud of negativity.”

LSU received a formal notice of allegations from the NCAA’s Complex Case unit, including multiple charges alleging Wade’s personal involvement in – or awareness of – Level I misconduct.

Level I violations can include a head coach’s lack of oversight on compliance matters; failure to cooperate in an NCAA investigation; unethical or dishonest conduct; or prohibited cash or similar benefits provided to recruits.

LSU’s statement at that time, however, stressed that Wade’s firing was “not an acknowledgement of agreement with any of the allegations.”

Wade went 105-51 at LSU, winning 20 games or more in three of his five seasons. He has 196 career wins during his nine years as a head coach. From 2015 to 2017, Wade went 51-20 at VCU. Wade also was the head coach at Chattanooga for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, going 40-25.

“I wanted someone who not only understands my expectations for our basketball program on and off the court, but actually embraces them,” Schroyer said. “There isn’t a better fit for this basketball program, university or community at this moment than Will Wade.”