Latest news with #AlanHuss
USA Today
10-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Alan Huss leaving High Point to be Creighton's coach-in-waiting
Alan Huss leaving High Point to be Creighton's coach-in-waiting | Reports Show Caption Hide Caption See the moment courtside in the Alamodome that Florida basketball won the national title The Gators defeated Houston 65-63 Monday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio to win the program's third national championship. Creighton basketball is reportedly hiring former assistant Alan Huss as its coach in waiting, according to multiple reports on Friday. Huss served as an assistant under Bluejays coach Greg McDermott from 2017-23 before taking over at High Point in 2023. He took the Panthers to their first men's NCAA Tournament in his second season at the helm. The reports do not indicate or suggest McDermott is planning to step down, but that the move is meant to ease the transition away from the longtime coach, who has coached in some capacity since 1989 and who has been a head coach at the Division I level since 2000. REQUIRED READING: Men's college basketball way-too-early Top 25 for 2025-26 season Huss, 46, is also a Creighton alum, having played there from 1997-2001 alongside future NBA All-Star Kyle Korver. Huss started 38 career games for his alma mater and made three NCAA Tournament appearances under then-coach Dana Altman, who's now at Oregon. Huss had previously agreed to a contract extension at High Point on March 6 after becoming the fastest coach to reach 50 wins in Big South history, also winning the conference to earn a spot in the 68-team bracket for the first time in program history. The Panthers were a 13 seed and fell to 4 seed Purdue, 75-63, in the first round. McDermott has helped build Creighton into one of the most consistent college basketball programs, as the Bluejays have made five consecutive NCAA Tournaments with trips to the Elite Eight in 2023 and Sweet 16 in 2021 and 2024. Creighton won its first-round game against Louisville in 2025 before falling to Auburn in the second round. Creighton is losing All-American Ryan Kalkbrenner and senior point guard Richie Ashworth next season due to running out of eligibility, along with dynamic guard Pop Isaacs, who's transferring to Houston.
Forbes
10-04-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
High Point Coach To Join Creighton As Coach-In-Waiting
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND - MARCH 20: Head coach Alan Huss of the High Point Panthers addresses the ... More media after a first round game against the Purdue Boilermakers in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Amica Mutual Pavillion on March 20, 2025 in Providence, Rhode Island. (Photo by) High Point men's basketball coach Alan Huss is finalizing a deal to join his alma mater Creighton as the coach-in-waiting under current head coach Greg McDermott. The news was first reported by Jeff Goodman of the Field of 68 and confirmed by multiple people who were not authorized to speak publicly because a formal announcement is still forthcoming. The exact timeline on the transition is not clear. McDermott, 60, has been at Creighton since 2010 and has been a head coach since his days at Division II Wayne State beginning in 1994. At Creighton, he has guided the Bluejays two 10 NCAA Tournaments, including two Sweet 16s and one Elite Eight. Ryan Kalkbrenner, the team's outgoing center, was named the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and won Big East Defensive Player of the Year four times. Huss, 46, is a Decatur, Illinois native who played at Creighton from 1997-2001. Playing under head coach Dana Altman and alongside future NBA star Kyle Korver, Huss was a part of three NCAA Tournament teams (1999-2001), two Missouri Valley Conference Tournament titles (1999 & 2000) and one MVC regular-season title (1999). Huss totaled 94 games as a Bluejay with 39 starts. He graduated with his bachelor's degree in business administration from Creighton in 2002. Huss then served as an assistant under McDermott from 2017-23 before taking over at High Point, where he is 56-15 in two seasons. His team went 29-6 and 14-2 in the Big South this year before losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Fox Sports
18-03-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
High Point kept falling short of March Madness. Now the Panthers are finally getting their moment
Associated Press Alan Huss knew High Point had been close. The Panthers had never been to the NCAA Tournament even after winning the Big South regular-season race five times previously, repeatedly being undone by losses in the conference tournament to deny them the league's automatic bid. That included last year in the former Creighton assistant's first season leading the program. Maybe that explains the prevailing feeling now — beyond the joy and buzz on the private university campus in central North Carolina — after High Point finally rallied from 15 down in its league title game to punch a March Madness ticket in a year that started with being a big league favorite. 'There's only two emotions in being a heavy favorite,' Huss said in an interview with The Associated Press. "There's disappointment and there's relief. And relief is the best you can hope for. 'The beautiful thing is once you kind of get it all done, at some point in the future we'll pivot from relief to, 'All right let's look back on this and enjoy it.' Because we have a special group of kids that's been as enjoyable as any group I've been around.' The comeback against Winthrop on March 9 has brought High Point (29-5) to this point, as the 13-seed in the Midwest Region to face fourth-seeded Purdue in Providence, Rhode Island. Thursday's tipoff will mark a breakthrough moment for the program since its move to Division I in 1999, one coming after Huss brought experience from his time with Creighton's perennial tournament program. Huss — with roots back in high school and AAU coaching — played four seasons for the Bluejays under Dana Altman and alongside future NBA player Kyle Korver. He returned to his alma mater in 2017 to spend six seasons as an assistant under Greg McDermott, with his last game there being a 2023 loss to San Diego State in the South Region final. He had to build a roster quickly when he took over at High Point — 'You're drinking from a firehose when you take one of these,' Huss said of the job — with players jumping into the transfer portal as is common with a coaching change. The Panthers unexpectedly won the Big South regular-season title in a 27-win season last year, only to blow a 15-point lead at home and lose in overtime to Longwood in the Big South semifinals (they later reached the College Basketball Invitational title game). Now Huss can top that, to no surprise from his former boss. 'He was terrific when he was with us and had some of the attributes of someone who was going to become a great head coach," McDermott told the AP during the Big East Tournament. 'Did I see it coming this fast? Probably not. But he's pushed all the right buttons. He's done it the right way.' It starts with the offense, where High Point enters the NCAAs ranked No. 25 in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency by averaging 118.5 points per 100 possessions. Gonzaga (123.6) and Utah State (120.7) are the only teams from outside the Power Four or the Big East to rank ahead of the Panthers in the 68-team field. The team has depth that starts with talented returnees like senior guard Kezza Giffa (team-best 14.8 points) and junior forward Kimani Hamilton (13.4), along with new transfers like No. 2 scorer D'Maurian Williams (13.5) from Texas Tech and senior guard Bobby Pettiford — who was part of Kansas' 2022 NCAA championship as a freshman and spent last year at East Carolina. Yet that group, Huss said, wasn't playing to its potential early while awaiting key players like Pettiford (abdominal surgery), junior forward Simon Hildebrandt (stress fracture) and senior forward Terry Anderson (knee surgery) to recover from offseason injuries. It took a while for the Panthers to find their form, fittingly down to waiting until the second half of the Big South final to rally past Winthrop behind Pettiford. 'It's just surreal for me right now,' said Giffa, a Frenchman who played his freshman season at UTEP. "I've been watching the NCAA Tournament when I was young and never thought I would be there one day.' The program's quick rise under Huss is befitting a century-old school with its own run of rapid growth over the past two decades. There were about 1,500 students, 100 full-time faculty members on a campus of a little more than 90 acres in 2005. Those numbers now are up to more than 6,300 students and 500 full-time faculty members on 560 acres of campus as of last year. Now the school gets a long-sought March Madness close-up. 'We really support our program here,' Huss said. 'We've got one of the best homecourt advantages in mid-major basketball. Our student turnout is fantastic. And I think this just validates it. 'Now we get to show the rest of the world that doesn't know about High Point, North Carolina, and High Point University that we can can compete on a national stage. I think everyone's excited for that possibility.' ___ AP freelance writer Everett Merrill in New York contributed to this report. ___ AP March Madness bracket: and coverage: Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. recommended
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Meet the 4 teams that just made the NCAA men's tournament for the first time
It seems like too many teams take Selection Sunday for granted these days. Most often, we see the biggest brands sitting in their meeting rooms, patiently awaiting their matchup with no real hint of concern. Thats why it's always such a joy when the Selection Sunday broadcast cuts to a small, relatively unknown program as it makes the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. It looks like an absolute event. Packed gyms, fans going crazy and players hollering right beside them. That's what March is all about. SURVIVOR POOL: Free to enter. $2,500 to win. Can you survive the madness? Sunday saw four schools officially make the men's tournament for the first time ever and it'll be hard not to root for them this week. Let's get to know them. It's been a long time coming This game will go down as one of the best games in program history 🤞#GoHPU x #OnTheProwl — HPU Men's Basketball (@HPUMBB) March 14, 2025 High Point moved to Division I in 1999 but never had enough success to go to the big dance. That finally changed this week as the Panthers came back from down 15 points in the Big South tournament title game to lock up an automatic bid. Head coach Alan Huss has this program rolling with a 56-14 record over his first two years. And the fan support has been electric. Check out the scenes on Sunday. The fans showed out for Selection Show Sunday 🤩#GoHPU x #OnTheProwl — HPU Men's Basketball (@HPUMBB) March 16, 2025 Omaha hadn't experienced a winning season since 2018-19. In Year 3 of the Chris Crutchfield Era, the Mavericks not only got over .500 (22-12), they're headed to their first NCAA tournament. The No. 15 seed has a tough draw in the Round of 64 against No. 2 St. John's, but it's not an upset we haven't seen before. The Summit League champs are led by forward Marquel Sutton, who averages 19.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. The moment Omaha hears its name - Mavs ready to dance @OmahaMBB @KETV — Andy Kendeigh (@AKendeighKETV) March 16, 2025 Time to dance.🕺 See you in Wichita!#RollCougs | #FindAWay — SIUE Hoops (@SIUEMBB) March 16, 2025 That's Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from just outside The Cougars will face another clan of Cougars in the Round of 64, thanks to their matchup with No. 1 Houston, but SIUE has a lot to celebrate before then. The program only moved to Division I in 2008 and didn't have a winning season at the NCAA's top level until 2022-23. Now the Cougars are dancing after wining the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. Watch out for guard Ray'Sean Taylor and his 19.3 points per game. Here's the reaction from @UCSDmbb when they heard their name called for their 1st ever NCAA Tournament bid. — Todd Strain (@TODDSTRAINNBCSD) March 16, 2025 Two decades ago, UCSD was playing in Division III. Five years ago, the Tritons were in Division II. On Sunday they officially earned a berth in the NCAA tournament by winning the Big West tournament. What an epic rise for head coach Eric Olen, who has led the Tritons since 2013 and compiled a 210-114 record in the process. Get used to hearing the name Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, by the way. The senior guard from New Zealand is averaging 19.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists while shooting 57.6 percent from the field. This article originally appeared on For The Win: 4 teams (including Omaha!) making their NCAA tournament debut in 2025
USA Today
17-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Meet the 4 teams that just made the NCAA men's tournament for the first time
Meet the 4 teams that just made the NCAA men's tournament for the first time It seems like too many teams take Selection Sunday for granted these days. Most often, we see the biggest brands sitting in their meeting rooms, patiently awaiting their matchup with no real hint of concern. Thats why it's always such a joy when the Selection Sunday broadcast cuts to a small, relatively unknown program as it makes the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. It looks like an absolute event. Packed gyms, fans going crazy and players hollering right beside them. That's what March is all about. SURVIVOR POOL: Free to enter. $2,500 to win. Can you survive the madness? Sunday saw four schools officially make the men's tournament for the first time ever and it'll be hard not to root for them this week. Let's get to know them. No. 13 High Point Panthers High Point moved to Division I in 1999 but never had enough success to go to the big dance. That finally changed this week as the Panthers came back from down 15 points in the Big South tournament title game to lock up an automatic bid. Head coach Alan Huss has this program rolling with a 56-14 record over his first two years. And the fan support has been electric. Check out the scenes on Sunday. No. 15 Omaha Mavericks Omaha hadn't experienced a winning season since 2018-19. In Year 3 of the Chris Crutchfield Era, the Mavericks not only got over .500 (22-12), they're headed to their first NCAA tournament. The No. 15 seed has a tough draw in the Round of 64 against No. 2 St. John's, but it's not an upset we haven't seen before. The Summit League champs are led by forward Marquel Sutton, who averages 19.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. No. 16 SIU Edwardsville Cougars That's Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from just outside The Cougars will face another clan of Cougars in the Round of 64, thanks to their matchup with No. 1 Houston, but SIUE has a lot to celebrate before then. The program only moved to Division I in 2008 and didn't have a winning season at the NCAA's top level until 2022-23. Now the Cougars are dancing after wining the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. Watch out for guard Ray'Sean Taylor and his 19.3 points per game. No. 12 UC San Diego Tritons Two decades ago, UCSD was playing in Division III. Five years ago, the Tritons were in Division II. On Sunday they officially earned a berth in the NCAA tournament by winning the Big West tournament. What an epic rise for head coach Eric Olen, who has led the Tritons since 2013 and compiled a 210-114 record in the process. Get used to hearing the name Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, by the way. The senior guard from New Zealand is averaging 19.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists while shooting 57.6 percent from the field.
