Latest news with #Fieldof68
Indianapolis Star
3 days ago
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
How Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries handles having his son, Tucker, on his team
Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries has plenty experience coaching his son, Tucker. How they handle the situation, however, goes back even further than Tucker playing for his dad at Drake. "Doug McDermott said, 'You guys can rip on my dad because I'm going to do it too,'" DeVries said on the Field of 68 with Jeff Goodman of McDermott playing for his father, Greg, at Creighton where DeVries was an assistant. "Coach McDermott was the same. "(I told Tucker), 'You're one of the guys. That's your time, your space, that has to be a place you can go and be like everybody else.' When we're together off the floor, we go back to that father-son relationship.' On the floor, in the locker room, you want to make it as seamless as possible with teammates. I thought Greg and Doug McDermott did a tremendous job of that." Tucker DeVries, a 6-foot-7 guard, has averaged 17.7 points and 5.6 rebounds during his career at Drake and West Virginia. He is returning to workouts after dealing with a right shoulder injury he suffered at West Virginia last season. He had surgery on the same shoulder in March 2024. Our book on legendary IU coach Bob Knight is the perfect Father's Day gift Darian DeVries recently said he expects Tucker to be available for IU's game in Puerto Rico in August. "With this troop, part of (Tucker's role) is going to be teacher," Darian DeVries said. "He's the one guy familiar with the terminology, being a leader, being able to answer questions about what the coaches are looking for. His role (on the court) will evolve over the course of time as we figure out how to best utilize everybody on the roster."
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
PJ Haggerty, nation's third-leading scorer, transfers to Kansas State and withdraws from 2025 NBA Draft
Former Memphis guard PJ Haggerty has withdrawn from the 2025 NBA Draft and will transfer to Kansas State, according to reports. The nation's third-leading scorer last season for Memphis, Haggerty entered the transfer portal on April 17. Last season, the 6-foot-3 guard averaged 21.7 points for the Tigers, shooting 36% on 107 3-point attempts while averaging 5.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.8 steals. With that production, he earned him AAC player of the year and second-team All-America honors. Haggerty, 21, will be a redshirt junior and play for his fourth program in four seasons. He redshirted as a freshman at TCU before transferring to Tulsa for one season and then joining Penny Hardaway's program at Memphis. Memphis finished 29-8 and won the AAC regular-season and conference tournament titles with Haggerty leading the way. The Tigers lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Colorado State, 78-70. Haggerty scored 18 points with 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in that defeat. Haggerty's father was seeking $4 million in NIL compensation from his next college basketball program, according to Field of 68 reporter Jeff Goodman. Yet he apparently had to settle for much less on the open market. Playing primarily at point guard was also a major consideration for Haggerty, which he did not do at Memphis. Yahoo Sports NBA Draft analyst Kevin O'Connor did not list Haggerty among the top 62 prospects on his big board, which explains his decision to withdraw from draft consideration and return to college. However, he reportedly made a good showing at the NBA Draft Combine. He hit 73% of his shots in individual drills, one of the top five shooters among the invited prospects. Additionally, Haggerty scored 18 points with seven rebounds in a scrimmage. Early entrants for the NBA Draft have until May 28 to withdraw if they want to keep their NCAA eligibility.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
PJ Haggerty, nation's 3rd-leading scorer, transfers to Kansas State and withdraws from 2025 NBA Draft
Former Memphis guard PJ Haggerty has withdrawn from the 2025 NBA Draft and will transfer to Kansas State, according to reports. The nation's third-leading scorer last season for Memphis, Haggerty entered the transfer portal on April 17. Last season, the 6-foot-3 guard averaged 21.7 points for the Tigers, shooting 36% on 107 3-point attempts while averaging 5.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.8 steals. With that production, he earned him AAC player of the year and second-team All-America honors. Haggerty, 21, will be a redshirt junior and play for his fourth program in four seasons. He redshirted as a freshman at TCU before transferring to Tulsa for one season and then joining Penny Hardaway's program at Memphis. Memphis finished 29-8 and won the AAC regular-season and conference tournament titles with Haggerty leading the way. The Tigers lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Colorado State, 78-70. Haggerty scored 18 points with 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in that defeat. Haggerty's father was seeking $4 million in NIL compensation from his next college basketball program, according to Field of 68 reporter Jeff Goodman. Yet he apparently had to settle for much less on the open market. Playing primarily at point guard was also a major consideration for Haggerty, which he did not do at Memphis. Yahoo Sports NBA Draft analyst Kevin O'Connor did not list Haggerty among the top 62 prospects on his big board, which explains his decision to withdraw from draft consideration and return to college. However, he reportedly made a good showing at the NBA draft combine. He hit 73% of his shots in individual drills, one of the top five shooters among the invited prospects. Additionally, Haggerty scored 18 points with seven rebounds in a scrimmage. Early entrants for the NBA Draft have until May 28 to withdraw if they want to keep their NCAA eligibility.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
How will McNeese State's Will Wade handle being huge Clemson fan if he takes NC State job?
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Coach Will Wade said McNeese State's first-round March Madness victory over Clemson basketball will rank high in his career. The No. 12 seed Cowboys upset the fifth-seeded Tigers on Thursday, winning 69-67 at Amica Mutual Pavilion. McNeese State (28-6) will face No. 4 Purdue in the second round Saturday (12:10 p.m. ET, CBS). "I don't want to be a prisoner of the moment and just say, 'Oh, it's the best win,' but it's close to one if it ain't one," Wade said Friday during his NCAA tournament availability. Wade said beating Clemson didn't make the win sweeter even though it was against his and assistant coach Vernon Hamilton's alma mater. Wade graduated from Clemson in 2005 and spent three seasons on former Clemson coaches Larry Shyatt and Oliver Purnell's staffs. Hamilton played guard for Clemson from 2003 through 2007 and served as a graduate assistant under Tigers coach Brad Brownell from 2014-16. Wade ended Clemson basketball's season, but he bleeds orange and purple for its football program. So much so, he doesn't allow his team to practice on Saturdays when Clemson plays because he has to watch the games. "They got these three hours on a Saturday," Wade said Wednesday. "They all know. They joke with me about it." When McNeese played LeTourneau, a Division III program, in the afternoon on Dec. 7, its game fell on the same day of Clemson faced SMU in the ACC championship. The high-stakes game altered McNeese's pre- and post-game schedule. "Took them too long to kick the damn field goal," Wade said of kicker Nolan Hauser's game-winning 56-yard field goal. 'THIS HURTS': How Clemson basketball proved unready for March Madness in upset loss to McNeese State Wade is so tapped into Clemson football that he followed its huge recruiting weekend earlier this month when it landed seven commitments in the 2026 class, including six four-star recruits. He isn't critical of Clemson coach Dabo Swinney though, acknowledging how difficult coaching is. Still, that doesn't stop his nerves from getting to him when watching. Although Wade is a fan of Clemson's football program, he said Friday Swinney didn't reach out after McNeese's win. Still, many of Wade's college friends sent messages before and after the bracket-busting win. Wade's Clemson football adoration may get dicey as he is reportedly in line to join the ACC as NC State's next coach. He did not deny the report either during a postgame interview on the Field of 68 podcast after Thursday's win. "Half the kids I recruit, the goal is to go Power 5 after this year, and some of you guys can go with me," Wade said. "We all know what's up." Wade is a coaching tactician, showcasing his ingenuity against Clemson by unveiling a modified 2-3 zone defense he said McNeese hasn't played all season. Cowboys guard Quadir Copeland said the scheme was something the team learned earlier in the season but never knew when Wade would enact it. "They are very aggressive, but there's a method to their madness," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "They play very hard. They have rules to what they're doing." Wade has reinvented himself with McNeese, helping it reach back-to-back NCAA tournaments. He had made March Madness in four straight seasons, excluding 2022-23 when he was out of coaching, dating back to his tenure at LSU. Wade has worked on rebuilding his image to be a potential candidate this offseason for other basketball jobs after LSU fired him in 2022 after five seasons. He was fired after receiving a two-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA amid the school receiving a Notice of Allegations stemming from multiple rules violations after a federal corruption investigation into the sport. He also had to serve a 10-game suspension in his first season with McNeese State. Wade isn't shy about talking about his future but hopes to continue McNeese's magical run with another upset win Saturday. Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@ and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00 This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Will Wade: McNeese coach likely headed to NC State is huge Clemson fan
USA Today
21-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
March Madness winners, losers: McNeese State adds to ACC men's NCAA tournament misery
Hear this story Cinderella's slipper needs a size adjustment. It doesn't fit quite right. The first day of the first round of men's March Madness came and went with a modest amount of madness. We got the 12-seed beating a 5-seed, that we've come to expect, and an 11-seed shoving aside a 6-seed. For the most part, though, the favorites held serve. Perhaps a modest Thursday will yield to a wild and wooly Friday filled with upsets. Here are the winners and losers after Thursday's first-round action: Winners Conservative bracket pickers If you picked a lot of chalk for Thursday's games, you're probably sitting pretty good in your respective bracket pool. No day of first-round games is complete without the emergence of at least a few upsets, but if you strictly picked the better-seeded team, you would've gone 12 of 16 for Thursday's games, and that's not a bad place to be entering Friday. Two upsets – No. 9 Creighton and No. 10 Arkansas won – were upsets in name only. Overall, good day to have chalk. Gonzaga If you turned on the Georgia-Gonzaga game a few minutes late, you missed everything you needed to see. Gonzaga raced to a 13-0 lead before the first media timeout. Game over. Mark Few added polish to his résumé as the nation's best active coach without a national championship. Gonzaga has advanced to at least the second round in each of the past 16 NCAA Tournaments, while becoming a model of consistency under Few's watch. Will Wade Just a few years ago, the FBI sharks chomped up Wade's LSU tenure, and he was cast into purgatory, from which he emerged at a school, McNeese State, that owned no NCAA Tournament victories. Wade's McNeese achievements reiterate that this guy can coach. No. 12 McNeese upended No. 5 Clemson for its first NCAA Tournament victory in program history. Wade is a hot commodity. He's reportedly in line to become North Carolina State's coach after McNeese exits the tournament. Wade did not deny that report during a postgame interview on the Field of 68 podcast. 'Whatever else is happening, that's of no distraction to us,' Wade said after the victory. No need for FBI sleuthing to reveal that Wade rebuilt his career. Ben McCollum Speaking of hot commodities, is there a hotter coach than Drake's Ben McCollum? Seriously, if he's not coaching candidate No. 1 for Iowa, then something's off in the water in Iowa City. McCollum won four Division II national championships throughout 15 successful seasons at Northwest Missouri State. In his first season at Drake, he's got his No. 11 Bulldogs into the second round after a polished performance against Missouri. Excluding 'First Four' results, this marks Drake's first NCAA win since 1971. Four Drake starters played for McCollum last season at Northwest Missouri State. Those players keep proving they belong at the Division I level. That's especially true of Bennett Stirtz. One of the nation's best players, he scored 21 points while roasting Missouri. And if Iowa wants McCollum, surely it shouldn't mind waiting until this NCAA ride ends – even if it might not end in the second round. Drake is good enough to reach the Sweet 16. Losers Clemson Woof. What was that performance? A dud to trump all duds, that's what that was. Clemson coach Brad Brownell spent the past several weeks prominently featured on hot boards suggesting him for other jobs. He stayed put and reportedly struck a contract extension with Clemson, then watched as his team piled up bricks in a 69-67 loss to No. 12 McNeese that, for most of the game, wasn't as close as the final score indicated. Clemson's Elite Eight journey last season proved the exception, not the rule. The ACC If Clemson was bad, Louisville might have been worse. The Cardinals looked lost in an 89-75 loss to No. 9 Creighton despite playing the game 80 miles from campus, in Lexington. Creighton's NCAA Tournament veterans Steven Ashworth and Ryan Kalkbrenner efficiently combined for 36 points, and Arizona State transfer Jamiya Neal went off for 29. The thumping Creighton laid on Louisville ought to serve as a wake-up call for No. 1 Auburn. The Bluejays are plenty talented and experienced enough to pull off a second-round upset. Meanwhile, the ACC limps forward with just two teams left standing, No. 1 Duke and No. 11 North Carolina, after the Clemson and Louisville flops. The SEC After an NCAA record 14 bids, 'it just means more' NCAA Tournament losses for the SEC, apparently. The SEC earned acclaim during the regular season for delivering the best single-season performance ever by a conference, but March Madness has a way of humbling even the mightiest among us. To be clear, this wasn't an awful day for the SEC. No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Tennessee and No. 4 Texas A&M won without need for hijinks. No. 10 Arkansas toppled Kansas in one of the day's more interesting games. But the SEC has lost three teams, marking it down to 11 left standing. No. 11 Texas bid farewell by giving up a late 10-point lead in a 'First Four' loss to Xavier. No. 9 Georgia forgot to show up in a blowout loss to Gonzaga. And No. 6 Missouri looked overmatched throughout much of its loss to Drake. Not a disaster, but not a great start for the SEC. Missouri The trouble with Missouri basketball isn't making the postseason. The trouble with Missouri basketball is doing something when it reaches the postseason. The Tigers boast a rich history of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, but they've never made a Final Four – and that streak will continue after Drake flexed its usual defensive toughness and rebounding clout in a 67-57 win that counted as an upset but felt like an expected result. Drake was the better team entering the tournament, and that became unmistakable once the game started. Six of Missouri's last seven NCAA Tournament appearances ended in the first round. The one time Missouri won its first-round game during that stretch, it lost to No. 15 Princeton in the second round. Frankly, this game became more of the same old story for Missouri. Kentucky fans Sorry, Big Blue Nation, but John Calipari won't make this breakup easy on you. Calipari's Razorbacks advanced to the second round, and while that's not an achievement worthy of a parade – considering Arkansas' talent level, it should make the second round – it puts extra pressure on first-year Kentucky coach Mark Pope. The third-seeded Wildcats will play Troy on Friday. UK fans were all too delighted to see Calipari leave for another job after last year's first-round exit continued a streak of March Madness disappointments. But then Calipari beat Kentucky in his return to Rupp Arena in February, and now he's surging into a second-round game against No. 2 St. John's. He's making Kentucky fans sweat this breakup. Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.
