Latest news with #NITTournament
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Richard Pitino Takes New Job
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team has a new head coach — 'one of us' U of M alum, Niko Medved — who was officially announced on Tuesday, just two days after leading his former team, the Colorado State Rams, to a second round defeat in the NCAA Tournament, at the hands of a Maryland buzzer-beater. Advertisement Medved was hired to replace Ben Johnson, who was fired after his fourth season as head men's basketball coach at the University of Minnesota. In that time, Johnson accumulated a 56-71 overall record, which stands as the worst winning percentage (.441) of any men's basketball head coach to last more than one season since World War II, when Carl Nordly's Gophers went 17-23 between 1943 and 1944. Ben Johnson's predecessor found success in New Mexico But the University of Minnesota's men's basketball struggles predate Johnson's forgettable tenure as head coach. Prior to Ben taking over for the 2021-22 season, the Golden Gophers were coached for eight years by then 30-something, Richard Pitino, whose dad is known as one of the greatest basketball coaches in the sport's history. Pitino went 141-123 at Minnesota, but failed to make the NCAA tournament in his last two seasons at the helm. Just in case you're counting, that makes it six college basketball seasons since the Minnesota Gophers have made the dance. Credit: Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Of course, the same cannot be said about Pitino. Since Richard left Dinkytown and landed in the Mountain West Conference, as head coach of the New Mexico Lobos, he's thrived, posting an overall record of 88-49 at New Mexico, including three-straight 20+ win seasons and two-straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Advertisement In 2024-25, Richard's Lobos went 27-8 and — much like his Mountain West rival Rams and now Gophers head coach Niko Medved — won their first round March Madness matchup 75-66 vs Marquette. New Mexico then fell to Michigan State in round two. Richard Pitino lands head coaching job at Xavier On Tuesday evening, Pitino was rewarded for his success down in the desert with the new head coaching job at Xavier University. Coincidentally, Xavier is where Ben Johnson was an assistant coach from 2018-2021, prior to being hired as Gophers head coach. Wanna go even further down the rabbit hole of weird basketball connections? Before landing at Xavier, Johnson was one Richard Pitino's Gophers staff from assistants on the Gophers staff. Basketball is a small world, after all… Advertisement Richard Pitino never got a fair shot at the University of Minnesota. Immediately upon being hired, and even after winning the NIT Tournament in his first season and making two NCAA Tournament appearances in three seasons from 2016-2019, Pitino was always seen by local media as an emergency Norwood Teague hire that was mostly based in nepotism. Related: New Gophers MBB Coach Supposedly Bringing Talent with Him to Minnesota Now, just four years after he left, those who chased him out of town are now clinging to hopes that another new coach can get this program back to where Richard Pitino had it, then hopefully beyond. Meanwhile, Pitino is now back in a traditional basketball power conference (Big East), ready to prove himself beyond his father's shadow, yet again.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Flyers' guard Malachi Smith enters transfer portal after four seasons with Dayton
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – The fallout from the Flyers' disappointing 2024-25 season has begun. UD men's basketball point guard Malachi Smith has entered the transfer portal, the first player to do so this spring, after four seasons with the program. The 6-foot redshirt junior still has one season of eligibility remaining after missing the entire 2023-24 season due to a knee injury he suffered in the season opener. Smith averaged 9.3 points and 4.3 assists over 86 career games with the Flyers, highlighted by a career-best 10.4 points per game this season. The Bronx, N.Y. native started in 31 of 33 games during the 2024-25 campaign. Smith is the 19th player during Anthony Grant's tenure to enter the transfer portal. The portal hit comes just days after the Flyers suffered an 87-72 loss to Chattanooga in the second round of the NIT Tournament. UD finished the year 23-11 overall and 12-6 in the Atlantic 10 following an early exit in the quarterfinal round of the A-10 Tournament. The transfer portal officially opened to college basketball players on Monday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
