Latest news with #WillWade
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
UNC basketball, NC State might not play twice each ACC season. Here's why
UNC basketball and N.C. State have played 249 times over the last 112 years, meeting twice every season since 1920 in one of the ACC's oldest rivalries. That streak could be coming to an end for the Tobacco Road rivals after the ACC announced May 7 that it's moving from a 20-game conference schedule to 18 games, starting with the 2025-26 season. Advertisement With the changes, the Tar Heels' annual home-and-away series with the Wolfpack could be in jeopardy. Each team will play one primary partner both home and away, as well as one variable partner home and away. The variable partner will be determined each season, according to the ACC. Teams will play one game, home or away, against 14 of the remaining 15 teams annually. NEW TAR HEEL: Jaydon Young, North Carolina native, joining UNC basketball. What can Tar Heels expect? LEADERS OF WOLFPACK: NC State basketball roster is coming together under Will Wade. Here are 5 important players UNC's 169 wins against N.C. State are the most by the Tar Heels against any opponent, but Duke is UNC's primary partner and Wake Forest is considered the Wolfpack's primary partner. Advertisement The ACC, which has rolled out a 20-game league schedule since the 2019-20 season, last featured an 18-game format from 2012-19. The change also allows teams the possibility of bolstering their nonconference schedules with two more games against quality opponents. 'As a league, we have been transparent about the importance of ACC Men's Basketball and specifically our commitment to ensuring it is best positioned for the future,' ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in a ACC-issued statement. 'Moving to an 18-game conference schedule is a direct result of our ongoing strategic review and analysis and provides our schools a better balance of non-conference and conference games, while also allowing them more autonomy in the scheduling process. This decision reflects our on-going prioritization to do what's best for ACC Men's Basketball, and we appreciate the thoughtfulness of our membership and the support from our television partners.' The decision comes after the ACC got four of its 18 teams in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. At 22%, it was the conference's lowest percentage of teams to make March Madness since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Advertisement The league said a breakdown of 2025-26 opponents and a full league schedule will be announced at a later date. Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them to rbaxley@ This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: ACC men's basketball schedule could change UNC, NC State rivalry
Bloomberg
15-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
South Korea wins in $9 trillion nuclear power revival
As nuclear energy makes a comeback, South Korea is emerging as a winner. The country has built up the best large-scale atomic-energy industry outside China and Russia, and stands to reap diplomatic and financial rewards, Will Wade reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
Axios
15-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
Changes to sports gambling could bring big money to UNC and N.C. State
North Carolina may soon double the state's tax on sports betting operators and, for the first time, include N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill in the list of universities that receive the revenue, per a budget proposal Senate Republicans are advancing this week. Why it matters: The change would generate an estimated $133 million in additional revenue over the next two years, of which the state's two biggest public universities would receive $56 million each. Driving the news: The measures are tucked within the Senate's more than 400-page bill that the chamber's leadership unveiled Monday. The legislation is expected to pass next week. The budget proposal also calls for UNC and N.C. State to play every UNC System school in men's and women's basketball at least twice by the 2039-2040 season, with one of the games being an away game for UNC and N.C. State. State of play: The state collected roughly $131 million in taxes from sports betting in its first year, The Associated Press reported. In its first year, 13 of the state's public schools received money from that tax — excluding UNC, N.C. State and the UNC School of the Arts. The big picture: The influx of money comes as both UNC and N.C. State prepare to spend significantly more money on sports in the coming years and begin to share revenue with players. UNC, with the hiring of Bill Belichick, has committed to spending tens of millions of dollars on its football program, and it's continuing to add resources to its basketball program. And N.C. State's recent hire of Will Wade came with the promise that the school would spend money to compete in basketball. N.C. State declined to comment to Axios on the budget proposal. Zoom in: UNC, for its part, has admitted it needs to find new sources of revenue as it spends more on sports.
USA Today
02-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Who are the best college basketball coaching hires? We ranked every power conference move
Who are the best college basketball coaching hires? We ranked every power conference move Show Caption Hide Caption Duke, Florida, Auburn, Houston punch their ticket to the Final Four The madness continues as Mackenzie Salmon previews the Men's Final Four matchups, which will feature all No. 1 seeds for the first time since 2008. Sports Seriously Unsurprisingly, this year's coaching-change cycle has schools in the Power Five basketball conferences dipping into the men's NCAA tournament bracket to locate new hires with a recent track record of regular-season and postseason success. Of the nine major-conference hires with previous college experience as a head coach, eight led teams into this year's tournament. That led to some awkwardness involving new North Carolina State coach Will Wade and new Villanova coach Kevin Willard. But the hiring approach is solid. Of the head coaches in this year's Elite Eight, six had previously led a different school into tournament; the exceptions were Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Duke's Jon Scheyer, who were promoted as assistants. Time will tell if this year's new hires will repeat this success in a new environment. With two open positions remaining in Texas A&M and West Virginia, here's our ranking of the major-conference coaching changes: 1. Will Wade, North Carolina State Wade comes with serious baggage, as he readily admitted during the McNeese State's tournament run. He was given a two-year, show-cause order and suspended for the first 10 games of his tenure there after the NCAA found him guilty of rules violations at LSU. But he also wins: McNeese went 58-11 in his two seasons, losing just twice in Southland Conference play, and previously led Virginia Commonwealth and LSU into tournament play. The road back to the Final Four won't be easy even in an ACC that took a step back this year, but Wade will recruit at a high level and implement a style of play that should provide North Carolina State with an immediate boost next season. 2. Kevin Willard, Villanova The way he handled the departure from Maryland has overshadowed Willard's impressive résumé. Iona went 2-28 in the year before his arrival but won 21 games in his third season. That earned Willard the job at Seton Hall, which went 49-48 in his first three years but reached the tournament in five of his final seven seasons — accounting for over a third of the tournament appearances in program history. Maryland was floundering when he was hired in 2022. Willard is back in more familiar territory at Villanova and will have a healthier amount of NIL at his disposal to rebuild the Wildcats. 3. Sean Miller, Texas After being fired after a dozen years at Arizona amid a widespread NCAA investigation, Miller returned to Xavier and made a pair of tournament appearances in three seasons. While his second run with the Musketeers didn't quite meet expectations, Miller's extensive experience overall and three Elite Eight berths with the Arizona makes him a strong fit for a Texas program fighting for a toehold in the deep SEC. 4. Buzz Williams, Maryland The now former Texas A&M coach has led each of his three power-conference stops to the tournament, including an Elite Eight trip with Marquette in 2013. While his Aggies never advanced out of the opening weekend, Williams is one of two coaches in program history to win 20 or more games in four seasons in a row. He has a coaching method that has yielded consistent results and brings to Maryland a sense of stability in the wake of Willard's departure. It will be interesting to see how Williams will fare at a program with a strong history and a firm commitment to basketball success and whether his style can produce the deep tournament success Terrapins fans crave. 5. Ben McCollum, Iowa After winning four Division II national championships at Northwest Missouri State, McCollum had a terrific single season at Drake, leading the Bulldogs to a Missouri Valley championship and 31 wins, including an upset of Missouri in the tournament's opening round. His potent offensive style, familiarity with the area and extended history of high-level success makes McCollum a strong hire for the Hawkeyes. 6. Ryan Odom, Virginia In 2018, Odom famously led No. 16 Maryland-Baltimore County past No. 1 Virginia in the first such upset in tournament history. Seven years later, he's the Cavaliers' permanent replacement for Tony Bennett. Odom has expanded his résumé by leading another two programs to the tournament in the meantime, landing Utah State an at-large berth in 2023 and leading VCU to the Atlantic 10 championship this season. 7. Richard Pitino, Xavier Not every successful coaching career follows a straight line. Pitino got started with a bang, leading a depleted Florida International team in 2013 to the finals of the Sun Belt tournament. That earned him a quick promotion to Minnesota, where he went just 54-96 in the Big Ten in eight seasons. But Pitino did very good work during four years at New Mexico, making a pair of tournaments culminating in this year's 27-win finish and trip to the second round. 8. Niko Medved, Minnesota Medved is a Minnesota native who kickstarted Drake's current run in 2018 before spending the past seven seasons at Colorado State, making three tournament appearances in the past four years and winning this season's Mountain West tournament. Before that, he took over a Furman program in 2013 with one winning finish in the previous six years and won a combined 42 games in his final two seasons. While Minnesota is one of the tougher jobs in the Big Ten, Medved has the coaching chops and rebuilding experience to steadily build the Golden Gophers into a winner. 9. Darian DeVries, Indiana The longtime Creighton assistant went 150-55 over six seasons at Drake, taking the foundation poured by Medved to put together maybe the best stretch in program history. DeVries then spent this past season at West Virginia, which finished 19-13 and was somewhat controversially left out of the tournament. Will the pressure and expectations at Indiana be too much for a head coach with just one year of major-conference experience? Maybe, but going with a lower-profile hire might be just what the Hoosiers need, too. 10. Alex Jensen, Utah As at rival Brigham Young, where first-year coach Kevin Young had a terrific debut, Utah sees Jensen's background as an NBA assistant coach as an asset during this era of free agency-like roster turnover. Another positive is his knowledge of the program: Jensen was a standout forward for the Utes, playing for the 1998 team that reached the national championship game and earning WAC player of the year honors in 2000. He also was an assistant to his former Utah coach Rick Majerus for four seasons at Saint Louis. 11. Luke Loucks, Florida State Loucks is another former NBA assistant, most recently with the Sacramento Kings, who logged major minutes across multiple season as a Florida State point guard under his predecessor, longtime Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton. Loucks and Jensen brings similar strengths to the table but will have to prove themselves as first-time head coaches. 12. Jai Lucas, Miami The former Texas guard has established himself as one of the top recruiters in the country since entering into coaching nine years ago. Lucas has also worked under some of the biggest names in the sport: Rick Barnes, Shaka Smart, John Calipari and Jon Scheyer. Miami has quickly disappeared from the national picture after making the Elite Eight in 2022 and the Final Four a year later. Whether Lucas can install his vision, rebuild the roster and bring the Hurricanes back to relevance is one of the biggest questions of the offseason in the ACC.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
No 'BS': What Will Wade said about NC State basketball coaching search
N.C. State basketball's coaching search continues into March Madness and the start of the 2025 men's NCAA Tournament. McNeese State coach Will Wade, one of the Wolfpack's targets, was asked about the job opening Wednesday as his 12th-seeded Cowboys (27-6) prepare for an opening-round matchup with No. 5 Clemson (27-6) on Thursday (3:15 p.m., truTV) in Providence, Rhode Island. "Yes," Wade said when asked if he or someone close to him has been in contact with N.C. State. Advertisement In an effort to limit distractions, Wade added he told his team about the rumors before Selection Sunday. "Just tell it like it is," he said. "You may not always like what I'm going to say, but I'm going to tell you what I think. I've always kind of been like that, and there's no need to hide it. The guys are reading it on social media; it's no secret. I'm not going to ask them to do something I'm not willing to do." On Wednesday afternoon, multiple reports indicated Wade and N.C. State had reached an agreement, though it must be finalized. Joe Giglio of OG Triangle Media first reported a deal was in place. NCAA TOURNAMENT PICKS: Who will win March Madness? NCAA Tournament bracket predictions, Final Four picks Advertisement SURVIVOR POOL: Ready to win March Madness? Join USA TODAY's Survivor Pool today! Wade has led McNeese to a 57-10 record in his two seasons and has previous experience as a successful coach at the high-major level. LSU made the Sweet 16 under Wade in 2019. When N.C. State fired former coach Kevin Keatts on March 9, Wade soon emerged as a top candidate to lead the Wolfpack. "It's no good if you don't address it and if you sit there and BS them," Wade said of the rumors swirling around N.C. State. "(Players) can read right through the BS, so you might as well, hey, this is what it is. Here we are, and we'll figure it out." N.C. State won the 2024 ACC Tournament before advancing to the Final Four, but that success didn't carry over into this season. The Wolfpack finished with a 12-19 record, including a 5-15 mark in the ACC, and were one of three teams that didn't qualify for the ACC Tournament in Charlotte. Advertisement Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them to rbaxley@ This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Will Wade talks NC State basketball coaching search before NCAA Tournament
