It’s not often that we see a first-year head coach reach the NCAA Championship in college basketball, but it happens time-to-time.
Last year, Hubert Davis took over for Roy Williams and led the Tar Heels to the Championship game. Now it’s time to figure out the head coach that can replicate that success this season.
Here are five potential teams with a new head coach that you should keep an eye on for your NCAAB picks.
Duke Blue Devils (+1400)
Out goes Coach K and in comes Jon Scheyer. He played college basketball at Duke from 2006-2010 and took over as head coach this season after years of being an assistant.
Duke is already going to be starting the season as a top-five team in college basketball. They won’t have much experience on their roster but the talent on the roster will be excellent.
More Devils to the Team
The Blue Devils got seven commits with the 2022 class, ranging from guards, to forwards, to centers. They were also able to add Jacob Grandison, Kale Catchings, and Ryan Young from the transfer portal.
The ACC didn’t really perform all that well during the regular season last year. But then in tournament play, things got much better for this conference.
Duke and North Carolina went far in the tournament until they had to play one another, but also Miami made a massive run in the tournament last year. Playing in the ACC will always get you ready for the NCAA Tournament.
LSU Tigers (+15000)
The LSU Tigers finally fired Will Wade and brought in a reliable, no-nonsense guy in Matt McMahon to take over the program. McMahon was previously at Murray State, where he developed a guard named Ja Morant.
Anyway, once he joined the team, the entire roster decided to go into the Transfer Portal. He was able to retain Adam Miller, Justice Williams, and Mwani Wilkinson.
New Additions
McMahon also brought in a ton of talent from the transfer portal, which included K.J. Williams, Justice Hill, and Trae Hannibal.
All three of those players were originally at Murray State and they followed him to LSU. It shows you how big of an impact he’s made on his star players for them to want to follow him to another school.
He’s also put together a solid recruiting class of freshmen and brought in other transfers that figure to play a role with the team this year.
LSU is sneaky good this year and they’ve got a ton of haters to prove wrong. I’m excited for this group.
Florida Gators (+6000)
The Gators really needed to make a switch with their head coach. Mike White wasn’t getting the job done previously, and it seemed like he would fall short with a really good roster every single season. Now Todd Golden will take over as head coach.
He’s coming all the way from San Francisco, after making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his career as a head coach. He parlayed that into a job in Florida and won’t disappoint.
Experienced Gators
Florida’s in a tough SEC, like LSU, but Golden was able to lure in Kyle Lofton, Alex Fudge, Will Richard, and Trey Bonham.
He’s now got more guys with experience to play along with Colin Castleton and Myreon Jones.
A lineup of Kyle Lofton, Myreon Jones, Alex Fudge, Collin Castleton, and Jason Jitoboh looks really good.
I’m sure they’ll be able to get some depth out of their bench as well. I think this team can be much more consistent moving forward.
Louisville Cardinals (+10000)
Louisville elected to go a different direction in the middle of last year’s season. They fired Chris Mack and hired Kenny Payne to take over head coaching duties. Louisville is a basketball school and they need to get back to playing at that kind of level.
Latest Cardinals Stars
The Cardinals figure to be really young, but there’s still a ton of talent on this roster. Recently, Louisville was able to get a commitment from Fabio Basili, who is a three-star shooting guard.
It’s hard to justify them winning a Championship but I do think they could turn things around and make March Madness.
Villanova Wildcats (+4000)
Lastly, Jay Wright retired from coaching Villanova. He’s now handed the keys over to Kyle Neptune.
Villanova will no longer have Collin Gillespie but Brandon Slater should be back along with Caleb Daniels.
Villanova will also have Justin Moore and Eric Dixton along with many guys that have developed over the last year. They’re a little light in the front court, but I’m sure they’ve got a plan down there.
Villanova will always be a threat in the Big East and NCAA Tournament.
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