NCAA Tourney: Will Wade Hired By NC State,'Granny Shot' For Wofford, Louisville Home, Tennessee-Auburn In Rupp

LEXINGTON, KY - They don't call this the most wonderful time of the year for nothing. As the NCAA Tournament gets underway in Lexington, we are preparing for another round of madness, while Will Wade is not shutting down the conversations about his coaching future. 

There are plenty of storylines around this year's tournament, whether that's Auburn looking to make good on the overall No.1 seed, Louisville playing just one hour away from campus, Tennessee looking to get Rick Barnes to the Final Four, or Wofford's Kyler Filewich taking a granny-shot approach to free throws. 

While the day in Lexington started with a protest occurring right next to Rupp Arena, that had nothing to do with basketball, Kentucky congressman Andy Barr was headed towards an eventful four days. 

Will Wade Hired By NC State, During NCAA Tournament

While it did occur in Lexington, McNeese State head coach Will Wade made news across the country with his answer to a question regarding the opening at NC State. Not the one to hold onto his thoughts, or turn down a ‘Big Ass’ offer, Wade was very upfront when asked if the Wolfpack had made contact with him about the job. 

"I lay it all out there to my players, and my players have laid it all out there to me. We are transparent. We’ve shared it all with each other," Wade told reporters when asked if he's had contact with NC State. 

He did say they'd spoken, whether that was through his agent or himself. Will Wade has also been transparent with his basketball team, not wanting them to be caught off-guard by reports in the media. 

According to multiple reports, NC State has officially hired Will Wade as its head coach. 

Commitment To Free-Throws. Wofford's Kyle Filewich Goes Granny Shot

Kyle Filewich had been struggling at the free-throw line through the opening half of the season, and something needed to change for him not to be a hindrance to his team in key moments. So, Wofford head coach Dwight Perry decided to call in a favor, with former NBA great Rick Barry, who shot 89% from the FT line during his time in the league. 

The coaching staff knew that Kyle needed some help with his shot, but completely changing his form was a tall task, especially in the middle of the season. 

"It's something that the coaches brought to us after the game, I think it was end of January, early February. So it's relatively new. Only been about a month, month and a half of me doing it…It was great working with Rick Barry. I'm super thankful for him taking his time out to show me how it's done and kind of taking on the mindset of doing whatever it takes to win."

Think about that for a minute. Your coaches come to you during the middle of the season, and ask that you change your shot, and  they're also bringing in Rick Barry to help you achieve this goal. I'd imagine Kyle Filewich thought of ‘Jackie Moon’ from Semi-Pro as soon as he heard the coach's idea. 

How did this come about? Wofford head coach Dwight Perry knew they had a connection to Rick Barry, so drastic measures were taken. 

"So Kyler came to us, and he was open. He said he wanted to figure out a way in which his free throws were not going to cause us games to lose that we should otherwise win," Perry explained.

"So it was a collaborative deal. Coach Anderson was able to get ahold of Rick Barry. Rick Barry graciously came and gave his wisdom and kinda gave some pointers. We were very fortunate. There were a couple of days in which they did that in the middle of the season. It has obviously taken social media by storm, and it's obviously something that's atypical in today's day and age. But to Kyler's credit, he's been fully bought in."

Consider it a well-executed plan. 

Bruce Pearl Points Towards NIL Commitment From SEC Schools

As you've heard enough this season, the SEC has been the most dominant conference in college basketball throughout the 2024-2025 year. There isn't a day that goes by that the SEC is not discussed, especially now that the NCAA Tournament has begun. 

Being that Auburn is the No. 1 overall seed, while Florida secured another No. 1 seed in the West region, and the SEC having fourteen teams making the tournament, breaking an NCAA record, it's hard not to pay attention. 

While there will be plenty of folks around the country that root for the early demise of conference members over the next few weeks, there's a good chance that one of the schools will cut down the nets in San Antonio. 

Auburn's Bruce Pearl speaks with the media before his team starts the NCAA Tournament. Via: Trey Walllace

Speaking with the media on Wednesday, Auburn's Bruce Pearl was asked about what made this year different for the SEC, from top to bottom. It wasn't the coaching. Pearl pointed towards a commitment to finances. 

"I think the difference between the SEC this year and why there was such a great separation, top to bottom, there was commitment in the NIL and investing in our student-athletes," Bruce Pearl noted. 

"If you look at many conferences, the teams that finished at the top of their conferences -- let's just say Louisville and Duke, for example, in the ACC. Those two programs have been consistently well supported. They got great history. So when it comes to the NIL, they're going to be invested. Not everybody in the ACC invested like those two schools."

He's not wrong, as the SEC has spent money over the past few years in NIL, but most importantly, for the conference, they had to make a change in how they approached college basketball, which can be attributed to former commissioner Mike Slive making sure schools knew the importance of the sport for the conference. 

Tennessee prepares for NCAA Tournament Via: Trey Wallace

Louisville Better Have Fan Support, Being That It's An Hour To Campus

If there is one team that should have an overwhelming number of fans inside Rupp Arena on Thursday afternoon, it's Louisville. 

We are currently one hour away from the Cardinals campus, and this team has an important game against Creighton that should lead to a matchup against Auburn on Saturday. Now, I don't think Auburn is happy that a team they could face in the second round might end up having 15,000 fans inside the building for that game, but the selection committee was going to make sure tickets were sold in Lexington. 

 "I don't think you can make the assumption that it's just going to be overcome with red," Louisville's Pat Kelsey mentioned. "I guarantee you there's going to be a bunch of Creighton in there, too.

"Being right down the road and making it easy for our fans to travel here is a positive, and I know how our -- I talked about Creighton's fan base, and it is, they have a phenomenal reputation, but being here at the University of Louisville for the last -- almost going on one full calendar year, it was apparent to me very, very early on…We have a passionate fan base, they have a passionate fan base. It's the greatest time of the year. It's going to be a great college basketball atmosphere and a big-time game."

It's NCAA Tournament time in Lexington. Via: Trey Wallace

Stop it, Pat. Please don't act as if Creighton is going to come close to the amount of fans that your school has in the building on Thursday. If there's one team that could come close to that, it would be Tennessee on Saturday, if they beat Wofford. 

It was certainly an interesting start to March Madness in Lexington on Wednesday, with four games upcoming tomorrow. Hopefully, I won't run into any more protests while I'm in town. 

Let's play some basketball.