We are 1 day away from Selection Sunday as we continue to make our NCAA tourney predictions. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel correctly picked 66 of the 68 teams that made the 2025 tourney: 62 of his 66 were within 1 spot of their actual seed and 52 were right on the money. He will spend this weekend predicting which 68 teams will hear their names called on March 15th. See below for his list of who would make the cut if they picked the field today and if you agree or disagree then feel free to tweet us. To see how he stacks up with other websites (ranked 7th out of 186 bracket veterans over the past 5 years), check out: www.bracketmatrix.com
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SEED: TEAM (CONFERENCE) 1: Duke (ACC) 1: Michigan (Big 10) 1: Arizona (Big 12) 1: Florida (SEC)
Last Tuesday Hofstra beat Monmouth 75-69 in the CAA tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Pride lost 5 games in a row last January but turned things around after that and will be playing in the NCAA tourney for the 1st time since 2001. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Hofstra associate head coach Mike DePaoli about playing great defense and making the NCAA tourney.
You were captain of the basketball team at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY, and played in a pair of NCAA tourneys for the Golden Knights: what is the key to being a good leader? Being authentic and wanting greatness for the group before greatness for yourself. There are different ways to lead but you need to be geunine, whether you are a quiet leader or whether you vocally hold everyone accountable. 2 of our best players this year were conference POY Cruz Davis/conference ROY Preston Edmead: they did not focus on winning awards, but rather on winning a championship. I always had a lot of fire as a player, and that is also how I coach, but I hope my guys know that I care about them as people.
You spent 11 years on the staff at Fordham, including 6 games as interim head coach in 2021: what is the biggest difference between being a head coach and being an assistant coach? You go from making suggestions to making decisions, and you cannot make a decision that will just solve the problem at the moment: you need to look at the big picture on the horizon. Every suggestion that I make to our head coach (Speedy Claxton) is to keep the big picture in mind. You have no idea how lonely that seat is until you are in it, so I make sure to let Speedy know that he is not alone.
You were a founding member of the “A-10 Connecting for Change” group that helped give student-athletes a voice in the fight against systemic racism: why did you do it, and what were you able to accomplish? Back in 2020 during COVID and the Black Lives Matter movement, I saw how emotional our players were and I wanted to use that emotion and harness it into a productive thing. We got all the A-10 schools to commit to creating a minority scholarship fund, which allowed us to go back to our players and show them how we were making a difference: it was a big outlet for a lot of our guys. What makes Coach Claxton such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? #1 is that he is very comfortable in his own skin. He played in the NBA for 10 years so he demands so much respect when he walks into a gym. Other guys lead from insecurity/anxiety, but Speedy’s emotional security permeates throughout our entire program. #2 is that he does not get too high or low. If you came into our office 1 morning, you would not know whether we had won or lost the previous night. The season is a marathon, not a sprint, so you want the temperature in the gym to be right every day. Some teams can get burned out by January but we have a history of being fresh at the right time of the year (February).
Your roster has 2 players from New York, 4 from foreign countries, and the rest are from various states around the US: what sort of recruiting philosophy does your team have? In years past we have been more New York-centric, but the college basketball landscape has changed over the past 2 decades: a lot of New York players will end up moving around the country to various prep schools. We work more from an NBA model, which involves a lot of analytics. The other challenge is that instead of spending a year getting to know your incoming freshmen, you only have a short 2-3 week window to recruit a guy out of the portal: it is like speed-dating! The 3 C’s that are non-negotiable for us are character/commitment/competitive spirit. Cruz is 1 of the quietest guys in our gym…but he is also the most competitive.
Your team lost 5 games in a row in January: how were you able to turn things around in February? If you look at that stretch, we had a combination of injuries/foul trouble. Not only were we limited in our rotation, but when our big man kept fouling out, we ended up having our worst rebounding/defending stretch of the season. Since then, we have been able to hold all but 1 of our opponents under 70 PTS.
Take me through the 2026 CAA tourney: In the semifinals Preston Edmead scored 22 PTS including the game-winning 28-footer off the glass in the final second of OT in a 3-PT win over Towson: did you think it was going in, and where does that rank among the most incredible shots you have ever seen in person? Whenever Preston shoots the ball, we all have great confidence that it is going in. Tyler Thomas hit an OT game-winner for us at Rutgers in the 2023 NIT, so we have been a part of some special ones…but Preston’s shot is up there. He is not afraid of the moment and as Bill Raftery would say, has great onions.
In the title game you had a win over Monmouth: what did it mean to you to win a title, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? The coolest part of winning a title is that it is a culmination/validation of all the hard work that our group has put in. When you play with that emotional fire, it can either heat your whole house or burn your house down it if is not regulated. You want to play with great emotion, but not play emotional. The other cool thing is that you get to walk together forever: they will get to come back to campus every few years and get honored.
Your team’s 66.1 PPG is top-20 in the nation: what is the secret to playing great defense? We are 17-0 when we outrebound our opponent by 5 or more, and have only lost 1 game when we prevented our opponent from shooting over 40 FG%. I am a big FG% defense guy, and we are #6 in the nation at that: it is a staple of our program. Defense allows you to win games, while offense determines how much you will win games by. The biggest improvement we have made from last year to this year is offensive rebounding, which allows us to generate extra possessions, and that is how we won the title.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? “Anybody anywhere anytime!” They can send us to Philly or Portland: I am just looking forward to another chance to compete with this team.
It was another wild day of conference tournament action. As for the probable #1 seeds Arizona needed a last second shot to get past Iowa State in the Big 12 semis, and Michigan got a big scare from rivals Ohio State in the Big Ten Quarters. Florida and Duke won without too much trouble. We had several exciting finishes in the WAC, Big Ten, and MEAC Tournaments, a triple OT thriller in the American, and much more! We recap all of the action and preview all of tomorrow’s games.
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
Friday the 13th brings us the second day of deliberations on the Hoops HD Selection Committee. Tonight our first order of business was to add 6 more teams to the at-large board. As we alluded to last night, there were three additional at-large spots guaranteed to open up since the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten will not have any bids stolen. As the results of today’s games went final, we were also assured that a bid thief would not come out of the Big East, but the SEC still has a potential bid thief in Ole Miss after the Rebels’ win against Alabama.
There were 2 groups of 3 teams added; each Committee member voted for their top 8 teams to be added to the next round of voting with carryovers Mother Miami, Iowa and Santa Clara. After ranking the teams 1 through 8, the next 3 teams added were Iowa, Santa Clara and Texas A&M (?!?). The Redhawks had to go back to Under Consideration since they could not carry over for two consecutive rounds of voting. The process was repeated and the second wave of votes saw UCF, Saint Louis and Missouri added to the at-large board. The three carryover teams that will be considered for the final at-large spots will be Mother Miami, Texas and VCU (meaning that the VCU Rams had better win the A-10 auto bid in the eyes of our Selection Committee).
At this point, the process began in terms of seeding the field; each Committee member submitted a list of their top 12 teams to Chad (our chairman). The top 12 vote-getters were ranked 1 through 12; the top 8 teams would constitute the #1 and #2 seed lines in our field. (The real committee would seed the lines 1 at a time, but we go 2 lines at a time to speed up the process). We repeated the process for the 3 through 6 seed lines; the final task for the night was to do the 7-seed line only given the lack of teams on the board at the moment.
Tomorrow night, we will fill the final at-large spots that open up (including an SEC contingency depending on what Ole Miss does) and we will entertain potential motions to move teams off of the at-large board if necessary. I was not personally present and was horrified to see Texas A&M on our board, so an immediate motion to move them off the board will be made. This doesn’t necessarily mean they would be eliminated from the field if the motion passes, but they would move back to Under Consideration to be evaluated with Mother Miami, Texas, VCU, etc.
We will also fill the remaining seed lines and (time permitting) do a scrub of our overall seed list. Tune in tomorrow to see where the board stands after Saturday night’s championship games!
We are 2 days away from Selection Sunday as we continue to make our NCAA tourney predictions. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel correctly picked 66 of the 68 teams that made the 2025 tourney: 62 of his 66 were within 1 spot of their actual seed and 52 were right on the money. He will spend the upcoming days predicting which 68 teams will hear their names called on March 15th. See below for his list of who would make the cut if they picked the field today and if you agree or disagree then feel free to tweet us. To see how he stacks up with other websites (ranked 7th out of 186 bracket veterans over the past 5 years), check out: www.bracketmatrix.com
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SEED: TEAM (CONFERENCE) 1: Duke (ACC) 1: Michigan (Big 10) 1: Arizona (Big 12) 1: Florida (SEC)
2: Houston (Big 12) 2: Connecticut (Big East) 2: Michigan State (Big 10) 2: Iowa State (Big 12)
Last Tuesday Wright State beat Detroit Mercy 66-63 in the Horizon tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Raiders started this season 5-7, but turned things around in conference play to make it back to the NCAA tourney for the 1st time since 2022. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Wright State assistant coach Jaaron Simmons about making the NCAA title game as a player in 2018 at Michigan and making the NCAA tourney again as a coach 8 years later.
You began your college career at Houston: why did you decide to transfer in 2014, and what made you choose Ohio? It was about getting closer to home. My parents have been very supportive of me, and I wanted to give them more of a chance to watch me play. It was hard to be so far from home during those tough days: it is a lot easier to spend 2 hours driving home than it is to spend 18 hours!
After sitting out a year you became a 2-time all-conference player for the Bobcats, and in February of 2017 you scored a career-high 38 PTS/5-5 3PM in a win over Akron: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? That was part of it, but Akron was also #1 in the league: I remember that game like it was yesterday. I was competing for conference POY against their star big man Isaiah Johnson, and I had a very good shooting game and was able to get to the FT line a lot (13-16): had I not missed a couple of FTs I would have scored 40 PTS!
You led the MAC in APG for 2 years in a row: what is the key to being a good PG? Understanding your teammates, where they like the ball, and how to hold them accountable. You need a great relationship with your head coach to earn his trust, understand the system, and then make the right decisions on the court.
In 2018 as the 1st grad transfer to ever play at Michigan you were named Academic All-Big 10: how did you balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? When you are in grad school you might have only a 3-hour class once/week, so I was able to treat that year like it was my 1st as a professional. I graduated with my masters’ degree…but I also went there to play basketball, so I spent a lot of time in the gym.
Take me through the 2018 NCAA tourney: In the 2nd round Jordan Poole made a 3 at the buzzer to beat your former Houston squad (www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n4rqMnxaig): where does that rank among the most amazing shots that you have ever seen in person? Probably #1. We were dead in the water and thought the game was over. We worked on that play throughout the season and were able to execute it. Jordan hit that shot in a live-game scenario during practice: we always believed in him because he has a lot of guts and keeps proving it even today.
You played 3 minutes in the title game loss to Villanova: what is the key to winning games in March? Just being present with your brothers. It is not easy to get there, so you must appreciate what you did that season and how fortunate you were to make it. I believed in my coaches and felt we were there for a reason, so I put my best foot forward.
You are an assistant coach for Clint Sargent at Wright State: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? His ability to connect with the players: he meets them wherever they are and helps them grow from young men into men. It is the best time of their lives, but there is a lot of noise around them and they have a lot of decisions to make. He makes it about “we”, not “me”: that is why we are where we are.
Last Tuesday in the Horizon title game you had a 3-PT win over Detroit Mercy: what did it mean to you to win a title? It means everything to me. We play/coach to win championships, but it is hard to do. Our players put in a lot of hard work starting on June 1st: they have been connected from day 1 and I was glad that all their hard work indeed paid off with an NCAA tourney bid.
You played several good non-conference opponents this season including Miami OH: what impressed you the most about them, and do you think they belong in the NCAA tourney after losing their opening conference tourney game to UMass on Thursday? They were a good team: they spread you out and can pass/catch/shoot. Being able to retain a large portion of your roster is important, and you can see how they continued their success due to their chemistry. I think they deserve a shot at the NCAA tourney: it is hard to win 31 games in a season regardless of your schedule. There have not been many teams who went undefeated in the regular season because you are bound to slip up at some point…but they did not.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? We are just blessed/thankful to be a part of the 68. Whether we are a 14/15/16 seed: we do not care. We appreciate the opportunity and will play as 1 team and try to make some great things happen.
The 2026 Hoops HD Selection Committee – Friday, March 13th
Friday the 13th brings us the second day of deliberations on the Hoops HD Selection Committee. Tonight our first order of business was to add 6 more teams to the at-large board. As we alluded to last night, there were three additional at-large spots guaranteed to open up since the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten will not have any bids stolen. As the results of today’s games went final, we were also assured that a bid thief would not come out of the Big East, but the SEC still has a potential bid thief in Ole Miss after the Rebels’ win against Alabama.
There were 2 groups of 3 teams added; each Committee member voted for their top 8 teams to be added to the next round of voting with carryovers Mother Miami, Iowa and Santa Clara. After ranking the teams 1 through 8, the next 3 teams added were Iowa, Santa Clara and Texas A&M (?!?). The Redhawks had to go back to Under Consideration since they could not carry over for two consecutive rounds of voting. The process was repeated and the second wave of votes saw UCF, Saint Louis and Missouri added to the at-large board. The three carryover teams that will be considered for the final at-large spots will be Mother Miami, Texas and VCU (meaning that the VCU Rams had better win the A-10 auto bid in the eyes of our Selection Committee).
At this point, the process began in terms of seeding the field; each Committee member submitted a list of their top 12 teams to Chad (our chairman). The top 12 vote-getters were ranked 1 through 12; the top 8 teams would constitute the #1 and #2 seed lines in our field. (The real committee would seed the lines 1 at a time, but we go 2 lines at a time to speed up the process). We repeated the process for the 3 through 6 seed lines; the final task for the night was to do the 7-seed line only given the lack of teams on the board at the moment.
Tomorrow night, we will fill the final at-large spots that open up (including an SEC contingency depending on what Ole Miss does) and we will entertain potential motions to move teams off of the at-large board if necessary. I was not personally present and was horrified to see Texas A&M on our board, so an immediate motion to move them off the board will be made. This doesn’t necessarily mean they would be eliminated from the field if the motion passes, but they would move back to Under Consideration to be evaluated with Mother Miami, Texas, VCU, etc.
We will also fill the remaining seed lines and (time permitting) do a scrub of our overall seed list. Tune in tomorrow to see where the board stands after Saturday night’s championship games!