It was another crazy day of conference tournament action! Duke got a scare from Florida State in the ACC, but held on to win. Kansas also got a scare from TCU, but also held on to win in the Big 12. Miami OH lost their first game of the season as they fell in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament. We recap the busiest week of Championship Week and preview all of tomorrow’s games.
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
Tonight was our first night of deliberations with the Hoops HD Selection Committee. After a formality where most of the UTR regular season champions were scrubbed off our board (with the exception of Belmont, Yale and South Florida), we voted on our Centenary and Stallings Awards for 2026. The Stallings Award was a unanimous vote for Boston College, but the Centenary Award featured a non-UTR team for the first time as Air Force ended up winning the award on the strength of a 25-game losing streak to complete their season. Surprisingly, only one human and one puppet did not vote for Air Force (Western Ilinois was the runner-up).
We also made a motion to scrub West Virginia off of our Under Consideration board; we then began the process of debating teams to add to the at-large board. In the first round of voting, the top 8 vote getters were Georgia, Miami, Kentucky, BYU, Clemson, Saint Mary’s, Villanova and TCU (via tiebreaker against Ohio State). We then ranked these teams 1 through 8; the top four vote getters were added to the at-large board. The first four teams we voted in were BYU, Miami, Kentucky and Saint Mary’s. The remaining 4 teams carried over to the next round of voting; we then individually nominated 8 more teams to add to the board.
The next top 4 vote getters were NC State, Ohio State, Santa Clara and Iowa; they were ranked 1 through 8 along with the previous 4 carryover teams. The next 4 teams added to our field were Clemson, Georgia, TCU and Villanova. The remaining four teams carried over to the next round and were joined in the next round of voting by Mother Miami (who lost to UMass earlier today – this means that the Redhawks will have to get in the NCAAs via an at-large bid now), Texas A&M, UCLA and Utah State. After another round of ranking the teams 1 through 8, we added Ohio State, UCLA, NC State and Utah State to our field. Mother Miami and Texas A&M carry over to tomorrow’s next round of voting; Santa Clara and Iowa returned to Under Consideration since teams cannot carry over in consecutive rounds of voting.
As of the time this article was published; we are assured of bids opening up in the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten since bid thieves are no longer possible in those 3 conferences. The SEC has potential bid thieves in Ole Miss and Oklahoma who are still alive, the Big East has Seton Hall (and maybe Georgetown) still alive, and there are also conferences like the Mountain West, Atlantic 10 and even the MAC where bids could be stolen. I mention the MAC because whoever wins the autobid could end up stealing the Redhawks’ bid.
Tomorrow night, we will begin the process of seeding the top 8 seed lines and we will vote more teams into the field as more results go final. Also pay attention to two different color markers on the Under Consideration board: Mother Miami and Texas A&M are highlighted in red since they are temporarily carryover teams for at-large voting. Teams highlighted in yellow have been eliminated from their conference tournaments and can no longer add anything else to their profiles. Stay tuned tomorrow when we post our next update!
Our Selection Committee has completed its initial phase of selecting the NCAA Tournament for 2026; each of our Committee members have submitted 2 lists to our chairman Chad Sherwood. The first list is our first ballot of up to 24 teams; teams that were selected on all but two lists were added to our At-Large tournament board. These teams (along with the first 15 autobid winners) are now in our initial NCAA Tournament field.
The second list is for teams Under Consideration; teams that got a minimum of 3 votes from our Committee were added to this group and will be among the group of teams that can also qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
This is what our initial board looks like:
22 teams made the initial at-large list; 35 teams were added to the Under Consideration board. All of the regular season champions were automatically added to Under Consideration, although it is likely they will be moved off of that list during our meeting tonight.
However, our first order of business will be to name our 2026 Centenary and Stallings Award winners; they will remain Under Consideration for the duration of our Committee’s meetings. We will then begin the process of debate and votes for the remainder of the at-large field; it is expected that we will add anywhere from 8 to 12 teams into the group highlighted in green. Stay tuned for later tonight when we recap the proceedings of tonight’s meeting!
Last Sunday Samford beat Chattanooga 72-67 in the SoCon women’s tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs made back-to-back NCAA tourney appearances in 2011/2012 but had to wait 14 years before making it back there this month. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Samford assistant coach Charity Brown about being a great PG and making the NCAA tourney.
As a SR at Samford you were named 3rd-team All-SoCon: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It was great. We worked so hard, especially during my senior year, but I was never about the awards and always put the team 1st.
You led the league that year with 5.8 APG and you still hold the school record with 511 career AST: what is the secret to being a great PG? As I said above: always putting the team 1st with whatever they needed. From my freshman year the team knew that I could create for myself, but I also tried to create for others to instill confidence in my teammates. That is just how I grew up: I just tried to give the team whatever it needed.
In the 2020 SoCon tourney title game you scored 14 PTS in a 5-PT win over UNCG: what did it mean to you to win a title, and what was your reaction like 4 days later when you learned that the NCAA tourney was being canceled due to COVID? That game was amazing. We beat them twice during the regular season, so we knew that the 3rd time would be a tough game. We beat Furman in the SoCon tourney after getting swept by them in the regular season. We celebrated very hard after winning the title because it was very special, then had a couple days to rest. We did not realize that COVID was that big a deal: even when we got back to campus, we just heard a little chatter here and there. I remember getting a call when the NCAA tourney was canceled: it was a shock, but I joke that I ended my career on a winning note, which most people do not get to do! We had 8 seniors on that team and did not get to see each other again until the ring ceremony after going straight home, but I am still best friends with a lot of girls on that team.
You also rank in the top-10 with 501 career REB: how were you able to balance all the different aspects of your game? When I was growing up, I would play “21” against the boys, and if I wanted to stay on the court then I had to rebound the ball. I could never “jump out of the gym” but I could still jump. Nobody expects the PG to get a lot of rebounds, so it made things a little easier for me. I remember 1 time when I had a bad game where I did not have many PTS/AST, but my coach said she knew that something was wrong because I did not have a single REB.
You were hired as an assistant coach at your alma mater 3 years ago: why did you take the job, and how it is going so far? It is going GREAT so far! I played at Samford for 4 years and loved everything about it: not just the winning, but the relationships I built with people who became my friends for life. My phone was blowing up during the title game last weekend with videos of my friends crying tears of joy. I am from Tuscaloosa, which is right down the street, and my younger brother was playing basketball, so I got to spend a lot more time around him. I know that I work well with certain types of people: we are going to compete but also have fun. When I got the call to come back here, it was a no-brainer.
You work for Coach Matt Wise: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? I worked with him for a few years and learned so much from him. He is super-smart, so now that I work for him it has made me a better coach. We are very hands-on in practice: he might teach something 1 day and then let us teach it the next day. Having to teach on the court rather than sit on the sidelines has allowed me to learn a lot. The key is that we are always on the same page: anytime the girls have a question, we always have an answer due to our united front.
You finished the regular season 13-18: how on earth were you able to turn things around in March to win the SoCon tourney title? We knew that it was all about the journey. We have a very young team (both players/coaches) and I do not know if the players knew exactly how well they could play. We did not take those losses as a bad thing: we learned from all 18 of them, and when we lost we did not beat them up too badly and tried to keep it as positive as possible. I would be lying if I said that I knew it would happen this year, but I knew we had the talent in the locker room, so we talked about peaking at the right time. Our girls could have folded but then we got back up. We lost on Senior Night right before the conference tourney, then had to go through a bunch of teams who beat us twice during the regular season, and then beat the #1 seed in the title game. We continued to grow throughout the entire season and never had a fixed mindset.
Your highest-ranked opponent this year was Minnesota (who is currently #18 in the nation): what makes them so great? We played a lot of games against those kinds of good teams. As coaches we feel that games like that make us better. The Gophers exploited a lot of our weaknesses, but that helped us learn/grow/prepare.
Your leading scorer this year was Kaylee Yarbrough: how was she able to make such a great contribution despite being a freshman who only started 10 games? She is such a great player/person. She committed to Samford before I even got the job. I saw her work out once at her high school, then came back and told my fellow coaches that she could shoot the ball with great form and had some swag about her. She works very hard and always wants to get shots up in the gym. She had a little adversity and had to sit out a couple of games earlier this season, but after she got her rhythm back you can see what she did.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? There are so many predictions out there, but we are just focusing on ourselves. We get to practice again and compete and keep growing, which should bleed into next year. It does not matter who we get next week: we did what we were supposed to do and are really excited about winning our tourney.
Posted inNews and Notes|TaggedCharity Brown, Samford|Comments Off on Tourney Talk: HoopsHD interviews Samford assistant coach Charity Brown
We are 3 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)
Last Sunday Samford beat Chattanooga 72-67 in the SoCon women’s tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs made back-to-back NCAA tourney appearances in 2011/2012 but had to wait 14 years before making it back there this month. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Samford FR G Kaylee Yarbrough about being named to the conference all-freshman team and making the NCAA tourney.
You were a starter for your team at New Hope High School since the 7th grade: how on earth were you able to compete against players who were so much older/taller than you? I was really little/skinny so my main thing was to shoot the ball every time I got it.
What made you choose Samford? The coaching staff were so genuine and I could tell that they cared for their players both on/off the court.
You play for Coach Matt Wise: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He is very smart and knows what he is talking about. He is such a great guy and I love playing for him because he gets along great with us and had a great coaching style.
Last December you scored a career-high 29 PTS/10-18 FG in a 7-PT win at SC Upstate: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? For sure! When I get like that I have so much confidence and it is so fun to be out there.
Last week you were named to the SoCon all-freshman team: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? I was just in shock! I was so happy for my other teammates who got awards of their own because we worked so hard for this.
You finished the regular season 13-18: what was the mood of the team like entering the conference tourney? We bought in: we could have laid down when things were not going our way, but we came together/grew closer/never gave up.
Last Sunday in the SoCon tourney title game you scored a game-high 25 PTS/5-7 3PM in a 5-PT win over Chattanooga: how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most, and what was the feeling like in your locker room afterward? Going into the game I saw how my teammates were playing, so when I subbed in everyone was in good spirits. Once my 1st shot went in I knew that it was over. As far as the postgame, you should see some of the videos because it was LIT in the locker room!
Your highest-ranked opponent this year was Minnesota (who is currently #18 in the nation): what makes them so great? I missed that game, but the Gophers played well together and had a lot of confidence.
You led the team this year with 12.2 PPG: how were you able to make such a great contribution despite being a freshman who only started 10 games? I give credit to my teammates for getting me open looks and setting screens. We are a very unselfish team so once we found our groove this season it has been so much fun.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? I am so grateful for the opportunity to go against great competition and am just looking forward to facing a great opponent having some fun.
The 2026 Hoops HD Selection Committee – Thursday, March 12th
Tonight was our first night of deliberations with the Hoops HD Selection Committee. After a formality where most of the UTR regular season champions were scrubbed off our board (with the exception of Belmont, Yale and South Florida), we voted on our Centenary and Stallings Awards for 2026. The Stallings Award was a unanimous vote for Boston College, but the Centenary Award featured a non-UTR team for the first time as Air Force ended up winning the award on the strength of a 25-game losing streak to complete their season. Surprisingly, only one human and one puppet did not vote for Air Force (Western Ilinois was the runner-up).
We also made a motion to scrub West Virginia off of our Under Consideration board; we then began the process of debating teams to add to the at-large board. In the first round of voting, the top 8 vote getters were Georgia, Miami, Kentucky, BYU, Clemson, Saint Mary’s, Villanova and TCU (via tiebreaker against Ohio State). We then ranked these teams 1 through 8; the top four vote getters were added to the at-large board. The first four teams we voted in were BYU, Miami, Kentucky and Saint Mary’s. The remaining 4 teams carried over to the next round of voting; we then individually nominated 8 more teams to add to the board.
The next top 4 vote getters were NC State, Ohio State, Santa Clara and Iowa; they were ranked 1 through 8 along with the previous 4 carryover teams. The next 4 teams added to our field were Clemson, Georgia, TCU and Villanova. The remaining four teams carried over to the next round and were joined in the next round of voting by Mother Miami (who lost to UMass earlier today – this means that the Redhawks will have to get in the NCAAs via an at-large bid now), Texas A&M, UCLA and Utah State. After another round of ranking the teams 1 through 8, we added Ohio State, UCLA, NC State and Utah State to our field. Mother Miami and Texas A&M carry over to tomorrow’s next round of voting; Santa Clara and Iowa returned to Under Consideration since teams cannot carry over in consecutive rounds of voting.
As of the time this article was published; we are assured of bids opening up in the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten since bid thieves are no longer possible in those 3 conferences. The SEC has potential bid thieves in Ole Miss and Oklahoma who are still alive, the Big East has Seton Hall (and maybe Georgetown) still alive, and there are also conferences like the Mountain West, Atlantic 10 and even the MAC where bids could be stolen. I mention the MAC because whoever wins the autobid could end up stealing the Redhawks’ bid.
Tomorrow night, we will begin the process of seeding the top 8 seed lines and we will vote more teams into the field as more results go final. Also pay attention to two different color markers on the Under Consideration board: Mother Miami and Texas A&M are highlighted in red since they are temporarily carryover teams for at-large voting. Teams highlighted in yellow have been eliminated from their conference tournaments and can no longer add anything else to their profiles. Stay tuned tomorrow when we post our next update!