Earlier this week, CBS Eye on College Basketball reviewed the college basketball landscape and spent some time discussing UNC’s hiring of Michael Malone and their first impressions. Gary Parrish has covered college basketball since 2002, working with CBS since 2006. Matt Norlander enters his 16th season covering college basketball for CBS Sports, as well as serving as President of the US Basketball Writers Association. These journalists are plugged into the sport and bring years of experience to their observations
here.
On Malone’s first week:
Parrish: “It’s clearly off to a good start. And I didn’t understand the initial, the immediate reaction to this. I made this point last week where some people were just dismissive of it out of hand, like this is crazy or like this is bananas. and I’m like really like why, why is it? You’ve got a world class coach that I know his reputation as a basketball coach is great. All right, he’s surrounding himself with college people, (Kim) English. Chuck Martin. There’s already parts of a roster in place. He’s got money to further roster build, and he’s got a general manager to help him do that. And if you just deliver him a roster, I don’t understand why he wouldn’t be able to coach it effectively.
Norlander: “The Carolina cachet and prestige there. kind of getting that program to get just a major boost. Like it is a huge reset and and early indications are that things are going well there as they start to assemble a roster. We’ll see what they ultimately end up with, but the vibes are very good in Chapel Hill right now.”
On Malone’s Hiring and Energy:
Parrish: “This might not have worked 10 years ago or 20 years ago, but in a transactional business to this degree, you don’t need relationships to roster build. You need money. He’s going to have money. He’s going to have somebody to help him do that. I would bet on this working right now. I would bet you look up in three years and you go, man, that wasn’t their first choice. Might not have been their second, but they got it right. I’m confident that this is it is going well, and I won’t be surprised if it if it turns out being one of the better hires, if not the best hire from from this entire off season.”
Norlander: “But I, as it’s been laid out to me, Malone has come in guns blazing, like let’s do this. And the reviews have been terrific. This is a paraphrase, but for any Carolina fan looking for even more optimism and everything that comes with getting a new coach, the same way that Kentucky fans were sitting there two years ago when they got Pope and Louisville fans were two years ago when they got Kelsey. Once you know the news settled and you started to look forward to the first season, the first off season, it seems that Carolina has been at the very minimum in contact with if not involved with the majority of high-end transfers, just to get a sense of like who Malone is.”
On Malone’s Hire of Chuck Martin:
Parrish: “I’ve got North Carolina 16th in the top 25. Michael Malone has already added Chuck Martin, like Chuck’s worked everywhere, at big brands, so he knows everything. David Cobb and I talked about this last week. If you’re Michael Malone and you’re on a college campus for the first time in 25 years, you need somebody like Chuck Martin next to you for big things and small things. There’s nothing that Michael Malone’s going to run into that Chuck isn’t going to be able to pull from an experience. Hey, what’d you do when you had a academic advisor problem with this kid? You know, okay, here’s the way we handled that. All right, listen. What did you do? Hey, where did where do you get the peach cobbler at Peach Jam? Where’s that room at? It’s right up here, coach. Come on. Just every little thing. Every little thing.”
On Veesaar and Mingo:
Norlander: “Henry Veesaar has had the pitch sent to him. That has not yet been decided or determined. I think he should come back and try and be one of the three best bigs in college basketball. If he can pull that off and be one of the top five big in college basketball, that would be nice coming aboard. Let’s see if they can get some more out of him.”
Norlander: “You had Dylan Mingo decommit. I was told he actually got hurt again in March. He’s been hurt for a long time. He was incoming five star prospect and so essentially they were going to need to probably red shirt him next season, and whether he was or was not on board with that he has decommitted as a result and. you know, you’ve just got a, you’ve got a regime change, and they’re in the midst of trying to land some other fairly big names here at Carolina. We’ll see what emanates with that over the next couple of days or if Malone kind of works it even longer.“
This pod seems to have been the first report that an injury likely impacts Mingo’s freshman season. Tar Heel Blog’s Brandon Anderson discussed that aspect in a piece you can read here. As for the rest of it, two prominent and respected college basketball writers having such positive views should affirm our own positive first impressions and perhaps allay any lingering doubts. The initial Belichick comparisons definitely have faded. This isn’t an aloof, arrogant coach who sees the college game as an easy step down from his pro experience, only to experience a rude awakening at how intense the competition will be. Malone’s been something altogether different out of the gate. “Guns blazing.” Maybe “the best hire this offseason.” Tar Heels have to be excited to hear such glowing words referencing their new coach based on his first week of decision-making and activity.
None of this means UNC’s heading back to the Final Four next season. Still, for a program that stood at a serious crossroads less than two weeks ago, Malone’s galvanized the UNC fan base and already made believers out of some prominent basketball writers. In a results-based business, Malone will have to deliver a superior basketball program, both in its consistency and heights achieved, for hindsight to judge it a success. That will start with the instant judgments arising from this staff’s first portal season.
But, big picture, things seem headed in the right direction at a sprint.
