2026-2027 B1G Basketball Thread

[FearlessF]

I'd rather not see or hear from him.

[ELA]

SI's Top 6 candidates (with my personal thoughts)...

1.) Mike Boyton, UM associate coach - easy transition, and has head coaching experience at Oklahoma State, although it wasn't great

2.) Josh Schertz, Saint Louis head coach - turned down lower P5 jobs this spring, but Michigan is a better job than any opening.  I think this is the best realistic option, almost Dusty May 2.0

3.) Billy Donovan, unemployed - doubt he wants to go back to college at this point, but I guess he has to be on every list

4.) Nate Oats, Alabama head coach - $15 million buy out suggests no

5.) Mark Byington, Vanderbilt head coach - He would be my #2 realistic choice if I were Michigan.  NIL has apparently vastly transformed Vandy's place in the pecking order, and recent results in football and basketball reflect that, but it's still not Michigan.

6.) Ben McCollum, Iowa head coach - He would be my #3 realistic choice, but I'm not sure he takes it.  Rumors are that backroom deals are in place for him to follow Bill Self at Kansas

[847badgerfan]

Take the Iowa State guy.

[MaximumSam]

https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/2069089987765670241?s=20

[bayareabadger]

I’m suddenly worried they might go after Greg Gard. That would be a distressingly smart bet. 

[bayareabadger]

Take the Iowa State guy.

No. Get him an NBA job.

[FearlessF]

and send the Iowa guy to the Big 12

[bayareabadger]

https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/2069089987765670241?s=20

That’s odd? Unless the thought is that you can’t rebuild a good roster for next year anyway, so might as well try to hold onto what you have? (And maybe there’s not enough money/space left out there to pull in the talent you’ve already signed on?)

[ELA]

And what if you do retain the whole roster, and say have a good, but not great season?  Top 3 in the Big Ten, a 2nd weekend NCAA appearance, then you sort of have to retain him

You'd be better off hiring a legit coach, hoping to retain most of these players, because they only came for the paycheck (that they were offered in February) anyway.  And even if you have a season where you are a 7 seed, you are MUCH better set up going forward

[bayareabadger]

And what if you do retain the whole roster, and say have a good, but not great season?  Top 3 in the Big Ten, a 2nd weekend NCAA appearance, then you sort of have to retain him

You'd be better off hiring a legit coach, hoping to retain most of these players, because they only came for the paycheck (that they were offered in February) anyway.  And even if you have a season where you are a 7 seed, you are MUCH better set up going forward

I don’t know if you need to retain him. You could just stick him with an extended tryout, only give him a bigger buyout when he does something big. 

If he makes noise about trying to leave, you can let him. He’s definitely the kind of coach who would want that kind of job more than it needs him.

In fact, Michigan is the kind of program that’s in an excellent spot to try to take a little leverage back.

[847badgerfan]

No. Get him an NBA job.

Even better. Just get him out of Gard's hair already.