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Only 12 teams and 11 games remain in this year's Tournament.
But tonight is first day of the East Regional being played in
Washington, DC.
First game is #1 Duke vs. #5 St. John's (7:10pm) followed by
#2 UConn vs #3 Michigan State (30 minutes after).
Storied programs with some storied coaches.
For one reason or another (often legitimate), there is at
least one reason to hate at least three of these programs.
Do the good guys always win?
Are you kidding?! You're living in the past, man!
Bad guys always get back on their feet and often continue to
prosper. St. John's coach Rick Pitino has a
not-so-squeaky-clean track record, but is now
considered one of the best coaches and is loved by many.
Then you have guys like Will Wade. He's
not coaching a Sweet 16 team, but he's all over the news.
Back in 2019 when it was still illegal to bribe/pay players to
come to your university, Wade was head coach at LSU and was recorded on an
FBI wiretap discussing a then-illegal offer to a recruit. LSU
suspended Wade but left him keep his job for another
3 years before eventually firing him due to all of
the investigations and NCAA sanctions.
That did not stop McNeese State from hiring him. Wade coached there for two seasons before jumping to NC
State at the beginning of this season.
In NC State's first (and only) season under Wade, NC State got
back to the middle of the ACC but generally did not live up to their
preseason hope.
But while all this transpired, LSU got a new president and a
new athletic director, both of which were at McNeese when they hired Wade.
These two worked behind the scenes to offer the LSU job to
Wade before even firing their current coach. And of course Wade accepted, driving himself to the airport on
the first flight out of Raleigh.
Wade is now getting paid more at LSU in an NCAA world where
you can now LEGALLY pay a lot of money to recruits
it's even expected!
Wade was just ahead of his time during his first go-around at
LSU.
What a visionary.
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