The next conference hot seat we will evaluate is the Big 12. Often considered the best conference in college basketball, the Big 12 does not have too many coaches on the hot seat. However, this is a highly competitive league, so it might not be surprising if a few coaches get fired which you may not be expecting.
Bobby Hurley’s tenure at Arizona State has been inconsistent. In three of his first five years, the Sun Devils had 20-win seasons. This resulted in two NCAA Tournament appearances. However, in the last five years, they have only made one NCAA Tournament and have had three seasons with losing records.
Now in the Big 12, Arizona State faces even tougher competition. They will have to face the likes of Baylor, Kansas, Houston, and many other tough opponents. This season the Sun Devils bring in an elite high school recruiting class. They bring in three top 100 players including the number nine recruit in the country, Jayden Quaintance. The concern comes from the transfer portal. Arizona State’s transfer class ranked 60th in the country. This is not great for a coach that needs to win now. If Hurley wants to keep his job, he will have to rely on his ability to develop talent, which has not been great during his time in Tempe.
The Cincinnati basketball program is one of the most historic in the entire country. Over the past few seasons, they have failed to live up to the program’s standards. While Miller has been a solid coach, he has not been great. the Bearcats have missed the NCAA tournament in three consecutive seasons and this task will not get easier with the addition of Arizona to the Big 12.
Miller knows this, so he brought in Dillon Mitchell from Texas, who was one of the biggest names in the transfer portal this offseason. However, this addition may not be enough to push the Bearcats over the edge. Not only will they have a difficult schedule in the Big 12, but they play Xavier and Dayton in non-conference play. If Wes Miller fails to make another NCAA Tournament, his time in Cincinnati is likely over.
A weird situation to assess is Jerome Tang of Kansas State. Tang is heading into his third year at Kansas State and seems to be relying on the transfer portal to guide him. In his first season, this method was very successful. He brought in Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson. This led to a run to the Elite Eight for the Wildcats. In Tang’s second year, the Wildcats failed to make the NCAA tournament and lost in the first round of the NIT.
This year, Tang went all in on the portal again. Kansas State brings in Dug McDaniel and Coleman Hawkins among other big names. Last year’s team lacked talent and Tang wanted to address this immediately.
Despite all of this it would still only be Tang’s third season. It is hard to say how hot his seat really is, but there were a few rumblings that there was some unrest at Kansas State. If the Wildcats miss the NCAA Tournament again after spending so much money in the transfer portal, they may decide to move on from their head coach.
