Welcome to “The Daily Scoop”, an article to bring you up to date with the latest news from college basketball and a preview of the day ahead.

Daily Headlines

Legendary NCAA D2 coach Ben McCollum accepts Drake head coaching job

In 15 seasons at NCAA Division II Northwest Missouri State, Ben McCollum won four national championships and led the Bearcats to a 394-91 record. McCollum’s four national championships came over a five-tournament stretch, winning in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022. This hiring may not be a name known by many, but those who follow Division II basketball know that this may be the most underappreciated hire of this year’s cycle.

McCollum’s defensive approach and elite basketball mind have helped him dominate the Division II stage in recent years, and it was only a matter of time before a Division I program picked up McCollum. Drake lost head coach Darian DeVries to West Virginia, who makes his move up to the Big 12 after a six-year stint at Drake that included three NCAA Tournament appearances and no less than 20 wins in each season. McCollum’s chance at running a Division I program is finally here, and he’s set up to win immediately after the tremendous job DeVries did at turning around the Drake program.

NIT Final Four games set for Tuesday at Hinkle Fieldhouse (7:00 ET, ESPN; 9:30 ET, ESPN2)

Three games in the NIT remain, with all three being held inside the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. Tuesday’s semifinals match Utah with Indiana State and Georgia with Seton Hall, and the winners will meet Thursday in the championship game. Utah makes their way to the semifinals after winning three straight home games over UC Irvine, Iowa, and VCU, having won all three games by at least nine points. Indiana State felt hard done (and more than rightfully so) after being left out of the NCAA Tournament and have backed up their stance with three wins over SMU, Minnesota, and Cincinnati to reach Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Georgia is the Cinderella team of the NIT this season, having to win two road games over Wake Forest and Ohio State after a controversial home win over Xavier in the first round to reach the NIT semifinals. Seton Hall, like Indiana State, has used the NIT to prove the selection committee wrong with their decision to leave the Pirates out of the NCAA Tournament. Three home wins over St. Joseph’s, North Texas, and UNLV have put them just two wins away from an NIT title.

Indiana State and Seton Hall entered the tournament as two of the heavy favorites and are my picks to advance to Thursday’s championship game. Both teams had a good enough resume to make the NCAA Tournament this season, but the amount of bid stealers this year limited the amount of talented bubble teams we were able to see in the NCAA Tournament. Maybe it’s worked out best for everyone though, as the bid stealing NC State Wolfpack staked their place in the 2024 Final Four with a win over Duke on Sunday afternoon.

Other Things to Note:

• Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers lead Iowa and UConn to victories to advance to the 2024 Women’s Final Four
• FAU star senior center Vlad Goldin (16 ppg, 7 rpg, 2 bpg) has entered the transfer portal
• NIU junior guard David Coit (21 ppg, 3 rpg, 3 apg) has entered the transfer portal
• NIU senior guard Keshawn Williams (18 ppg, 5 rpg, 2 apg) has entered the transfer portal
• Temple junior guard Hysier Miller (16 ppg, 4 rpg, 4 apg) has entered the transfer portal
• Illinois junior forward Dain Dainja (6 ppg, 4 rpg) has entered the transfer portal
• Syracuse sophomore forward Maliq Brown (10 ppg, 7 rpg, 2 apg) has entered the transfer portal
• MEAC POTY and Norfolk State junior guard Jamarii Thomas (17 ppg, 4 rpg, 4 apg) has entered the transfer portal