Mike Malone + UNC's BIG moves | Dan Hurley's BOLD comment | Thursday portal whispers + intel

·1 hr 18 min·5 clips

Mike Malone is officially North Carolina's head coach, and he's already making aggressive staff and roster moves.

The episode opens with Aaron Torres discussing the busy college basketball transfer portal period. He highlights Mike Malone's official hiring as North Carolina's head coach and his immediate actions, such as hiring Chuck Martin as associate head coach and retaining Sean May, Pat Sullivan, and Eric Hoots from the previous staff. Torres analyzes how these moves help bridge institutional knowledge and maintain relationships with former players. He notes that Luka Bogovic will return, and Carter Knox might follow Martin from Arkansas. The show then shifts to Dan Hurley's comments on Braylon Mullins, where Hurley suggests Mullins could earn more at UConn via NIL than as a mid-first-round NBA pick, raising the possibility of his return. Torres explores the financial calculus for players considering the draft versus college. The final segment covers rapid portal updates: Jackson Shellstead is expected to commit to Louisville after a visit, Zoom Diallo will visit Kentucky, Mo Diabate may visit St. John's, Bryson Tiller is considering several schools, and J.P. Estrella committed to Michigan. Torres also mentions Mick Cronin's fulfillment of his joke about adding 'vodka-drinking Europeans' with commitments from Filip Jovic and Sergei Makura. The episode concludes with news that Abuka Okori will only return to Stanford if he withdraws from the NBA draft, emphasizing retention trends.

As heard by us

Portal movement frames a grounded question about whether college still makes sense for Braylon Mullins.

Portal season is treated here less like a side plot than the main roster market, with Mike Malone's North Carolina press conference setting the pace before the show moves through the Chapel Hill updates.

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Why you'd press play

You want the money-and-college question behind a possible Braylon Mullins sophomore year at UConn.

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