The move came six days after Smart’s Texas team was upset 53-52 by Abilene Christian in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Texas went 19-8 this season and won the Big 12 Tournament before its early NCAA exit. Texas hired him to replace Rick Barnes, who was fired after making the NCAA Tournament 16 times in 17 seasons. 4 in the Associated Press Top 25 and were ninth heading into the NCAA Tournament. This season, Texas had two players, Greg Brown and Kai Jones, who project as likely first-round picks.

The Golden Eagles fired Wojciechowski on Friday after a seven-season tenure in which he went 128-95 but earned no NCAA Tournament victories. Wojciechowski was 59-68 in Big East competition. The Golden Eagles’ season ended last week with a 68-49 loss to Georgetown in the first round of the Big East Tournament. AdAfter going 13-19 at Marquette in 2014-15, Wojciechowski led the Golden Eagles to winning records each of the next five years. AdAfter that season, Marquette suffered another blow when brothers Sam and Joey Hauser transferred, with Sam heading to Virginia and Joey leaving for Michigan State.

Planning travel for college basketball teams can be complicated. The preferred method of pandemic travel would be to take a charter flight for the social distancing aspect, but smaller schools don't have the finances to do that, even under regular circumstances. Even bus rides, the preferred mode of pandemic travel when possible, are fraught with concerns. Finding hotels with the best pandemic protocols becomes a top consideration with price and proximity. That's the rule for planning travel — and just about everything else during this pandemic.