NCAA Basketball: Will Evansville become mid-major star of 2019-20?

Impact of head coach Walter McCarty

In his second season in his first head coaching position, Walter McCarty has his team off to a fast start both in wins and playstyle.  During his first full season, McCarty had the Purple Aces in the top 100 in the nation for pace of play and attempting over 775 three-pointers. Though that first team only had 11 wins, they did beat the top three teams in the MVC, Drake, Loyola-Chicago, and Missouri State.

Run-n-gun and lots of threes are the hallmarks of many Cinderella teams. If a team gets hot enough, they can beat almost anyone in the tournament, regardless of seeding. And while McCarty’s team fits this mold, they have also shown that they are able to win at a slower pace and without hitting an insane amount of threes. Against Kentucky, the Purple Aces shot 30% (9/30) from three, a very pedestrian mark. Yet they were still able to pull off the huge upset, largely helped by their 92.3% (12/13) mark from the free throw line.

While Evansville has started strong, McCarty is still a very new coach and his team will likely experience some growing pains that come with the added expectations and attention. Most coaches take many years before finding postseason success. One notable exception being Shaka Smart who led VCU to the Final Four in just his second season as head coach.

That being said, Walter McCarty probably has more experience winning than the average second-year head coach. In his playing days, McCarty helped lead the Kentucky Wildcats to a championship in 1996, before being drafted and playing in the NBA for 10 years. Most recently, he was an assistant to Brad Stevens with the Boston Celtics. Learning under the coach that led Butler to back-to-back national championship games was likely an invaluable experience for the young coach. While he is young and inexperienced, Walter McCarty should have the smarts to lead Evansville to a successful year and likely into the postseason.