NCAA Basketball: 15 underrated storylines to root for in 2020-21 season

Takayo Siddle – First time Head Coach

By no means is Takayo Siddle the only first-time head coach getting his own team in 2020-21 and he is not even the biggest name going to a new team, but one has to root for success for Siddle. Not only is it a homecoming as sorts, as he was born and played high school basketball three-and-a-half hours away from Wilmington in Eden North Carolina, but Siddle spent three years as an assistant under Kevin Keats at UNC Wilmington.

It is a feel-good story for UNC Wilmington as well, as they try to recapture past success. During the period Siddle was assistant, UNC Wilmington won the CAA Regular Season Championship all three years and the Conference Tournament twice. In the last three years, they have accumulated a 17-37 CAA record. With their three top scorers set to come back, Siddle is positioned to improve upon UNCW’s ninth-place finish.

With his home town just a 235.1-mile drive along  I-40 East, he may even have time to drop by John Motley Morehead High School where he averaged 27 points and six assists. Once it is all added up, it is difficult to not wish success to a guy who was quoted in a Brett Friedlander article “This is and has always been a dream job for me. I can’t begin to tell everyone how excited I am.”