In just his second year with Tulane Basketball, Ron Hunter and the Green Wave will be forced to find a new identity after unexpected departures. \ But, new faces brings new hope for the program.
Tulane Basketball had three double-digit scorers last season – and all three are now gone. For second-year head coach Ron Hunter, success this year will be defined by an influx of much-needed transfers, and the flourishment of returners Jordan Walker and Nobal Days.
The Tulane Green Wave has endured both expected and unexpected departures in their offseason. Christion Thompson and K.J. Lawson – the second and third-leading scorers last season – both graduated. And, despite a 12-18 overall and 4-14 conference finish last season, Hunter and his staff were optimistically expecting to bring back leading scorer Teshaun Hightower and fellow starter Kevin Zhang.
But that is not how the 2020 offseason played out at all for the Green Wave.
In April, Hightower was dismissed from the team after being arrested and charged with murder. Zhang left the program to play professionally in China. Those two departures left Tulane with just four returners who played over ten minutes last season.
Hunter has been forced to fill in the holes left abruptly, and he has done a solid job at doing just that. Four incoming transfers and two three-star commits headline the new faces for Tulane this coming season, and all six will see significant playing time.
For Hunter, this has been about as tumultuous of a beginning as a second-year coach could have, particularly at an institution that has not enjoyed much historical success. Tulane has not qualified for an NCAA tournament since 1995, and Hunter is attempting to rebuild a program that endured consistent failure under former head coach Mike Dunleavy’s three-year tenure.
Much of Tulane’s recent struggles have come from the jump to the American Athletic Conference in 2014. Between Dunleavy and Ed Conroy, who spent two seasons in the AAC while at the helm, the Green Wave went 17-73 in conference in five seasons.
Time will tell if Hunter can remedy that horrific record, but he is also the most qualified of the three. He spent 17 seasons at IUPUI, leading the program during a transition period from NAIA to Div. I. In just the third season as a Div. I institution, Hunter, and IUPUI earned a berth to the NCAA tournament in 2003. Hunter finished his career at IUPUI with a 274-219 overall record.
His eight subsequent seasons at Georgia State were nothing short of sensational. His teams qualified for the CIT twice, the NIT once, and the NCAA tournament on three occasions. The 2015 tournament, obviously, is what put Hunter in the national spotlight. The sequence of his son’s game-winning three-point shot over Baylor causing an injured Hunter to fall off his rolling stool has been cemented as one of the greatest moments in March Madness history.
Additionally, Hunter has done an insane amount of charity work during his time at all three institutions. Most notably, he has taken part in the Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge, raising funds for Samaritan’s Feet. The charity organization, which started in 2003, did not receive national attention until Hunter himself partook and coached barefoot in a 2008 game between IUPUI and Oakland.
Hunter is one of the most likable coaches in all of college basketball, and with his stellar records at both IUPUI and Georgia State, one thing is for certain: hiring Hunter has given Tulane the best chance for success in a long time.
But first, Hunter and his staff must overcome the challenges presented by the departures of Hightower, Zhang, Thompson, and Lawson, and assert themselves as a threat in the American Athletic Conference. Thankfully, for them, they have the necessary manpower to make that leap.