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NCAA Tournament Team Loses Entire Starting Lineup In Mass Exodus After Head Coach Departure

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Matt Wadleigh | Last updated Apr 7, 2025 6:02 AM ET

The college basketball transfer portal has been very busy since opening on March 24. As of Sunday night, 1,897 transfers were found on the Verbal Commits site, so there has been a lot of movement in less than a month.

While plenty of programs have lost big-time talent, the Robert Morris Colonials lost their entire starting lineup despite making the NCAA Tournament.

Now, another NCAA Tournament team has lost its entire starting lineup and its head coach, as well as others in a mass exodus.

That program is UC San Diego, which was a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big West and finishing with 30 wins. However, UC San Diego lost to No. 5 Michigan, 68-65, in the first round.

UC San Diego saw head coach Eric Olen leave for the New Mexico job after Richard Pitino went to Xavier and Sean Miller went to Texas in a whirlwind of a coaching carousel.

As such, UC San Diego lost a number of recruits, starters to the portal, and even assistant coaches. With Chris Howell transferring to New Mexico, the entire starting lineup will not be back in 2025-26.per Mark Ziegler of The San Diego Union-Tribune

."And UCSD loses someone else to New Mexico with coach Eric Olen. Chris Howell is transferring there, which means the Tritons have now lost all 5 starters and their sixth man, both freshmen recruits, their head coach and 3 assistants (including Howell's brother, Mikey)," Ziegler wrote.

Those three assistants were Tom Tankelewicz, Sam Stapleton and Howell. Those moves come a day after Carlsbad High guard Carlsbad High guard Jake Hall decommitted and decided to go to New Mexico with Olen.

Starts such as Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, Hayden Gray and Tyler McGhie were seniors, and Howell as well as Nordin Kapic entered the portal. Those five composed the starting lineup in the NCAA Tournament game against Michigan.

Quin Patterson and Justin Rochelin also entered the portal, and the latter had been the primary sixth man for UC San Diego this season.

The story of UC San Diego was incredible as the Tritons made the NCAA Tournament in the first year of eligibility after moving from Division II five years ago, although a first-round loss was a bit disappointing.

The program named Clint Allard as the new head coach, although UC San Diego will look very different in 2025-26 than it did in the NCAA Tournament.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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