A new era in college basketball

Texas A&M's Mark Turgeon has been hired to replace Gary Williams at Maryland, and there will be spirited debate as to whether Turgeon is the right choice to lead the program Williams oversaw for more than two decades.

But the real story here centers on the arrival of parity in college basketball.

Some people scoff at the notion, saying the big boys still rule the sport despite a few instances of the little guys rising up to do impressive things. And to a certain degree, these poo-pooers of parity are correct.

But the gap between the so-called powers and the so-called pip squeaks is as narrow as it's been in a long, long time. And the surest evidence in support of that is presented in the choice of Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart to remain at their respective institutions in the face of certain interest from "name" schools.

Let's rewind back to March, when Smart was becoming the story of college basketball by guiding VCU on a spectacular run all the way to the Final Four. If you'd have told me at the time that Williams would step down after the season and asked me the percentage chance Smart takes the Maryland job if offered, I'd have said 100 percent.

No idea what went on behind the scenes between Maryland and Smart, and whether the Terps made a strong play for him. But the man is the head coach at Virginia Commonwealth, and in signing an eight-year contract he has sent a strong message that he's happy there, and that it'd take a lot to pull him away.

Same deal with Stevens at Butler. The conventional assumption about a man who has astoundingly reached the NCAA final in back to back years is that he'd be interested in cashing in on that success and seeing how things work out at a bigger school with more resources.

And maybe Stevens is indeed awaiting the perfect opportunity. But when the man spurns Maryland, among other schools in the power conferences, it's an indication that he's happy where he is.

The evolution of the coaching searches at Maryland and N.C. State have to be somewhat unsettling for the fans of both schools, not to mention the ACC. Though Turgeon and Mark Gottfried might end up working out just fine in College Park and Raleigh, both of these basketball programs have storied history and bountiful resources. For whatever reason, those attributes don't hold the import and gravity that a lot of us might've thought.

Heck, even Mike Brey turned down the Terps to stay at Notre Dame? Can this be taken as a statement that the ACC's stature is diminished?

Not sure if there's a good answer to that at this point.

But there can be no doubt that we're in a new era in college basketball when the coaches at Butler and VCU don't view supposedly big-time jobs as upgrades.

The conventional concept of the coaching ladder is being obliterated.

LW