Key Duke assistant lands head coaching job on eve of NCAA Tournament

For the second straight year, Duke will see an assistant coach land a head coaching job before the beginning of the NCAA Tournament.

A year ago, top assistant coach Jai Lucas was named the head coach at Miami in early March. This year, 31-year-old first-year assistant Evan Bradds is headed back to his alma mater after being named the next head coach at Belmont:

Duke assistant Evan Bradds to take over as Belmont's head coach

Bradds played at Belmont from 2013-2017 and was a two-time OVC Player of the Year and two-time honorable mention All-American. He averaged 20 points and 8 rebounds per game during his senior season with Belmont.

Bradds helped lead Belmont to the NCAA Tournament as a sophomore, but the Bruins fell short in his prolific junior and senior years despite winning the regular-season OVC crown.

Bradds broke into coaching immediately after his college career, working in the NBA as an assistant for the Boston Celtics and then the Utah Jazz. He spent his first two seasons coaching as an assistant for the Celtics' G-League affiliate in Maine before working with the NBA team from 2018-22.

When Will Hardy got the Jazz head coaching job, Bradds followed him to Utah, where he served on that staff until last year. Jon Scheyer hired Bradds last May, and after one season on the bench for the Blue Devils, the 31-year-old will get a chance to run his own program at the mid-major level.

This is a great opportunity for Bradds, and, even better, he will be staying on throughout Duke's NCAA Tournament run, per Travis Branham.

Duke opens the NCAA Tournament on Friday at 3:15 pm ET against 16-seeded Siena, and Scheyer will have his whole coaching staff intact despite Bradds landing the head coaching job at his alma mater.