Beyond the catchy name, the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 carries real significance. No matter how you got there or the caliber of season you had before the NCAA tournament, being one of the last 16 teams standing can validate a season. Likewise, failing to reach this point can invalidate an otherwise impressive season.

This benchmark is even more significant for Black coaches. Historically, there are fewer opportunities awarded to qualified Black coaches and less time afforded for them to succeed, so timely success in the NCAA tournament takes on added importance.

In 2021, there was a dramatic increase in the hiring of Black coaches in Division I college basketball. In a sport played predominantly by Black men there was and is hope that the advances in diversity hiring were not short-lived. However, at the time this story was filed, 10 Power 6 coaches had been fired by the end of the regular season, six of whom are Black. Three of the six have been replaced by white coaches, while three jobs remain open.

On the positive side, there are four Black coaches in this year’s Sweet 16. All four are highly respected and have won at a high level throughout their careers. For all of them, however, this season was particularly special and timely for different reasons.

Shaka Smart, Marquette

Because of the success Shaka Smart has had as a coach, it’s almost shocking that this is his first Sweet 16 appearance since 2011, when he took VCU to the Final Four. He has a career winning percentage of .669 and has taken three schools (VCU, Texas and Marquette) to a total of 11 NCAA tournaments in his 15-year coaching career.

Despite his accomplishments, Smart’s lack of NCAA tournament success since VCU was criticized, but he understands how the business works.

“The thing about March is, and this is lost on a lot of people that are diehard college basketball fans, for every diehard college basketball fan, there’s probably 100 casual ones,” he told Andscape last year before Marquette’s Big East tournament championship run. “And this is the month when the casual ones pay attention. So, there’s strength in numbers.”

Last season is a big reason this season is so special for Smart and Marquette. Marquette was a No. 2 seed in last year’s NCAA tournament and advanced to the second round where it matched up against Michigan State and Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo. Marquette lost a hard-fought game to the No. 7 seed Spartans, ending its season after winning the Big East regular-season and tournament championships.

This season, they again earned a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament after another great regular season, with some key injuries along the way. They beat 15-seed Western Kentucky in the first round and faced a Colorado team that Smart called “as good of a 10 seed as I’ve ever seen in my life.” They won a close game and advanced to the Sweet 16.

Smart was visibly emotional after the game.

“I was just grateful,” he told Andscape by phone Monday. “We’ve got a great group of guys. We’ve actually been through a lot of adversity this season. So, for our guys to stay together and support one another, pour into each other and trust themselves and each other and our plan, it’s very gratifying.

“It always feels great to accomplish something as a team that’s hard, so that absolutely feels great. But, I try to look at it more from the standpoint of validation of our way as opposed to validation of any one particular person, because it is a team endeavor,” Smart said.

“We live in a day and age where it’s easy for people to be critical, it’s easy for people to say your way’s the wrong way. I think it says a lot about the way our guys have approached things, our culture, truly having genuine relationships amongst our guys that’s built over multiple years. So that’s what it validates more than anything in my mind.”

Marquette faces NC State in Dallas on Friday.

Kevin Keatts, NC State

This is Kevin Keatts’ seventh season as coach at NC State, his third time taking the Wolfpack to the NCAA tournament (his fifth NCAA tournament overall as a coach, he went to two with UNC-Wilmington), and his first Sweet 16.

Heading into the ACC tournament, Keatts and NC State were on a four-game losing streak and had a disappointing 17-14 record (9-11 in the ACC). Even though Keatts led NC State to the NCAA tournament the previous season, it was unclear whether the school wanted him to return as coach next season. Then the unthinkable happened. NC State won five straight ACC tournament games in five days, including the championship game versus North Carolina, and received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Not only did Keatts secure his second straight bid to the Big Dance, he also triggered a clause that extended his contract for two additional years through 2030, as well as raised his annual salary by $400,000. NC State, surprised the college basketball world by upsetting Texas Tech in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and beat Oakland in the second round to become the lowest seed (11) to make this year’s Sweet 16.

“We’re going to the Sweet 16, guys,” Keatts said after the Oakland win in Pittsburgh. “And this was a team that most people didn’t think we could even make it out of D.C. [the ACC tournament]. But I’m proud of their fight. I’m proud of just who they are and how we have really grown as a team.”

Keatts and Smart are familiar with each other.

“I’ve known Kevin a long time,” Smart told Andscape. “I always pay attention to his teams. I’ve leaned on him for some things, he’s leaned on me for some things. I think there’s a real mutual respect that we share.”

Hubert Davis, North Carolina

In 2021, former Tar Heel great and NBA veteran Hubert Davis was hired as North Carolina’s men’s basketball coach. He became the first Black coach in the history of UNC’s men’s basketball.

In his first season, after an up-and-down regular season, he led North Carolina to the national championship game as an 8-seed where they lost to Kansas in a game the Tar Heels controlled for the first half. The following year, with expectations sky-high, the Tar Heels were voted the No. 1 team in the country by college basketball media members in preseason.

The season turned out to be a disaster by North Carolina standards. They failed to even make the NCAA tournament and finished seventh in the ACC. Davis’ coaching reputation took a hit and many in the college basketball community started to wonder whether Davis was truly the long-term answer as coach. Not only had the 2023 season not gone as expected, but many recalled the 2022 season and how uninspiring the regular season had been before their NCAA tournament run.

This season, however, Davis has answered all the questions. In the offseason, he revamped the roster, replaced players who did not contribute to the chemistry of the team with transfers and freshmen who fit perfectly. The Tar Heels got off to a great start and never looked back, leading the ACC from start to finish, consistently ranking in the top 10 of the polls and earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

In the first two rounds, North Carolina and Davis did not disappoint. They advanced to the Sweet 16 with two dominating performances, including a come-from-behind victory against Michigan State in which they took the lead in the second half and won comfortably. This run to the Sweet 16 has validated Davis as the right person to lead the Tar Heels, and they look primed to push their season even further.

“I appreciate every moment. I appreciate the sunny days and the cloudy days,” Davis said after North Carolina’s win over Michigan State in response to a question about the difference between this season and last. “I’ve said this a number of times, there’s a reason for all seasons and he’s the reason for all the seasons, and I mean Jesus, and those reasons are good. All those reasons develop my character, refine my faith and make me the person and the husband and the dad and the coach that I want to be.”

North Carolina plays No. 4 seeded Alabama on Thursday night.

Kelvin Sampson, Houston

The elder statesman of the bunch, Kelvin Sampson is about to coach in his eighth Sweet 16 and his fifth straight with Houston.

Sampson was born in the Lumbee Tribe in Pembroke, North Carolina, and has “always identified with the brothers – and still do,” he told Andscape in 2021, referring to Black coaching legends such as John Thompson, John Chaney, George Raveling, Nolan Richardson and Clem Haskins.

Sampson has won everywhere he’s been during his 35 years as a coach — Montana Tech, Washington State, Oklahoma, Indiana and Houston. He built the Houston program from the ground up. In his first season with the Cougars, he went 13-19. Since then, he has won 20-plus games every season and has won 30-plus games the last three seasons.

His name belongs next to the all-time great coaches, but you rarely hear of him receiving such high praise. A national championship is likely what he’ll need for college basketball casuals to put him on the pedestal he deserves.

This season, Sampson’s Houston squad played its first season in the Big 12 and all they did was win the league. Houston finished the regular season 28-3 and, along with Connecticut and Purdue, separated themselves from the rest of college basketball.

As the No. 1 seed in the South region, Houston dispatched Longwood and outlasted Texas A&M in overtime. It’s no surprise that a Sampson-coached team would win a game of attrition.

“Starting the first Monday in June, we’re on the baseball field at 6:15 a.m. With our culture that means they’re there about 10 [minutes] to 6. We have to run 18 100-yard sprints in time,” he told reporters after the game on Sunday night. “On Tuesday, we go up to a parking garage that’s got a ramp that we run straight up with pipes behind our back with a weighted vest on for time … I time them in the mile every Friday. When you go through stuff like that at 5:45, 6 in the morning, you learn to respect the guy beside you.”

Houston faces off versus Duke on Friday night in what should be another classic.

These four coaches, four of the country’s best, carry the mantle in this year’s Sweet 16. They will not only attempt to cement their legacies, but will represent the rest of the great and up-and-coming Black coaches looking to get their first, second or third opportunities to shine.