Late February has arrived, March is on the way, and the Madness isn’t far behind. The games are exciting, but in college basketball the real action is about to take place deep in the bowels of the coaching rumor mill. It’s a little early for substantive communication to take place between schools and coaches, but it’s never too early to get the speculation rolling.

We already have two major jobs, Louisville and Maryland, that are open. The question is, how many more will there be? The early take among industry insiders is that after a couple of active cycles, this one could be relatively quiet. Then again, it only takes one or two surprise moves to get those dominos tumbling. Who might be moving on? Who will be moving up? Here are 23 names to watch as things start to get interesting.

Brad Brownell, head coach, Clemson. The chatter about Brownell’s status last season was loud enough that the school’s athletic director, Dan Radakovich, felt compelled in March to state publicly that Brownell would return. That came after the Tigers finished 10-6 in the ACC and played in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in Brownell’s 11 seasons. Now that Radakovich has left for Miami and been replaced by Graham Neff, Brownell’s situation could be more tenuous, especially because Clemson is 5-12 in the league and unlikely to play in the postseason.

Jeff Capel, head coach, Pittsburgh. This program has not finished above .500 in the ACC since 2014, a string that will continue with the Panthers now at 6-12 (11-18 overall) with two games to play. As much consternation as there has been at Pittsburgh, and as much as four straight losing seasons seems like a death knell, some industry sources wonder how much appetite athletics director Heather Lyke has to shake things up. “I don’t know that they want to fire him,” one industry source says. Perhaps it’s Capel’s hefty buyout that is turning her stomach. If Pitt were to let him go now, it would owe Capel nearly $17 million. That kind of price tag would be prohibitive for most any school, so it would especially hurt an athletics department that has been financially strapped. (Editor’s note: The Pitt football program won the 2021 ACC championship.)

Ed Cooley, head coach, Providence. Cooley is beloved in his hometown of Providence, and he is having by far his best season. It wouldn’t be easy for him to leave, but he has also been there 11 years and has taken this program as far as it can go. It would require a lucrative, long-term offer from a prestigious program like Louisville or Maryland to lure Cooley away. If he is going to make that kind of a move, now would be the time.

Tom Crean, head coach, Georgia. As The Athletic’s Seth Emerson reported this week, Crean’s tenure in Athens is all over but the shouting. Georgia may already have the search firm unofficially lined up. He came there in 2018 after the school parted ways with Mark Fox following a 7-11 SEC season. During his four years, Crean has only matched that win total in the conference once, and this team is currently mired in last place in the conference with a 1-14 record. The problems for Georgia started last spring when nine players transferred out, and they got even worse last week when assistant coach Wade Mason was suspended indefinitely following an altercation with the team’s director of player development. Crean took Marquette to a Final Four in 2003 and Indiana to a pair of Sweet 16s, so it’s possible he still could land in a pretty good spot if he wants to coach next season.

Andy Enfield, head coach, USC. There is no indication that Maryland has begun its search to replace Mark Turgeon in earnest, but when it does, the widespread assumption is that Enfield’s ties to the school and area will land him squarely in the mix. Enfield grew up in Pennsylvania, went to college in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins and got his MBA at Maryland. He has been generously compensated at USC thanks to the contract extension he signed in December which lasts through the 2025-26 season, but insiders believe Maryland athletic director Damon Evans is ready to pay big bucks to land a quality coach. It would take a job the caliber of Maryland or Louisville to pluck Enfield out of L.A., but those schools also would offer him a chance to coach at a school where basketball comes first and where he isn’t constantly toiling in the shadow of an intra-city rival.

Patrick Ewing, head coach, Georgetown. In 2017, when Georgetown brought back its greatest player to replace the son of its greatest coach, the hope was that he would restore the program to its glorious past. Instead, Ewing has brought it to a new low. The Hoyas are currently winless in the Big East and are suffering through a 17-game losing streak, the longest in school history. There’s some scuttlebutt that if Ewing returns he’ll be asked to overhaul his staff, but that just may be delaying the inevitable. “I can’t imagine something doesn’t happen,” a Big East administrator says. Tommy Amaker (Harvard) and James Jones (Yale) are possible Georgetown fits. Amaker might want to prove something after revelations in Ian O’Connor’s new Coach K biography. Jones was really impressive during interviews in the last carousel and wants a bigger job.

Dennis Gates, head coach, Cleveland State. The 42-year-old Gates was a hot commodity heading into last year’s carousel, and he’ll be that much hotter with his Vikings atop the Horizon League standings. Gates is only in his third season as a head coach, but he was named the league’s coach of the year in his first two, and last year he led Cleveland State to the third NCAA Tournament in its history and its first in 12 years. Gates’ case also is bolstered by his extensive experience at the high-major level during previous stints as an assistant at Cal, Marquette, and most extensively at Florida State. There is zero doubt that he is ready for a Power 6 job.

Ben Howland, head coach, Mississippi State. The Bulldogs are not a bad team — they’re currently tied for seventh in the SEC — but there’s also no indication that things are going to be dramatically different moving forward. Howland, 64, is now in his seventh season in Starkville, and he has only coached in one NCAA Tournament. It’s very possible he could keep going, but at this point, there is an increasing belief among industry insiders that one way or another, he will not be back next season.