It was already promising to be a fascinating coaching carousel season. Openings at Notre Dame and almost certainly Georgetown. Possible vacancies at power-conference schools such as Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Arizona State, Washington, Texas and St. John’s, among others. Rick Pitino, the star-crossed 70-year-old Hall of Fame Iona College coach, has made no secret he wants one more shot at a major job.

Then, this week a true wild card in all of this emerged. Felony third-degree felony assault charges against Chris Beard — the charges that led to his dismissal at Texas — were dropped. The 50-year-old Beard is a fantastic coach. He’s coached at the Division I level for six complete seasons and reached the NCAA Tournament five times. That includes two Elite Eight finishes, a trip to the national championship game and a 171-73 record at Arkansas Little-Rock, Texas Tech and Texas. The guy wins. He is now available, but with a catch.

While these charges were dropped, the incident still happened. It became public knowledge.

On Dec. 12 his fiancée, Randi Trew, called 911 and told the police Beard strangled, bit and hit her during a confrontation in his home. She later recanted the story, saying he was acting in self-defense, that she started the fight and never wanted him prosecuted. According to a police affidavit, Trew initially said he strangled her so vigorously that she couldn’t breathe for several seconds. There were visible signs of an altercation, such as bite marks on her arm and cuts on her face and leg. He was immediately suspended by Texas and fired with cause on Jan. 5. The school said he was “unfit” to coach the program any longer. This past week, the charges were dropped because they could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said.

You can see schools being scared off by this. It will be used in recruiting against Beard, particularly among parents. But this is also a bottom-line business. Sean Miller was given another shot at Xavier after being involved as Arizona’s coach in the FBI investigation into corruption into college basketball after one year away from the game.

There will be desperate schools looking to win, and knowing hiring Beard will help them do that. Ole Miss and Georgia Tech, schools that could be in the market for a new coach, seem like potential destinations. Ole Miss last reached the Sweet 16 in 2001. Georgia Tech has gone dancing just once since 2010. Beard would instantaneously raise their respective profiles, likely have them back in the NCAA Tournament within a season or two. He’s the level of coach these programs couldn’t get ordinarily. But would they be willing to take the public backlash that could come with this hire?

Chris Beard’s future is as fascinating as any offseason storyline in college basketball.

The made-for-television selection committee’s top-16 reveal was for the most part accurate and sound. There was one major miss, though: No Connecticut. The Huskies are absolutely deserving of a four-seed at the moment. They have a NET rating of eight, six Quad 1 wins and only one sub-Quad 1 loss. They own victories over top-ranked Alabama, No. 19 Iowa State, No. 18 Creighton and No. 11 Marquette. Indiana, which was given one of the four-seeds, has a worse record in Quad 1 and 2 games (9-8) and a much lower NET ranking (18). Gonzaga has three fewer Quad 1 wins. Xavier swept UConn, but is only 4-5 in Quad 1 games and has a Quad 2 and Quad 3 loss. Dan Hurley’s team’s résumé is better than all three of these aforementioned schools that were seeded ahead of it by the committee.

No. 11 Marquette at No. 18 Creighton, Tuesday, 8:30 p.m.

Two of the Big East’s premier teams meet in a showdown that will go a long way to determining the league’s regular-season champion. A win would likely send Big East leader Marquette to its first outright conference crown, considering the rest of its schedule — DePaul, Butler and St. John’s — is weak. A loss, and it is up for grabs, creating the potential of a four-way tie between these two teams, No. 16 Xavier and No. 24 Providence. Expect a track meet, two gifted offensive teams who like to push the pace. Omaha will be on fire Tuesday night.

Kansas, Up

Picking against Kansas is like betting against the house in a casino. It rarely works in your favor. The defending national champions always seem to figure it out. The fifth-ranked Jayhawks have now won four straight and six of seven after their impressive come-from-behind win over No. 9 Baylor on Sunday, turning a 13-point halftime deficit into a 16-point win with a 55-point second half. They are now tied atop the landmine known as the Big 12 with No. 6 Texas, and have the tiebreaker courtesy of their Feb. 7 home win over the Longhorns. This balanced team, top 15 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, can absolutely become the first program since Florida in 2006-07 to repeat.

Mike Miles Jr., Up

There might not be a more valuable player to his team in the country. With the dynamic guard, TCU is 15-3. Without him, it is 3-6. Just look at two games against Oklahoma State. Miles missed the Feb. 4 loss in Stillwater, a six-point setback in which the Horned Frogs trailed by 19. He was back on Saturday for the rematch after dealing with a knee injury, and led TCU to a 25-point rout of the Cowboys. With Miles, Jamie Dixon’s team has beaten ranked foes Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor and Providence. He’s a game-changer.

North Carolina, Down

It’s the third week of February and the Tar Heels still don’t own a Quad 1 win. They are 0-9 in such games and in eighth place in the pedestrian ACC. A few weeks ago in this space, I wrote that North Carolina was in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament. It now has to beat No. 7 Virginia and Duke to close out the regular season just to get in the mix, or it will have to win the ACC Tournament to go dancing. Coach Hubert Davis’ team, ranked first in the preseason after reaching the title game last April, doesn’t even belong on the bubble right now. This is right up there as one of the most disappointing seasons in the school’s decorated history.

Porter Moser, Down

Oklahoma at its best has some stunning results, lopsided wins over No. 1 Alabama and No. 12 Kansas State. Unfortunately for Moser, those have been an anomaly in a dismal year in Norman. Oklahoma is in last place in the Big 12, a game under .500 overall. It has seven losses by four points or less. Win just three of those, and the Sooners have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament. They are now 10-22 in conference play in Moser’s first two years as Oklahoma’s coach. It’s not the start there anyone envisioned for the former Loyola Chicago coach.