NEW ORLEANS — Not long after he became the men’s basketball coach at Tulane, Mike Dunleavy learned that he needed to study for a test.
The N.C.A.A. requires that coaches demonstrate their grasp of the organization’s recruiting rules before they go on the road in search of prospects. That was news to Dunleavy, who had arrived at Tulane in April after decades as an N.B.A. player, coach and executive, most recently with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Dunleavy was already aware of the obstacles ahead of him — namely, the challenge of resuscitating a program that went 12-22 last season and made its most recent N.