Top 50 coaches Donovan number 1

[Kitaman]

It just so happened that Kane, Appling, Wilbekin, and the Harrison twins all picked the wrong team to play an awful game. Bad luck.

Fixed

 

[CTBasketball]

Rankings mean nothing. They certainly don't pave the way to championships.

 

[jibsey]

This ranking of coaches is flawed, but today I was in the car listening to Cowherd and he normally is semi rational. He's making a point today that it's not talent that wins but it's coaches with great systems. His example for college basketball was that Duke doesn't always have the best talent but with a great coach and system they always win. Do they not get 5 star and McD's every year or am I hallucinating?
His example of doing more with less and great coaching should have been us, we have been the poster program for exactly that even though yes we have had big recruits in the past, but look at last year's roster for example. The media including broadcasters and of course ESPN perpetuate this kind of crap continuously.

 

[mauconnfan]

This ranking of coaches is flawed, but today I was in the car listening to Cowherd and he normally is semi rational. He's making a point today that it's not talent that wins but it's coaches with great systems. His example for college basketball was that Duke doesn't always have the best talent but with a great coach and system they always win. Do they not get 5 star and McD's every year or am I hallucinating?
His example of doing more with less and great coaching should have been us, we have been the poster program for exactly that even though yes we have had big recruits in the past, but look at last year's roster for example. The media including broadcasters and of course ESPN perpetuate this kind of crap continuously.

Cowherd seems to be viewed as pretty good here…..I think he's less than educated on most sports but knows enough to talk about it intellectually I guess……in this case he didn't do his homework using Coach K and Duke……..McD's AA's that never get better? yeah ok

 

[MilliniumPrince]

It just so happened that Kane, Appling, Wilbekin, and the Harrison twins all picked the wrong time to play an awful game. Bad luck.

That didn't have bad games. They were all sick. Each caught a quick and nearly fatal case of Huskyinurazzitis. There was no treatment and certainly no cure.

 

[primus74]

Wow, in NCAA tournament, Ollie beat:
#35 - Martelli
#19 - Wright
#15 - Hoiberg
# 3 - Izzo
# 1 - Donovan
#2 - Calipari

 

[intlzncster]

Cowherd seems to be viewed as pretty good here…..I think he's less than educated on most sports but knows enough to talk about it intellectually I guess……in this case he didn't do his homework using Coach K and Duke……..McD's AA's that never get better? yeah ok

In fairness, is there anyone that can comment intelligently on all sports? Pretty hard to do. Challenging enough for analysts who focus on only one sport.

 

[mauconnfan]

In fairness, is there anyone that can comment intelligently on all sports? Pretty hard to do. Challenging enough for analysts who focus on only one sport.

In fairness no, but there are may who can talk about baseball, basketball, football, hockey and maybe golf or something and he really can't…..just my opinion. Decent guy I guess and kind of likes UConn now but not as much when JC was around! He's a frontrunner/bandwagon dude

 

[arnie3]

I'm glad for Donovan. He's a class act. He should end up in the Hall.

 

[David 76]

I'm pleasantly surprised Coach K was "only" #4.

I think that you can't help paying attention to careers and not just the present. I would pick Ollie as my coach over all of them but if they put Ollie too low after only one tournament, it would have beem weird.
I think Donovan & Cal deserve the top spots.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

It is kind of weird that Donovan is given this ranking in the same year where he has clearly the best team in the country and doesn't win the title.

 

[Rocktheworld]

It is kind of weird that Donovan is given this ranking in the same year where he has clearly the best team in the country and doesn't win the title.

Well most of it is about how he apparently did so much with so little, just read the portion of the article talking about him losing to UConn (for the SECOND TIME, as the author oh so conveniently forgot to mention) and it's a full paragraph of excuses. The K article was pretty much the same.

 

[Buzzyboy]

If it's recent history...how can Calipari not be number 1? NCAA title, Final Game, and Final four in 3 seasons. That's the best.

Have there ever been teams with as much talent as Calipari has had over the past three or four years??? Maybe with John Wooden, in the late 60's and 70's but other than that, NO! I realize that Calipari did a nice job to integrate these freshmen into a viable team but can you coach natural ability and talent? He had all-star teams on his roster over these seasons. His recruiting ability far exceeded his coaching ability though I do feel he's a good coach. Even then, with all the talent he had, the team needed months to become an outstanding team this past year. Earlier in the season, they were embarrassing themselves at times. That's why their seeding was so ridiculously poor. For a time, there was a question as to whether they were going to get in though the committee will often defer to the "elite" programs and bend rules to insure the legendary programs are seldom out of the dance.

 

[Buzzyboy]

This ranking of coaches is flawed, but today I was in the car listening to Cowherd and he normally is semi rational. He's making a point today that it's not talent that wins but it's coaches with great systems. His example for college basketball was that Duke doesn't always have the best talent but with a great coach and system they always win. Do they not get 5 star and McD's every year or am I hallucinating?
His example of doing more with less and great coaching should have been us, we have been the poster program for exactly that even though yes we have had big recruits in the past, but look at last year's roster for example. The media including broadcasters and of course ESPN perpetuate this kind of crap continuously.

The absurdity of that is ludicrous. How many times has Duke not had a top ten recruiting class in the last 25 years. More often than not, they've had a Top 3 recruiting class or better. The only team that ever had more McDonald players on their roster than Duke was North Carolina, at least until Calipari got into Lexington. Duke has often had more McDonald players on their active roster than UConn has had in their HISTORY! Stupid remarks that people who get paid for a living to be all knowing in sports get away with. Sometimes I think these guys are worse than weathermen who can continually be wrong, day after day and still make the big bucks on major market stations.

 

[Buzzyboy]

I'm pleasantly surprised Coach K was "only" #4.

I think that you can't help paying attention to careers and not just the present. I would pick Ollie as my coach over all of them but if they put Ollie too low after only one tournament, it would have beem weird.
I think Donovan & Cal deserve the top spots.

I don't think there's any question that Pitino and Donovan are better coaches than Calipari because they often get players that are not top ten type players upon arriving and inevitably these players blossom and exceed expectations. Quite similarly to what Calhoun and now Ollie are doing. Calipari has been blessed with great players due to his great "snake oil" recruiting style and has been very successful. I don't think he's nearly at the same level as the two afore mentioned coaches are.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Even then, with all the talent he had, the team needed months to become an outstanding team this past year. Earlier in the season, they were embarrassing themselves at times. That's why their seeding was so ridiculously poor. For a time, there was a question as to whether they were going to get in though the committee will often defer to the "elite" programs and bend rules to insure the legendary programs are seldom out of the dance.

And then they beat undefeated Wichita State, Louisville, Michigan and Wisconsin before losing to UConn.

 

[noeynox]

It is kind of weird that Donovan is given this ranking in the same year where he has clearly the best team in the country and doesn't win the title.

Cut him some slack. Sandwiched around two losses to UConn, Donovan led Florida to a historic season of herculean proportions. Just think about what his team did to the eventual runner up. They had a truly dominant season, they just happened to get derailed by one team whose guard play they had no answer for.

 

[David 76]

I don't think there's any question that Pitino and Donovan are better coaches than Calipari because they often get players that are not top ten type players upon arriving and inevitably these players blossom and exceed expectations. Quite similarly to what Calhoun and now Ollie are doing. Calipari has been blessed with great players due to his great "snake oil" recruiting style and has been very successful. I don't think he's nearly at the same level as the two afore mentioned coaches are.

It all depends on if you include recruiting in your definition of coaching. I don't like Cal but he out-recruits everyone. His results in the past few years are probably the best, certainly ahead of Pitino's.
If I was an AD and had no morals, needed a basketball coach and Ollie was unavailable, I would pick the squid who is also younger than Rick,
Same circumstances with my morals, I go with Donovan.

 

[Chief00]

I do agree that one of last season's best qualities was UConn wrung the life out of teams before they could do their crunch time comebacks. You do that by putting the ball in the hands of guys who could make plays, avoid turnovers while using the shot clock and knockdown foul shots on the offensive end. On defense, late in the game they pressured the ball so teams couldn't ever get in a coherent offensive set. Basic basketball principles executed very well, quite frankly.

 

[intlzncster]

Have there ever been teams with as much talent as Calipari has had over the past three or four years??? Maybe with John Wooden, in the late 60's and 70's but other than that, NO! I realize that Calipari did a nice job to integrate these freshmen into a viable team but can you coach natural ability and talent? He had all-star teams on his roster over these seasons. His recruiting ability far exceeded his coaching ability though I do feel he's a good coach. Even then, with all the talent he had, the team needed months to become an outstanding team this past year. Earlier in the season, they were embarrassing themselves at times. That's why their seeding was so ridiculously poor. For a time, there was a question as to whether they were going to get in though the committee will often defer to the "elite" programs and bend rules to insure the legendary programs are seldom out of the dance.

Getting a bunch of freshman late into the tournament is a hard thing to do. Experience is worth a whole lot in the dance.

Also, getting all that talent to play together and sacrifice themselves from being the man is also an accomplishment.

Excuse me while I got wash the squid slime off my body now.

 

[David 76]

Has squid slime totally erased everyone's memory of Pitino slime?

 

[champs99and04]

It is kind of weird that Donovan is given this ranking in the same year where he has clearly the best team in the country and doesn't win the title.

It's hard to punish Donovan for having the best team in the country and not winning a championship when that team very clearly overachieved. Honestly, that Florida team was actually fairly limited offensively, so I have to credit Donovan for being creative enough with his offensive sets to squeeze a top ten offense out of what he had.

 

[intlzncster]

Has squid slime totally erased everyone's memory of Pitino slime?

Different type. Pitino's is absolutely hilarious. Squid 's is just icky.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Different type. Pitino's is absolutely hilarious. Squid 's is just icky.

But Pitino's is more sticky...