These college basketball coaches have done a good to exceptional job this year. They are in order, beginning with who I feel has done the best job.
Deserving of "Every Damn Penny!"Bill Self - Self has done a remarkable job with his Kansas squad this year. Until last year, many of his Kansas teams were noted for their underachievments. However, after losing Kahn, Robinson, Chalmers, Rush, Arthur, and Jackson after their National Championship season, this year's Jayhawks are right back in the hunt for a number one seed and playing their best basketball of the season heading into the postseason. They lost roughly 85 percent of their scoring from last year, and 87 percent of their rebounding. Self's work this year may be his most impressive coaching effort. His name should be in the top 3 considered for National Coach of the Year.
Jeff Capel - The Sooners are one of the more fun teams to watch in all of college basketball. They have the Player of the Year, potential Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year. The emergence of Juan Patillo has given Capel an incredibly athletic team. Oklahoma recently dropped two without their star big man, Blake Griffin, but this will be a very dangerous team as either a one or two seed. Capel should be applauded for his development of Willie Warren, a guy I didn't think was much more than an athlete coming out of high school.
Trent Johnson - Besides an unexplainable loss at Utah, LSU's season has been quite remarkable. Johnson inherited a team of misfits, egos, and underachievers, saddled with the early departure of Anthony Randolph. He has turned them into a great defensive team with an excellent scoring tandem of Mitchell and Thornton (not the balding one). He's recruited a freshman named Storm Warren, and if that's any indication, Johnson and the hotbed of Louisiana recruits will maintain a hold of power in the SEC West.
Mike Anderson - Mizzou's 40 minutes of hell is wreaking havoc in the Big 12. Anderson has brought national attention to the program again, but this time it's not for vioalations by a smirking ex-Dukie. Did anyone realize Snyder coached Missouri until 2006? I thought he was out of there by at least 2004. Anyway, Mike Anderson brought in five freshman and two transfers this year to bring up the talent level and it appears everyone is fitting in nicely. They are a fun team to watch.
Dino Guadio - Though their conference play has been less than steller, with losses to Georgia Tech and NC State, they also have huge wins over UNC, Duke, Clemson, and Florida State. Many people forget Wake is a young team, maybe explaining their inconsistent play, with most of their production coming from sophomores and freshman. Jeff Teague is an all-world point guard and Aminu has developed into a sensational freshman. With such a young team, Guadio has done an outstanding job to put the Deacons in a position to gain a 2 or 3 seed.
Rick Pitino - Louisville finally looks like a team deserving of a preseason top five ranking. Pitino deserves the credit for this Louisville team's reemergance towards the latter part of this year. He has Preston Knowles and Andre McGee playing much better basketball, Terrence Williams has developed into a (would have won a lot of bets) complete player, and Terrence Jennings is providing defensive and, now offensive, energy from the bench. This Louisville team didn't start as a top five team, but they do look like one now. Surprisingly (to almost everyone who has watched Louisville the past three years), Williams is the heart, soul, and talent of this team. Without him, I sincerely doubt whether Louisville would be a ranked team at this point in the season.
Lorenzo Romar - Washington got off to a rough start, but Romar finally has the Huskies atop the Pac 10 standings. Winning against Washington State would clinch the Pac for the first time in Romar's seven year career. Washington has three guys averaging over 15 points a game, and a stud point guard in Isaiah Thomas. They are bringing in Abdul Gaddy, a top ranked high school guard, next year.
Deserving of Most of their Contract
Tom Izzo - Izzo fo Shizzo has developed a deep team in East Lansing. Kalin Lucas is the engine of this big slow PT Cruiser, but it has a lot of parts - parts that work well together. They play defense, rebound, and slow down every team they face (not a tall task in the Big 1o, but still). They force teams to play at their pace, but Lucas will burn the defense for easy baskets throughout the game. They are an extremely tough team, always seeming to make plays when they are needed. Typical of an Izzo team, the Spartans are poised to make some noise in March.
Roy Williams - Maybe a bit surprising to see Roy Williams and the second-ranked Tar Heels in the middle tier, but with the talent passing through Chapel Hill this year, it has not been one of Good Ole Roy's finest coaching jobs. They have one of the top point guards, top power forwards, and top shooting guards in the nation, but the Tar Heels sporadically commit themselves to defense. This might just be the new trend at UNC and Roy may have to practically go undefeated to be recognized as Coach of the Year.
Mike Krzyzewski - Outside of dropping 4 of 7 during conference play, it's been a remarkable season for the Blue Devils. They had their flopping asses handed to them by North Carolina and Boston College, but rebounded well with four straight wins. It's a typical Duke team, but with excellent floor spacing (Or so I hear). Their travels are receiving some hype on youtube, and if you are a believer of good, I assume you are hoping for one to cost them the game against their first round matchup in the tournament. Despite all of that, Coach K has done a good job with these . . . uh . . . guys. Gerald Henderson has finally lived up to his billing coming out of high school and Jon Scheyer shoots the ball . . . uh . . . I can't do it. Duke's the worst, I hate them.
Bruce Weber - Although Illinois lost a game to Penn State earlier this year 38-33, Weber deserves a lot of credit for where the Fighting Illini are at this point in the season. Although, if playing in any other conference, even the SEC, I don't think this Illini team is .500 in conference play. They fit in well with the other Big 10 teams, and Weber has really overacheived with this group of guys. Prior to this year, I couldn't have told you a player on their team besides Alex Legion.
Jay Wright - Wright may have been included in the top tier if not for his loss at Georgetown over the weekend. The Wildcats returned virtually the same team from last year, where they were a 12 seed that reached the Sweet Sixteen, losing to eventual champ Kansas. Wright dresses well, is married to a former cheerleader, and has hair I deeply envy. For that he gets a handshake, but he has also done an impressive job this year.
Ben Howland - UCLA has somewhat underperformed during their conference play, but with their last two games at home should finish the season at 24-7. I doubt many are expecting UCLA to make a fourth final four appearance in five years, but this team has some experienced talented players and could possibly win the PAC 10 regular season title.
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