ESPN Ranking Top 50 NCAAB Coaches

Michigan Basketball
#1

Where will Beilein rank?

25-50 is posted here. http://m.espn.go.com/ncb/notebook?page=top50coaches50-25&wjb

Interesting that Crean didn’t make the cut.

#2

How I think it will go:

  1. Coach K
  2. Coach Boeheim
  3. Coach Calipari
  4. Coach Ollie
  5. Coach Pitino (Louisville)
  6. Coach Donovan
  7. Coach Ryan
  8. Coach Izzo
  9. Coach Beilein

How it should go

  1. Coach K
  2. Coach Boeheim
  3. Coach Pitino
  4. Coach Donovan
  5. Coach Beilein
  6. Coach Izzo
    …
  7. Coach Calipari

Obviously the second list is biased. Also not surprised Crean did not make it as this year was a disappointment after last year.

#3

I stopped reading at Bruce Weber. That mouth breathing retard isn’t in the top 300.

#4
I stopped reading at Bruce Weber. That mouth breathing retard isn't in the top 300.

Oh sven, I missed your unadulterated hatred of Bruce weber.

#5
I stopped reading at Bruce Weber. That mouth breathing retard isn't in the top 300.

Oh sven, I missed your unadulterated hatred of Bruce weber.

LOL I just try to be consistent.

#6

Releasing the Top 25 a day at a time.

24 is Bob McKillop of Davidson
23 is Greg McDermott of Creighton
22 is Tommy Amaker (!) of Harvard

#7

Status update:

21 is Larry Brown of SMU
20 is Thad Matta of OSU
19 is Jay Wright of Villanova
18 is Steve Fisher of SDSU

I’m kind of shocked that Shaka Smart will be ahead of all these guys (presumably). He and VCU get so much love from ESPN it’s astounding.

Also, I realize after reviewing my initial predictions that I expect at least Bill Self and Roy Williams to be ahead of Beilein as well. We will see soon I guess.

#8

I stand corrected.

17 is Mark Few of Gonzaga
16 is Roy Williams of UNC

Beilein still yet to drop. Note, the actual URL for some reason lists Williams as 17 along with Few, so it may break when you try to view it later.

#9

New update

15 is Fred Hoiberg of Iowa State
14 is Tony Bennett of Virginia
13 is Shaka Smart of VCU

I’m amazed at how highly Smart is ranked. Granted he’s a “hot commodity” for coaching carousels, but the Final Four run was in 2011. They say Smart is keeping VCU relevant, but frankly I’m inclined to believe it’s the media continuing to prop up VCU teams that are certainly decent, but not as good as people are giving him credit for.

#10

Smart seems somewhat overrated. He has never won a conference regular season title (after Anthony Grant had just led VCU to 3 striaght in the CAA). He’s made a lot of hay out of that run when everyone was outraged VCU made it in the first place.

#11

Wow Boeheim #12. I would’ve thought that he would be higher than that. One spot ahead of Shaka Smart is a crime

#12

IMO, Boeheim belongs in the Top 5, if not top 3. I think that the list loses its entire credibility by putting Boeheim outside the top 10.

#13

Putting Smart ahead of Bennett is a joke. In a couple of years, we will see.

#14

Jimmy B is a great recruiter and a good coach. Gets a lot of talent but that 2-3 zone he plays is laughable. Very player friendly program IMO. I think he could win more with added discipline.

#15

As has been discussed, everything but the top 10 has been revealed

12 is Jim Boeheim of Syracuse
11 is Sean Miller of Arizona

This confirms Beilein is in the top 10 (or a very large travesty has occurred). I must admit that I am surprised by this as I assumed he would be outside this group. I guess the interesting discussion will be the pecking order of B1G coaches. Seems Izzo, Beilein, and Ryan are all in the Top 10. I obviously think Beilein deserves to be ahead of both, but not sure it will shake out that way.

#16

Yeah while today I’d take Beilein over Izzo hands down, I am sure they will rate Izzo higher based on past accomplishments

#17

The poll is about who’s the best now, so it’s possible Beilein will be ahead. But it’s ESPN, so I’m assuming the top 4 are Izzo, krzyzewski, Donovan, and calipari, in some order. I think Beilein definitely deserves to be top 5.

#18

It really depends on how big a window “right now” is. One season? Two seasons? Three? If it’s two seasons, Beilein has to stack up favorably.

-Wooden POTY
-2 B1G POTY
-1 Final Four and Nat’l Champ appearance
-1 Elite Eight appearance
-Outright B1G title by 3 games after notable injury

Again, just repeating things we already know/would cite in an argument, but I don’t think any window for “right now” seems to make sense for even the currently announced coaches. So it’s impossible to guess where ESPN will rank him.

#19

So Beilein is #9. Ahead of him must be Izzo, Ryan, Cal, Pitino, Marshall (Wichita St), Self, Donovan, and Shushefskee

#20

Beilein has more conference wins, NCAA tourney wins, and conference titles than Izzo or Ryan in the last 1, 2, 3, and 4 year spans. Coach K has 0 conference titles and 3 NCAA tourney wins in the last 3 years (0 and 5 over the last 4) - although 5 years back was a national championship. Marshall has the same number of conference titles in the MVC as Beilein does in the B1G, with fewer NCAA victories.

Pitino, Calipari (although he did have the one NIT year), and Donavan are the only ones who’d have a real chance to beat JB in a blind-resume test. But it’s all a bit subjective and 9 isn’t exactly an insult.