Coach K is not one of the top 20 coaches in the USA...

... according to rivals.com basketball!

http://www.collegebasketball.rivals.com/viewcbse.asp

Hope the link works! Adjust it from point guards to coaches to see what I mean.

It has to have been an oversight, because it just doesn't make sense otherwise.

I just added a poll on my site about which ACC Coach you would most like to play for. So far, Paul Hewitt and Roy Williams have split the first 6 votes.

Yet another affront to us. Who cares.

Is there a Rivals page for Duke? (I have no idea; I never go there.)

-jk

He didn't even have Donovan, the #1 guy in his most recent list, on the previous list (from May). Obviously doesn't really pay much attention to details.

Yep, seems kinda random. He does (somewhat surprisingly) have Paulus as the #10 PG in the nation and (not as surprisingly) Singler as the #16 small forward, though.

Just one opinion. Here's another-this guy has a pretty short-sighted analysis.

Bo Ryan from Wisconsin isn't on this list, and a lot of basketball people would have him top 5. John Belien (formerly of WVU) is conspicuous by his absence as well.

Isn't Rivals a recruiting rag? Is he just listing top recruiters? I saw Pitino down in the teens. I cannot stand Pitino but I think he'd be in anyone's top 10.

I'm not saying K should be #1 or anything. But as he might say, c'mon.

dukemsu

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dukemsu

Isn't Rivals a recruiting rag?

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Yes. Another reason I give recruiting rags no respect.

Guess he's put K out to pasture with Lute Olson and Bobby Knight. Or maybe legends aren't eligible for this poll. At least one other Hall of Famer didn't make the list -- Jim Boeheim. I think our legend might be surprising some people this year.

Also very conspicuously absent -- Tom Crean.

Mark Fox...
I mean I respect the fact that you've won at Nevada, but lets see some consistency, and lets see it without Fazekas first...
Bill Self has won how many tourney games?
And I mean growing up as a Pitt fan I LOVE Sean Miller, but there's no way he's one of the top 15 coaches in the country

and while I may be mistaken, I believe only
Donovan, Matta, Thompson, Williams, Izzo, Calipari, Pitino, and Kruger have been to final 4s much less won championships

and if you're saying this is about recent success you can cut Calipari, Pitino and Kruger off that list as well

and as much as I dislike the man, does anybody really think that Jim Calhoun is not one of the top 20 coaches in the nation?

Donovan- #1 (ok there's certainly a case for that)
Roy Williams - #6 (seems about right if you ignore the guys ahead of him
Calhoun - Not ranked (huh?)
Boeheim- Not ranked (... really?)
Gary Williams - Not ranked (ok thats understandable)
Coach K - Not ranked (I mean... whatever you say sir)
Izzo - #12 (Feels about right... although again, thats assuming you ignore who's above him)

How about something like this...

1. K
2. Donovan
3. Howland (I'm probably showing my Pitt bias here, but the man is an amazing coach)
4. Calhoun
5. R Williams
6. Matta (He's been impressive)
7. Pitino
8. Gillespie
9. Calipari
10. Crean
11. Izzo
12. Beilein
13. Boeheim
14. Thompson
15. Few
16. Pearl
17. Lowery
18. Bennett
19. Rick Barnes
20. Jamie Dixon

It really is interesting how fashionable it has become to trash (whether explicity or - like in this list - inexplicitly) Duke after our down year last year and a few disappointing NCAA tournaments. Duke's absence in many lists this preseason is conspicuous, of course, and it's only a matter of time before the pendulum swings back the other way and a few writers begin to say Duke is "underrated" and a "sleeper" and things like that.

Obviously the media affects itself and this whole Duke-is-in-a-rut thing has snowballed and is now completely absurd, in my opinion. I don't remember this much lumping on UNC when they had a REALLY bad season, as if they'd never be good again. I actually think this is the first time in a while that Duke is pretty underrated. I don't think they have a great shot at a national championship, but I think they certainly can get to the Elite 8 (and I predict they will).

Who cares what this guy thinks? As weird as it is to say, I think Duke will surprise a lot of people this year with how improved they are.

My one major gripe on these sorts of lists is the flavor of the month syndrome. Gillespie had a really good year, but I'm not ready to put him over guys like Izzo, Boeheim, etc. Gillespie had one really good team-and got a big job as a result, primarily because Billy D didn't want the gig. Would Gillespie be this big a deal had he stayed in College Station? Somehow I doubt it.

Not knocking anyone's list on here, per se. Just more an opinion about how pundits get on one guys, um, well you know what I mean after he has one good year. Let's see how Gillespie does in the crucible. Lexington is a bit different than College Station.

Funny how Tubby doesn't make anyone's list anymore, isn't it?

So I can give him a bit of a break for the flavor of the month deal...

But that doesn't excuse him because he isn't really doing that...

Otherwise Sydney Lowe, Anthony Grant, Oregon's coach (cannot remember who it is), and others should be on this list

and Tom Crean, Beilein and Pitino certainly didn't have bad years last year


and I think most teams would take a coach who led a team that had no seniors and endured several critical injuries throughout the year to a 22-11 record and a tournament berth (K)

Ridiculous! ...snore

Gillespie as no. 8?
I don't see him in the top 20.
What has he ever won?

Hi,

IMO, everybody is entitled to their opinion and should have the right to openly express it. Obviously, some people disagree with that view.

I think Coach K is one of the three greatest coaches in the history of college hoops (Coach Wooden would also make my list). My current top 20 list would start with Coach K.

-Jeffrey

Everybody is entitled to their opinions...

Its just some opinions correlate a whole lot better to reality than others...

It is sorta funny, I think many of us would be more worked up if the guy listed K at 8th or 12th or something like that. Leaving K (and Calhoun) completely off the list just makes the list so laughably silly as to not be worth getting worked up about.

--Jason "its like not listing Bill Russell among the greatest NBA centers" Evans

Two questions:
1. What is the criteria?
2. Who cares?