Coach K not the best coach?

[vango]

I could see him taking a second to somebody - Donovan who is hot. But 4th? Sorta bogus to me - how many coaches have both won a title and made it to the Final 4 a second time since 2000 - not to mention the ACC Championships:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/stewart_mandel/04/11/top.coaches/index.html

[SilkyJ]

I could see him taking a second to somebody - Donovan who is hot. But 4th? Sorta bogus to me - how many coaches have both won a title and made it to the Final 4 a second time since 2000 - not to mention the ACC Championships:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/stewart_mandel/04/11/top.coaches/index.html

Laughable. He is basically a consensus top 3 coach of ALL TIME (Wooden, The Deaner, K) And certainly the only one along with Dean to be compared to Wooden. People hold the fact that he went to 7 final fours in 9 years (86-94) against him now since he only goes to one every couple of years.

Ridiculous.

[Skitzle]

In all honesty, if you look at the last 2 years (which are obivously the most important given Donovans rank of # 1) the only person that I think is wrongly placed anywhere in the top 5 is calhoun. I dont care how many guys you lost to the draft. A good coach doesn't miss the dance. Coach k should be 3 here at WORST

[dukemomLA]

I agree that Coach K is one of the best all-time. Probably only second to John Wooden. BUT -- he has not done his best coaching job during the past 5 years. Let's face it. He's made some really stupid/outrageous choices. So....even when my blood drains Duke blue, I have to be honest with myself and question some of his decisions during this time.

Is it time for him to pass the mantle? Wonder what the rest of Duke Nation thinks?

[Wander]

You guys are being way too sensitive. The article pretty clearly says that recent success is weighted very heavily, and K did not do a very good coaching job this year.

And, no, it isn't time for him to "pass the mantle." That's a big overreaction. He's still one of the best coaches overall. We just had a down year. Chill out.

[Classof06]

I saw this article last week and wrote it off within 2 minutes. When I (so predictably) saw Donovan #1, I knew not to take this seriously at all. And I agree with Skitzle, Krzyzewski and Calhoun were in substantially similar situations this year and Uconn did MUCH worse than Duke. Didn't hear ESPN or CNNSI let out a peep, either.

They say Coach K is 4th because of his recent underachievements, but I think we can all identify the most notorious tourney underachiever on the list. They say we don't live up to #1 seed status enough lately, but the reason we were a #1 seed so often is because we took 7 out of 8 ACC Tourney titles, another feat no other coach on that list has done. And I don't care how much talent Duke gets, 9 straight Sweet 16s can't be looked at as underachieving. Being given a 1 seed doesn't guarantee anything; ask Roy about that...

[Buckeye Devil]

I really can't believe that any Duke fan would even raise the question as to whether it is time for Coach K to "pass the mantle."

Yes, it is disappointing that JJ, Shelden and friends only made one Final 4 and this year was very disheartening. But Duke has hardly suffered a fall from the status as one of the elite programs in the nation because of the lack of recent NCAA tournament success.

If Duke has 2 or 3 more consecutive years like this, maybe there will be cause for concern. But it's not even close to time to worry about this program being in disarray.

Get a grip and don't pay heed to stupid SI.

[hurleyfor3]

K is where Dean was in 1992 (actually, Dean was a bit better off). Whether he closes out his career with one last push or we start aiming for the Sweet 16 just to have the opportunity to faceplant there remains to be seen.

I have a strong suspicion we'll end up with the latter.

[Cameron]

And certainly the only one along with Dean to be compared to Wooden.

I'd add the General in there as well, but I agree. Coach K is about as legendary a coach as one can ever become. He's THE premier coaching talent in the country. Period. I read SI religiously but that list is bogus.

[NYC Duke Fan]

In all honesty, if you look at the last 2 years (which are obivously the most important given Donovans rank of # 1) the only person that I think is wrongly placed anywhere in the top 5 is calhoun. I dont care how many guys you lost to the draft. A good coach doesn't miss the dance. Coach k should be 3 here at WORST

If I'm not mistaken Coach K missed the dance also. I guess that you can argue that it was Gaudet who missed it, but it was Coach K's team.

[dukemsu]

This is all a question of "what have you done for me lately?".

Two years ago, people were bashing Donovan for being an underachiever who couldn't get it done in the tourney. Now, he's being added to coaching's Mount Rushmore.

K will rise again. If you think we hate losing, imagine how he feels.

dukemsu

[gvtucker]

I agree that Coach K is one of the best all-time. Probably only second to John Wooden. BUT -- he has not done his best coaching job during the past 5 years. Let's face it. He's made some really stupid/outrageous choices.

Just curious, what are these "stupid/outrageous choices" that you think Coach K has made?

Granted, he's certainly made mistakes. But I can't think of anything that I'd classify as "stupid".

[SilkyJ]

If I'm not mistaken Coach K missed the dance also. I guess that you can argue that it was Gaudet who missed it, but it was Coach K's team.

You are very mistaken. Does Pitino get Tubby's National Championship ring since it was his team but Tubby was coaching? No.

[mapei]

I think you guys are being way too sensitive on behalf of K right now, not the K of 20, 15 or 5 years ago. He is still in the top, elite group, but a few other guys are there, too, and currently enjoying even higher levels of success. I think all such rankings should be taken with grains of salt, but I also think this one is fair. If we want K back up there as the unquestioned #1 (as the writer concedes he was), let's earn it with better showings in the tournament.

[rsvman]

I think perhaps the most laughable thing is that he put Rick Barnes in his "also considered" list. Puh-leeze.

[jipops]

Interesting that the top two coaches on this list coached the two most talented teams.

I think if an actual thorough analysis was done to compile this list, the names would be completely different.

[mapei]

To be fair, they also recruited those two most talented teams and deserve credit for that.

But I agree that, if we went strictly on what they did with limited talent rather than elite talent, the names might be people we seldom think of. Pete Carrill would deserve consideration as one of the all-time best, for instance.

[dukemomLA]

Just curious, what are these "stupid/outrageous choices" that you think Coach K has made?

Granted, he's certainly made mistakes. But I can't think of anything that I'd classify as "stupid".

Well, I think he hasn't utilized his players properly. He continues to stick to his 6-7 man rotation when he has 8-10 experienced, viable players sitting on the bench. He doesn't use the backdoor cut, even though he has the players to excel with that. He hates the 2-3 zone, even though that can work miracles with the players he's had in the last few years.

He often "sticks with the game plan" even when it's NOT WORKING.

Okay, I sound like a K basher. I'm not. I LOVE Coach K. I idolize K. I'm just trying to be realistic about my concerns from 2002-2007. GO DUKE. GTHCGHT

[whereinthehellami]

I also think that Coach K's inflexibility sometimes gets in his way of being the best X's and O's guy. I'm in no way saying that I know anywhere close to what he knows but I do think that Coach's strengths lie elsewhere. His ability to motivate, lead, and organize are second to none. But I have felt that over the last few years he has taken steps away from the being a micro-manager to a macro-manager in regards to his approach to coaching, which I think is common as Coaches mature and stay at one job for as many years as he has. There has been some rumblings last year and during the off-season that he is re-evaluating how he does things, so maybe things will change some next season. Regardless, it will be an interesting year next year as Coach has some holes and some options to explore.

[Troublemaker]

Well, I think he hasn't utilized his players properly. He continues to stick to his 6-7 man rotation when he has 8-10 experienced, viable players sitting on the bench. He doesn't use the backdoor cut, even though he has the players to excel with that. He hates the 2-3 zone, even though that can work miracles with the players he's had in the last few years.

He often "sticks with the game plan" even when it's NOT WORKING.

Okay, I sound like a K basher. I'm not. I LOVE Coach K. I idolize K. I'm just trying to be realistic about my concerns from 2002-2007. GO DUKE. GTHCGHT

The problem with your logic is that from 86 to 94, Duke's peak years, all of your mentioned "weaknesses" about Coach K were still true. When has he ever played a lot of zone, for instance? Man-to-man has always been K's staple.

There really are only two differences between the periods of 86-94 and 99-07, as far as I can tell.
(1) Duke started losing players to early entry (imo, this has clearly hurt Duke's depth in recent years), and
(2) Duke started shooting a lot more 3s (this is the only strategical change I've noticed over the years and, imo, is the reason why there's been a tendency since 1995 for Duke to build and blow huge leads [3-pters are less consistent than 2-pt shots; you can build a big lead if you're hot but quickly blow it if you go cold], at least once or twice a season)

[SilkyJ]

The problem with your logic is that from 86 to 94, Duke's peak years, all of your mentioned "weaknesses" about Coach K were still true. When has he ever played a lot of zone, for instance? Man-to-man has always been K's staple.


The other problem with the logic is that K has had 9 defensive players of the year, which is 3 times more than the next best coach. Clearly the guy knows a thing or two about defense.

Also dukemom's statement about the zone working well with "the players he's had in the last few years." That doesn't even make any sense. We've had lock down defenders like C Du, Dockery, and Ewing, and had Sheld down low and before that we had Battier. All of them excel in Man-to-man (obviously sheld would work well in a zone, too)

[gvtucker]

Well, I think he hasn't utilized his players properly. He continues to stick to his 6-7 man rotation when he has 8-10 experienced, viable players sitting on the bench. He doesn't use the backdoor cut, even though he has the players to excel with that. He hates the 2-3 zone, even though that can work miracles with the players he's had in the last few years.

He often "sticks with the game plan" even when it's NOT WORKING.

Okay, I sound like a K basher. I'm not. I LOVE Coach K. I idolize K. I'm just trying to be realistic about my concerns from 2002-2007. GO DUKE. GTHCGHT

1. Duke used the 2-3 zone often this year, almost always when the other team had the ball out of bounds under the basket.

2. Duke's game plan changed significantly on offense this year. We got away from the high post pick that has been so effective in the past, mostly because this played to neither Paulus nor McRoberts strengths. By the end of the year, our problems weren't on offense, they were on defense.

I see the other criticisms potentially valid, though I might disagree somewhat, but that scarcely rises to the level of "really stupid", don't you think? For example, not using a backdoor cut is a rather minor detail. If a team doesn't run a certain version the Princeton offense, you don't see the backdoor cut as a regular part of the offense. Duke isn't alone in that respect.

[greybeard]

Of the top 10, I see Pintino and Calipari as being misplaced. Snake oil salesmen.

The K man, to me, sets a different standard than the other top 10ers. something about the choices he makes, and the development of players that he facilitates, that is different. The other two mentioned that, to me, seem to share those qualities: JTIII and Beilein.

The others have wonderful programs at wonderful places with big arenas and beautiful babes, and can all "coach em up," as the old ball coach likes to put it. Sooo?

Did any of you catch when I think it might have been the fireman asked something like, "If you had gotten one or two of them that you just missed, do you think it would be fair to say that you would be in a class by yourself just behind Wooden?" If you didn't, K said something like, "If I ever care about such things, somebody should punch me in the face." Some things are priceless!

[rsvman]

...(2) Duke started shooting a lot more 3s (this is the only strategical change I've noticed over the years and, imo, is the reason why there's been a tendency since 1995 for Duke to build and blow huge leads

This is an interesting thought, but I'm not sure it's true. For one thing, I don't have the stats to show whether we are really taking more 3-pointers or not. Certainly we did when JJ was around, but that decision is hard to second guess, is it not?

From the standpoint of scoring points, you'd have to have be one-third again more accurate from 2-point land than you are from 3-point land in order to favor the approach of shooting 2-pointers exclusively or almost exclusively. Many teams shoot close to 40% from 3-point land. So, that team would have to shoot 60% or more from 2-point land in order to make shooting 2's worthwhile, and in order to do that, a lot of the shots would have to be layups, slams, or other deep in the paint shots.

I personally think that the 3-point shot rule is a two-headed monster; one the one hand it makes basketball games more entertaining, but on the other hand it has really ruined (in some ways) the game of basketball I grew up watching. (I'd like to go on about this but it is tangential to this discussion. I've been thinking about starting a thread about the "state of the game" for quite some time. Maybe I'll do that within the next few days.) In the meantime I'll just conclude by saying that to me it's not clear that over-reliance on the three has been one of Duke's problems in the past few years.

[Troublemaker]

Oh, there's actually no doubt that Duke takes more threes in the post-95 era. I'm too lazy right now to break it down per game right now (or, more preferably, per possession), but you can look at the overall season totals here: http://goduke.statsgeek.com/basketball-m/seasons/

If you look season by season chronologically through the K era, you'll notice a sudden spike in three-pt attempts in 95 that has pretty much been maintained over the past dozen years or so.

Anyway, my point really wasn't to argue that shooting more threes has contributed to Duke's relative decline in postseason results (although I do believe it contributes). My point is just that if someone is going to complain about K's stupid decisions from 02-07, they should probably pick some examples that weren't also K's choices from 86-94. Unless they can argue that times have changed and those choices are no longer valid because of x, y, and z.