JasonEvans
Host, The Duke Basketball Roundup
This is a fun debate.
I am of the belief that performance THIS SEASON is what matters in the COY discussion. It would be silly to say Jon had a good year last year because he got Flagg and Maluach and others to commit at that time when they had not even stepped foot on a college basketball court yet.
But, he should get credit in this year for the performance of the players he brought in last year. The timing of when he formed the roster is less important than the play of the roster in this season. The bottom line to me is that one should not just automatically discount a coach who comes into a season with a stacked roster because some credit should be given to the coach for putting together the stacked roster in the first place.
And, to be clear, I am not saying the coach who is #1 at the end of the year is the automatic COY winner. To me, the award is about looking objectively at outperforming expectations (which can happen for even the top teams in the rankings), strategy and success in key moments, and how a team grew over the course of the season. Weigh all that stuff and then decide who did the best with what they were given.
As the good old Potter Stewart would say, it is hard to exactly define what COY is but we know a COY when we see one. And I feel like I am seeing one this year in Durham much more than I have in the past.
I am of the belief that performance THIS SEASON is what matters in the COY discussion. It would be silly to say Jon had a good year last year because he got Flagg and Maluach and others to commit at that time when they had not even stepped foot on a college basketball court yet.
But, he should get credit in this year for the performance of the players he brought in last year. The timing of when he formed the roster is less important than the play of the roster in this season. The bottom line to me is that one should not just automatically discount a coach who comes into a season with a stacked roster because some credit should be given to the coach for putting together the stacked roster in the first place.
And, to be clear, I am not saying the coach who is #1 at the end of the year is the automatic COY winner. To me, the award is about looking objectively at outperforming expectations (which can happen for even the top teams in the rankings), strategy and success in key moments, and how a team grew over the course of the season. Weigh all that stuff and then decide who did the best with what they were given.
As the good old Potter Stewart would say, it is hard to exactly define what COY is but we know a COY when we see one. And I feel like I am seeing one this year in Durham much more than I have in the past.