The Student Section begins College Basketball Preview Week, a crash course on the coming season. In this piece, we provide a list of the five coaches — legends and lurkers alike — who have the most to prove:
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Mike Brey and Mark Few parked themselves in the Elite Eight for the first time in their respective careers. They proved something about themselves. You might have thought for many years that both coaches were really good, and of course, the NCAA tournament is the kind of distorting “small sample size” sporting events, one in which a coach as accomplished as John Chaney never made the Final Four. (Neither did Gene Keady or Ralph Miller.) Nevertheless, if your program owns an appreciable degree of stature and an accordingly aspirational quality, you should make a deep run at least once in a while. Brey and Few finally checked that box.
What follows is a short list of coaches who — in various situations — have a lot to prove this season. The first name on the list is clearly different from the others, perhaps to the point of being outrageous… but situations are what they are. Life, like college basketball, is hugely unpredictable.
5 – ROY WILLIAMS, NORTH CAROLINA
OH, COME ON! ROY WILLIAMS HAS NOTHING TO PROVE! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YOU MUST BE ONE OF THOSE ROY HATERS!
Hey, I can understand that reaction, but to immediately reset (and tone down) the dial:
A) I’m not a “Fire Roy!” idiot (and yes, those who have wanted Roy fired for basketball reasons qualify as such).
B) I have consistently been one of the first people in line to say how good Roy Williams is as a coach. The idea that he just has to roll out the ball and win games is absurd. No other coach with his collection of accomplishments gets the same treatment. It might not even be close, but I’ll hear other arguments. (Lute Olson might have approached Roy on this scale when he was active, and that was a bunch of bullspit, too.)
Nevertheless…
Ol’ Roy has a ton to prove this season.
Williams won a second national title in Chapel Hill in 2009, matching Dean Smith, and the sky was Carolina Blue. Then that gotdern Coach K feller won hisself a coupla national titles, and Daggum Roy is playing second fiddle to Duke. Moreover, Virginia and Tony Bennett have clearly achieved a lot more than Roy and UNC over the past few seasons. North Carolina’s talent level just hasn’t remained steady; if players are staying for senior seasons in Chapel Hill, something’s amiss.
(Or it’s 1982… but that would mean I’m six years old, and I’m not, so I guess something’s amiss.)
NCAA sanctions somehow avoided punishing UNC this season, but they might come down hard next season. In terms of achieving something of note before the skies grow darker, Roy has a one-year window. He must make the locals happy; show that he can finally turn the corner with his current crop of players; outflank Krzyzewski and Bennett; and make a Daggum Final Four again.
Heck yes, Williams has a ton to prove, despite all his accomplishments and considerable coaching acumen.
Now, to the coaches who more naturally fit this category:
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4 – BILLY KENNEDY, TEXAS A&M
The fact that Mark Gottfried of North Carolina State has made an Elite Eight and some other Sweet 16s puts him off the list, but we considered him, now that more is expected of him in Raleigh. Yet, the fourth slot belongs to Kennedy, a man who — more than most SEC coaches (but not one, as you’ll see below) — needs to show that he can get the most out of a talented group. The last few seasons have been endlessly exasperating for the Aggies. An NCAA berth was waiting to be claimed last winter, but foul-shooting problems against Kentucky and brutal endgame execution in other home games (such as Georgia) kept the Aggies outside the candy store. That threshold needs to be crossed this season, or the grumbling in College Station will increase.
Given the state of the football program, the Aggies need something to cheer about.
3 – JOHNNY JONES, LSU
There’s one other pronounced instance on this list of a second-level coach presiding over top-tier talent. It’s a supremely fascinating coaching drama: Can Johnny Jones get out of the way and allow Ben Simmons to take LSU to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament (the Final Four is a little too ambitious — let’s get to the Sweet 16 first)? Few programs leave results on the court more consistently than LSU. If Jones can make excellent use of the recruiting class he’s brought to Baton Rouge, his reputation as a coach will begin to change.
It would be great to see… but skepticism is certainly warranted.
2 – TOM CREAN, INDIANA
This is the one hot seat-proving ground combination on the list. Not only does Tom Crean have a lot to prove; a bad season could get him dismissed from a program which keeps yearning for the days when no one had to wonder where Indiana stood in the college basketball landscape.
Can Crean design effective zone offenses? Can he develop his post players and get them to mesh with Yogi Ferrell? These and other questions will shape a hugely important season, one magnified by the fact that Crean won’t have Ferrell to lean on 12 months from now. He has to get Indiana to the second weekend at minimum.
1 – CUONZO MARTIN, CALIFORNIA
Johnny Jones easily could have occupied this spot. Moreover, I’d have absolutely zero argument with anyone who slotted him here.
Why is Cuonzo first? For one thing, his freshmen class is even better than LSU’s, at least by most reactions I’ve gleaned from the commentariat. Second, as a Westerner, I think Pac-12 programs shouldn’t receive less publicity when things are good, or less scrutiny when events turn south. Cal should not be seen as a less important story compared to LSU.
Third, and most importantly, Cuonzo Martin chose not to stay at Tennessee. This is not so much a matter of “right or wrong” in the realm of decision making; the mere fact that a coach chose to find a new home makes this a little more personal for Cuonzo himself, and I imagine he wouldn’t disagree if you told him as much.
Martin wanted a better place in which to practice his trade. Now he has the chance to show everyone — beginning with his own self — just how good a decision he made when he left Knoxville.
The ball’s in your court, Cuonzo.