Meyer (current national champion)
Donovan (current national champion)
The others you can argue about. But I don't see how you can say that head-coaching wise there is anyone more deserving than the two Florida coaches given that they hold the top prize possible for their respective sports.
Meyer (current national champion)
Donovan (current national champion)
The others you can argue about. But I don't see how you can say that head-coaching wise there is anyone more deserving than the two Florida coaches given that they hold the top prize possible for their respective sports.
I love how everyone is allowing one season to completely rewrite history. Tubby Smith has used Billy Donovan as a pinata for the better part of a decade. Donovan wins one title, something Smith had already done, and suddenly he is the new Naismith. How good a job did Donovan do in '04-'05? He has had more seasons of underachievement than excellence in his tenure.
I agree with your comment ONLY in the sense that Donovan for his first ten years recruited in his own image. Up through the time of Mike Miller, et.al., he recruited guards and short forwards that he converted to guards. He did not pay enough attention to big men underneath. Obviously, wiht the likes of Horford, Chris Richards, and Noah, he has come to realize that inside dominance is the key to deep NCAA tournament runs.
Gone are the days of 40 minutes of full court pressure. Here to stay are the days of total domination of the glass. Donovan has really matured a lot.
To the extent the question is, who is the best coach right now, its Donovan, by a mile. Yes, if you want to compare overall accomplishments, he's got some making up to do. But I think that now that he knows he needs some 7 footers in there to compete with UNC, Kansas, OSU, and the like, he'll catch up fast.
As I've said before, the last 10 National Champions do not bear your theory out. College basketball is a guard's game. Plenty of teams have won without seven footers. Nobody has won without competent guard play. Without Taurean Green, Florida would be hard pressed to stay in the top 15.
Other than a Duke team here or there, I really cannot think of many (in fact any) guard-dominant teams that consistently made it to the Final Four.
Now you start talking the old days with the Big East and Georgetown or Uconn, or some of the Big Ten teams over the years, like Michigan, or go west and talk Kansas....
Big Bigger Biggest
Biggest wins.
Exactly who are the dominant big men who played for UCLA and George Mason? How many dominant seven footers were on the floor for the final between Carolina and Illinois? I guess you have just ignored the decade long run by Michigan State, built on guard play. You must have never seen the Arizona team that won in '97. The first UCONN title team must have escaped your view. The Arkansas and Kentucky championship teams must have been blacked out in your region. I guess you consider Craig Forth a key member of the Syracuse title team. Look at the last 10 National Champions, there is a common thread. It is not dominant inside play.You can probably point to individual championship games where guard play and perimeter shooting in particular made all the difference. But I think if you take a wholistic view, the teams that tend to get the farthest are the teams that can bang it around down deep -- if for no other reason than that at some point during the first four games your shooters are bound to have an off night and you need to be able to score in the 50's just to win one and advance.
Last year's Final Four: Florida, LSU, UCLA, George Mason, were all teams very much dependent on big men, rebounding, and defense inside the paint. Gone were the Villanovas.
Like I say, you may be right that guards can win particular games for you, but I maintain that ordinarily you need a very strong inside presence to weather those tournament games when it just isn't going in from 18 feet.
I am truly beginning to wonder if you watched any college basketball before last March. You even referenced a school that destroys your argument, Georgetown. When they had Ewing, they also had guys like Sleepy Floyd, Michael Jackson, David Wingate, Reggie Williams in the backcourt. Those teams went to three finals games in four years. A few years later, the Hoyas had Alonzo Mourning and Diekembe Mutombo. They had horrible guards. They appeared in exactly zero Final Fours.Other than a Duke team here or there, I really cannot think of many (in fact any) guard-dominant teams that consistently made it to the Final Four.
Now you start talking the old days with the Big East and Georgetown or Uconn, or some of the Big Ten teams over the years, like Michigan, or go west and talk Kansas....
Big Bigger Biggest
Biggest wins.