NCAA Basketball: Coach of the Year power rankings
With just over a month to go in the regular season, who is emerging as a potential Coach of the Year in college basketball?
This college basketball season began with a conversation involving each and every coach in the country. It didn’t have to do with their acumen on the court, however.
Instead, it involved an FBI probe taking hold of the sport, leading to ineligible players, suspended assistants, and the end of Rick Pitino’s time at Louisville.
Alas, the world moves on. While most of those affected by the allegations remain sidelined, most everyone else is back at work, trying to lead their team to glory. In the case of several coaches, they’re doing it against all expectations.
There’s about a month remaining in the regular season, before the transition to conference tournaments and postseason play. By then, there may be a clear Coach of the Year frontrunner leading the pack. In the eyes of some, that may even exist now.
This seems an appropriate time to check in with the top coaches for the position in the country, though.
In ascending order, here are the five leading candidates for National Coach of the Year.
5. Jay Wright, Villanova
Jay Wright is moving towards dangerous territory – being so consistently good that he can’t be considered for awards anymore.
For the third straight year, the Villanova Wildcats are one of the top teams in the country, currently leading the AP Top 25. They don’t appear to have the same stars they’ve had in the past, but someone always steps into the void.
Josh Hart is in the NBA, but Jalen Brunson is averaging 19 points per game and making nearly half of his three-point shots. Mikal Bridges is scoring 17 points per game, Redshirt freshman Omari Spellman is two and a half rebounds a game from averaging a double-double.
Villanova is just destroying opponents. Outside of an eight-point loss at Butler – Villanova’s only defeat of the season – just one Big East game involving the Wildcats has been decided by less than ten points. They’ve played two opponents ranked in the Top 25 at the time, winning by a combined 40 points. They’re one of the five best scoring teams in the country.
Wright has won two national coach of the year awards, in 2006 and 2016. In each of those seasons, the Wildcats lost five games.
He may be even more deserving this year as Villanova keeps thumping opponents.