NCAA Basketball: 10 best coaching performances from the 2017-18 season

There were many great performances from NCAA Basketball coaches throughout the 2017-18. Who were the ones that had the best season?

There was a ton of prestige at this past season’s Final Four when it came to the coaching sidelines. Three of the four are likely future Hall of Famers (Jay Wright – Villanova, Jon Beilein – Michigan, Bill Self – Kansas), while the fourth (Porter Moser) made a name for himself in the mid-major world by taking Loyola-Chicago all the way to San Antonio.

No matter how talented those teams were, none of them would’ve made it that far if it wasn’t for the game planning and strategy of their head coaches. It can be the difference between an NIT and an NCAA Tournament team, as well as one that advances well into March while another makes a quick exit.

Out of the 351 coaches, many of them did a great job this season. A couple from the mid-major world that comes to mind include Nate Oaks from Buffalo and Travis Declure from Montana. Both men took teams that were middle of the road in their respective conferences a year ago and turned them into juggernauts this season, with each team making it to the Big Dance.

Even Self himself (pardon the pun) deserves some credit for taking a Jayhawks team will little scholarship depth to winning both the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles. Moser was fantastic with his defensive schemes and late-game situations, while Beilein and Wright have each improved their coaching reputation into “elite” status.

But there were others who had just as good of seasons, even if their team didn’t make it to the Final Four. Here are my top-10 worthy of great praise for the coaching jobs they did.