NCAA Basketball: 5 biggest losers from 2019 NCAA Tournament

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MARCH 29: Brandon Robinson #4 of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts after being defeated by the Auburn Tigers 97-80 during the 2019 NCAA Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at Sprint Center on March 29, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

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DURHAM, NC – MARCH 03: (L-R) Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils talks to head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels before their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 3, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

5. Legendary coaches

Izzo made the Final Four before suffering yet another loss on the final Saturday of the season. The other Final Four coaches, however, are stars of a different generation: Tony Bennett, Chris Beard, and Bruce Pearl.

Members of the more well-known class of coaching legends didn’t fare as well in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Jim Boeheim couldn’t get Syracuse past the First Round. Roy Williams was the first coach of a 1-seed to leave the tournament when North Carolina fell in the Sweet Sixteen. Mike Krzyzewski fell shortly thereafter in the Elite Eight.

They’re not the only championship coaches who saw an early exit from the Big Dance. John Calipari couldn’t get his Kentucky squad into the Final Four. Jay Wright and Bill Self couldn’t even get Villanova and Kansas into the Sweet Sixteen, respectively.

The sample size is way too small to say anything definitive about Boeheim, Williams, and Krzyzewski. Any one of them could come back and take a team to the title next year.

But all of these legends are closer to retirement than their heyday. In all likelihood, we’ve seen the last title run from at least one of them, if not all three; this tournament was another reminder of the forthcoming passing of the torch.

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