NCAA Basketball: Top 10 National Coach of the Year candidates for 2020-21

1. Juwan Howard (#3 Michigan)

• 2020-21 record: 16-1 overall, 11-1 Big Ten

Michigan was not supposed to be this good this season.  They were picked sixth in the Big Ten preseason poll, 25th in the national polls, and were coming off a season where they began unranked, skyrocketed to fourth in the AP Top 25, and fell back out within two months.  Additionally, the Wolverines dropped three of their last four regular-season games, finishing ninth in the Big Ten.

By no means was that was a disappointing first campaign for Juwan Howard, especially in the first year in the post-John Beilein era – but no one could have predicted what Howard’s second season would entail.  With 46% of last season’s production gone, the only certainty was the return of the double-digit trio of Eli Brooks, Franz Wagner, and Isaiah Livers.

But the Wolverines have proven to be those three – and so much more.  Freshman center Hunter Dickinson has cemented himself as one of the best players in all of college basketball, while transfers Mike Smith and Chaundee Brown – both double-digit scorers at their previous schools – have accepted backup roles to Michigan’s core group, serving as perfect complementary pieces.

Things were not always perfect for the Wolverines.  They needed overtime to get past an Oakland squad in their second game of the season, which pushed Michigan out of the top 25 – and they did not return there until mid-December.  Since then, however, the Wolverines have been on a tear through the Big Ten, seeing just two of their 12 conference games come down to single-digits, and with their lone loss coming at Minnesota in mid-January.

Michigan’s resume includes stellar wins over Wisconsin, Purdue, and Ohio State – among a handful of other potential NCAA Tournament teams.  They are one of the lone teams to have at least six Quad 1 wins, and the Wolverines have been sitting comfortably in third in the national polls since the start of February.  This is all without even mentioning that Michigan’s most recent wins – Wisconsin, Rutgers, and Ohio State – come after the Michigan athletic department’s nearly-month-long pause due to COVID-19.

The Wolverines’ performance at Ohio State has helped push the narrative that Michigan is closer to the upper echelon of college basketball – alongside Gonzaga and Baylor – than they are to the rest of the field.  That argument very much has logic behind it, considering the Wolverines rank in the top 12 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, as well as top six in offensive and defensive effective FG%.  They are 16th in the nation in 3P% and 15th in 2P% – while maintaining the nation’s second-best 2P% defense (41.4%).

Again, the Wolverines were not supposed to be this good.  They were one of the biggest question marks in college basketball, even as they made their way up the national rankings.  It was not until their 23-point romp over Wisconsin on January 12th that the nation began to take Michigan seriously – and the Wolverines have only furthered their status as a national championship contender.

As much as the National Player of the Year race is Iowa’s Luka Garza’s to lose, the National Coach of the Year award is Juwan Howard’s to lose.  In just his second season at the helm, Howard has returned the Michigan Wolverines to the forefront of college basketball – and, unlike last season, has remained there.  Barring a meltdown to close the season, there is not a coach more deserving of being considered or recognized than Howard.