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ESPN names their top 15 Coach of the Year candidates and Pope probably isn't where you thought he would be....

Creed Bratton

Creed Bratton

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May 31, 2018
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He is 10th behind guys who coach teams that were picked in the preseason top 25 ahead of UK. All coaches with an asterik were ranked higher than UK in both the AP and Coaches Pre Season poll. A couple of those guys I get like DeVries, Gates and even Kelsey but Pearl, Scheyer and Oltzelberger who everyone thought should win and be ranked high?

Link here

1 Bruce Pearl *
2 Jon Scheyer *
3 Darian DeVries
4 Todd Golden *
5 Dennis Gates
6 Tom Izzo
7 Pat Kelsey
8 Brad Underwood
9 TJ Oltzelberger *
10 Mark Pope
11 Chris Jans
12 Penny Hardaway
13 Shaka Smart *
14 Rick Barnes *
15 Dusty May
 
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I understand Pearl and Scheyer, but would probably have Pope 2nd behind Pearl right now. I think Pearl is a lock if Auburn gets the #1 overall seed with Johni Broome's injury, although Pope could still win it in that situation if we somehow end up with a 1 seed. Right now for me I'd have:

1. Pearl
2. Pope
3. Devries
4. Scheyer
5. Gates
6. Kelsey
7. Golden
8. Otzelberger
9. May
10. Izzo
 
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jbne222 said:
I understand Pearl and Scheyer, but would probably have Pope 2nd behind Pearl right now. I think Pearl is a lock if Auburn gets the #1 overall seed with Johni Broome's injury, although Pope could still win it in that situation if we somehow end up with a 1 seed. Right now for me I'd have:

1. Pearl
2. Pope
3. Devries
4. Scheyer
5. Gates
6. Kelsey
7. Golden
8. Otzelberger
9. May
10. Izzo
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Scheyer? He literally has enough talent to roll the ball out and beat 85-90% of his schedule….maybe my anti-Puke bias is kicking in but if he won the award I would lose all respect for the achievement

If the award was “coach most likely to have a maxed out World of Warcraft character” then yeah I’d understand it
 
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Creed Bratton said:
He is 10th behind guys who coach teams that were picked in the preseason top 25 ahead of UK. All coaches with an asterik were ranked higher than UK in both the AP and Coaches Pre Season poll. A couple of those guys I get like DeVries, Gates and even Kelsey but Pearl, Scheyer and Oltzelberger who everyone thought should win and be ranked high?

Link here

1 Bruce Pearl *
2 Jon Scheyer *
3 Darian DeVries
4 Todd Golden *
5 Dennis Gates
6 Tom Izzo
7 Pat Kelsey
8 Brad Underwood
9 TJ Oltzelberger *
10 Mark Pope
11 Chris Jans
12 Penny Hardaway
13 Shaka Smart *
14 Rick Barnes *
15 Dusty May
Click to expand...
dancing with the stars dwts GIF
 
B.B.H. said:
Scheyer? He literally has enough talent to roll the ball out and beat 85-90% of his schedule….maybe my anti-Puke bias is kicking in but if he won the award I would lose all respect for the achievement

If the award was “coach most likely to have a maxed out World of Warcraft character” then yeah I’d understand it
Click to expand...
I just think it often does end up going to guys who put up incredible seasons regardless of preseason expectations. Can't remember the last time coach of the year went to someone who wasn't at least a top 4 seed in the tourney if not higher than that. I don't disagree with you but if Duke wins out and gets the #1 overall seed he's gonna have a great shot to win it, especially with how rare it is to win with freshmen these days
 
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I think a lot of coaches on this list kind of have to be there considering the teams they have this year. You'll always get coaches like Pearl and Scheyer on these lists just because their teams are so good.

But to me it would go to one of Pope, Kelsey, or May depending on how the season ends up.
 
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Surprised Scheyer not number 1 he had a bad recruiting class no one coming back his best player was only 17,he has done a lot with not much talent.
 
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Creed Bratton said:
He is 10th behind guys who coach teams that were picked in the preseason top 25 ahead of UK. All coaches with an asterik were ranked higher than UK in both the AP and Coaches Pre Season poll. A couple of those guys I get like DeVries, Gates and even Kelsey but Pearl, Scheyer and Oltzelberger who everyone thought should win and be ranked high?

Link here

1 Bruce Pearl *
2 Jon Scheyer *
3 Darian DeVries
4 Todd Golden *
5 Dennis Gates
6 Tom Izzo
7 Pat Kelsey
8 Brad Underwood
9 TJ Oltzelberger *
10 Mark Pope
11 Chris Jans
12 Penny Hardaway
13 Shaka Smart *
14 Rick Barnes *
15 Dusty May
Click to expand...
16 Some other dude
17 Cooper Flagg
 
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Yeah, 10 is too low. On the other hand we have a coach who arrived late on the scene, got a team together, has 5 top 15 wins and is in the top 10 for COY. Suck on that, haters.
 
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jbne222 said:
I understand Pearl and Scheyer, but would probably have Pope 2nd behind Pearl right now. I think Pearl is a lock if Auburn gets the #1 overall seed with Johni Broome's injury, although Pope could still win it in that situation if we somehow end up with a 1 seed. Right now for me I'd have:

1. Pearl
2. Pope
3. Devries
4. Scheyer
5. Gates
6. Kelsey
7. Golden
8. Otzelberger
9. May
10. Izzo
Click to expand...
I don't understand Scheyer. His once in a generation type player turned out to be that and the conference sucks without a single team besides Duke that could finish in the top 10 in the SEC and he has 2-3 other first round draft picks. He should get an award if he can't win big in those circumstances.
 
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ukfan1622 said:
I don't understand Scheyer. His once in a generation type player turned out to be that and the conference sucks without a single team besides Duke that could finish in the top 10 in the SEC and he has 2-3 other first round draft picks. He should get an award if he can't win big in those circumstances.
Click to expand...
Yeah I think Duke would have to get the #1 overall seed for him to get it. I wouldn’t agree with it, but the argument will be that he did it with freshmen which is so rare in college basketball today
 
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Pearl, Golden, and Kelsey would be fine choices outside of Pope for coach of the year. Pearl has an outstanding team at Auburn of all places while Golden and Kelsey have far exceeded expectations for their respective teams.
 
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Seth_C said:
I’m sorry but Tom Izzo doesn’t deserve squat for having a decent team in his 3000th season as the head coach.
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Not to mention, MSU hasn't played but 2 ranked teams and if the refs didn't help tgem last Sunday, they lose at home to Illinois.

This us the same Michigan state we see every year, only not as powerful.
 
Pearl and Scheyer on here is a joke. Nobody deserves this award but Pope. Followed a legend, brand new team all transfers, not ranked lol. Everyone knew Duke and Auburn would be good. Nobody picked UK.
 
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No doubt that they disrespect UK and Pope, naturally. I'm a little surprised Pitino isn't there somewhere, not even sure why I thought of that, but he is doing well up there I believe.
 
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Jon Scheyer?

Anyone has the resources of Duke should have that kind of records

With the help of Nike, Ncaa organizations and a ton of powerful Duke alum, even a pig would be winning at Duke

If Pope coached duke team this year, would be a season without loss
 
RondoBaller21 said:
Pearl and Scheyer on here is a joke. Nobody deserves this award but Pope. Followed a legend, brand new team all transfers, not ranked lol. Everyone knew Duke and Auburn would be good. Nobody picked UK.
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Disagree - look at the last few winners of the award. Almost always go to big winners, not necessarily teams that “drastically overachieved”. Pretty common to go to teams that may have been ranked top 10-15 preseason but finish 1st
 
I guess we’re using these lame ass efficiency metrics to pick coach of the year now also? Because pipe throat grabbed 3 of the coaches on that list, 2 of which were rated way higher in the pre season.

“But but but Kenpom says….” Dweebs
 
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Dontworryboutit23 said:
This time I disagree, this Michigan state team isn’t very talented at all and they are playing very well
Click to expand...

They’ve beaten two ranked teams - one of which was North Carolina (who has fallen off a cliff) in overtime, and the other was Illinois by 2 points at home. They’ve only PLAYED 3 ranked teams (lost to Kansas). They did beat OSU at their place so I will give them credit for that, but the rest of the competition during their win streak has been mediocre. The back half of their schedule is a bit tougher so we’ll see how they do there. But as another poster pointed out, Izzo has been there forever. He’s had many years to build a culture there, and to build continuity in his roster. So I’m not sure what’s so remarkable about his performance this year… at least not relative to coaches like Pope and Kelsey who started with literally nothing.
 
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mbc82584 said:
I guess we’re using these lame ass efficiency metrics to pick coach of the year now also? Because pipe throat grabbed 3 of the coaches on that list, 2 of which were rated way higher in the pre season.

“But but but Kenpom says….” Dweebs
Click to expand...

Computers are already teaching humans not to trust their own eyes. It’s essentially a Jedi mind trick.
 
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Wonky said:
They’ve beaten two ranked teams - one of which was North Carolina (who has fallen off a cliff) in overtime, and the other was Illinois by 2 points at home. They’ve only PLAYED 3 ranked teams (lost to Kansas). They did beat OSU at their place so I will give them credit for that, but the rest of the competition during their win streak has been mediocre. The back half of their schedule is a bit tougher so we’ll see how they do there. But as another poster pointed out, Izzo has been there forever. He’s had many years to build a culture there, and to build continuity in his roster. So I’m not sure what’s so remarkable about his performance this year… at least not relative to coaches like Pope and Kelsey who started with literally nothing.
Click to expand...
True, but this isn’t a very talented mich state team at all. This is one of his better jobs coaching so far even if the schedule hasn’t been overly difficult
 
jbne222 said:
I understand Pearl and Scheyer, but would probably have Pope 2nd behind Pearl right now. I think Pearl is a lock if Auburn gets the #1 overall seed with Johni Broome's injury, although Pope could still win it in that situation if we somehow end up with a 1 seed. Right now for me I'd have:

1. Pearl
2. Pope
3. Devries
4. Scheyer
5. Gates
6. Kelsey
7. Golden
8. Otzelberger
9. May
10. Izzo
Click to expand...
I don’t understand either of those two. They were preseason top 10… they aren’t coaching an undefeated season… expected to be 1 seeds and meeting expectations. Sure, in a year with no massive over achievers in that same tier of teams then you give it to the most dominant coach. But this year Pope and Kelsey both are doing more with less
 
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