Note: This post will update following the conclusion of Sunday’s games.
#2 Wisconsin defeated #1 Arizona
Bo Ryan no longer has to hear that phrase, “Best Coach never to make the Final Four.”
But why did he have that reputation? People have different reasons for that statement, but the following table is how I made the argument. For all active coaches, this table shows their per possession performance in the 12 years Ken Pomeroy has been tracking the stats. In that time frame, Bo Ryan has been the fourth most dominant coach. And for the first time on Saturday, he made the Final Four.
NT = National Titles in Last 12 Years
FF = Final Fours in Last 12 Years
|
Rnk |
Coach |
Current Team |
Avg Off |
Avg Def |
Avg Pyth |
NT |
FF |
|
1 |
Bill Self |
Kansas |
113.6 |
90.2 |
0.930 |
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
Mike Krzyzewski |
Duke |
116.2 |
92.8 |
0.926 |
1 |
2 |
|
3 |
Roy Williams |
N. Carolina |
114.9 |
92.6 |
0.911 |
2 |
4 |
|
4 |
Bo Ryan |
Wisconsin |
112.5 |
92.2 |
0.903 |
0 |
1 |
|
5 |
Rick Pitino |
Louisville |
111.1 |
90.7 |
0.902 |
1 |
3 |
|
6 |
Thad Matta |
Ohio St. |
113.3 |
92.5 |
0.901 |
0 |
2 |
|
7 |
John Calipari |
Kentucky |
112.7 |
91.8 |
0.896 |
1 |
3 |
|
8 |
Billy Donovan |
Florida |
115.1 |
94.5 |
0.894 |
2 |
3 |
|
9 |
Jamie Dixon |
Pittsburgh |
113.8 |
93.9 |
0.892 |
0 |
0 |
|
10 |
Tom Izzo |
Michigan St. |
112.6 |
93.2 |
0.891 |
0 |
3 |
|
11 |
Jim Boeheim |
Syracuse |
112.5 |
93.7 |
0.884 |
1 |
2 |
|
12 |
Rick Barnes |
Texas |
113.1 |
95.4 |
0.863 |
0 |
1 |
Note: By taking the average, this type of calculation does not reward coaches who started the decade at smaller schools. Scroll to the bottom of this post for a list of the top per possession coaches over the last 5 years.
Having said all that, I do think this table is a little misleading. Bo Ryan’s biggest strength is that his teams are consistently good. But he has never been able to put together that one super-elite team that dominated college basketball. The next table shows the peak Pythagorean Rating for active coaches in the last 12 years.
Bo Ryan’s best team by this measure was the 2008 squad that went 16-2 in the Big Ten. But that was a largely defense-oriented team. And when they ran into Steph Curry in the NCAA tournament, they simply lacked the offense to keep up.
Based on this measure of peak performance, Sean Miller is now the one who should complain. Despite having a dominant team this season, he still has no Final Four trip to show for it.
|
Rnk |
Coach |
Current Team |
Best Pyth |
Year |
|
1 |
Bill Self |
Kansas |
0.976 |
2008 |
|
2 |
Rick Pitino |
Louisville |
0.971 |
2013 |
|
3 |
John Calipari |
Kentucky |
0.969 |
2012 |
|
4 |
Bruce Weber |
Kansas St. |
0.968 |
2005 |
|
5 |
M. Krzyzewski |
Duke |
0.967 |
2010 |
|
6 |
Thad Matta |
Ohio St. |
0.966 |
2011 |
|
7 |
Roy Williams |
N. Carolina |
0.964 |
2005 |
|
8 |
Billy Donovan |
Florida |
0.958 |
2007 |
|
9 |
Sean Miller |
Arizona |
0.952 |
2014 |
|
10 |
Tubby Smith |
Texas Tech |
0.952 |
2003 |
|
11 |
Jamie Dixon |
Pittsburgh |
0.949 |
2004 |
|
12 |
Tom Izzo |
Michigan St. |
0.948 |
2012 |
|
13 |
John Thompson |
Georgetown |
0.948 |
2007 |
|
14 |
Tom Crean |
Indiana |
0.943 |
2013 |
|
15 |
Tony Bennett |
Virginia |
0.943 |
2014 |
|
16 |
Phil Martelli |
St. Joseph's |
0.943 |
2004 |
|
17 |
John Beilein |
Michigan |
0.943 |
2013 |
|
18 |
Bo Ryan |
Wisconsin |
0.942 |
2008 |
|
19 |
Mark Few |
Gonzaga |
0.941 |
2013 |
|
20 |
Gregg Marshall |
Wichita St. |
0.938 |
2014 |
|
21 |
Jim Boeheim |
Syracuse |
0.936 |
2012 |
|
22 |
Bob McKillop |
Davidson |
0.936 |
2008 |
|
23 |
Rick Barnes |
Texas |
0.932 |
2011 |
|
24 |
Frank Martin |
S. Carolina |
0.932 |
2010 |
|
25 |
Scott Drew |
Baylor |
0.930 |
2010 |
For my detailed take on Wisconsin's win over Arizona, click here. I scouted Aaron Gordon from the opening tip to the closing horn. But while I focus on Gordon, Wisconsin deserves all the credit for making Gordon look like a bad defensive player. This was truly a game where outstanding offense beat outstanding defense. One possession was probably symbolic of the whole game. From 11:16 to 10:08 in the first half, Arizona played incredible defense. And the Badgers still scored.
#1 Florida defeated #11 Dayton
Florida’s win was not without drama. It was a joy to see Patric Young make the Final Four for the first time after three straight losses in the Elite Eight. I was also enthralled with the sequence after Dayton cut the lead to 58-50. Florida held the ball for over a minute thanks to a flurry of offensive rebounds, and that possession crushed the Flyer’s momentum.
But with the game becoming a blowout late in the first half, I spent more time thinking how wise the Turner channels are to use the multi-channel simulcast approach at the Final Four next weekend. When ESPN rolled it out for college football’s national title game, it was fabulous to be able to hear the different voices and opinions call the game. And I think we need as many channels as possible in these single game situations.
I wanted a full channel dedicated to those fans sitting in Dayton, Ohio and watching the game on a big screen in an auditorium. Early on they cheered when Scoochie Smith hit a rare three. Later they were shown holding their arms up in free throw position when Matt Kavanaugh went to the line. When the game was beyond double digits, I would have rather watched that fanbase cringe at every moment then watch Dayton continue to fail to get the ball inside against the Florida defense.
Top PPP Coaches Last 5 Years, Minimum 3 Seasons
|
Coach |
Current Team |
Avg Off |
Rank |
Avg Def |
Rank |
Avg Pyth |
Rank |
|
Bill Self |
Kansas |
114.7 |
4th |
90.4 |
2nd |
0.9361 |
1st |
|
Thad Matta |
Ohio St. |
115.2 |
2nd |
90.9 |
3rd |
0.9324 |
2nd |
|
M. Krzyzewski |
Duke |
118.5 |
1st |
94.9 |
24th |
0.9211 |
3rd |
|
Jim Boeheim |
Syracuse |
113.2 |
13th |
91.7 |
4th |
0.9162 |
4th |
|
Bo Ryan |
Wisconsin |
113.8 |
8th |
92.5 |
8th |
0.9152 |
5th |
|
Rick Pitino |
Louisville |
111.7 |
21st |
89.8 |
1st |
0.9106 |
6th |
|
Billy Donovan |
Florida |
114.7 |
3rd |
93.3 |
13th |
0.9049 |
7th |
|
John Calipari |
Kentucky |
114.7 |
5th |
93.0 |
10th |
0.8971 |
8th |
|
Tom Izzo |
Michigan St. |
111.6 |
22nd |
91.8 |
5th |
0.8964 |
9th |
|
Gregg Marshall |
Wichita St. |
112.3 |
19th |
94.2 |
16th |
0.8713 |
10th |
|
Jamie Dixon |
Pittsburgh |
113.1 |
14th |
94.8 |
21st |
0.8713 |
11th |
|
Mark Few |
Gonzaga |
112.4 |
18th |
94.8 |
22nd |
0.8684 |
12th |
|
Roy Williams |
N. Carolina |
110.4 |
29th |
93.2 |
12th |
0.8669 |
13th |
|
John Beilein |
Michigan |
114.4 |
6th |
96.3 |
38th |
0.8660 |
14th |
|
Steve Alford |
UCLA |
111.3 |
24th |
95.1 |
28th |
0.8565 |
15th |
|
John Thompson |
Georgetown |
110.6 |
28th |
94.1 |
15th |
0.8564 |
16th |
|
Steve Fisher |
S. Diego St. |
107.9 |
58th |
92.1 |
7th |
0.8497 |
17th |
|
Scott Drew |
Baylor |
113.8 |
9th |
96.9 |
49th |
0.8463 |
18th |
|
Shaka Smart |
VCU |
109.7 |
36th |
94.6 |
20th |
0.8431 |
19th |
|
Buzz Williams |
V. Tech |
110.7 |
26th |
95.4 |
32nd |
0.8394 |
20th |
|
Sean Miller |
Arizona |
111.3 |
23rd |
94.9 |
25th |
0.8380 |
21st |
|
Mick Cronin |
Cincinnati |
106.3 |
73rd |
92.1 |
6th |
0.8336 |
22nd |
|
Jay Wright |
Villanova |
110.4 |
30th |
95.9 |
36th |
0.8238 |
23rd |
|
Rick Barnes |
Texas |
109.8 |
35th |
95.0 |
26th |
0.8230 |
24th |
|
Dave Rose |
BYU |
110.9 |
25th |
96.3 |
40th |
0.8219 |
25th |
|
Fred Hoiberg |
Iowa St. |
113.1 |
15th |
98.4 |
78th |
0.8180 |
26th |
|
Frank Haith |
Missouri |
114.2 |
7th |
99.6 |
99th |
0.8156 |
27th |
|
Mike Brey |
Notre Dame |
113.7 |
11th |
99.1 |
93rd |
0.8151 |
28th |
|
Matt Painter |
Purdue |
109.6 |
37th |
95.4 |
30th |
0.8130 |
29th |
|
Bruce Weber |
Kansas St. |
107.5 |
60th |
94.3 |
17th |
0.8108 |
30th |
This last table speaks for itself, but I want to point to one fact that might be missed. Look at the gap in average offense between Mike Krzyzewski and the rest of the coaches! He is not only the top offensive coach of the last five years, he is the top offensive coach by a wide margin.