Thoughts? Pasting just a portion of an Athletic mailbag article to see what you think...not copying the whole thing - I'm sure they don't mind discussion on a relevant part for us...but feel free to delete if I've overstepped, moderators!
7h ago
We dropped The Athletic’s men’s college basketball Coaching Tiers for 2022 earlier this week.
In a stunning upset: You had thoughts. And questions.
So Dana O’Neil and I put on our flame-resistant, Shot Takers-branded hazmat suits and waded in to provide some answers.
Who in Tier 1 do you think is closest to dropping to Tier 2? – Tyler S.
Dana: Jeez. Thanks, Tyler. Let’s tick off the handful of coaches who weren’t mad at us.
Just kidding. Fair question.
I’d argue the three that might drop as time goes on are, alphabetically, Tony Bennett, Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino. I’m curious, as I’m sure a lot of Cavalier fans are, how Bennett rebuilds Virginia after two pretty average years, and anxious to see if he can sustain his own high bar of excellence. Bennett earned his way to the top by not just winning a national championship, but via four 30–win seasons in six years. But he’s got a unique approach and style, needless to say, and with the way things are evolving in the ACC, with Jon Scheyer and Hubert Davis, I’m not sure it can last.
...
Brian: I don’t think any of these guys are particularly close to losing a spot among the elite of the elite.
But since we’re parsing degrees of closeness at Tyler’s behest, I would go with Bennett, too. That’s extremely hard to do when considering the arrival of four four-star freshmen this year, which augurs well long-term. But, well, three of them are top 60-ish freshmen and one ranks outside the top 100. (Again: parsing. Very much parsing.) That’s not necessarily shopping from the top shelf. If Virginia backslides to maybe two or three or four more years of double-digit losses and March invisibility, it could create some slippage.
Which men’s college basketball coaches can move up or down the rankings? Mailbag
By Brian Hamilton and Dana O'Neil7h ago
We dropped The Athletic’s men’s college basketball Coaching Tiers for 2022 earlier this week.
In a stunning upset: You had thoughts. And questions.
So Dana O’Neil and I put on our flame-resistant, Shot Takers-branded hazmat suits and waded in to provide some answers.
Who in Tier 1 do you think is closest to dropping to Tier 2? – Tyler S.
Dana: Jeez. Thanks, Tyler. Let’s tick off the handful of coaches who weren’t mad at us.
Just kidding. Fair question.
I’d argue the three that might drop as time goes on are, alphabetically, Tony Bennett, Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino. I’m curious, as I’m sure a lot of Cavalier fans are, how Bennett rebuilds Virginia after two pretty average years, and anxious to see if he can sustain his own high bar of excellence. Bennett earned his way to the top by not just winning a national championship, but via four 30–win seasons in six years. But he’s got a unique approach and style, needless to say, and with the way things are evolving in the ACC, with Jon Scheyer and Hubert Davis, I’m not sure it can last.
...
Brian: I don’t think any of these guys are particularly close to losing a spot among the elite of the elite.
But since we’re parsing degrees of closeness at Tyler’s behest, I would go with Bennett, too. That’s extremely hard to do when considering the arrival of four four-star freshmen this year, which augurs well long-term. But, well, three of them are top 60-ish freshmen and one ranks outside the top 100. (Again: parsing. Very much parsing.) That’s not necessarily shopping from the top shelf. If Virginia backslides to maybe two or three or four more years of double-digit losses and March invisibility, it could create some slippage.
