Jay Wright steps down at Villanova

Kind of a shocker this. I wonder if there is more to the story like an illness or something. He’s young. Only around 60 or so. Great coach. He will be missed. You’d have to say Self is now the dean of active coaches. Some other A listers might be.

Boeheim - 1 natty and he has coached for 8000 years at Syracuse.
Izzo - 1 natty and a perennial power (but not quite on Self’s level in my eyes)
Few - lots of wins but a non power 6 conference is just a real killer. Great Last 5 years and good before that but elite? NiMO
Bennett — 1 natty but too inconsistent in my book.
Drew — hey he does have a natty and that counts. And love him or hate him what he has done at Baylor is impressive.
Pitino— matches Self as only active coach with 2 natty’s but just too much baggage at this point to make the list without at least an asterisk.
Calipari — 1 natty known mostly as a recruiter and self promoter. Clearly not on Self’s level all things considered. But lots of tourney wins.
Huggie Bear — wins yes, everything else - probably not.
Rick Barnes — lots of wins but horrendous tourney resume.
Dana Altman — clearly getting to 2nd tier guys now.
Bruce Pearl — notching down
Kelvin Sampson — did I mention baggage?
Jim Larrañaga — well there was the George Mason final four run.
Cliff Ellis — just gets on the list because he has been around forever.

Did I miss anyone? There are the up and comers like Beard, Musselman, Oates, and a bunch more. Call me in 10 years when they have done something more than get labeled as “up and comers”.

Tony Bennett and Scott Drew are the youngsters on this list at 53 and 52. But Self is next at 59. You’d have to say Self is now the dean of active coaches it seems to me.

With Wright retired, there are 20 active coaches with 500 or more wins. Here is where Self ranks among those 20.

Wins (763) - Ranks 6th behind Boeheim (1099), Huggins (844), Ellis (819), Calipari (810), Pitino (807)
NC's (2) -- Tied for 1st with Pitino
FF's (4) -- 5th behind Izzo (8 ), Pitino (7), Calipari (6) and Boeheim (5)
Win% (0.769) -- 3rd behind Few (0.836) and Calipari (0.771) Would love to see him pass Calipari. Coach K was 0.766)
Sweet 16's (14) -- tied for 3rd with Izzo behind Boeheim (20) and Calipari (15)
NCAA's (23) -- 5th behind Boeheim (35), Barnes (26), Huggins (25), and Izzo (24)
No. 1 seeds (10) -- 1st by a mile. 2nd is Pitino and Calipari with 6.

A few coaches I could add to the previous post for honorable mention are (all 500 or more career wins);
Tubby Smith (High Point)
Bob McKillop (Davidson)
Mike Brey (Notre Dame)
Leonard Hamilton (Florida St.)
Steve Alford (Nevada)
Jeff Jones (Old Dominion)
Ben Howland (Mississippi St.)
Herb Sendek (Santa Clara)

To reiterate, only Boeheim, Calipari, and Izzo have the cred to be in the conversation as most accomplished and esteemed active coach to compete with Self.

Pitino has the cred but the baggage is tough.

Huggins has been around a long time and won a lot of games at a high level. Ellis has been around a long time and won a lot of games at a lower level. Few's location in a mid-major conference is too much to overcome. But these guys also have not won a natty. I think you have to have a natty to be in the conversation.

Tubby Smith, Scott Drew and Tony Bennett have natty's but not nearly enough other accomplishments.

Nominees for "Coaching Royalty still in the game" would, IMHO, include

Self
Izzo
Calipari
Pitino

I take Boehiem out because Syracuse hasn't made much noise in quite a while.

Next I'd bump Pitino out due to his off court issues and the fact that he's at Iona now (not a major program).

The Squid has ruined his legacy due to leaving 2 previous schools in shambles due to violations. I still feel like it will happen at UK.

So that really leaves 2: Self and Izzo.

Just my 2 cents.

One thing I haven't heard mentioned, that's probably pretty obvious is what this does for recruiting. IMHO, KU's #1 recruiting obstacle is location. If some kid from Phlly, NYC, or LA gets off a plane at KCI and then takes I-70 to Lawrence, those 'city kids' are going to feel like fish out of water. Don't get me wrong, I love Lawrence, but for somebody who hasn't spent time in rural areas and has only heard stereotypical tales of such, it has to make an impact.

While we can't fix that, it's now 1000% certain that no kid is going to get an invite to play for K, Williams, or now Wright. While Duke, UNC and Villanova will likely all continue as good programs, the new coaches there aren't HOF guys and need to prove themselves to be worthy of the job.

Therefore, with the list of active coaching royalty getting shorter, it only stands to reason that KU be elevated in the minds of recruits looking to be coached by legendary coaches.

Of course, all that bodes well for KU's continued success.

NotO, I think the data is pretty conclusive at this point in time in regards to recruiting. Duke and Kentucky have dominated recruiting for at least 10 years and while they have been consistently pretty good to great (save for a few egregiously nad seasons) their ultimate success has been far below their expectations based on recruiting alone. I could go back many years but just take the last three NC's. KU had no top-tier recruits, Baylor had even fewer and Virginia had very little. What they did have was good players who spent 2, 3 or 4 years getting better. I stand convinced that the highest level of consistent and even ultimate success is partially dependent on getting the top talent but it is somewhat down the list. Here is my list of factors that contribute to the highest level of success.

1. Developing mid-level (and even lower-rated) talent and having a cadre of upper classmen who have steadily improved.
2. Coaching
3. Having players that match the style of play
4. Team chemistry
5. Coaching
6. Having elite level talent
7. Coaching

Good grief if the NBA draft goes as projected, Duke could have 5 1st rounders. You would think they should have destroyed everything in their path. They got to the FInal Four purely on talent and that is not insignificant. Landen Lucas was one of my favorites largely because he lacked so much the natural skills and had marginal athleticism for a high D-1 athlete. But by his senior year I would be hard-pressed to take any other player in his place. He fit the team perfectly and played so intelligently and selflessly. He was the perfect cog for the machine he was in. Frank Mason and Devonte' Graham were far better having played with Landen. Similar story for Mitch Lightfoot. The team chemistry this season for KU was maybe the best I have seen since 2008. Virginia and Baylor had amazing team chemistry.

So in summary, I am not concerned at all about getting the top guys out of HS so much as I am concerned that Self do the magic of building a solid team with chemistry, players that fit the system, fit each other, are mentally tough and hard workers who imporvew every game.

couldnt agree more corpus!!! when people post even here abt how un athletic our team is after we get beat by kentucky in a meaningless game its clear they dont understand what ku basketball has always been about. i love that we win but i love more how we win. no one on this team this year will start a game in the nba and yet we beat everyone. love it!

I am not sure about the idea that nobody on this years team will start a game in the NBA. I think Mr. Agbaji has a good chance to play the Danny Green role. He is not quite as tall as Mr. Green but he plays solid defense and can be a knock down spot up 3 pt shooter. I do not think anyone on this years team can be an NBA star but I think Mr. Agbaji can be a starter.