Guy’s basketball Coach of the Year rankings: Our top 15

• Jeff Borzello Close Jeff Borzello ESPN Personnel Author Basketball recruiting expert. Joined ESPN in 2014. Graduate of University of Delaware.Myron Medcalf Close Myron Medcalf ESPN Staff Author Covers college basketball Signed up with ESPN.com in 2011 Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato Jan 24, 2025, 10:00 AM ET There are a number of types of prospects to consider when thinking about a midseason

• Coach of the Year ranking.There are the coaches who have surpassed expectations–

the ones who didn’t get much respect in the preseason, ranked low in the preseason conference polls or AP Top 25. There are also the coaches who needed to reconstruct lineups after losing skill to the NBA, transfer website or graduation. Then there are the coaches who have actually done the most with the least– they didn’t bring a highly promoted transfer group or hiring class, nor do they have actually a group filled with NBA draft prospects.Editor’s Picks 1 Associated And finally, we have the coaches on the best groups. There’s still something to be said for getting a gifted team to live up to expectations, buy in and win games.Of course, numerous coaches fit into numerous buckets– those are the guys you’ll discover throughout this ranking. And we’ll see two of

them go head-to-head in Saturday’s Sonic Hit game between Auburn and Tennessee( 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN ). ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf each sent their leading 20 names, then integrated and disputed them to craft an agreement leading 15 heading into the final 2 months of the season. Let’s dive in. In their first two-plus games without Johni Broome– the Wooden Award favorite before he suffered an ankle injury that has sidelined him forever– the Auburn Tigers had a chance to collapse. Instead, they played top-35 defense( per barttorvik.com), made 41 %of their 3-point efforts and won all 3 games, including a 22-point success over Mississippi State.Pearl has actually weathered an injury to one of the leading players in the nation and off-court drama( there was an FAA incident in November … seriously )all while competing in the best league in the nation. And yet, his team remains No. 1. Hence why he’s No. 1 on this list, too.– Medcalf One look at how Rutgers’ season has actually unfolded will tell you it’s challenging to develop a winner around young talent in the transfer portal period. But Duke is a nationwide title competitor because Scheyer has produced a group as an astute basic manager and leader of a Blue Devils squad that boasts the new front-runner for National Player of the Year(

Cooper Flagg ), owns the only victory in the nation over No. 1 Auburn and includes a defensive system ranked 2nd in adjusted efficiency.The Blue Devils have more difference-making freshmen in Kon Knueppel, a 38 %shooter from the 3-point line and double-figure scorer, and Khaman Maluach, who has a set of double-doubles over the last 3 games. Scheyer also included durability with Maliq Brown, Sion James and Mason Gillis from the transfer portal.The outcome of Scheyer’s team-building? If the season ended today, Duke would have the highest net

rating on KenPom (plus-36.80) considering that it won the championship game in 2001. Yeah, the Duke preseason hype was enormous, and Scheyer in some way has measured up to it.– Medcalf After leading Drake to back-to-back NCAA competition looks, DeVries moved east to Morgantown to take over a program that had gone through a tumultuous year following the departure of Bob Huggins. It wasn’t anticipated to be easy. The Mountaineers were selected 13th in the preseason Huge 12 poll– and a 24-point loss to Pitt in the 3rd game

of the season wasn’t a substantial surprise. However DeVries has actually now guided the Mountaineers into the top 25 with wins over Iowa State, Kansas, Gonzaga and Arizona. And he’s doing it without his son, star wing Tucker DeVries, who has been out since early December with a shoulder injury. All-America guard Javon Small has actually been among the elite transfers in the nation.– Borzello On the court, Golden and the Gators are a championship game contender. They opened the season with 13 straight wins, then pummeled a then-undefeated and top-ranked Tennessee by 30 points in early January. They were ranked No. 21 in the preseason AP poll, however Golden supplemented 5 essential returnees with Florida Atlantic transfer Alijah Martin.We would be remiss to not acknowledge that, off the court, Golden is the subject of a Title IX examination spurred by numerous claims of sexual harassment and stalking that became public in early November. He has actually acknowledged the inquiry, stating he has actually been taking part, while also seeking advice from an attorney about bringing on defamation claims. However there’s no schedule for the investigation to be solved.( A 2nd Title IX complaint was filed versus a member of Florida’s training personnel, Taurean Green, in January.)– Borzello Last season’s troubles for Missouri look like an anomaly now with Gates a severe contender for SEC and nationwide coach of the year awards.Over a 96-day stretch in 2023-24, Gates’ squad won a single game and ended the year on a 19-game losing streak that drew major concerns about his future. Throughout that unstable run, however, Gates preached about his program’s capacity. Quick forward to Dec. 8: Missouri beat then-No. 1 Kansas to match last season’s total of 8 wins, signaling one of the country’s most impressive turnarounds.Duke transfer Mark Mitchell( 13.4 points per game) leads a Tigers squad with 4 players averaging double figures. And a group that ended up 145th on KenPom a year back is

now leading 30 and easily in the NCAA tournament field.– Medcalf Just a few months earlier, there was talk about whether Izzo was willing to adjust to the brand-new world of college basketball in order to develop a national championship contender once again. The Spartans had not won more than 11 Huge Ten games because 2020, ending up 6th or lower three times over that stretch. They weren’t in the preseason Leading 25, either. And yet, Izzo has Michigan State ranked in the top 10 in late January, unbeaten in Big 10 play and riding an 11-game winning streak.Izzo has figured out how to have a genuine 10-man rotation, and his choice to move Tre Holloman into the starting lineup in November jump-started their season.– Borzello Kelsey is the ideal coach for a program that needed both a leader and a promoter– he’s spent the previous couple of months running around Louisville’s campus to compel fans to return to the KFC Yum! Center following last season’s 8-24 project under previous head coach Kenny Payne.Kelsey has the character for that grandstanding, but it’s also clear he can coach. His group has won 9 games in a row and

could be Duke’s biggest risk in the ACC title race regardless of losing South Florida transfer Kasean Pryor (12.0 PPG, 6.1 RPG )to an ACL tear earlier this season.Kelsey’s greatest feat? Landing Chucky Hepburn, who played below his

capacity a year ago at Wisconsin but found new life as the driver in a Louisville system that’s top-20 in adjusted offensive performance.– Medcalf Every team in the transfer portal has sustained turnover, however Underwood lost every essential player– consisting of all-Big Ten first-team choices Terrence Shannon and Marcus Domask– from an Illinois group that reached the Elite Eight a year ago.This year, Underwood has actually managed to create a lot more well balanced team that sits near the top of Huge Ten standings– that reboot has actually been led by freshman Kasaparas Jacucionis, who anchors an Illini team that plays top-10 defense, scores effectively inside the arc and competes as one of fastest in tempo in the country. Underwood’s