Mick Cronin tops Bob Huggins, Chris Mack on ESPN list
David Clark, dclark2@cincinna.gannett.com 12:32 p.m. EDT June 2, 2014
Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin and West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins discuss a call with an official in January of 2010.(Photo: Enquirer file)
Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin ranks 27th on ESPN.com's top 50 coaches in college basketball.
Former UC head coach Bob Huggins, now at West Virginia, is just three spots behind Cronin at No. 30. Xavier's Chris Mack ranks 43rd on the list.
Ranked even slightly higher than Cronin - at No. 26 - is Dayton's Archie Miller.
The website indicates that the rankings are decided by the "ESPN Forecast panel" of nearly 100 ESPN writers, editors, broadcasters and researchers. The coaches were rated on all aspects of running a program, on a scale of 1-10.
Nos. 1 through 24 have yet to be revealed.
Here's what Eamonn Brennan had to say about Miller, Cronin, Huggins and Mack:
No. 26: Archie Miller, Dayton
There's nothing like an Elite Eight run to boost your stock, huh? The panel may be falling for a little bit of recency bias here, but there's no question Miller belongs on the list. In 2013-14, he took a team that started conference play 1-5 and turned it into one that would upend Ohio State, Syracuse and Stanford -- and galvanize a joyous, resolute Flyers fan base -- in the year's most memorable tournament run.
No. 27: Mick Cronin, Cincinnati
The Bearcats' 2013-14 season didn't end the way Cronin would have preferred; Cincinnati picked the wrong time to go cold, and was promptly upset by No. 12 seed Harvard, in its first tournament game this spring. But Cronin's most recent season was still his best in the eight years since he took over for the deposed Bob Huggins, the culmination of a slow, steady build that should keep Cincinnati at or near the top of the American for the foreseeable future.
No. 30: Bob Huggins, West Virginia
Huggins is a well-respected basketball mind if not always the paragon of virtue (not that I'm one to judge) among colleagues and media members, but he's at a pretty interesting place at West Virginia presently. Last season was a mild disappointment. For all the Mountaineers' offensive brilliance -- and Juwan Staten was one of the best guards in the country in the last couple of months of the season -- their un-Huggy-like defense kept them out of the tournament. Staten is back next season, but with Eron Harris transferring, will Huggins have enough around him?
No. 43: Chris Mack, Xavier
Mack has been steady at Xavier, missing the tournament just once in his four years. He did an especially nice job with a young team in 2013-14, but will have to replace NBA-bound sophomore guard Semaj Christon.
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