The conference will have plenty of good candidates for Coach of the Year this season.

Early COY Nominees:

1) Gregg Marshall - Starting out with an assortment of players during a rebuilding year, he's got Wichita State off to a strong start.

2) Penny Hardaway - Recruiting alone puts him in a COY kind of position, but the way he has overcome adversity to go 9-1 is very impressive.

3) Johnny Dawkins - No one expected UCF to be a contender this season, but Dawkins is once again proving his coaching chops. May be a dark horse for COY this season.

4) Aaron McKie - A first-year Head Coach in his first season as Temple's HC, McKie has surpassed early season expectations, despite injuries that have kept 2-4 players out of his rotations most of the way. He has successfully taken a page out of Marshall's playbook by winning games with 9-11 man rotations.

Honorable Mention:

Ron Hunter: Taking Tulane to an early 8-2 record is a solid start.

Tim Jankovich: Who knew he could get SMU to 8-1 in the early going at SMU?


Still Early, May Surprise:

Kelvin Sampson (Houston) may rise to the upper tier...

Dan Hurley (Uconn) a couple of impressive wins...

Frank Haith (Tulsa) 8-3 ain't too shabby...


The Phoenix: (?)

Brian Gregory (USF): After losing their best player, USF has begun to mount a recovery. Good luck, Bulls!

If Jank is ever COY it will be time to call it quits.

I'd give it to penny so far. But we haven't started conference play so it's real early.

Can't put Dawkins in the top category yet ... they have yet to play a Q1 or Q2 game.

No way Hunter and Jank should be in the same tier. Jank is 8-1 based on schedule at this point.

I'd put my top tier as realistic candidates as Penny, Hunter, McKie and Marshall (all based on 1/3 of the seasons data)

UCF would be 9-1 right now if the Anaheim court didn't have 4 different frigging 3 point lines.

Penny earns the nod based on results to date.

He deserves credit for recruiting talent (it did not occur in a vacuum) and somehow winning with the youngest team in all D-1 and without two starters (one a potential #1 NBA pick and the other leading in minutes played until his injury).

Penny recruited at an elite level in a program already built to win.

Hunter took over an empty cupboard coming off of a 4-27 season.

Hunter means more to Tulane than Penny does to Memphis.

(12-17-2019 09:16 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  Penny earns the nod based on results to date.

He deserves credit for recruiting talent (it did not occur in a vacuum) and somehow winning with the youngest team in all D-1 and without two starters (one a potential #1 NBA pick and the other leading in minutes played until his injury).

This is the reason Penny deserves it at this point.

Coach of the year is normally awarded for pure coaching...So if Wiseman doesn't get suspended and Lester doesn't get hurt he isn't in the running.

(12-17-2019 09:10 AM)Stickboy46 Wrote:  No way Hunter and Jank should be in the same tier. Jank is 8-1 based on schedule at this point.

As is Hunter

(12-17-2019 09:38 AM)DrBox Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 09:10 AM)Stickboy46 Wrote:  No way Hunter and Jank should be in the same tier. Jank is 8-1 based on schedule at this point.

As is Hunter

Tulane at least has a Q2 (Borderline Q1) win to this point - Neutral vs 54 Utah. Both their losses are acceptable too. This is coming off a team that won 4 games all of last year.

SMUs best win is vs 183 Evansville ....

(12-17-2019 09:36 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 09:16 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  Penny earns the nod based on results to date.

He deserves credit for recruiting talent (it did not occur in a vacuum) and somehow winning with the youngest team in all D-1 and without two starters (one a potential #1 NBA pick and the other leading in minutes played until his injury).

This is the reason Penny deserves it at this point.

Coach of the year is normally awarded for pure coaching...So if Wiseman doesn't get suspended and Lester doesn't get hurt he isn't in the running.

Yeah, no. I'd agree with Penny being the front-runner at this point, but when the guy is suspended because you yourself cheated, you don't get bonus points for it.

(12-17-2019 09:16 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  Penny earns the nod based on results to date.

He deserves credit for recruiting talent (it did not occur in a vacuum) and somehow winning with the youngest team in all D-1 and without two starters (one a potential #1 NBA pick and the other leading in minutes played until his injury).

Why is Penny without his #1 NBA draft pick?

(12-17-2019 11:10 AM)Wudizzle Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 09:36 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 09:16 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  Penny earns the nod based on results to date.

He deserves credit for recruiting talent (it did not occur in a vacuum) and somehow winning with the youngest team in all D-1 and without two starters (one a potential #1 NBA pick and the other leading in minutes played until his injury).

This is the reason Penny deserves it at this point.

Coach of the year is normally awarded for pure coaching...So if Wiseman doesn't get suspended and Lester doesn't get hurt he isn't in the running.

Yeah, no. I'd agree with Penny being the front-runner at this point, but when the guy is suspended because you yourself cheated, you don't get bonus points for it.

The context of the "cheating" has been well chronicled. The NCAA relies on fans of opponent schools to accept the NCAA's arbitrary and capricious verdicts and opaque processes when the result harms a rival. It is part of their divide and conquer strategy. Do not fall for it.

(12-17-2019 11:23 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 11:10 AM)Wudizzle Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 09:36 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 09:16 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  Penny earns the nod based on results to date.

He deserves credit for recruiting talent (it did not occur in a vacuum) and somehow winning with the youngest team in all D-1 and without two starters (one a potential #1 NBA pick and the other leading in minutes played until his injury).

This is the reason Penny deserves it at this point.

Coach of the year is normally awarded for pure coaching...So if Wiseman doesn't get suspended and Lester doesn't get hurt he isn't in the running.

Yeah, no. I'd agree with Penny being the front-runner at this point, but when the guy is suspended because you yourself cheated, you don't get bonus points for it.

The context of the "cheating" has been well chronicled. The NCAA relies on fans of opponent schools to accept the NCAA's arbitrary and capricious verdicts and opaque processes when the result harms a rival. It is part of their divide and conquer strategy. Do not fall for it.

He broke the rules as they are written. Therefore he cheated.

You may disagree with the rules, but you can't disagree that he cheated. He did.

(12-17-2019 11:23 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 11:10 AM)Wudizzle Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 09:36 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 09:16 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  Penny earns the nod based on results to date.

He deserves credit for recruiting talent (it did not occur in a vacuum) and somehow winning with the youngest team in all D-1 and without two starters (one a potential #1 NBA pick and the other leading in minutes played until his injury).

This is the reason Penny deserves it at this point.

Coach of the year is normally awarded for pure coaching...So if Wiseman doesn't get suspended and Lester doesn't get hurt he isn't in the running.

Yeah, no. I'd agree with Penny being the front-runner at this point, but when the guy is suspended because you yourself cheated, you don't get bonus points for it.

The context of the "cheating" has been well chronicled. The NCAA relies on fans of opponent schools to accept the NCAA's arbitrary and capricious verdicts and opaque processes when the result harms a rival. It is part of their divide and conquer strategy. Do not fall for it.

Or simply, a basic rule was broken.

Whether you agree with the rule or not is completely irrelevant.

Trying not to devolve too much...

I've been fairly impressed with Hunter and Tulane. Not like "oh, they are good" but definitely "wow, that's way better than they have been." They have played a poor schedule, that's a given. But they have played poor schedules a lot and not gone 8-2.

(12-17-2019 11:28 AM)Stickboy46 Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 11:23 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 11:10 AM)Wudizzle Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 09:36 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 09:16 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  Penny earns the nod based on results to date.

He deserves credit for recruiting talent (it did not occur in a vacuum) and somehow winning with the youngest team in all D-1 and without two starters (one a potential #1 NBA pick and the other leading in minutes played until his injury).

This is the reason Penny deserves it at this point.

Coach of the year is normally awarded for pure coaching...So if Wiseman doesn't get suspended and Lester doesn't get hurt he isn't in the running.

Yeah, no. I'd agree with Penny being the front-runner at this point, but when the guy is suspended because you yourself cheated, you don't get bonus points for it.

The context of the "cheating" has been well chronicled. The NCAA relies on fans of opponent schools to accept the NCAA's arbitrary and capricious verdicts and opaque processes when the result harms a rival. It is part of their divide and conquer strategy. Do not fall for it.

He broke the rules as they are written. Therefore he cheated.

You may disagree with the rules, but you can't disagree that he cheated. He did.

I am not rehashing the situation.

You are doing exactly what the NCAA wants. Congrats.

(12-17-2019 11:33 AM)Wudizzle Wrote:  Trying not to devolve too much...

I've been fairly impressed with Hunter and Tulane. Not like "oh, they are good" but definitely "wow, that's way better than they have been." They have played a poor schedule, that's a given. But they have played poor schedules a lot and not gone 8-2.

This is a good point. ECU has also played a poor schedule. They've gone 3-7. Hard not to be impressed with Hunter and Tulane so far.

(12-17-2019 11:33 AM)Wudizzle Wrote:  Trying not to devolve too much...

I've been fairly impressed with Hunter and Tulane. Not like "oh, they are good" but definitely "wow, that's way better than they have been." They have played a poor schedule, that's a given. But they have played poor schedules a lot and not gone 8-2.

Hunter is a good candidate. I am impressed with the roster he assembled on short notice and the vigor he has injected into a moribund program.

(12-17-2019 11:40 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  

(12-17-2019 11:33 AM)Wudizzle Wrote:  Trying not to devolve too much...

I've been fairly impressed with Hunter and Tulane. Not like "oh, they are good" but definitely "wow, that's way better than they have been." They have played a poor schedule, that's a given. But they have played poor schedules a lot and not gone 8-2.

Hunter is a good candidate. I am impressed with the roster he assembled on short notice and the vigor he has injected into a moribund program.

I don't think he'll be in consideration come March, as I do think Tulane will struggle in the league. But it's still worth giving some praise now. Tulane doesn't have to be good to help the league. Not sucking is a big step forward. If we can get ECU to follow suit...