The next best thing

At this point in time, I think it’s safe to say that Kentucky fans are more than pleased with the job Coach Calipari has done in Lexington so far. I tried to be as unbiased as possible when thinking about this, and I decided that if I could pick any current college coach in America to coach my favorite team it would honestly be John Calipari. He’s the hottest name coaching in college sports right now. His combination of recruiting success, X’s and O’s coaching, and the way he deals with the media and fan base makes him an easy #1 pick for me. But if I absolutely HAD to pick someone besides Coach Cal, I would have a hard time deciding who I’d take. After a lot of debating, I made my list of top 3 coaches I’d want if Cal were not an option.   1. Mike Krzyzewski (four titles, 11 Final Fours, .788 winning percentage with his current school) As much as I hate to admit it, Coach K is one of the best ever. If you are judging solely off of wins, then he IS the best ever. D-1’s all-time winningest coach passed Bobby Knight this past season after he earned his 903^rd victory. Duke consistently has one of the most disciplined teams in the country year in and year out. His recruiting success is at an all-time high lately after landing high-profile prep stars Kyrie Irving and Austin Rivers in recent years. Kentucky fans and pretty much fans of any team but Duke seem to hate the guy, but there is no debating he’s one of the best in the business.   2. Tom Izzo (1 title, 6 Final Fours, .710 winning percentage with his current school) Izzo would be my second choice. Michigan State is consistently successful in one of college basketball’s toughest conferences. Any player who has come to play for Izzo at Michigan State and stayed all four years has been to a Final Four. That makes for one heck of a recruiting pitch. Izzo has quietly become one of the best coaches in the game through consistency, solid recruiting, and terrific X’s and O’s coaching and strategy.   3. Bill Self (1 title, 2 Final Fours, .838 winning percentage with his current school) Self is my dark horse on this list. I think a lot of people will disagree with this choice, but hear me out. Self has proven over the last few years that he is not only a terrific recruiter (Deron Williams, Josh Selby, Xavier Henry), but that he is one of the best in player development. The Morris twins and Thomas Robinson were decent recruits who needed a lot of work. After a couple years of Self’s coaching, all three of them became lottery picks in the NBA Draft. Bill Self has won eight consecutive conference championships, and hasn’t finished worse than 2^nd in the conference since 1998 in his days with Tulsa.   It was very hard for me to leave Roy Williams off the list. There are also plenty of other worthy coaches out there like Jim Calhoun, Jim Boeheim, Thad Matta, etc. that could definitely succeed. So what do you say, BBN? Who would be in your top 3?