Fred Hoiberg COY candidate?

[CYlent Bob]

It sickens me, but McDermott could be COY nationally.

I hate to admit it, but you're right. Personally, I would vote for him for two reasons:

1. He's having a good year in a mid-major conference with several other members who are giant-killers.

2. He decided to leave ISU voluntarily and saved us the cost of a buyout. To me, that's better than inventing the Triangle Offense, the matchup-zone defense AND the "HackAShaq" strategy all rolled up into one.

Sign me up, and save a comfy seat on the bandwagon for me.

 

[heitclone]

If Missouri finishes several games ahead of ISU record-wise, Haith would probably get it over Hoiberg. But would Missouri have had enough pure talent to do equally well if Anderson was still coaching?

ISU is talent-loaded, too, but Fred orchestrated it.

The biggest difference between ISU and Mizzou is Mizzou has like 5 or 6 seniors, that's a nice luxury for a first year coach.

 

[cyclones500]

Here are some ESPN mentioned:
Steve Fisher SDSU 19-3, after losing 3 senior starters and NBA pick Leanord.
Steve Prohm Murray State 21-0, first year coach.
John Kalapari Kentucky 22-1, a whole new batch of players. :twitcy:
Thad Motta Ohio State 19-3, "best team he has had in columbus"
Randy Bennett St Mary's 21-2, always produces good high scoring teams.
Frank Haith Missouri 20-2, first year coach and missing best player
Tom Crean Indiana 17-6, resurrected IU and beat top 2 teams in country while young
Bill Self Kansas 18-4, cruising through Big 12 with a bunch of new starters.

Here are some other possibilites:
Greg McDermott Creighton 21-2, recruited his son to run over their conference. :wideeyed:
Dave Rice UNLV 21-3, first year coach with some nice wins.
Jim Boehiem Syracuse 22-1, arguably best team in country spite of controversey
Fred Hoiberg ISU 16-6, team of transfers making noise in the big 12. :smile:
Tubby Smith Minnesota 16-7, lost their all american player and not backing down

I've seen a lot of mentions for Fisher as COY.

I really don't like the idea of coaches like Matta, Calipari, Self and Boeheim as favorites. They always have good teams. Doesn't mean they don't deserve credit, as coaches, but to me, "coach of the year" needs to have an element of the unexpected.

Crean is a decent candidate, but I think it's almost too easy. Obvious that his rebuilding process required two horrible seasons (by IU standards), but he's simply returning Indiana to "Indiana level." It was pretty much expected he'd strip it down and build it up.

Tony Bennett has UVa on a similar uptrend, and Virginia doesn't have 1/8 the program pedigree as IU.

Anderson would probably be doing just as well as Haith, with this roster. To be fair, Haith is taking advantage of it.

If under-the-radar program-regeneration is a factor, how about Gregg Marshall @ Wichita State?

 

[NATEizKING]

Pretty sure Tubby Smith won't get it. You don't lose to the Hawkeyes twice and win COY.

 

[JustRedman]

It sickens me, but McDermott could be COY nationally.

Similar to how it made me sick when Chizik won the NC in his second year away from ISU after a horrible career here. That being said...they can have all the success they want now. Hoiberg and Rhoads are perfect fits here and are making ISU better which is all I care about. ISU is far better off in the position we are in now than if those two d-bags were still coaching here.

Kinda funny how McD is having all this success against mid-majors, but was simply terrible @ ISU. Kinda funny how Chizik is having success at AU, where talent comes easy, but couldn't call a play when at ISU. They are both overrated as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Cydkar]

Crean is not a candidate for COY. End of story. They can't win a road game.