Just four years ago, Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, Jay Wright, Jim Boeheim and Tony Bennett were still coaching college basketball, with 12 national championships among them.
All five left coaching Rat Race and retired just like name, image and similarity and unlimited transfers shook up the sport. Each one played a role in choosing their successor at their respective institutions.
How has it worked?
Duke has one of the best teams in the country in Jon Scheyer’s third year. Hubert Davis, of course, reached a final Four in his first season, although North Carolina fans were less than enthusiastic when he received a contract extension during the summer, which was not announced until the end of another Underwhelming campaign.
The rest of the party has been a disappointment, and nowhere is it worse than at Villanova with Kyle Neptune.
Fans have urged Neptune’s shooting since the beginning of last season, and they can finally get their wish after Wildcats blew a late lead in a loss of 75-73 at Georgetown on Tuesday in their regular seasonal, and officially torpedoed any hope for the NCAA tournament.
Last year’s embarrassment included losses to Penn, Saint Joseph’s and Drexel, which led to a last place in the newly formatted Philadelphia Big 5 tournament. Early this season, Villanova lost to a Columbia team that is now 1-12 in the Ivy League.
More to the point, in the Big East game, Villanova continues to lose in the same way. On Tuesday, Wildcats pulled 69-60 with 3:43 to go. They melted down due to poor turnover and worse defense, and Hoyas pulled forward for good.
Just like Villanova’s first meeting with Georgetown, when it basically led the entire game but allowed a game-ending 9-0 driving to lose with one point. Or when Wildcats moved defeat from the victory’s jaws late in play against Xavier, Creighton and Uconn.
A program that won national titles in 2016 and 2018 and made Final Four in Wrights last year has not gone anywhere since. Neptune, the former coach of Fordham recommended by Wright, is at the hottest location of one of these successors.
This does not mean that Adrian “Red” Autry has bathed herself in glory in the basket-down Syracuse. Autry received Boheim’s approval and is currently following a 20-12 first season with a 12-18 (6-13 ACC) also-Ran campaign. It is not good with the fans, even though they have recruited Carmelo Anthony’s son to play there next season.
There were conspiracy theories that Bennett was waiting for October to retire from Virginia so he could name his good friend Ron Sanchez interim coach and make sure he gets a chance. Sanchez, who had a 20-win season of five years at Charlotte before returning to Bennett’s staff at UVA, has at best been mediocre.
Villanova and Virginia, in particular, may be a step below the Blue-Blood status for Duke and North Carolina, but both are programs that have won national titles over the last ten years. It should not suddenly be impossible to succeed there because of zero, the conference’s rejuvenation or whatever other excuses that can be thrown around – as long as you have the right coach.
It seems that these Hall of Famers who retired were much worse to look for future coaching speakers than they were on scouting basketball players.
