No, that’s not quite right, because if one of the established, brand-name schools achieves its success with players likely to only be in college for a season, well, we know what they call that.
So one of the uncommon aspects of Mark Few’s accomplishments at Gonzaga is how long he has forced the Zags to defy categorization. You only call them a mid-major if you’re not watching them. They routinely have competed with the best programs in college basketball. They routinely have signed players the best programs have chased. They have sent many players on to compete in the NBA. They are a program whose brand is a draw for television viewers.
Saturday night, in the West Coast Conference quarterfinals at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Gonzaga had to rally to defeat a game Santa Clara squad likely to be a factor in the WCC over the next several years. Few chose a good night to win a game, because losing would have meant no automatic NCAA Tournament bid for the Bulldogs. He picked a bad night to earn one that stands as a career milestone, because halfway across the country forward Doug McDermott was reaching the 3,000 mark in career points.
Only eight Division I players have reached 3,000. Scores of Division I coaches have hit the 400 mark, but only four got there in fewer than the 499 Few required. You might want to take a seat while we present the list: Adolph Rupp, Clair Bee, Jerry Tarkanian, Roy Williams.
Only giants on that list.
“It was truly a great win for us. We had to dig as deep as we’ve had to dig this year. These guys had to make play after play after winning play down the stretch,” Few said afterward. “The other night when I watched Santa Clara play, I knew we were going to have our hands full. They were a hot team, shooting the ball really well. In tournaments like this those are the kind of teams you fear. They are coming in with nothing to lose and they did a great job. The really put it on us there for awhile.”
What is most compelling about Few is he has done this totally on his terms. He did not surrender to the pressure to ascend to the most prestigious coaching job (Sorry, Bruins) or the allure of the highest possible paycheck (Sorry, Ducks). He has built a comfortable life for himself in Spokane, with a beautiful home and the chance to be influential in the community and the outdoor life he craves so close at hand.
He is criticized by some now because the deep NCAA Tournament runs that filled his early seasons have become rarer. The Zags get there every year, but often don’t stay long. Last year was supposed to change that, when Gonzaga was a No. 1 seed, the No. 1 team in the polls and might have been the best team in the nation, but Wichita State turned out to be better than the No. 9 seed assigned and went on an unconscious 3-point scoring binge to rally to an upset victory. That one probably hurt the most of all the team’s NCAA Tournament eliminations.
It did not, however, change the fact that Mark Few is an extraordinary college coach, and a unique one. He has stayed where he is comfortable and happy. That might change one day. There might be a university whose coaching position he finds more irresistible. Or, perhaps, he already is working there.
Would you pick McDermott, Kilpatrick or Wiggins, Parker?
You see a lot of things on Twitter, and sometimes what you see is an idea. This isn’t a bad one: Who would you take in a college basketball game matching the best seniors against the best freshman?
The two groups are such opposites in so many ways it makes for a fascinating debate.
(Thanks, @mengus22).
For the seniors: Doug McDermott, F, Creighton; C.J. Fair, F, Syracuse; Russ Smith, G, Louisville; Sean Kilpatrick, G, Cincinnati; Shabazz Napier, G, Connecticut.
For the freshmen: Jabari Parker, F, Duke; Aaron Gordon, F, Arizona; Joel Embiid, C, Kansas; Andrew Wiggins, F/G, Kansas; Tyler Ennis, G, Syracuse.
Here’s how good my senior team is: I can bring Florida’s Scottie Wilbekin, Casey Prather and Patric Young off the bench, along with Michigan State’s Adreian Payne and Iowa State’s DeAndre Kane and Melvin Ejim.
Here’s how good my freshman team is: I can bring Kentucky’s Julius Randle off the bench for instant offense, along with Arizona’s Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for defense and toughness, and Kansas State’s Marcus Foster and Santa Clara’s Jared Brownridge to make shots.
It is not as simple as saying the seniors would win because they’re more experienced, wiser, more composed under pressure. Who has been more composed under pressure this season than Ennis?
It’s not as simple as saying the freshmen would win because they’re more talented, dynamic, more physically gifted. Nobody’s been able to keep Russ Smith out of the lane the past two years, whatever class the defender represents. More athletically gifted defenders have challenged McDermott, but nobody’s been able to keep him from making buckets, which is how he came to surpass 3,000 career points on Saturday evening.
It’s a heck of an argument to ponder when you’re not wondering who’ll be the No. 1 seeds or which team will be the last eliminated from NCAA Tournament bubble consideration.
Answering this question might seem philosophical in nature, but there are going to be years when the answer is obviously the freshman (for instance, any season in which Greg Oden and Kevin Durant would be representing the frosh) and others when you’d prefer the seniors (like when Tyler Hansbrough was the best senior and it nearly was impossible to find a game-changing freshman).
As for this year?
I’d go with the frosh. Because they’re bigger up front. In confronting the age-old question of whether talent matters more than experience, always go with size.
From fired to Big 12 coach of the year
It’s possible no coach who was fired before the season began ever had a better year than Texas’ Rick Barnes.
Sunday, he was named Big 12 Conference coach of the year, not bad for a guy who was fired before the season began. His team finished its regular season 22-9 overall, 11-7 in league play and will enter the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 3 seed.
You might recall that in the autumn, having missed just one NCAA Tournament in his 15 seasons as Texas head coach, Barnes was having to cope with questions about his job security in public interactions with members of the media.
Asked in one such November forum whether he was worried about keeping his job, he responded, “I don’t want to disappoint you, but I’m not.”
Which was interesting, because a whole lot of those who cover college basketball not only had Barnes fired, they already knew who they were going to hire to replace him. Because, you know, their call.
Some of my colleagues in the media can be rough at times, particularly with those coaches who’ve been difficult or nasty or habitually combative. If one of those guys finds his program struggling, or failing, he is not going to find many friends to point out the counter-arguments in favor of his accomplishments.
What was weird about the handling of Barnes is I’ve never encountered any journalist who doesn’t enjoy him. In my personal dealings with him, he is funny, smart, engaging and cooperative. I’ve no doubt there’s a reporter or columnist out there who has gotten on his bad side, or vice versa, but a lot of the people shoveling dirt on Barnes’ Texas tenure were simply deciding he wasn’t coach enough for the job.
He has taken five of his 15 previous Texas teams to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend, three to the Elite Eight, one to the Final Four. There’s little doubt there are coaches out there who could have done more. There’s no doubt many would have done less.
The argument that this would be an issue was understandable: new athletic director (Steve Patterson), football legend shoved out the door (Mack Brown) and a break in the program’s string of NCAA Tournament appearances (last spring).
It didn’t stop there, however. The argument against Barnes principally involved the number of great players he coached (Kevin Durant, D.J. Augustin, LaMarcus Aldridge) without recording more Final Fours or a national title, but that ignores that many significant All-Americans (Mike Beasley at Kansas State, Greivis Vasquez at Maryland, Andrew Bogut at Utah, for instance) didn’t advance deep in the NCAAs in their big years.
As well, there is the matter of recruiting, wherein the Longhorns have not fared as well with the best in-state prospects (Marcus Smart, Julius Randle, to name two) as they once did.
But upon declaring as this season began he had “no doubt” the Horns would be returning to the NCAA Tournament, Barnes showed that he knows more basketball than those in the media who snickered when he said so. Two high-scoring players had transferred off last year’s dreadful team, point guard Myck Kabongo filed for early NBA draft entry and a fourth signed a lucrative contract to play pro basketball in Europe. Barnes understood that losing Ioannis Papapetrou was going to be a blow, but that not everyone else’s departure was to the Horns’ detriment.
Building a balanced team around big man Cameron Ridley and forward Jonathan Holmes, with feisty guard Javan Felix as the engine, Barnes had the Longhorns play a tough schedule and enjoyed wins over North Carolina, Kansas, Baylor and Iowa State.
It’s funny. Barnes’ program was damaged as much as any by the one-and-done phenomenon. Not because Kevin Durant came and went in a year after accomplishing so much, but because Avery Bradley, Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson did after not doing a whole heck of a lot. Then, when Barnes began building a program with players not likely to leave in the short term, the kind so many lambasted Kentucky for not pursuing, he has been criticized for this particular course.
There are some better coaches than Barnes, but far more worse. Barnes is Texas’ coach, though, and it looks like that is not changing.