Which in this case is better than being #1 : The Link I think Rick will continue to be seen in this light until he gets some of these guys to stick around more than 1-2 years. We've really only had 1 or 2 guys that would've started for Kentucky last year (And certainly never 5 at a time) so that team wasnt your typical 1 & done group. Weve been close a couple of times, but we needed one or more guys to return just one more year to really make a difference. Maybe it'll be a little different with the incoming guys, but if not I fear that Rick's natinonal perception will not be skyrocketing any time soon. HOOK 'EM, Texdoc
If we make the Sweet 16 this year (or Elite 8... not holding my breath), I wonder if he'll still be #2 on this list. Because he basically built up this year from nothing... no Hamilton, no Thompson, no Joseph, no Bradley, no Durant, no Augustin.
I don't think he's rated as highly as people think he is in the first place. Nor I do think the talent has been as overwhelming as people seem to think.
Roy Williams at #1 is rather silly since they give the reasoning as he is at North Carolina and anyone could win there. Now he should have won more than he did at Kansas, but he has the same # of National Championships at UNC as Dean Smith in far fewer years. And while winning records should come easy at UNC as Bill Guthridge had and even Matt Doherty managed to the National Championships don't come so easy. And you can't over rate a coach that wins National Championships unless you expect them to win an NBA championship too.
Although it is hard to argue with the premise of the article, that Barnes has done less with more than just about any coach in the country. The argument that "at least we don't have a program like we did pre-Barnes" has been overdone. It is time to expect more. I expect Sweet 16 this year, and a competitive game in the Sweet 16 to get to the Elite 8. Of course, when Ridley and Kabongo leave, there will be nothing to build on for next year (in that, we won't build on to a team and potentially reach the Final 4). We will simply reload with Sweet 16 caliber talent that is untested. Although I debated whether to even post this because I have said this 100 times and get the same responses.
Roy Williams has 2 National Championships. That is enough to not make him on the list, ever. UNC has how many championships without him in 150 years?
He's had his years where he got more out of the team than expected, especially that 1999 year when the rest of the conference was down. Although we **** the bed in the first round of the NCAAs. But I'd say generally, we don't quite finish as well as we should, or get as high an NCAA tournament seeding as we should. 2012 was kind of an aberration year because we had almost no expectations for a mediocre bunch, yet still barely made the NCAA field. I'd rank the comeback against Cincy as the high point of Barnes' coaching last year, even though we came up short. The article is probably referring to years like: 2001 (Mihm/Muoneke bow out in the first round) 2005 (injuries and a poor seeding in the tournament) 2007 (probably the worst offender, considering the roster we had with Durant) 2009 (huge preseason expectations but ho-hum season) 2010 (supposed to have a turnaround with the new NBA-quality freshmen, but didn't) 2011 (actually got a decent seed but blew the Arizona game in fashion) Interesting how most of these seasons are the recent ones.
