LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Louisville hired Chris Mack and Indiana hired Archie Miller to play on the second and third weekends of the NCAA basketball tournament.
The Cardinals and Hoosiers are not playing on the second weekend.
Louisville exited after a blah first-round performance against Minnesota. Indiana missed the opportunity to exit because of a worse than blah stretch where the Hoosiers lost 12 of 13 games.
The groaning will continue through the weekend. That is as it should be. Failing to win a tournament game might play in Los Angeles, Milwaukee or Austin. It stirs acid reflux in the most passionate region for college basketball in America.
There are reasons Louisville and Indiana are absent. Atop of the list is the reality that Mack (year one)Â and Miller (year two) need time to construct rosters packed with players who have the skills and approach that sync with the qualities that each coach values.
We live in a world where fans and media make judgments on coaches after back-to-back-to back terrible possessions. Go back and read the Twitter comments during Virginia’s first-round game against Gardner-Webb. Know that the ones you’ll find are the ones that have not been deleted.
Then remember this: Greatness requires time.
I ran the numbers on the 16 coaches whose programs are still competing to win four more games, including the NCAA final April 8 in Minneapolis.
This is the average time each coach has been in his current position: 12 seasons.
That number is skewed by the 39 seasons Mike Krzyzewski has worked at Duke but it is also pulled in the other direction by the 37 seconds Tony Benford has been in charge at Louisiana State.
The guy who actually got the Tigers in this position is Will Wade. His two seasons on the job would have made Wade first on the list of guys with the least amount of time in their current position, but the federal government asked me to exclude Wade in this story.
Actually, the closer that I look at the numbers, the less I believe there is any skewing in either direction.
Nine of the 16 remaining coaches have been in their current positions 10 or more years.
Tony Bennett needed three seasons at Virginia to make the tournament and four to win a game.
John Beilein made the tournament once in his first three seasons at Michigan — and didn’t get to the Sweet Sixteen until year six. Matt Painter reached his first Sweet Sixteen in year four at Purdue.
This is year five for Buzz Williams at Virginia Tech. He just won his first two NCAA Tournament games with the Hokies.
I could go on, but you’ve heard the stories about Duke fans wanting to fire Coach K and Leonard Hamilton being questioned at Florida State.
Only three of the Sweet Sixteen coaches have been building their current programs less than five seasons:
This is year four for Rick Barnes at Tennessee. Another round of applause for him. The Volunteers’ team that Barnes will bring to the KFC Yum! Center to face Purdue Thursday does not feature a McDonald’s all-American or even a Top 100 recruit.
Chris Beard of Texas Tech deserves extra applause. This is only the third season since Beard took over from Tubby Smith in Lubbock, which is not an address known for making deep and productive NCAA Tournament runs.
Beard won a share of the Big 12 regular season title with the Red Raiders — and backed it up with an impressive pair of double-digit victories during the first- and second-round of the tournaments.
If you look at points per possession allowed, Texas Tech is considered the most efficient defensive team in the nation at Ken Pomeroy’s website. No wonder the Red Raiders are only a 2-point underdog in their West Regional semifinal against Michigan in Anaheim, Calif.
LSU is the only other Sweet Sixteen team with a coach who has been on his current job less than five minutes — and the less anybody talks about LSU basketball the better.
Getting good takes time. Getting really good takes more time.
Copyright 2019 WDRB Media. All rights reserved
