LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Scott Drew was the guy with a national championship. Scott Drew was the guy who can handle the expectations. Scott Drew was The Guy who had to tell you "No."
That was the opening discussion around the Louisville basketball coaching opening last winter.
Ditto for the job at Kentucky after John Calipari bolted for Arkansas.
Scott Drew said No. Twice.
His choice was to remain at Baylor, where he has another Top 25 team, one that has lost to Gonzaga, Tennessee and UConn and is likely to finish third or fourth in the Big 12. Drew did not want to mess with happy.
Louisville and Kentucky moved on quickly and figured it out. More than one-third of the way into the 2024-25 season, grumbling is absolutely minimal, especially at Louisville after the Cards' solid win over North Carolina Wednesday. (Check the North Carolina message boards if you want to read complaints.)
As conference play begins to intensify, it's time for a snapshot of the 15 first-season coaches in the five power conferences and rank their performances.
1. Dusty May, Michigan: This name will continue to inspire heartburn in Bloomington, where Indiana should have moved on from Mike Woodson and hired May, a former IU student manager, from Florida Atlantic after last season. Instead, the Wolverines stepped forward, and May quickly built a team ranked No. 10 in Ken Pomeroy's computer formula and No. 14 in the NCAA Net formula. At 10-3, May has a top-30 offense and defense and a road win at Wisconsin, where IU has not delivered since 1998, a streak of 20 games.
2. Pat Kelsey, Louisville: The 9-5 Cardinals eclipsed last season's victory total with a no-doubt score over North Carolina on Wednesday. It was the Cards' first Quad 1 victory this season and bumped U of L from No. 57 to 50 in the NCAA NET formula. Get this: Ken Pom has the Cards favored in four of their next five games. If they start making three-point shots, look out.
3. Darian DeVries, West Virginia: The pining for Bob Huggins has subsided in Morgantown. DeVries has delivered a five-game improvement over last season at WVU, capped by victories over Gonzaga, Arizona and Kansas (in Allen Fieldhouse). Guard Javon Small, a transfer from Oklahoma State, ranks in the top 10 in Ken Pomeroy's national player of the year metrics.
4. Mark Pope, Kentucky: The early win over Duke followed by the epic comeback over Gonzaga and the rivalry score against Louisville gave Pope a solid reserve of good will. But Kentucky ranks No. 56 in Ken Pomeroy's defensive efficiency metric and the ugly loss to Ohio State was the third time in a four-game stretch the Wildcats allowed 85 or more points. The SEC is clearly the nation's best league, so Pope and the Wildcats will be tested nearly every night.
5. Mark Byington, Vanderbilt: This is one where you have to look closely at the schedule. The Commodores are 12-1, a seven-game improvement from the final season of Jerry Stackhouse. But nine of the wins have come against teams ranked 150 or lower by Pomeroy, who projects the Commodores to finish 7-11, tied for 12th in the SEC. But, hey, it's Vanderbilt, which has not been nationally relevant since it fired Kevin Stallings.
6. John Calipari, Arkansas: The record is 11-2, two games better than last season. But the only quality win was a two-point escape over Michigan on a neutral court, and the Razorbacks have not beaten anybody else in Pomeroy's top 90. They're No. 41, 23 spots behind UK in the NCAA NET formula.
7. Kevin Young, Brigham Young: Arriving from the Phoenix Suns, Young has the Cougars at 10-2, one game behind the pace Pope set last season. Joe Lunardi has them projected five spots outside the NCAA Tournament at ESPN.com, but the grumbling is minimal because BYU has reportedly agreed to pay A.J. Dybantsa $7 million to be the school's signature recruit.
8. Jake Diebler, Ohio State: Credit Diebler for following the Denny Crum School of Scheduling. His Buckeyes have beaten Texas and Kentucky while losing to Texas A&M, Auburn, Pitt and Auburn. They're 9-4, two games behind the pace Chris Holtmann set last season before OSU collapsed. Pomeroy projects 11-9 in the Big Ten, which would be tied for eighth.
9. Andy Enfield, SMU: After fleeing USC, Enfield has scheduled himself to an 11-2 start with wins over Tarleton State, Florida A&M, Prairie View A&M, Cal Baptist, Alabama State and Longwood. The Mustangs lost to Butler and Mississippi State. Let's see what they do against Duke on Saturday.
10. Eric Musselman, USC: This has never been a great job, so it is a bit unreasonable to expect Musselman to make the Trojans relevant in year one. And he hasn't. At 9-4, USC lacks a single top-100 victory and lost to St. Mary's, 71-36. Ken Pom says they will go 7-13 in the Big Ten, tied for 14th, in danger of missing the conference tournament.
11. Chris Holtmann, DePaul: The Blue Demons have won nine games, a six-game improvement from their 3-11 start last season. But the first seven were against nobodies and DePaul just lost to St. John's by 28, Northwestern by 20 and UConn by 13. This will be a long rebuild.
12. Danny Sprinkle, Washington: Mike Hopkins left a mess in Seattle and Sprinkle has lost four of 13 games trying to clean it up. The Huskies are already 0-2 in the Big Ten and have yet to make any of their three cross-country trips to play opponents in their new league. They have Maryland at home tonight.
13. Kyle Smith, Stanford: The former coach at Washington State, Smith has the Cardinal perched at 9-4, a two-game improvement from last season. But their only top-100 win was by two points over Santa Clara and Pomeroy projects a 9-11 finish in the ACC.
14. Ron Sanchez, Virginia: A late arrival to the list after Tony Bennett's surprise retirement during fall practice, Sanchez has the Cavaliers at 9-5, with all five losses against top-50 Ken Pom teams. But the Cavaliers are not playing defense with the same efficiency of Bennett's teams, ranking 49th in that category at Ken Pom, where the projection is a 9-11 finish in a shaky ACC that one of Bennett's good teams would have dominated.
15. Steve Lutz, Oklahoma State: After sprinting away from Western Kentucky after one season, Lutz replaced Mike Boynton. He has not been terrible. The Cowboys are 8-4, one game ahead of the pace Boynton set last season. But their best victory came against Jim Larranaga's worst Miami team, and the Cowboys lost to Florida Atlantic by 8. Pomeroy has OSU picked to finish last in the Big 12 at 5-15.
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