CBS Sports college basketball insiders Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander spent a month surveying 100-plus Division I men’s basketball coaches for our annual Candid Coaches series. They polled across the sport’s landscape: some of the biggest names in college basketball, but also small-school assistants in low-major leagues. Coaches agreed to share unfiltered opinions in exchange for anonymity. We asked them 10 questions, and will post the results over a three-week span.
No sport celebrates being one of the last four teams playing more than college basketball, where the entire season is literally labeled the “The Road to the Final Four.” All people who make it are forever introduced as “Final Four coaches.” They join a special club. They get invited to special dinners.
UConn’s Dan Hurley, San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher and FAU’s Dusty May joined the club in April. A year earlier, North Carolina’s Hubert Davis became a Final Four coach. A year before that, Baylor’s Scott Drew and UCLA’s Mick Cronin entered the group. In 2019, it was Virginia’s Tony Bennett, Texas Tech’s Chris Beard and Auburn’s Bruce Pearl. In 2018, it was Loyola Chicago’s Porter Moser. In 2017, it was Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Oregon’s Dana Altman and South Carolina’s Frank Martin.
The past six NCAA Tournaments, on average, have featured 2.2 first-time Final Four coaches, which suggests at least one man — and probably more than one — will join the club next year by advancing to the 2024 Final Four in Phoenix. With this in mind, we asked roughly 100 coaches the following question:
Who is the best college basketball coach yet to make a Final Four?
Matt Painter (Purdue)56.3% Sean Miller (Xavier)11.6% Randy Bennett (Saint Mary’s)8.9% Greg McDermott (Creighton)5.4% Ed Cooley (Georgetown)3.5% Nate Oats (Alabama)3.5% Jamie Dixon (TCU)2.7% Leonard Hamilton (Florida State)1.8% Tommy Lloyd (Arizona)1.8% Eric Musselman…..
