With the regular season winding down and conference tournaments on the horizon in college basketball, some of the focus begins to shift toward the yearly awards. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Award nominees for the best players by position as well as the Player of the Year have all been reduced to 10 or 15 finalists. The most recent list of finalists to be released is the Naismith Coach of the Year.
Among the favorites is Washington State coach Kyle Smith, who has the Cougars on the cusp of their first March Madness bid since 2008, as well as Utah State's Danny Sprinkle and South Carolina's LaMont Paris — both of whom have engineered impressive turnarounds.
But the list of finalists also failed to include a trio of mid-major coaches who have done more with less this season — perhaps more than any other coaches in the country. Why Will Wade and others are among the snubs from Naismith Coach of the Year finalists
Will Wade (McNeese State)
Controversy has followed Will Wade wherever he has coached but so has winning. Wade has won 20 games in a season with three different programs and has done so again in his first year at McNeese St. He took VCU to the NCAA Tournament in both of his seasons in Richmond and led LSU to the tourney three times in four years. His coaching job a McNeese might be his best yet.
The Cowboys are 25-3 and are 13 years removed from their last winning season and 23 seasons removed from their most recent NCAA Tournament appearance. McNeese has road wins over VCU and Michigan and its aggressive defense is sixth in the nation in turnover rate and 29th in block rate. This exciting basketball has a team that won just 11 games a year ago on the verge of an NCAA Tournament berth thanks to Will Wade.
Sundance Wicks (Green Bay)
” ‘Everybody’s got a plan until you get punched in the mouth,’ ” Green Bay head coach Sundance Wicks said to WFRV reporter Kyle Malzhan, quoting the great Mike Tyson. “Once you get punched in the mouth, we’re going to find out what we’re made of. You’re either pumping blood or Kool-Aid, and I hope we’re pumping blood.”
For the last few years, Green Bay was the punching bag of the Horizon League. The Phoenix finished last season with a 3-29 record — tied with Cal for the worst record in college basketball — and slotted in at 361st among 362 teams in KenPom's preseason rankings this year. But ever-quotable first-year head coach Sundance Wicks has proven the entire college basketball world wrong this season. UWGB surpassed last year's win total within the first month of the season and now sits at 17-12 (12-6 in conference play) and tied for third in the Horizon League.
A recent three-game losing streak has taken away a regular season conference title that seemed like a distinct possibility for much of the year, but it does diminish Green Bay's accomplishments this year. Per college basketball analytics guru Andrew Weatherman, no first-year coach has engineered a bigger turnaround from their team's preseason KenPom rating this year than Wicks — making him deserving of a Naismith Coach of the Year nomination.
Amir Abdur-Rahim (South Florida)
A year ago, South Florida finished 14-18 (7-11 in the AAC) in a weak American Athletics Conference while Amir Abdur-Rahim led Kennesaw State to its first winning season and first NCAA Tournament since joining the DI ranks in 2005-06. Abdur-Rahim needed only four seasons to transform a one-win team into a 26-win squad, and he has engineered a similar type of improvement at South Florida.
The Bulls are 21-5 on the year and 14-1 in the AAC, holding a three-game lead at the top of the conference. USF is also ranked in the AP Top 25 poll for the first time ever. South Florida has won 19 of its last 20 games, taking down notable teams such as Florida State, Memphis, and Florida Atlantic
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