Now we’re going to talk about the upstarts. These are the guys who’ve kind of come out of nowhere to be a pretty big deal. Each one of them has enough juice that they wouldn’t get fired after this season even if they didn’t win a game, but can they really sustain lasting success?
Cincinnati–Mick Cronin had a good season at Cincinnati, and he’s in the process of returning UC to some former glory. The only thing about Cincinnati is that it will probably never quite get to where it was under Bob Huggins. However, there could be worse things that happen to you. If this is a competitive program every year, that should be good enough. I think he’s doing well and will stay unless a really sweet job comes along.
Villanova–Jay Wright made a huge run with Villanova a couple years back and everyone said that it was surprising how far Nova got in the tournament. Now, everyone tries to get Villanova into the final four in their brackets. Jay Wright went from a new coach with promise to a young upstart who is taking basketball by storm. He’s one of those guys who is just waiting to win a national title. We don’t think of it as if, but we think of it as when.
Pitt–Jamie Dixon took over at Pitt and everyone thought that the program would need a couple years to correct itself because he was so young and they had lost such a great coach. That’s not how it went at all. Dixon went from being the young guy to a guy who people want to give a number one seed to every year. He’s just like Jay Wright–it’s not if but when he wins a national title.
Part Three will conclude the series with guys who have something to prove.
photo credit: Ryan Brunsvold
