Coaches Steal the Spotlight

Syracuse

1 The third time was a charm for longtime Orangeman Coach Jim Boeheim, who won his first national title in 27 years after losing championship games in the 1987 and 1996 tournaments. Boeheim proved that it is possible to win it all playing the 2-3 zone defense that has defined his program. Because his team was so young this year, Boeheim had to play more zone than ever to make up for inexperience. Forward Carmelo Anthony had a brilliant freshman season but it may be time to say goodbye to him. He figures to declare for the NBA draft. Guess we were lucky to have him this long.

Ruined Bruin

2 UCLA’s worst season in 61 years finally cost Bruin coach Steve Lavin his job after seven seasons of incredible ups, downs and Saturday letters. Lavin took UCLA to five Sweet 16 appearances but was also in charge for six of the worst 15 losses in school history. This year the sky fell in Westwood, with UCLA finishing 10-19 and losing 10 games at historic Pauley Pavilion. To replace Lavin, UCLA turned to 45-year-old Ben Howland, who is at least old enough to remember what the golden days under John Wooden were like.

Zag-Nificent

3 It was a breathtaking display of stamina and shot-making, the Great Salt Lake Shootout. Arizona’s 96-95, double-overtime victory over Gonzaga in a second-round NCAA West Regional game at the Huntsman Center is already being remembered as one of the tournament’s greatest games. The lasting visual is of Arizona’s Luke Walton collapsing underneath the Gonzaga basket after Blake Stepp had missed an open eight-footer that could have won it for the Bulldogs. “I heard the horn blow and my body just gave out,” Walton said. The crowd at Huntsman lavished both teams at game’s end with a sustained standing ovation.

Harried Harrick

4 Georgia coach Jim Harrick looked Dick Vitale in the eye and said he would be vindicated in an academic-fraud scandal that forced the school to withdraw from the NCAA tournament in a move to preempt almost certain NCAA sanctions. But on March 27, Harrick retired under pressure and probably ended a successful but checkered career that included stops at Pepperdine, UCLA, Rhode Island and Georgia. In the end, Harrick was undone by a disgruntled former player, Tony Cole, who turned on the program in the bitter aftermath of his dismissal from the team last year.

Tar Heeled

5 Third-year North Carolina coach Matt Doherty resigned before he would have been fired after ticking off just about everyone on Tobacco Road. Doherty was family, a player on Dean Smith’s first NCAA title team in 1982, but his management style angered loyalists and players, some of whom transferred. Although he earned national coaching honors in his second season, North Carolina missed the NCAA tournament in two of Doherty’s three years -- an unpardonable sin at that basketball holy land. Doherty’s departure fueled speculation that Kansas Coach Roy Williams would take the Carolina job he turned down three years ago.

Kentucky Reign

6 No season in Lexington is ever quite complete without a national title, but Kentucky’s Midwest Regional loss to Marquette only slightly diminished an otherwise extraordinary year in which the Wildcats finished 32-4 and won 26 consecutive games in one stretch. Wildcat Coach Tubby Smith was named coach of the year by Associated Press but it has not quieted rumors that Smith, exhausted by the toll it takes to run the Kentucky program, might bolt for an NBA job. If Smith were to leave, would Kentucky forgive Rick Pitino for living in Louisville and ask him to return? Nah, but Pitino clone Billy Donovan at Florida might get a call.

(Bad) Presidents’ Day

7 It wasn’t a good year for three high and haughty university presidents who presided over, and partly contributed to, raging basketball scandals. Fresno State’s John Welty hired dark-cloud Jerry Tarkanian to help raise money for a new arena, Georgia’s Michael Adams went over his athletic director’s head to hire former Pepperdine pal Jim Harrick, and Robert Wickenheiser resigned at St. Bonaventure after he’d approved the transfer of an ineligible player who carried with him not a diploma but a certificate in welding.

Exit Stage Lefty

8 Lefty Driesell never came through on the promise to make Maryland the “UCLA of the East,” but he endured as one of the college game’s most colorful and successful coaches. A burned-out Driesell, 71, called it quits at Georgia State in January even as he stood only 14 games shy of 800 victories. Driesell departed as one of the top coaches never to have reached a Final Four, although he led four different schools to the NCAA tournament: Davidson, Maryland, James Madison and Georgia State. He enjoyed his greatest success during a 17-year romp at Maryland in the heyday of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Marquette

9 As a third-seeded team, Marquette was not the “Cinderella” team many tried to make it out to be, yet the Golden Eagles’ run to the Final Four was improbable, considering it had lost to Alabama Birmingham in the Conference USA tournament. After escaping with an opening-round win over Holy Cross, Marquette beat big boys Missouri, Pittsburgh and Kentucky to reach the Final Four for the first time since coach Al McGuire’s Warriors won the national title in 1977. Marquette’s 83-69 win over Kentucky in the Midwest Regional final was the shocker of the tournament, highlighted by Dwyane Wade’s triple-double performance. The ride ended abruptly, though, with a 33-point semifinal loss to Kansas.

Candy Caper

10 In one of the top turnaround games in recent memory, Arizona rallied from 20 points down in the first half against Kansas in late January and won by 17 points in Allen Fieldhouse, which is sort of like an opposing team embarrassing UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. No, wait, that happens all the time now. You could also say Arizona’s visit to Kansas was literally sweet in that a few Wildcats were caught swiping candy bars out of a hotel vending machine on their way out of Lawrence. What player wouldn’t get the munchies after such a thrilling road victory?