October 19, 2009

Rivals.com
Rivals.com College Basketball Staff

John Wooden, the "Wizard of Westwood," turned 99 last week, and that got us to thinking about great coaches, young and old.

Specifically, we wondered which "young" coach -- 40 or under -- is the best in the nation.

We asked writers Gerry Ahern and Mike Huguenin for their thoughts.

GERRY AHERN SAYS ...

It would be easy to attribute Brad Stevens' stunning success at Butler to the players he inherited from Todd Lickliter when Lickliter left for Iowa after the 2006-07 season.

In his first season, Stevens led Butler to a school- and Horizon League-record 30-4 mark, 19 consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25 (including three in the top 10), a first-round NCAA tournament victory and an overtime loss in the second round to fifth-ranked Tennessee.

What he did in the 2008-09 season was even more impressive. With one returning starter and no seniors on his roster, Stevens guided the Bulldogs to another Horizon League title, a 26-6 record and another NCAA berth.

How does Stevens, 32, follow that up? Well, Butler is ranked No. 11 in our preseason rankings and anything other than an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance would be a disappointment for this coaching prodigy.

He's earned a stamp of approval from veteran coaches such as Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski for his skills on the bench. A young coach can't do much better than that.

MIKE HUGUENIN SAYS ...

I'm cheating a bit by choosing Arizona's Sean Miller, who turns 41 next month. But, hey, he's 40 now, so I'm going with him.

He faces a tough task in following Lute Olson (well, sort of) at Arizona, but Miller has the X's and O's skills and recruiting ability to get it done.

He had a great five-season run at Xavier after being an assistant with the Musketeers, N.C. State, Pittsburgh, Miami University and Wisconsin. He took the Musketeers to the NCAA tournament in each of his final four seasons, including an Elite Eight berth in 2008 and a Sweet 16 spot last season.

In addition, in 2007, he and his ninth-seeded Musketeers took top-seeded Ohio State to overtime in the second round; that Buckeyes team went on to play in the national title game.

Miller was able to find some under-the-radar talent and combine that with a few top-level recruits and transfers to wreak havoc in the Atlantic 10. His recruiting base with the Wildcats will be much larger, and his style of play should make Arizona an appealing destination for numerous top-100 recruits. Arizona might be down a bit this season, but Miller's talent will have them back in Pac-10 contention in 2010-11.