Runnin' Hoops Podcast
All things Runnin' Utes basketball and Big 12 basketball.
Runnin' Hoops Podcast
Episode 336: Ranking the Big 12 Coaches
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Ranking the Big 12 coaches 1-16 after one entity throws some serious shade at Alex Jensen. Plus, the summer of injunctions continues — all the latest. And, more of the WBB "get to know you" series, Runnin' Utes exhibitions, recruiting and much more!
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As always, you can chase that down with their signature frozen custard flavor of the week. You can find the nearest Super Chicks to you online at Superchicks.com. And remember, it's ChickswithanX.com. On this episode, Alex Jensen gets a bit of a scathing coach ranking after one year at Utah. I will break that all down for you and cry both fair and foul. Plus, I've got the Run and Ute's exhibition schedule for you. When and where will they be playing in October? And our summer exhibitions on the way. We'll discuss. In addition to all that, we've got more women's basketball, get to know use, plus all of the latest from the summer of injunctions and much more here. But first, I wanted to remind you to follow the podcast over on X at Run and Hoops Pod and on Instagram at Runin' Hoops. You can rate, review, and subscribe to the show over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get a podcast. We are at 79 five-star ratings now, which is outstanding. But I know there are 21 of you out there that can help push this thing to a hundred or more. I believe in all of you folks. What would be amazing is if I woke up one day, hit refresh on the podcast, and boom, we're at like 85 or 90 ratings.
SPEAKER_04It might just be It's the most amazing thing I ever saw. More amazing than the time Michael Jackson came over your house.
SPEAKER_02More amazing than the time you sent those old people from that missing home fire. Yeah, and I bet it was even more amazing than the time you wait in Godfather's pizza, right?
SPEAKER_00And of course, you can support the show over on Venmo at Running Hoops. He's about to. All right, well, we're gonna start with the big news that dropped on Friday out of the state that I live in, Colorado. A judge has granted a blanket injunction that would allow anyone from the class of 2022 to play this upcoming season. Now, there is a bit of a caveat that came out on Monday, and that is that the players would have had to have been in the transfer portal at season's end for this to apply to them. Now, this comes on the heels of a bunch of basketball players and other sport athletes being granted an injunction in North Carolina, in Ohio, and in other places. And as the news started to spread on Friday, we got word over the weekend that several players were planning to enter the transfer portal. So schools with money and roster spots are getting ready to load up. Once again, it's gonna make for a wild month of August if the NCAA cannot find a court to rule in its favor, which it probably won't, but there is an appeal that the NCAA is working on expediting. So there's gonna be plenty more on this. Even some of the stuff I've already stated is probably gonna be outdated by the time you listen to this, but I wanted to make sure that we covered it. Now, of course, in twist of irony, Utah, a team that has not filled all of its roster spots in most years, seemingly has no roster spots remaining. So we'll see if that changes or if they find a way to make it work. If these fifth-year players from the class of 2022 ultimately are allowed to play. There was a tweet from Jeff Goodman over at the Field of 68 podcast over the weekend that said that they that Utah had reached out or was among the schools that reached out to one of the players that is involved in these injunctions, and that is Doug McDaniel, who is a point guard to play that Michigan, Kansas State, and Memphis, and at present is out of eligibility, but he may just have it, depending on what happens. Of course, the NCAA has filed its appeal in Colorado. They've issued statements, so this thing isn't over. But man, this weekend was wild with folks tweeting out various players who were planning to enter the portal, some who had already heard from schools, some who have already committed to other schools. So there's gonna be plenty more here on this in the coming weeks. On top of that, you've got sports like football that just opened up camp, soccer starts playing games in the coming weeks. And so there's a lot that has to be decided on this five for five thing in a very short period of time. And if there's no decision that happens, then you're gonna get these players eligible. They're gonna play, and we're gonna go have ourselves a season in all of these sports. So it's gonna be interesting to see how this thing all plays out. More on it as it develops. All right, let's move to our women's basketball get to know you series, courtesy of the Utah Women's Basketball Program, and we'll begin with Olivia Bradley. I quote from the Utah Athletics website. Bradley, an Adelaide South Australian native, joins the Utes after spending three seasons at UC Santa Barbara. At UC Santa Barbara, she averaged 9.3 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game. She shot 47.3% from the field, 26.9% from three, and 70.5% from the free throw line. Why did you choose Utah? The people. I loved the coaching staff and the returning girls. I enjoyed them as people and what they wanted to do with the team. I really liked their vision for the program. What's something about your basketball game that you're most proud of? I'm really proud of my work ethic on the floor. I feel like I come out with an intensity every day and I'm here to compete every day. I just like getting better and I like getting my teammates better. What's something in your basketball game you're looking to get better at? Definitely my ball handling skills and my three-point shooting. I want to increase my three-point percentage and become more reliable with the ball. Up next, we have Laia Kinesa. Canessa, a Barcelona-Spain native, joins the Utes after spending three seasons at Kansas. Last season with the Jayhawks, Kinesa averaged 3.7 points and three rebounds per game while ranking second on the team with 36 steals. She shot 37.9%, 47 of 124, from the field and shot 26.8%, 11 of 41, from three. Why did you choose Utah? The culture. Obviously, I want to win, and Utah has a standard. I like the way they played too, which is fast. I think I can help build the team and make an impact. What is something in your basketball game that you're most proud of? That I'm versatile. I can play a lot of positions and be effective. What is something in your basketball game that you want to get better at? I'm a point guard, so I like to create for others, but I need to get better at looking for my shot and taking it. Close quote. So there you go. More of the new players on the Utah women's basketball team still waiting for that official women's basketball schedule release. So we'll see how soon we get that. But again, good to get to know some of the players. So let's move over to the men's side of things and we'll start with recruiting. On the last episode, I mentioned that I don't really do much in the way of recruiting, but here I am giving a second straight recruiting update here on the podcast. So Steve Bartle, Sammy Mora, John Leone, watch out. Cole Fotheringham, who we covered on the last episode, having put Utah into his final five, is set to visit the program on November 6th and 7th. Now that will be on the heels of the second game of the season, the Towson game, on November 5th. And it's the weekend of the football rivalry game against BYU. Smart move by the local kid to snag a ticket for that game by virtue of his visit. Now the football team needs to deliver. And in some sad or confusing recruiting news, Antonio Pemberton, who we just talked about on our last episode, cut his list of schools to eight. And Utah wasn't among those schools. So it'll be interesting to see what the heck happened there. But also, you know, I'll reiterate what I've said before, which is that this just kind of goes to show you the kind of hole that Alex and company have to dig out of in terms of perception. But perhaps they've started in a somewhat surprising and welcome recruiting note per Joe Tipton over at On 3. RJ Moore, a four-star shooting guard out of Charlotte, North Carolina, has trimmed his list of schools to six, and Utah remains on that list, along with Alabama, Rutgers, Texas Tech, Vandy, and Wake Forest. He is ranked as the 40th recruit in the 2027 class and the number eighth ranked shooting guard according to Rivals industry rankings. And that's an average of all three major recruiting media companies. That would be Rivals, ESPN, and 24-7 Sports. Here is what RJ Moore had to say about Utah. Quote, Utah is another school that has been recruiting me since I was a freshman. I definitely like what they've done. The program has ran well, facilities are great, and the coaching staff has done a great job. Coach Chill has been recruiting me, and I appreciate what they have done. I continue to quote from Joe Tipton's article. Before trimming his list, Moore also received offers from Mississippi State, Georgia, Florida State, Virginia, Syracuse, Charlotte, and Washington, among others. I'm a three-level scorer who can shoot the ball really well, Moore told rivals in a previous interview. I'm a long guard and can play the one, two, or three. I was able to get to my spots easier this summer, get to the rim more, and I'm getting stronger in the weight room. I watch a lot of Clay Thompson just the way he gets to his spots and he is balanced and how he shoots the ball. I want to go to a school where I'm going to play at for sure. You know, it's not going to be all about the money. I'm trying to play and be able to fit in their system. I want to play for a coach who trusts me and is going to put me in the best situation to succeed. And just go to a school that is the right choice and where my game is going to be able to help their program win. Close quote. Now the article also contains a scouting report from on threes Jamie Shaw, who says, quote, Moore is a shooter. The six foot five shooting guard has as pure of a stroke as you will see when he gets his feet set. He does a good job of playing off the ball and getting to his spots with a purpose. I like his balance off movement, and his release is consistent. His game is streamlining, and the production is continuing to follow. So there you go. Three recruiting updates for you. Two pretty good, one not so good, but there you go. As always, follow me at Run and Hoops Pod to see my retweets on the recruiting front. That's about all I can give you at this point. And here's something interesting. I quote from a John Rothstein tweet. Sources. The NCAA has had recent discussions about the possibility of summer exhibitions between member institutions in the future. The topic will continue to be evaluated moving forward. Close quote. Now that certainly would be interesting, and it's akin to the reports that the NCAA could consider allowing teams to play other teams in football in their spring games, like a Utah versus a southern Utah or a Weaver state. Would basketball teams or programs elect to play, say, three or four summer exhibitions versus doing a foreign trip? I think they probably would. Now, coaches who don't love attention would hate it because you'd start to get people saying, you know, that your team is great in the middle of July or stinks because of this random game against Westminster or something. So that would definitely be a negative, but it would certainly be fun to have a more immediate look at the roster that your program built in May and June versus having to wait till October or interpreting and overreacting to overseas box scores. So that'll be something that'll be interesting to watch here as the months go on. I'm sure they're a long ways away from a decision, but I thought it was an interesting thing to point out. So on our last episode, we took a deep dive on the Run and Newt's schedule, and I shared some of my feelings on its lack of strength and depth and other things, but I also shared some thoughts from Dan Hurley on why he schedules the way that he does. In the interest of being fair and balanced and providing equal time, I'm going to share some thoughts from Sean Miller, who is the head coach at Texas. Now, he has recently taken a lot of heat on his non-conference schedule. Miller, like Alex Jensen, is in the second year of building his program, though Texas is obviously a more prominent job with some serious resources, though I might add Rick Majaris did turn them down. Take a listen to what Miller had to say on the Ion College basketball podcasts summer shoot around series with Matt Norland.
SPEAKER_01What's the mindset going into building the schedule? Well, I think a couple of things. You know, balance to me is really important uh when you're when you're building a program and you're also building a team. So as we've talked about the excitement of this coming year, one thing that we haven't talked about is there's only one player that played one player that played in the game against Purdue that returns. Yeah. One. So everybody else, the names that we're talking about, you know, the first time that I've had the opportunity to work with them is this summer. So I think that when you talk about growing as a team, we're not going to be at our best in November simply because, you know, we have so many new players. They may be talented and we may get there, but we're never going to be as good as we can be earlier in the year. So I think that that's one thing. I think the second thing is a lot of our scheduling, you know, you have to do nine months, 12 months ahead of time. And uh a lot of our games that we schedule to build that balance, uh, we did in the middle of our year one. So uh nobody really has a crystal ball to know how much different year one's gonna be or year two is gonna be than year one. And then I I think the final part is look, the 18 games that we play in SEC, they're second to none. I I've lived it, I've been in the conference once. We have a guaranteed 19th game in Nashville in the SEC tournament. I think our conference is the best in the country, and we're gonna have plenty of Quad One opportunities. When you look at our schedule, the totality of our schedule on selection Sunday when we're getting ready to talk about March Madness, I don't think anybody's gonna point with a finger that we didn't have a tough schedule. I think we'll we'll end up being in and around one of America's most difficult schedules based on the conference we play in and the notable games that that you mentioned. Um, and again, the other part of the balance is use a guy like Marcus Spears as the example, you know, you'd be surprised how a lot of times confidence is built in the months of November when you have the opportunity to get somebody like him, you know, more opportunity, success. A team that doesn't necessarily get beat up along the way. And uh so I think we want to challenge ourselves. We recognize the SEC, and I I believe that we have enough experiences before we get to March Madness that uh that when we enter that that phase, that we'll we'll have uh the experience and the notable performances and games that will allow us to compete for the top products.
SPEAKER_00So, yeah, a couple of interesting things there from Miller relative to building a program and trying to build confidence with a nearly entirely new team, which is obviously something that Alex Jensen faces as well. And so I wanted to make sure that I provided both sides of that argument in terms of why the schedule may not be as strong as we as fans would like it to be. Now, the Run and Utes do have some quality exhibitions this year, and I've got those dates for you so you can plan accordingly. October 7th, they are in Las Vegas taking on UNLV. I expect to see our guy, Corey Cheach, at that game and screaming loudly for the Run and Utes. October 17th, they are at Nevada, and then October 21st, they host Oregon. No word yet on whether or not they will, in addition to those three, do a night with the run and ute type thing. You get 30 practices in 42 days once camp begins for basketball, which will be on, I believe, September 22nd, if I did my math correctly. And if you did a thing like the night with the run and uts, that would take up one of those 30 precious practices. So who knows if they'll actually do that. But there you go. Three games in October to get them ready for that opener on November 2nd against Long Beach State. Now, speaking of schedules, we've got what I believe is our fifth official schedule out of the Big 12, and it comes to us from the defending champion Arizona Wildcats, who opened the season with a bang in Las Vegas on November 2nd against Mick Cronin and the UCLA Bruins. Whoa, Mick, whoa, I did not. I I did not raise my voice at you. Come on, dude. Come on, they guess you want everybody standing here listening to you. Everybody this is on camera, they can hear you. Other notables on the Wildcats schedule include a visit to Auburn on November 13th, followed by a home game against Yukon on the 18th. From there, they go straight to Maui, where they will open with Colorado State and then get one of Providence or VCU, with their final game coming from the grouping of BYU Washington, Olmus, or Clemson. They will then get St. John's in Madison Square Garden and Arkansas in Phoenix to round out their schedule. And then they've got a couple of by games as well. So a pretty tough slate, all things considered, for Tommy Lloyd in Arizona, as they look to repeat as Big 12 champs. That's a group of games that will no doubt have them ready for Big 12 play. And now for a schedule that might not have a team ready for Big 12 play, we go to the Baylor Bears, who opened the 26-27 campaign at home on November 2nd against Northwestern State. Other notables on the Bears schedule include a November 15th date with Texas in San Antonio, the players era 16, where they will open with Alabama and then get one of Gonzaga or Kansas State, and then one more game, which they better hope is a doozy. They will host Memphis on December 5th, and then it's a quasi-road game at Washington on December 19th. That game is being played at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, so kind of like a Delta Center, Huntsman Center situation there. Oh, and don't sleep on this one for the Baylor Bears. On December 21st, they will host College of the Ozarks. The Bobcats went 12 and 20 last year, but they did beat a school called Crowley's Ridge. So maybe I should just keep quiet. Baylor will also play Louisville sometime in February, as they did last year. Now, by the time that game came around last season, it didn't really matter for the Bears. So we'll see if they can get themselves a resume boost in the middle of conference play, which again, they will need because there's not a ton of meat on the bone there in the non-conference schedule. So I believe that gives us six officially released non-conference schedules: Kansas, Iowa State, BYU, Kansas State, Arizona, and Baylor. So just a mere 10 to go, including our beloved run and uses.
SPEAKER_01Well, we'll look forward to that, Greg.
SPEAKER_00All right. When we come back, we're gonna dive deep into a Big 12 coaching ranking discussion that threw quite a bit of shade at our guy, Alex Jensen. We'll do that and more right after these words from one of our sponsors. Hey everyone. Well, if you can believe it, we are rounding the corner towards back to school time. And if you've got a husband, dad, or son that you want to outfit with something fresh this school year, check out Fly Fit Tees. With a blend of ring spun cotton and polyester, these t shirts will have that important man or man child in your life looking sharp just in time to head back to school. Listeners of this podcast will Get 30% off their first order by entering the promo code RUNIN'HOOOOS at checkout. This is the absolute best offer out there for FlyFitTees. Google it. And with all the money that you'll be spending on your back to school shopping, wouldn't it be nice to save just a little? That website for you again is FlyFitTees.com, and your promo code at checkout is running hoops. All right. Well, one of the time honored traditions of college football and basketball off seasons is ranking the coaches to determine where they stack up against each other, both on a national level, but also within the conference. It's always a good exercise to see where folks who are not as connected to your team or your program think of the guy that you've got on the bench leading your program. Or is it? Recently, the guys at Three Man Weave, that is Matt Cox, Kai McKeon, and Jen Root, put out a podcast in which they ranked the coaches by conference for all of the major conferences and some of the mid-major conferences as well. Naturally, I tuned in to see what they had to say about Alex Jensen. And well, you're gonna have to listen for yourself. I'm gonna play their entire Big 12 segment, which is about five and a half minutes long. So I'm gonna play the whole thing, react, and then we'll go from there. I hope you're sitting down. Don't drive off the road or throw anything, but take a listen.
SPEAKER_03Okay, Jim, you get the Big 12 to start us off.
SPEAKER_02Kelvin Sampson, Tommy Lloyd, Grant McCaslund, TJ Ozelberger. And I cut it there.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_04It's been a while in Final Fours. The most likely this has been the four. What have you done for me lately? I know. I know. Next because this is the Tom Meso.
SPEAKER_02Wow. I I looked at it and they have basically the same results the last three years. They've all they've finished between 20 and 25 in Ken Pom, and Salt's won one extra tournament game. Neither one's made a sweet 16. I'm taking Randy Bennett right now. He's been doing it with way less resources and better and not as good a player as just been. Jim and Calvin on the same tier at those two, so you're now on my book. I I'm spooked by the Utah State results by Sprinkle and Craig Smith. Oh yeah, okay. Fair. After itself was six. Um, and then this next tier seven through thirteen. Go a lot of ways. Uh yeah. Jamie Dixon, Dixon, Scott Drew, Ross Hodge, Kevin Young, Jared Calhoun, Johnny Dawkins, and Casey Alexander. Final tier. Tad Boyle, Steve Lutz, Alex Jensen. This is a stat I said in the Discord. Steve Lutz has finished above 500 in league play once in his coaching career.
SPEAKER_03That's just Yeah, I don't love that. I really don't. Um it's making me rethink my Lutz love. Lutz. My Lutz.
SPEAKER_04Did you say uh young? Where did you have young? I didn't hear young. I have him tenth in the Boyle tier.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Boyle. Okay. I have Boyle 14th. And, you know, some of that's partially resources at this point. But uh, and I shouldn't be punishing him for that. But I that roster last year wasn't that bad. Look where all his players ended up at, transferring him.
SPEAKER_04They didn't do anything. Matt uh I'd have Jensen dead last. Yes. Like tier below just tier by himself right now. I agree. There's there's no historical evidence. I think he's could yeah, it's it's tough. It was a it was a BYU copycat approach. I just think it was not a terribly misplaced hire, but of a high risk.
SPEAKER_02You can just send Rick Majaris in an interview. That's like the best thing he'd done at East and play for.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04Like you may as well just just if Rick Majaris had like a nephew or like a second nephew, you should just hire him. Um yeah, at the top it's Samson. Like, is he on his own tier? No, I mean, I don't think he's a like a tier above coach, Coach O or our guy, T. Lloyd. Yeah. McCazlin, I did kind of drop to four as like a tier one B, just I don't know, just sort of recency bias there. Uh Self, Bennett, Calhoun, I have sort of in that yeah, they're all awesome. Um, I guess tier two. And then Dixon, Scott Drew, Ross Hodge. The exact same order of those three. And then Dixon Hodge, yes, I said. And then I think Boyle Young Alexander Dawkins-ish. I yeah, Dawkins, I he's been better than this. I know I agree. I think he probably you could argue sort of in the I'm sorry, and I Kevin Young on that tier, too. I think Kevin Young's a a very good coach. I think he has an insanely uh beneficial situation that is worth context adjustment, but I don't think he's a very good coach.
SPEAKER_02Um DC the series will void. I'm curious how that goes. I did see already a problem. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Maybe it's just a good thing. And then I got to the uh Boyle Young Alexander uh Boyle Young Alexander, and then Lutz. Yeah, I'm sour on Lutz, and then um in the basement is is Jetson Cotton.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_04I forgot somebody. There's too many damn teams. No, that's it, that's it, okay.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, uh one Samson, two Lloyd, three still self for me, uh McCaslin, Hanselberger, Randy Bennett, then Drew Dixon Hodge, Calhoun and Young kind of together, and then Boyle, Alexander, Lutz, Dawkins, Jensen.
SPEAKER_04I like the Boyle love. I think Boyle deserves more. I'm glad that you stood up for a little bit. That's good. I think he deserves that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and maybe I should I should move Dawkins maybe up a little bit, but Boyle got he's paying paperclips and he's still competing. I don't know. Maybe I'm too high. Uh Boyle ball is not fun to watch.
SPEAKER_04No, resource-wise, I think they are in like the worst spot of anyone in the league. Made in Utah, right?
SPEAKER_02Like I think he's they're like paying their front court collectively like less than a million this coming year or something. It's it's brutal.
SPEAKER_03Matt Matt in Texas did not like the Dixon hate. We ranked him seven and eight.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's a pretty sound. The top six put up like Hall of Fame. Hold on. I had Dixon the highest non-top. Yeah, like I think the top six is clear too.
SPEAKER_04The top six, seven's really good. And I like Dixon a lot. I mean, what are you gonna put over Samson over Outselberger, Lloyd, McCaslin, self? I'm putting them over Calhoun, Maddie. I had yeah, uh Cal Calhoun's dog, so I'm sorry. Calvin's good.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So obviously, there's a lot to react to there, but what clearly got my attention and why I'm bringing it up on the pod is their treatment of Alex Jensen here. Now, let me just say right off the bat, quasi in their defense. This was an hour or so podcast in which they were attempting to rank and talk about over a hundred coaches, which is no easy task. So I think that at least provides a little bit of the context as to why they completely mailed it in on doing any homework on Alex Jensen. However, that excuse should only take you so far. And if you're going to go to the effort of putting this kind of episode out for public consumption, then you got to do your homework. And with that said, let me address a couple of points here. For the eight millionth time, the BYU copycat approach might be the absolute laziest argument about Utah hiring Jensen that there is out there in the ether. Now, I will acknowledge that Mark Harlan has said publicly that he was more open to hiring an NBA guy this time around than he was when he hired Craig Smith, but that's as far as I'm gonna go. Alex was the only guy by a country mile that the boosters would support and provide money to. Alex is an alum and a fan favorite. His staff is about one-third of the size of Kevin Young's at BYU, but and so is his budget for players. And so it's just a lazy take to say that Utah did the BYU copycat model and didn't do it well, because that's just not the case.
SPEAKER_02Erroneous! Erroneous! Erroneous on both counts.
SPEAKER_00Here's another one. He said Rick Majaris in an interview.
SPEAKER_01Yeah!
SPEAKER_00Wrong again. He played for Rick Majaris and by all accounts was Rick's favorite player. He also coached with Rick Majaris at St. Louis. Are we penalizing all of the other former Rick Majoris assistants at this point? I'm just curious. And of course, he was a well-respected assistant coach in the NBA. So those are just two of the points that they didn't seem to know. And one could argue that outside of coaching at Utah, they might not even know that much about Rick Majaris. Rick Majoris may predate their basketball fandom. I think that's something that you have to at least consider when you listen to some of these arguments, just because they missed so badly on Alex Jensen's connections to the Utah program. Now, here's another thing that they said. Kevin Young is a good coach in a very favorable situation. That second part of that statement might be the most on point thing that was said in the entire discussion. But if you think Young at this very moment is on par with some of these other coaches, then you're a prisoner of the moment. But Andrew, he's had two lottery picks. You're just drinking the hater aid. Uh-huh. And where would those players have gone in the draft without a year under this savant in Provo? DeBanza, let's see, he went number one. And Demon, who was a top three pick heading into the 2024 season, went eighth. So you lose me there as well. Thus far, Young's teams have largely underachieved in the biggest moments, getting to the sweet 16 and then summarily being dismissed by Alabama in a laughter, and then losing to an equally underachieving Texas squad with a first-year head coach. So again, you're gonna have to explain to me what outside of this remarkably favorable situation he is in makes him a quote really good coach because I think he's got a ways to go. And then finally, putting coaches in the middle tier who have never done it in the Big 12. Again, you lose me with that, especially when Roots said at the outset that uh when he was picking Randy Bennett over Bill South, this is a what have you done for me lately? Well, in the Big 12, these three new coaches haven't done anything. Now, again, if you want to put Alex Jensen 16 out of 16, I think there's an argument for that. I think there's a reasonable argument for that, but it isn't based on anything that was provided in their five and a half minutes of coach ranking discussion. That's for damn sure. Well, if you think it's so easy, why don't you do it yourself, Crowley? You know what? Challenge accepted. Now, I actually think that if you take the time to do it and really evaluate these coaches, this can be a fascinating exercise. So the question becomes how do you rank them? Is it simply based on resume? If that's the case, guys like Bill Self and Kelvin Sampson and Scott Drew are going to be near the top. They may be anyway, but I don't think that's the only way to look at it. I think you have to consider what the coach has accomplished at his current school. You have to consider what he did before he got to the Big 12. You have to consider how good of a coach he actually is, the X's and O's, how he develops players, recruits, builds a roster, how his teams play, how he performs in big games. But then there's another factor that I think is really important, and that is where is the program going? Because that's where I think the evaluation gets really interesting. You've got somebody like Tommy Lloyd, who hasn't been a head coach nearly as long as some of these other guys, but he's already re-establishing Arizona as one of the premier programs out west. You've got TJ Ottelberger, who's been incredibly consistent at Iowa State. Grant McCaslin has quickly established himself at Texas Tech. And then you've got coaches like Alex Jensen at Utah and Jared Calhoun at Cincinnati, who don't have the same resume as some of these other veteran coaches in the league, but they have a unique connection to the program that they're leading and might have the potential to move way up this list because of that and because of the support that they've generated from boosters. And that's another piece I think you have to consider, right? Fit. We're not just ranking 16 coaches in a vacuum. We're ranking 16 coaches in 16 very different situations. Alex Jensen isn't another first-time college head coach. He's a Utah alumni. He played for Rick Bajeris. He understands the history and culture of Utah basketball, and he spent years developing players in the NBA. Randy Bennett spent 22 years building St. Mary's into a nationally respected program. And now he's back in his home state of Arizona at Arizona State. That's a completely different challenge, but a potentially really interesting fit. And as we talked about, Jared Calhoun, he's got a direct connection to Cincinnati. He was a student assistant under Bob Huggins. So there's a question of whether he can take some of what he learned from Huggins and build his own version of Cincinnati basketball. And you could go down the list with each coach's situation and find the uniqueness and important context in it. So for me, I'm looking at several things. Number one, what have you accomplished? Number two, how good do I think you actually are as a coach? Number three, where do I think your program is going? And number four, how well do I think you fit the specific situation that you're in? Because those aren't always the same thing. The coach with the best resume isn't necessarily the coach that I would want to hire today. And the coach I'd want to hire today isn't necessarily the coach who's accomplished the most. So I'm going to rank all 16 Big 12 head coaches, put them in the tiers, and give you the cases for the rankings because I think there's going to be a lot of room for debate here, but we'll see. So again, let's get to the criteria, right? Past success at your current job. What have you actually accomplished at the school you're coaching at right now? NCAA tournament success, conference championships, sustained winning, and how much you've elevated the program. Your program outlook, where is it going? What's the roster situation? Recruiting, NIL, the infrastructure, the trajectory. Do I think the program is positioned to be better three years from now? Current and recent performance. Because I don't want to over-reward somebody for what they did five or 10 years ago if the program is trending in the wrong direction today. Coaching ability. How good are you at actually coaching basketball? Player development, game planning, adjustments, defense, offense, and getting the most out of your roster. Institutional and program fit. This is where I think some of the more interesting cases come in. Does a coach have a unique connection to the school? Does he fit the culture? Does he have a geographic ties? Does he understand the program? Degree of difficulty. How hard is it to accomplish what you've accomplished? Did you inherit a powerhouse or did you build something from scratch? And then finally, past success elsewhere. I'm giving credit for what coaches accomplished before they got to the Big 12, but I'm not letting that overwhelm what they're doing right now. With that, let's dive into it. Our first tier is the elite. Now, elite is becoming an overused word in the sports lexicon, but whatever. There's probably no better way to describe the coaches in this grouping. So that's what we're going to go with. And number one for me is Calvin Sampson at Houston. And I don't think there's much debate. He's built Houston into one of the best programs in the country, and he's done it in the toughest possible environment of college athletics. The biggest thing for me is that Houston isn't just good because Calvin Sampson happens to have a great team right now. Houston has become a machine. The defense, the physicality, the player development, the toughness, it's all part of that identity. He's got one glaring thing missing from his resume, and that is winning a national championship, which I actually think is a big part of what is keeping him in Houston and keeps him going. Outside of that, to me, he is the clear number one best head coach in the league right now. Number two, Bill South. This is where the first real debate could start. I don't know if it does, but it could. If we're ranking career greatness, I could easily put South at number one. He's got a pair national championships, multiple Final Fours, incredible run of NCAA tournament appearances and conference championships at Kansas, and more than two decades of dominance in Lawrence. The reason that I have him at number two is not because I think he's a worse coach than Kelvin Sampson. It's because I'm putting a little more emphasis on what each coach is doing right now and where I think the program is going. Self has had a couple of challenging seasons both on and off the court, and some college basketball experts expect another potentially bumpy season with Tyron Stokes, who has been, quote, difficult to coach. That's not a quote from Bill Self. That is a quote from coaches prior to his time in college. But here's an important distinction. If somebody tells me that Bill South was the number one coach in the Big 12, I got no problem with that argument. It's really one and one A for me personally. Number three, Scott True at Baylor. Scott Drew is Baylor basketball. More so than most of the other coaches define their programs. He inherited a program that was ravaged by scandals and a really terrible situation, to put it mildly, and has built it into a national championship winning program and one that expects to compete year in and year out. Last year was definitely the exception for the Bears and Drew, not the rule. And then he's been on this run of landing five stars and getting them to Waco of all places. It's very impressive. And again, at some point, winning it all has to count for something. He's just one of seven active coaches to do so. So I've got Scott Drew third. And those are my three elite coaches right now in the Big 12. Now, your tier two proven high-level coaches. That list for me begins with Tommy Lloyd at Arizona. Before last season, it would have been TJ Otzelberger here in the four spot. But Tommy Lloyd marching through the Big 12 last year in the manner that he did in getting Arizona back to the Final Four for the first time since 2001 gives him the nod here. Now, Lloyd is also an interesting case because this is his first and only head coaching job. And there's no question that Arizona is one of those places where the resources probably go to basketball over football. Still, that job is a pressure cook in a way. And Lloyd has done a nice job of navigating that, especially as a first-time head coach. And he's also turned down overtures from the likes of North Carolina to stay at Arizona. So he lands at number four on my list. Number five, TJ Otselberger, Iowa State. Outside of Kelvin Sampson, if you ask me to pick a coach that I'd trust my team with, taking our guy Alex out of the equation for a second here, it's TJ Otzelberger. He rarely adds guys to his program that stop people in their tracks. And yet, this is one of the best defensive teams in the country year in and year out. He too has turned down interest from North Carolina and even Michigan after Dusty May left. So he seems pretty entrenched there in aims and his star just continues to rise. Now the next step for TJ is twofold. He's got to get a team to the Final Four, and it would help if he could get a team there that was healthy through the entire season. Those injuries aren't on him per se, but at some point that bad luck just feels like too much to overcome. Number six, Grant McCaslin at Texas Tech. McCastlin's another coach I really like. Now, he's at another place with a lot of money, which gives him some advantages, but he's clearly shown his acumen as an X's and O's coach as well. And again, he's still very young in his coaching career. Without JT Toppen, the Red Raiders ran into an absolute buzzsaw in Alabama in the NCAA tournament. Shouts to Tuscaloosa Rob, friend of the podcast. But still, I think this guy is one of the rising stars, not only in the Big 12, but in the coaching profession. Grant McCaslin in at six. Number seven, Jamie Dixon at TCU. Dixon is a really, really interesting case here because he's been good at two power five stops, Pittsburgh and TCU, but he hasn't taken TCU to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament during his time in Fort Worth. I think he's a guy that you could trust your program with, but is he the guy that's going to take it to the next level? That remains a question here for Dixon. Now, he's got 53% of his production returning for the upcoming season. So he could very well be in for a narrative changing type season there in Fort Worth. So that's seven of 16 coaches, and I think that's where I cut my tier two, which takes us to our next grouping. Tier three, very good coaches with questions. Number eight, Tad Boyle at Colorado. One area where I agree with the fellas over at Three Man Weave is on Tad Boyle. I don't love some of Things that he does off the court, but I do think he's a very good recruiter and motivator. He gets the most out of his teams, and up until this passed off season, managed to hang on to a lot of his really good players there in Boulder, and he's done so with next to no NIL. So I think Tad Boyle is one of those coaches where it's like, you know, you're in for a long night when you play Colorado, and they can get anybody in the CU Event Center on any given night. Number nine, Randy Bennett, Arizona State. Bennett's really hard to rank. His resume alone dictates that he'll be in this neighborhood. But again, for all of his success, he's not done it at the power five level, and he's had opportunities to go other places. Just ask the Randy Bennett truthers and our fan base. They're out there. So the big question for Bennett now is can he get what has made him successful at St. Mary's and in the WCC to work at a place like Arizona State in the Big 12? Plus, he's 64 and he's starting over. So that's a factor as well. But I've got him here for now. Number 10, Johnny Dawkins, UCF. I'm tempted to cut the list here before Dawkins, but I'm going to throw him a bone here and add him to this list of very good coaches with questions. He won 58% of his games at Stanford, but was eventually let go, and he's won 59% of his games at UCF. But the bulk of those victories came in the American Athletic Conference. He fought off getting fired last year by getting to the NCAA tournament, which earned him a three-year contract extension, but he's basically in a spot right now where he has to prove that he's still got it year in and year out. So that's my tier three group of coaches. And then we go to tier four, building and developing, but to be determined. So we've got 10 coaches through those first three tiers, and the remaining six are all going to go into this fourth tier for me, building and developing, but to be determined. And yes, we're going to begin here at number 11 with Kevin Young down at BYU. He has got seemingly unlimited resources at his disposal for recruiting and staff support. He's also got a sizable media machine available to do his bidding, which allows him to get a very specific and targeted message out there. And so far it's worked. He's landed a number of high-profile players and has his program in the conversation for many, many more. But for me, that's where it ends with Kevin Young. We've got very little evidence at this point, two seasons in, that he is a good X as an O's coach or even a motivator, as manifests by the fact that his teams don't play a lick of defense and he's been out coached in some pivotal, pivotal spots. You'd also be hard pressed to convince me of his player development chops. Both Demon and DeBonsa were lottery picks before arriving at BYU. And what can you reasonably say about their games improved while in Provo? His best use case right now is Richie Saunders. But again, you'd have to ask, what's the deficiency that was in Richie Saunders' game that Young changed or helped him improve? Again, he's ahead of everyone else in this group for the reasons I've stated, but he's got a long way to go before you could put him much higher on the list ahead of some of those other coaches. So that's where I've got Kevin Young among coaches in the Big 12. The next one is a real tough call, and it's between Steve Wutz at Oklahoma State and Ross Hodge at West Virginia. And I'm going to go with Hodge. Number 12, Ross Hodge, West Virginia. He gets the edge for me because despite the fact that he's only been there a year and he's going to have pretty much a new roster again. His teams have a very clear identity already. And it's on the defensive end. And he's got a bunch of disparate pieces to commit on that side of the floor, which really allowed him to stay in most games last year. Plus, I mean, that college basketball crown championship, that's got to count for something, right? They're not taking that away from them, not ever. So Ross Hodge is in at 12 for me. That leaves Steve Lutz at 13. Though it's not as pronounced as Hodge's defensive culture shift in Morgantown, I do think that Steve Lutz has done a good job of putting a culture in place to return Oklahoma State to the NCAA tournament. He's done it the last two seasons with a bunch of transfers, but now his recruiting from the high school ranks is starting to catch up, and he's landing some really solid players. He also got a pretty strong investment from the boosters this offseason, and that's why the Polks are a good candidate for a move into the top half of the league this season. Really is for me a coin flip between Lutz and Hodge. 14. This is where I'm going to slide our guy, Alex Jensen, into the rankings list. And it's largely because he gets the benefit of having been through the grind of the Big 12 schedule and understanding the true talent needs to compete in the league. Plus, it's his first full-off season fully entrenched in the job, and I think there's value in that. Now, it's his full-off season fully entrenched in the job because of his own doing, but still. But it's not an open and shut case for Al. Like I said, context matters, which I will repeat now, even though most of you listening know this, but apparently the guys at Three Man Weave don't. He played under Rick Majaris, a college basketball Hall of Fame coach, by the way. He was an integral part of some of Utah's most successful teams, as well as a respected coach in the NBA, having developed a number of players, and most importantly, he's quite literally the only person who the big donors would pony up competitive NIL for. Now, look, it's hard to sugarcoat winning just 10 games last year, but I never got the sense that his team quit on him, other than the two guys that actually quit on him, which is an important distinction. And there were certainly moments where you could see some of the X's and O's coming into place, but they were few and far between due to some of the talent issues. So anyway, bias is understood. It's just not a slam dunk for me that he is the rock bottom worst coach in the Big 12, and I'm putting him at 14 as a result. Number 15, Jared Calhoun at Cincinnati. Calhoun is a coach that requires that similar context to what we just talked about with Alex Jensen, right? He was a student assistant under Bob Huggins and has had some pretty good stops at both Youngstown State and Utah State. So as you heard in the discussion, I think there's at least some question as to whether or not it's the coaching or the place that has driven all of the success in Logan. But again, given his ties to the program, I'm giving him a leg up on the guy in the final spot because of the motivation of the alumni to help somebody with a connection to the program succeed. And that takes us to number 16, Casey Alexander at Kansas State, who I might add is not in this spot with a bullet the way that the other guys had, Alex Jensen. Now, as I understand it, Casey Alexander was at least the third choice of the program behind Josh Schurts at St. Louis and the aforementioned Calhoun. That's not necessarily a disqualifier in and of itself, but I think it's worth noting. I look at Alexander as a very good mid-major coach, but unfortunately for him, his only chance to prove himself in March came during the COVID season, where the tournament was canceled. So while he's won 62% of his games, he hasn't reached the pinnacle in either the A Sun or the Missouri Valley, which makes the Big 12 an even bigger hill to climb. On top of that, Kansas State has invested heavily in their last couple of rosters with absolutely zero to show for it. So most people suspect that they're going to pull back on their basketball investment. And you can see that reflected in the first roster that Alexander has put together. It's a lot of mid-major guys that are going to have to level up or guys that have played, you know, sparing minutes at major programs. So it'll be interesting to see how quickly he can get it going. For me, I think this year is a big time struggle year for Kansas State and for Casey Alexander. And that's why I have him in the 16 spot. I'm going to revisit this at the end of the season. And every offseason, we'll do a little Andrew right, Andrew wrong at some point. But those are my coaching rank here heading into the upcoming season. Agree, disagree, too high, too low. What did I get right? What did I get wrong in your review? Let me know over on the socials at Run and Hoops Pod and at Runin' Hoops over on Instagram. But that's going to do it for this episode of the Run and Hoops podcast. I want to thank you as always for listening. Happy football is back to all of those who celebrate. Please give me a follow, as I just mentioned, over at Runin' Hoops Pod on X and at Run and Hoops on Instagram. Please rate, review, and subscribe to the show over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get a podcast. And of course, you can support us on Venmo at Runin' Hoops. But until next time, I'm Andrew Crowley. This is the Running Hoops Podcast. And it's all go you.