In an effort to talk about something college basketball-related other than scandals in the summer, let's talk best current coaches. We'll attempt to order the top 25 current coaches in the nation. This is about the present and the future, not the distant past. What a guy did in the mid-90s doesn't matter near as much as the direction his program is currently headed. Past pedigree also matters, to an extent. For the perfect mix of past accomplishments with present achievement and a paved road for future success, look no further than the man atop the list.
Headlining: Pittsburgh beat Connecticut to kick off the week, led by DeJuan Blair's ridiculous 22-point, 23-rebound effort. It seemed relatively unlikely at the time that the Panthers could manage to jump both North Carolina and Oklahoma, providing that either one of the two won out for the week.
But then Saturday rolled around. The Tar Heels fell to Maryland and Oklahoma, without Blake Griffin for most of the game, coughed one up to Texas.
Wake Forest 70, Duke 68 Two things stand out about Wake Forest from this game. First, Dino Gaudio has done a tremendous job turning the Deacons into a team that can actually play defense (Holloman noted this a while back, actually), and second, can this Wake team close? I know they actually won, so that seems like a silly question, but after seeing the Virginia Tech debacle and then seeing them play down the stretch against Duke, it wouldn't be fair not to question their throat-stomping ability
Were Wake Forest ever to erect its own coaching Mount Rushmore, exactly two faces, Bones McKinney and Skip Prosser, would qualify for a place in oversized granite. Every one else would get patted down for so much as trying to get into the souvenir shop.
McKinney, who led the Deacons to their only Final Four appearance in 1962, was the perfect confluence of coaching and charm. Had the State Department opted to have McKinney oversee that Cold War business, he might've brought the two sides together and had Brezhnev telling knock-knock jokes.
Prosser, who led the Deacons to their only No. 1 ranking in school history and a record 27 wins, was a larger-than-the-sidelines, self-described "renaissance man," some parts Neitzsche, some parts Nitschke.
This week, FanHouse is taking an early look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.
Today, we have enlisted Zach Smith of the Old Gold & Blogto break down the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
The 2008-2009 Wake Forest Demon Deacons are poised for an exciting season in Winston-Salem. Dino Gaudio is back for his second season as head coach, and he returns all but one of his scholarship players from the 2007-2008 squad. Not only do the Deacs return every single significant contributor, but one of the nation's top recruiting classes will add even more depth to an already-talented team.
Last season Wake Forest showed flashes of brilliance, most notably in an impressive upset of the Duke Blue Devils, but were ultimately done in by several ugly losses, including an ugly first round exit from the ACC tournament at the hands of Florida State.
Today ... July 26th ... is my birthday. That fact is one of the reasons I will always remember Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser, who passed away one year ago today.
I have such respect for Skip ... so much so that it pained me to see his program struggle mightily in his final few seasons at the helm. He was on the hottest of seats in the ACC as he pulled in one of the best classes any program would love to have (Ty Walker, Tony Woods and Al-Farouq Aminu).
That class will be enrolling at Wake this fall.
One of the things that makes me proud to be a fan of the ACC is how everyone reacted to Skip's death. The coaches and players who are rivals, but friends, did everything they could to comfort the Prosser family and the Deacons program. When those mega recruits were told they could look elsewhere to go to school ... the ACC coaches banded together to not recruit away any of those young men. Skip's recruits should be going to Wake Forest and no other ACC school. To their credit, they stayed.
With the ACC regular season over and done, it's time to go back and give a few awards for the season.
Player of the Year: Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina. Only Antawn Jamison, Tim Duncan and Horace Grant have led the ACC in both scoring and rebounding in the same season over the past 25 years. All three of those guys went on to win the Player of the Year in the ACC (two won the national award).
Coach of the Year: Dino Gaudio, Wake Forest. Va Tech's Seth Greenberg or Miami's Frank Haith may win it (and they would deserve it). But Gaudio came into such a tough situation with a team that hadn't been very good lately. Sure, the magic of the win over Duke was dampered a bit with the ensuing four game losing skid, but this was a big year for
All-ACC Team: Hansbrough, Tyrese Rice (BC), DeMarcus Nelson (Duke), Sean Singletary (UVa) and Greivis Vasquez (UMd). Either this was a great year for guards or a poor year for big men. Either way, Rice and Singletary have been the lone reasons to pay attention to either of their teams. Vasquez, a sophomore, has really stepped into his leadership role at Maryland. Nelson fills the customary senior swingman spot on this team. Just like Vasquez, Nelson's leadership has meant more to Duke than his abilities ... and that is saying quite a bit!
Onion Peels
This week, FanHouse is taking an early look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.
Today ... July 26th ... is my birthday. That fact is one of the reasons I will always remember Wake Forest head coach 
With the ACC regular season over and done, it's time to go back and give a few awards for the season.
