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Rivals.com national basketball analysts Eric Bossi and Corey Evans are back with another installment of Rivals views. Today, they debate the best coaching hire so far.
BOSSI'S VIEW: Archie Miller, Indiana
There have been no shortage of eyebrow-raising hires during the 2017 edition of the college coaching carousel and the hiring of Patrick Ewing at Georgetown is a very interesting one on several levels. However, in my opinion, Indiana’s hiring of Archie Miller from Dayton is the best of the spring.
Given that he is only 38 years old, Miller is already quite accomplished. His Dayton teams won the last two A-10 regular season titles. He will also arrive in Bloomington having taken the Flyers to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four years, including a run to the Elite Eight – somewhere the Hoosiers haven’t been since 2002 – in 2014.
Miller, the younger brother of Arizona coach Sean Miller, also brings assistant coaching experience at high majors: Arizona, Arizona State, N.C. State and Ohio State. So, he has experience far beyond his years and should be as prepared to coach at the high major level.
The biggest question will always be can Miller recruit to a blueblood such as Indiana. That’s something that we will have to wait and find out, but he did land four Rivals150 players in a four-year span at Dayton. He has been recognized by his peers as a coach who finds and develops underappreciated talent.
We won’t know for sure who won the 2017 hiring cycle for at least a year or perhaps longer, but at least on paper and based on recent results, Indiana looks to have knocked its hire out of the park.
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EVANS' VIEW: Cuonzo Martin, Missouri
The coaching carousel is coming to an end but Missouri looks to have won the spring thanks to the hiring of Cuonzo Martin, the former head coach at California.
Martin instantly infused his roster with a premier talent by landing Michael Porter Jr. He hired his father, who was on staff at Washington, which then set off a domino effect. Porter Jr.’s stay at Mizzou may be short as he could become the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, but landing the top-ranked player in the 2017 class should help in a variety of ways.
Kevin Knox, a top-10 forward in the 2017 class, was originally down to a final four of Kentucky, Duke, UNC and Florida State. Never speaking with Missouri in past years up until now, Knox will visit the school this weekend. This never would have happened if it wasn’t for the hiring of Martin. The same could be said about Blake Harris, a Rivals150 guard that was originally signed for Washington, who will also visit Columbia this weekend.
As we have seen in the NBA with the Cavaliers, Heat and Warriors, the best want to play with the best. Now at Missouri, some of the top recruits are eyeing the program primarily due to the significance of playing with the top players in the land, along with the plethora of minutes available and an improving SEC.
Without the hiring of Martin, Missouri basketball would have remained in the doldrums of college basketball. Instead, there is a buzz around Mizzou right now, meaning that Martin’s hiring has already been a giant victory for the program.
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