An Excellent Look At The Top 5 ACC Portal Hauls

Syracuse’s Gerry McNamara is ranked #14. Based on what we saw in March, McNamara is gifted, but Syracuse needs to give him the money to compete.

UNC’s rookie coach Michael Malone is #13. Everyone knows he was an excellent NBA coach, but college is just different. Time will tell.

Georgia Tech’s rookie coach Scott Cross? Same basic issue. If he gets money, he might turn out. If not, they’ll keep spiraling.

Same for #11, Wake’s Steve Forbes. His teams are obviously well-coached, but money, filthy money. What can you do?

We’d love to see #10 Jeff Capel turn it around at Pitt, but it’s been a struggle. Like most of the coaches on this list, he’ll be limited by money.

#9 Mike Young nearly upset Kentucky when he was at Wofford, so there’s no question he can coach. All together, now: it’s.the.money.

#8 Luke Loucks took the FSU job knowing he would have to overcome a lack of moollah, and when his first approach last season failed, he reset his approach. By the end of the year, Florida State was as good as any team in the league. It’s still too early to be sure of greatness, but you’d better keep an eye on Loucks.

#7 Andy Enfield has been a good but not great coach. However, SMU fans are willing to spend big on sports, so he’s well-positioned to succeed in Dallas.

#6? Kyle Smith. Might be a stretch, but he’s an analytics guy, and he was the one who realized that Ebuka Okra could play at a high level, and then turned him into a monster.

#5 Jai Lucas’s stunning first year might have surprised the broad basketball world, but Duke fans? Nah. We understood what he did here. Duke was a finishing school, and he’ll turn Miami into a monster soon enough.

Brad Brownell is #4, and that guy is the best coach Clemson has ever had. His teams are smart, tough, and he may be the best talent developer in the ACC. We’ll see what he does with former Notre Dame guard Cole Certa.

Louisville’s Pat Kelsey is #3. It blows our mind that Cards fans were arrogant enough to demand more. They’re lucky they don’t have to deal with the Kenny Payne era anymore. Kelsey had one amazing season and one frustrating season. Be patient. He’s building something.

#2 Ryan Odom had a beautiful first season in Charlottesville. We were hugely impressed. That guy is going places, hopefully figuratively, not literally.

And coming in at #1? Jon Scheyer, of course.

His first four seasons are on a Hall of Fame track. The guy is just on a different level.

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