These coaches have worked wonders

Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl answers your college basketball questions every Wednesday. Click here to send him a question.

Since my pal Seth Davis has already given his top choices for national player of the year, I thought I'd provide the 'Bag's list for Coach of the Year, in response to reader J.W. of New York, who wonders if Michigan's Tommy Amaker might overtake Louisville's Rick Pitino to win the award.

With the caveat that my list could change over the final two weeks of the regular season, here are my top 15 if I had to vote today:

1. Tubby Smith, Kentucky. How often does an elite team completely change its identity in midseason? Kentucky's metamorphosis from Underachievement Central into the scariest defense in the land is mainly due to the man on the sideline.

2. Tommy Amaker, Michigan. The Wolverines have nothing to play for but pride ... and they just might win the Big Ten.

3. Rick Pitino, Louisville. Even though the 'Cards have slipped a notch in the past week, Louisville's revival is still one of the year's top stories.

4. John Beilein, West Virginia. Handed a cupboard that wasn't just bare but was being burned for fuel after an apocalyptic offseason, Beilein somehow engineered wins over Florida, Tennessee and Villanova. For those who follow the game, the Mountaineers' 13-11 mark might be the most jaw-dropping record in the country.

5. Skip Prosser, Wake Forest. All right: Who had Wake on top of the ACC before the season started?

6. Mike Brey, Notre Dame. Even allowing for this week's home hiccup to UConn, the Irish have been in the conversation all year.

7. Mike Montgomery, Stanford. Hammered by NBA defections, Monty nevertheless has the Card cruising at 21-6.

8. Dana Altman, Creighton. Despite wearing a giant target in the tough Missouri Valley, the Bluejays haven't faltered.

9. Gene Keady, Purdue. The owner of college hoops' best hair was a few spots higher until the past week. Nobody expected such a rebound year, though.

10. Eddie Sutton, Oklahoma State. See: Keady, Gene.

11. Oliver Purnell, Dayton. The Flyers' team play makes them one of my favorite schools to watch this year.

12. John Calipari, Memphis. Fried Calipari no more. Getting Memphis back into the tournament is no small feat.

13. Jim Boeheim, Syracuse. After a late-season collapse last year, the Orangemen are heading in the opposite direction 12 months later.

14. Rick Majerus, Utah. I thought the Utes would be in for a tough year after their season-opening blowout loss to Gonzaga (and league-opening L to San Diego State). Check again: Majerus' boys are 21-4 and running rampant (9-1) in the Mountain West.

15. Cliff Ellis, Auburn. At 18-7 (7-5 SEC), the surprising Tigers are still in the hunt for the NCAA bid Alabama thought it had secured.

BTW, folks, before you send me any nasty-grams, note the common thread running through the list above: Every one's team has exceeded expectations. As good a job as Lute Olson has done at Arizona this season, he was pretty much out of the running for coach of the year from Day One (in my book, at least).

Onward ...

The buzzword in college basketball this year seems to be parity, especially in the major conferences. What effect do you think all this parity will have on the number of at-large bids for mid-majors? Also, does this increase or decrease the likelihood that a mid-major can make an unusually deep run in the tournament?
—Matt, Oxford, Ohio

I don't think parity will bring about an unusually high or low number of mid-major at-large bids this year. But I do think it might slightly increase the chances for a long tournament run by, say, Creighton or Dayton or Weber State. The message is out more clearly than ever before: Nobody is unbeatable. Mid-majors have been knocking at the door of the Final Four for several years now, and the time is ripe to knock it down completely.

What's going on with my man Chris Duhon? It seems like he has totally sublimated himself to the point of losing his identity. Aside from some clutch play against Carolina, he has been MIA all year.
—Rick Rand, Memphis, Tenn.

Rick, I'm trying to picture what would have happened to poor Duhon if he had literally sublimated himself (in chemistry terms, "transformed directly from the solid into the gaseous state without becoming a liquid"). Not a pretty image, is it? Nor, to be frank, is the picture of Duhon that I've seen in most games this year. At the risk of making the 'Bag look bad, I'll admit that I called Duhon "the guy who will win next year's player of the year" award before the 2001-02 season. At the time, recall, Duhon was coming off a national title with Duke, as well as a summer campaign with USA Basketball that had coaches predicting huge things. Regrettably, those predictions didn't include the following: "Can't shoot." On a positive note, however, I forgot to mention his brother, Thomas, aka "Little Duhon," as one of the best relatives on the college hoops scene when asked three weeks ago.

Why are you second-guessing your including Mississippi State in your Magic Eight? MSU is 17-6 and leads the Western Division of the toughest conference in the nation, according to the RPI. Timmy Bowers scored 25 in a win at Auburn last Wednesday, and Derrick Zimmerman and Mario Austin are playing great ball. MSU started 0-3 in the SEC and fell off a lot of people's radar screens, but since then the Bulldogs are 7-2 in conference.
—Ryan Enis, Nashville, Tenn.

I'm not second-guessing my Bulldogs pick as much as lamenting that I had picked them instead of, say, Kentucky. Rick Stansbury's team could easily have gone the way of Alabama after it started 0-3 in the SEC, but the Bulldogs have discovered a resiliency that has eluded the Crimson Tide (until, perhaps, last weekend at Tennessee). Mississippi State's win at Auburn and its strong showing in a loss at Kentucky have clearly shown me that the Bulldogs shouldn't be out of the discussion when it comes to Final Four candidates. MSU has a ton of depth, and I can't think of a more athletic backcourt in the SEC than Bowers and Zimmerman. And Austin, needless to say, is a force.

Every time there's a held-ball situation, the announcers invariably go on a rant about how the officials should throw the ball up instead of using the alternate-possession rule. It seems like everyone I know agrees with the announcers. So why is alternate possession still around? Any chance of it going away in the near future?
—Scott Mahoney, New York

Well, Scott, let me be a dissenting voice. Not only do I like the alternate-possession rule, but I think we should go all the way and remove the vestigial jump circles that comprise the key at both ends of the floor (thus adhering to my previous rant about unnecessary markings on the nation's courts). Seriously, what's the problem with alternate possession? The only time people complain about it is in single-case situations at the ends of games, when in fact we should look at it from the big-picture perspective. Think about it: Over the course of a season, alternate possession is the most equitable solution imaginable, a far better option than the time-consuming jump-ball scenario which rewards taller players unfairly and is rarely handled well by officials anyway. (See: Bad tosses.)

What's the deal with Oklahoma State? It seems like the Cowboys start off every year on a good note, then they go into the tank around February. This decline always seems to be because of their offense (or lack of it).
—Coby, Riverton, Wyo.

So you've followed O-State for, what, two years, Coby? Just so you know, Sutton's teams in Stillwater have always been known for the way they've peaked at the end of the season -- until the last two years. True, home losses to Baylor and Texas Tech aren't good, but I wouldn't write off the Pokes just yet. After all, didn't they beat Texas last Saturday? (By the way, nothing hacks me off more than the way the Seattle Sonics -- who play just down the street from the 'Bag -- unloaded O-State alum Desmond Mason and Gary Payton, the team's two most popular players. Godspeed, guys. You'll be missed in Sea-town.)

Which teams are overrated in the RPI?
—Peter Schroeder, Dallas

If you're asking about the unadjusted RPI (collegerpi.com), here are a few: Georgia (No. 6), Duke (7), Oklahoma State (9), BYU (17), Missouri (23) and Alabama (25). Keep in mind, though, the real RPI used by the NCAA is an adjusted table that isn't released to the public. If you're looking for a first-rate story on how the RPI works and the history behind its creation (including a lot of stuff that I never knew), check out Alexander Wolff's article in this week's Sports Illustrated.

Do you have enough pull to convince the good folks at CBS to quit playing that awful One Shining Moment after the final? After listening to the stupid song for the 30th time, I feel like Jack Nicholson and have my own The Shining moment.
—Michael, Omaha, Neb.

Why did CBS change its rendition of One Shining Moment last year? I thought the new one was horrible compared to the classic that every college basketball fan knows. I look forward to the presentation every year, no matter which two teams are playing, and last year's version I wouldn't even call music. It was choppy, hard to follow and had an awful rhythm.
—Cathy Hurst, Lexington, Ky.

I realize I'm stepping into dangerous territory here (you'd be amazed how many fans, players and 'Bag Mothers get misty-eyed watching OSM), but we are ready for a change, aren't we? Granted, I was busy tracking Gary Williams' toddler grandson around the court last year and trying to make an ungodly mag deadline, so I missed the "new and improved" OSM that was playing on your TV screen. But if you watch MTV's upcoming hour-long feature show on the NCAA tournament, you might just see me railing against OSM and lobbying, at the very least, for a bass line. Call me perverse, but I'd love to see the look on Cathy's face if 50 Cent invaded her living room with a bleeped-out version of One !#$% Shining Moment.

(By the way, the 'Bag hates to admit this, but the 'Bag Mother last week voiced a concern that you know you were thinking about: Where will we watch the tournament if the U.S. invades Iraq at the same time? Now we know the answer: MTV, baby. For some reason the thought of newly hired commentator Kareem Abdul-Jabbar speaking into an MTV microphone seems even stranger than tuning into Fox Family for the baseball playoffs.)

Has complaining by coaches gone up in the last few years?
—Raphe Cheli, Chicago

I think so, Raphe. Nothing bothers me more than coaches (or, for that matter, writers, fans and players) who are constantly carping about the referees. Which is why (until college hoops comes up with its own Peter Prendergast) you won't ever see it in the 'Bag.

Let's get Ruben Douglas some national run. If this guy was playing on the East Coast you guys would be all over him.
—Michael Gabora, Albuquerque, N.M.

Memo to Michael (from the 'Bag's proud home in Seattle): If New Mexico had won about a dozen more games we might be talking about Douglas more often. Don't confuse "East Coast bias" for the rational thinking that losing teams deserve to be agate fodder.

Is there such thing as Cameron Outdoor Stadium?
—Patrick Barker, Lexington, Ky.

You know, Patrick, as ridiculous as this question may sound, I'm curious: Why the heck is Duke's arena called Cameron Indoor Stadium? Can anybody help me out here? (No wiseguys need apply.)

Station break: Two random things