Ranking the Top Player-Coach Duos in College Basketball in 2016-17

Which matters more when putting together a winning college basketball team: talent or coaching? Stop, you're both right.

Look back at the top teams in recent years, and they nearly all have something in common. Each had a coach who is regarded as one of the best in the game, and his squad was led by a standout player. That combination is what made many of them as good as they were, since the relationship between player and coach was strengthened by each side's abilities and talents.

Who are the best player-coach duos in college basketball for the 2016-17 season? We've picked out 20 of them, with the rankings leaning heavily toward ones that have worked together before. There are some that involve highly touted freshmen, but since to this point their relationship with the coach is more a product of recruiting than on-field performance, they're at the bottom of the list.

Nos. 16-20: Veteran Coaches with Star Freshmen

It's no surprise that many of the top prep basketball prospects routinely commit to play for college programs run by the most successful coaches. These recruits are looking to get to the NBA as quickly as possible and feel like the best way to do that is be part of a team that's going to get plenty of exposure and where the coaching they receive will help prepare them for the pros.

In several cases, these incoming stars are going to be the central focus of their clubs, and thus their relationship with the coach will be integral to team success:

• No. 1 overall prospect Josh Jackson should thrive under Kansas coach Bill Self, who just three seasons ago helped develop Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid into the first and third picks, respectively, in the 2014 NBA draft. Jackson is projected by DraftExpress as the No. 5 selection in 2017.
• Kentucky coach John Calipari has basically turned his program into an unofficial NBA Developmental League squad, a farm team that routinely sends several players into the pros each season. The 2016-17 version is no different thanks to a monster recruiting class that features four top-25 players. From that lot, point guard De'Aaron Fox figures to be the one Calipari turns to most to be a leader.
• Lonzo Ball comes to UCLA with immense hype, and the point guard is somewhat being tasked with saving his coach's job. Steve Alford is coming off a 15-17 season, and the fans are restless, but Ball could be the savior. As interesting as how player and coach get along is what impact this might have on Alford's relationship with his son, senior guard Bryce Alford.
• Tom Izzo's tremendous run at Michigan State—seven Final Fours and a national title in 21 seasons—has come with great players, but not always ones who arrived in East Lansing with a lot of stars from recruiting services. Wing Miles Bridges changes that, with the Spartans' significant roster turnover making it likely he'll be Izzo's highest-scoring freshman ever.
• It's been a few years since Washington made the NCAA tournament, but that could change with coach Lorenzo Romar landing stud Markelle Fultz. The nation's top point guard prospect is also DraftExpress' choice for the No. 1 pick next June.

15. Bonzie Colson and Mike Brey, Notre Dame

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The relationship Mike Brey has developed over the years with some of his guards, such as recent departees Jerian Grant and Demetrius Jackson, has been as responsible as anything for Notre Dame faring so well in the ACC. For the Fighting Irish to continue at that level will mean finding a new player to turn to for leadership and clutch play, and Bonzie Colson may be the answer.

Colson is one of the hardest players to describe in college basketball, a 6'5" forward who is built like a bowling ball and has both the agility of a guard and the strength of a post man. He was often Notre Dame's power forward the past two seasons despite being several inches shorter than most of his opponents.

Brey returns three starters for 2016-17 in Colson and shooters V.J. Beachem and Steve Vasturia. Perimeter play will remain a focal point for Notre Dame, but how Brey uses Colson may make the most difference.

14. Tyler Lydon and Jim Boeheim, Syracuse

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Among the many reasons that Jim Boeheim has been able to win so much and for so long is that he's found a system that works and players who fit well in it. Look back at the lineups he's had during 40 years and nearly 1,000 wins, and you'll see some significant similarities: long and lean guys who can shoot from the perimeter and are capable of defending in a zone.

Tyler Lydon is the prototypical Boeheim player and then some. So far, he's shown he can handle his assignments with the zone and also thrive offensively. The 6'8" forward averaged 10.1 points and 6.3 rebounds as a freshman, shooting 40.5 percent from three-point range while also blocking 67 shots.

During Syracuse's surprise run to the Final Four, Lydon averaged 10.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.0 blocks. He was one of five players in Division I last season with at least two games scoring 10 points with at least two three-pointers and five blocks.

13. Evan Bradds and Rick Byrd, Belmont

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Rick Byrd has run Belmont since 1986, when the Bruins were an NAIA program. He navigated them through the move to Division I in 1996 and subsequent moves to the Atlantic Sun and now Ohio Valley conferences, winning at every stop of the way.

He's done so by cultivating diamonds in the rough, players who weren't heavily recruited elsewhere but who fit perfectly in his system. Evan Bradds is among the best he's ever had, and not just because he seems almost incapable of taking a bad shot.

The 6'7" wing has shot 68.9 percent in three seasons, including 71.2 percent last year to lead the nation for the second year in a row. Not surprisingly, Belmont has averaged 22.7 wins with two OVC regular-season championships and a conference tournament title with Byrd and Bradds working together.

12. Emmett Naar and Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's

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Randy Bennett might as well relocate his basketball program to Australia with the number of players he's plucked from that country during his tenure. The Gaels' current roster includes seven Aussies, three of which were among their top six scorers in 2015-16.

Topping that group was Emmett Naar, a 6'1" guard who averaged 14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists while shooting 41.8 percent from three-point range. Naar is shaped from the same mold of former Saint Mary's guards from Down Under such as Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova, who ended up in the NBA.

They weren't pro prospects when they arrived at Saint Mary's but left as ones, which could also be in line for Naar when his college career is done. If that happens, it will be due in part to the influence Bennett has had on his development.

11. Dwayne Bacon and Leonard Hamilton, Florida State

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Leonard Hamilton landed one of the most promising freshmen in the country for 2016-17 in forward Jonathan Isaac, a player who considered going directly to the NBA before opting to stick to his commitment to Florida State. That decision should prove wise since it means he gets to work in tandem with a player Hamilton developed masterfully this past season.

Dwayne Bacon was part of a stellar two-man freshman guard combo along with Malik Beasley, the duo combining for 31.4 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. Beasley left for the pros, leaving Bacon behind to carry the load in the backcourt. But with Isaac arriving, it makes for an inside-out combination that could lift the Seminoles into the upper half of the ACC.

Hamilton, entering his 15th season at FSU, will lean on both players, but odds are Bacon will be the one he turns to in the clutch because of his experience with the system.

10. Ivan Rabb and Cuonzo Martin, California

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Cuonzo Martin's jump from Tennessee to California before the 2014-15 season caught many by surprise, wondering if he could recruit to the West Coast despite having spent his entire career in the middle of the country. He answered that by landing two 5-star players for this past year in Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb.

He only got one year out of Brown, who was a lottery pick in June's NBA draft, but he'll get at least one more season to work with and develop Rabb into a pro-level post player. And in turn, the Golden Bears have a chance to match the success they had last season in winning 23 games and finishing third in the Pac-12.

A lot depends on Rabb's progress on the offensive end, becoming more aggressive and assertive. Martin added Kentucky transfer center Marcus Lee (who isn't eligible until 2017-18) and is continuing his trend of stockpiling bigs, which TodaysU.com's Kyle Kensing noted he also did at Missouri State and Tennessee. Lee will work Rabb hard in practice and thus make him better for games.

9. Monte Morris and Steve Prohm, Iowa State

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Steve Prohm inherited a pretty darn good group of players when he succeeded Fred Hoiberg at Iowa State last season. Most of those standout Cyclones are gone, but still around is one who may be the most important to the program maintaining its recent level of success.

Monte Morris has been the glue that's held Iowa State together during his career, setting an NCAA record with a 4.79-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio as a freshman and keeping that above four the next two seasons as well. Under Prohm, he was asked to be more of a scorer, averaging a career-best 13.8 points per game, and more of that is expected during his senior campaign with Georges Niang and others graduating.

"He’s got to get bigger and stronger and not just for this year but for down the road," Prohm said, per Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register. "… I expect him to have a tremendous year."

8. Thomas Bryant and Tom Crean, Indiana

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In ranking the Indiana duo of guard Yogi Ferrell and Tom Crean ninth on last year's list of the best player-coach duos, we noted that if Ferrell continued to show the leadership he'd exuded in his first three seasons, the Hoosiers should be in line for a big 2015-16 season, and “Crean's reputation will get a major boost.”

Ferrell averaged 17.3 points and 5.6 assists, and Indiana won the Big Ten regular-season title for the first time since 2013 and reached the Sweet 16.

Crean—entering his ninth season in Bloomington—needs a similar push from sophomore Thomas Bryant in order for Indiana to keep rising. The 6'10" forward is coming off a solid freshman year in which he shot 68.3 percent but wasn't a key offensive option, something that figures to change this season.

In announcing his return to school, Bryant cited "the bond I have with my teammates and coaches" as part of his reasoning, via Zach Osterman of the Indianapolis Star.

7. Melo Trimble and Mark Turgeon, Maryland

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Bringing Melo Trimble to Maryland in 2014 helped Mark Turgeon live up to the expectations he brought with him three years earlier after being hired away from Texas A&M. Getting Trimble back for his junior season may be Turgeon's best chance of getting the Terrapins into the NCAA tournament for the third straight season.

The only starter returning from a Maryland team that won 27 games and spent much of last season ranked in the Top 10, Trimble tested the NBA draft waters but opted to return in hopes that another year under Turgeon could help raise his slipping draft stock. He struggled with his shooting and with turnovers in 2015-16, part of the reason Maryland went 5-6 in its last 11 games and ended up a No. 5 seed, losing in the Sweet 16.

Despite 55 wins the last two seasons, a down year could put Turgeon's long-term future at Maryland in doubt. He'll need a big year from Trimble, who would benefit from both strong individual numbers and team performance to improve his pro prospects.

6. Joel Berry II and Roy Williams, North Carolina

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Roy Williams' relationship with Marcus Paige the past four years has been well-chronicled, with each side benefiting from the influence and effort of the other. It's a major void for the national runner-ups, but one that the veteran coach may be successful in filling with Joel Berry II.

Berry was the Tar Heels' second-leading scorer in 2015-16, averaging 12.8 points along with 3.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. Those numbers surged from his freshman year, when he only averaged 13.2 minutes, but Williams put more faith in him this past season, and that should pay off for both in the future.

"It stands to reason that the 6-foot, 195-pound Berry will have the ball in his hands at the end of a shot clock or a half, creating for himself or collapsing the defense and finding someone else for a shot," Sports Illustrated's Brian Hamilton wrote.

5. Jack Gibbs and Bob McKillop, Davidson

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Most college basketball fans don't know much about Bob McKillop other than that he was the coach who took a chance on a scrawny guard named Stephen Curry and rode him to the Elite Eight in 2008. But that's just one of a handful of unknown players the Davidson coach has won with in his 27 seasons, during which he's won 516 games and made eight NCAA tournament appearances.

The last of those was in 2014-15, when Jack Gibbs had a breakthrough season as a sophomore. Gibbs' rise continued last year, when he ranked seventh in the country in scoring (23.4) and topped the 40-point mark three times.

The 5'11" Gibbs isn't projected to be as great in the pros as Curry has become, but he's still an outstanding college player. And as it's been the last two seasons, McKillop will turn to him.

4. Dillon Brooks and Dana Altman, Oregon

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How strong is the combination of junior wing Dillon Brooks and Oregon coach Dana Altman? It might not be possible to best describe it until the 2016-17 season begins, since that's when we could see how the Ducks look without Brooks if he's unable to come back from offseason foot surgery.

"As much as we want to win those early games and have him ready to go, the majority of our games are in January, February and March, hopefully," Altman told the Register-Guard.

Brooks was unable to play for Oregon on its summer trip to Spain, instead providing feedback from the bench, Altman said. Having been part of the Ducks program for two seasons already, he knows what Altman is looking for from his players.

Whether that group can fill Brooks' void is uncertain, though. Last season, he averaged 16.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists in helping Oregon reach the Elite Eight and win 31 games, the most for Altman in his 27-year coaching career.

3. Josh Hart and Jay Wright, Villanova

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One is the best player on the best team in the country by virtue of Villanova being the defending national champions. The other is one of the most well-regarded coaches in the game, often high on lists of the best never to win it all until the Wildcats took down North Carolina in April.

Together, they form a combo that has become symbiotic over the past three seasons, arguably the best stretch in program history. Since Josh Hart arrived at Villanova in 2013-14, he and coach Jay Wright have been part of 97 wins and three Big East regular-season titles.

Hart, a 6'5" guard, has averaged 11.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in three seasons. Those numbers have risen throughout his career while maintaining a shooting rate of around 51 percent, with Wright entrusting him with more minutes every year. Now the two will team up to try to make Villanova the first repeat champs since Florida in 2006 and 2007.

2. London Perrantes and Tony Bennett, Virginia

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Tony Bennett has turned Virginia into a true power, his emphasis on swarming defense and methodical-yet-efficient offense something that few teams have been able to thwart the last few seasons. This approach is starting to pay off in the recruiting department, with the 2016 class featuring three top-100 prospects.

Some of those newcomers figure to quickly form a strong bond with Bennett as they adapt to his system, but they'll be hard-pressed to be as tight as he is with senior guard London Perrantes.

Perrantes has started 100 games for the Cavaliers in his career, holding down the point guard spot since his freshman year. His role facilitating the offense has never changed, but over time, he's been entrusted with more responsibility creating for himself instead of just others, which has resulted in better scoring and shooting numbers. He shot 48.8 percent from three-point range as a junior, far and away best on the team.

Under Perrantes' direction, Virginia has improved from 88th in offensive rating in 2013-14 to 16th this past season. All the while, Bennett's emphasis on defense has remained strong and executed masterfully by his players.

1. Grayson Allen and Mike Krzyzewski, Duke

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Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is the winningest coach in NCAA history, and one of the many keys to his long success has been bringing in the kind of players who get under opponents' skin. Grayson Allen is the latest in that line of college basketball "villains" the Blue Devils have had, and Coach K doesn't appear to have any interest in curbing that hatred.

Allen, a junior guard, is coming off a monster 2015-16 season but also one in which he drew criticism for multiple tripping incidents. One of them resulted in the ACC reprimanding Allen but not suspending him, something Krzyzewski felt was more than enough punishment.

"What he got was the stiffest reprimand a player has gotten in our conference this year," he said, via Laura Keeley of the News & Observer. "There have been other guys who have hit people and whatever, and no reprimand."

This was followed by Krzyzewski's admonishment of Oregon's Brooks over taking a garbage time three-pointer at the end of a Sweet 16 win over Duke, after which Allen wouldn't shake Brooks' hand.

Allen and Krzyzewski are both among the best in the game, and they complement each other perfectly.

All statistics courtesy of Sports-Reference.com unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information courtesy of Scout.com unless otherwise noted.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.