1986      1987      1988

Champion Second Place Third place (tied) Third place (tied)
Indiana Syracuse UNLV Providence
Bob Knight Jim Boeheim Jerry Tarkanian Rick Pitino

Active coaches (10+ games)

Rank Coach, Current school Yrs W-L Pct. Latest Final
All Trn 1987 (seed) All 4 2 1
1 Bob Knight, Indiana 22 11 6-0  (1) 27-8 .771 1987 4 3 3
2 Tom Davis, Iowa 16 3 3-1  (2) 8-3 .727 1987 0 0 0
3 Norm Sloan, Florida 35 4 2-1  (6) 7-3 .700 1987 1 1 1
4 Rollie Massimino, Villanova 16 8   16-7 .696 1986 1 1 1
5 Denny Crum, Louisville 16 12   27-12 .692 1986 6 2 2
T6 Jim Valvano, North Carolina State 16 7 0-1  (11) 13-6 .684 1987 1 1 1
T6 Larry Brown, Kansas 6 6 2-1  (5) 13-6 .684 1987 2 1 0
8 John Thompson, Georgetown 15 11 3-1  (1) 21-10 .677 1987 3 3 1
T9 Jud Heathcote, Michigan State 16 5   10-5 .667 1986 1 1 1
T9 Dean Smith, North Carolina 26 17 3-1  (1) 36-18 .667 1987 7 4 1
T9 Mike Krzyzewski, Duke 12 4 2-1  (5) 8-4 .667 1987 1 1 0
12 Jerry Tarkanian, UNLV 19 12 4-1  (1) 23-13 .639 1987 2 0 0
13 Dale Brown, LSU 15 7 3-1  (10) 13-8 .619 1987 2 0 0
T14 Johnny Orr, Iowa State 22 6   9-6 .600 1986 1 1 0
T14 Sonny Smith, Auburn 11 4 1-1  (8) 6-4 .600 1987 0 0 0
16 Billy Tubbs, Oklahoma 13 7 2-1  (6) 10-7 .588 1987 0 0 0
T17 Gene Bartow, Ala.-Birmingham 25 10 0-1  (11) 14-10 .583 1987 2 1 0
T17 Butch van Breda Kolff, Lafayette 21 4   7-5 .583 1967 1 0 0
19 Terry Holland, Virginia 18 8 0-1  (5) 11-8 .579 1987 2 0 0
T20 Jim Boeheim, Syracuse 11 9 5-1  (2) 12-9 .571 1987 1 1 0
T20 Hugh Durham, Georgia 21 6 0-1  (8) 8-6 .571 1987 2 1 0
22 Eddie Sutton, Kentucky 18 12 0-1  (8) 15-12 .556 1987 1 0 0
23 Don Haskins, UTEP 26 10 1-1  (7) 11-9 .550 1987 1 1 1
24 Wimp Sanderson, Alabama 7 6 2-1  (2) 7-6 .538 1987 0 0 0
25 Digger Phelps, Notre Dame 17 12 2-1  (5) 16-14 .533 1987 1 0 0
26 Don Donoher, Dayton 23 8   11-10 .524 1985 1 1 0
T27 Lou Henson, Illinois 25 12 0-1  (3) 13-13 .500 1987 1 0 0
T27 Tom Young, Old Dominion 27 5   6-6 .500 1986 1 0 0
T27 Jerry Pimm, UC Santa Barbara 13 5   5-5 .500 1983 0 0 0
30 Ted Owens, Oral Roberts 21 7   8-9 .471 1981 2 0 0
31 Don DeVoe, Tennessee 16 6   5-6 .455 1983 0 0 0
32 Lou Carnesecca, St. John's 19 14 1-1  (6) 13-16 .448 1987 1 0 0
33 Lute Olson, Arizona 14 8 0-1  (10) 7-9 .438 1987 1 0 0
34 Norm Stewart, Missouri 26 8 0-1  (4) 5-8 .385 1987 0 0 0
35 J. D. Barnett, Tulsa 12 7 0-1  (11) 4-7 .364 1987 0 0 0
T36 LaDell Andersen, Brigham Young 14 7 0-1  (10) 5-9 .357 1987 0 0 0
T36 Ralph Miller, Oregon State 36 8   5-9 .357 1985 0 0 0
38 Gale Catlett, West Virginia 15 8 0-1  (7) 4-8 .333 1987 0 0 0


Highlights:

Bob Knight wins his third national championship as Indiana defeats Syracuse on Keith Smart's last second basket, solidifying Knight's hold on first place at .771. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim jumps into the top twenty at .571, winning more than one tournament game for the first time (though he has only once failed to win a game in nine tournament appearances).
With Lee Rose retired now, newcomers to the list Tom Davis and Norm Sloan are Knight's closest rivals.  Davis leads Iowa to the West Regional finals in his first year there after twice taking Boston College to the tournament in the early '80's.  Sloan, hardly a newcomer to coaching, ended John Wooden's string of championships by leading North Carolina State to the title in 1974.  This year, in only his second tournament since winning it all, he leads Florida (in it's first ever tournament appearance) to two wins to qualify for the list.
UNLV returns to the Final Four for the second time (1977 was the first) improving Jerry Tarkanian's record to .639.
A year after reaching the Final Four, LSU misses making it again by one game, putting Dale Brown over .600 at .619.
North Carolina wins three this year improving Dean Smith's record slightly to .667, tied with fellow ACC coach Mike Krzyzewski who debuts on the list after Duke wins two this year.   Duke lost to Louisville in the championship game last year.
Georgetown wins three, improving John Thompson's record to .677, though he drops from a seventh place tie to eighth place.
Sonny Smith debuts on the list at .600 as Auburn wins one and loses one in Smith's fourth straight tournament appearance as Auburn's coach.





















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