A principal reason Jerry Tarkanian became a Hall of Famer was the fact he is the only coach in NCAA Division I history to win more than 90% of his assignments for a school in a single conference including both regular season and postseason league tourney (229-19 mark in PCAA/Big West with UNLV in 10-year span from 1982-83 through 1991-92).

Among active coaches, Gonzaga's Mark Few extended his stunning string of 16 consecutive NCAA playoff appearances in as many seasons with the Zags. But what is equally impressive is his domination of the West Coast Conference not only in regular-season competition (215-25) but also in league tournament action (33-4). Buttressed by a sterling frontcourt means Few won't fall much, if any, from list of league rulers in near future. Ditto winning percentage overall through 16 campaigns as Few (.810) ranks third at this juncture in his career behind legendary Clair Bee (.847) and Adolph Rupp (.814). How in the name of James Naismith has Few never been anointed national coach of the year?

John Calipari is the only coach to win in excess of 80% of his league assignments in two conferences with different schools. But if Few remains at his present success level, Calipari would need to tack on another 105 consecutive SEC triumphs via five additional unbeaten regular seasons and league tourney titles in succession with Kentucky to surpass Few in conference domination.

Brad Stevens won 80.8% of Butler's Horizon League games in five seasons but fell just short of meeting the minimum of 100 decisions in a single conference on the following list before subsequently moving on to the Atlantic 10 and NBA's Boston Celtics. Stevens aspires to have a better pro career than Tarkanian, who compiled a 9-11 record in a brief stint with the San Antonio Spurs at the start of the 1992-93 campaign. Few ranks third, also behind North Carolina State's Everett Case, among the following coaches who have won more than 75% of their games in a single conference including participation in league tourney play:

NOTES: Huggins (West Virginia), Marshall (Wichita State) and Williams (North Carolina) are active coaches currently employed by other schools. . . . UCLA's John Wooden won 81% of his games in the PCC/AAWU/Pacific-8 from 1949-75 but none of those contests included conference tournament competition.

Extra! Extra! Read all about memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players! Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopsters had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 12 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 12

• In 1984, Seattle Mariners RHP Jim Beattie (Dartmouth's top rebounder in 1974-75 when selected basketball team MVP and honorable mention All-Ivy League) registered his second shutout in last four starts.

• Baltimore Orioles CF Al Bumbry (Virginia State's runner-up in scoring with 16.7 ppg as freshman in 1964-65) suffered a broken leg sliding into second base, missing most of the remainder of the 1978 season.

• Milwaukee Braves RHP Gene Conley (All-Pacific Coast Conference first-team selection led North Division in scoring as Washington State sophomore in 1949-50) toiled 12 innings in prevailing, 2-1, ending the Dodgers' streak from the start of the 1955 season of 25 consecutive contests where they led at some point in the game. It was one of five straight wins for Conley during the month following a setback when he went 11 1/3 innings at Brooklyn.

• CF Billy Cowan (Utah letterman from 1957-58 through 1959-60 was co-captain of NCAA playoff team as senior) rapped a game-winning, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the California Angels a 6-5 win against the Boston Red Sox in 1970.

• In 1940, Cincinnati Reds CF Harry Craft (four-sport letterman with Mississippi College in early 1930s) contributed three hits in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals for the second straight day.

• In 1930, Philadelphia Athletics RHP George Earnshaw (Swarthmore PA participant in 1922) committed three balks and Cleveland Indians counterpart Milt Shoffner had five balks (three in the third inning).

• Los Angeles Dodgers RF Joe Ferguson (played in 1967 NCAA playoffs with Pacific) jacked a homer in his third consecutive contest against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1976.

• St. Louis Cardinals 2B Frankie Frisch (Fordham captain) supplied four hits against the Brooklyn Robins in 1929.

• LHP Johnny Gee (sixth-leading scorer in Big Ten Conference for Michigan's 16-4 team in 1936-37) purchased from the Pittsburgh Pirates by the New York Giants in 1944.

• Boston Red Sox LF Dick Gernert (Temple letterman in 1948-49 when averaging 2.7 ppg) contributed two homers and six RBI but it wasn't enough to prevent a 12-9 reversal against the Washington Senators in 1956.

• St. Louis Cardinals RHP Bob Gibson (Creighton's leading scorer and rebounder in 1955-56 and 1956-57) struck out the side on nine pitches in the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1969.

• After seven scoreless relief appearances, Philadelphia Phillies RHP Dallas Green (Delaware's runner-up in scoring and rebounding in 1954-55) made his first start of 1963 campaign. The next year, Green yielded his only run covering first eight relief stints of 1964.

• Washington Senators 3B Chuck Hinton (played multiple sports for Shaw NC before serving two years in U.S. Army in mid-1950s) hammered a homer for the Nats' lone safety in the nightcap of a 1963 twin bill at Boston.

• New York Mets 1B Gil Hodges (played for St. Joseph's IN in 1943 and Oakland City IN in 1947 and 1948) hit a ninth-inning, game-ending HR in the nightcap of a 1962 doubleheader. Teammate Hobie Landrith did the same thing in the opener against the Milwaukee Braves.

• Baltimore Orioles RHP Ben McDonald (started six games as a 6-6 freshman for Louisiana State in 1986-87) squared off against 6-10 Randy Johnson of the Seattle Mariners in 1991 in the tallest starting pitching matchup in MLB history.

• St. Louis Cardinals rookie CF Wally Moon (averaged 4.3 ppg with Texas A&M in 1948-49 and 1949-50) notched his second five-hit game and scored five runs in a 13-5 pounding of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1954.

• SS Billy Werber (first Duke All-American in 1929-30) purchased from the New York Yankees by the Boston Red Sox in 1933.

• Boston Braves 3B Chuck Workman (two-time All-MIAA first-five selection was leading scorer when Central Missouri won inaugural NAIA Tournament in 1937) slugged a homer in his third consecutive contest in 1945.

• LHP Tom Zachary (Guilford NC letterman in 1916) awarded on waivers from the New York Yankees to the Boston Braves in 1930.

Rutgers, loser in last 15 contests against Big Ten Conference opponents, might need to visit its archives and bring Dick Vitale back as a recruiter. The Scarlet Knights have fallen on hard times and are the nation's only NCAA Division I school not to have an all-conference choice in the previous nine seasons. Vitale helped lure diploma-less coach Eddie Jordan to Piscataway before the Scarlet Knights reached the 1976 Final Four.

Rutgers, failing to secure an all-league choice since Quincy Douby in 2005-06, has been blanked in three different alliances during the dry spell. The Knights' arrival gives the Big Ten Conference additional Nebraska/Northwestern/Penn State mediocrity - a famine-relief trio combining for three NCAA playoff victories in the previous 60 years (all by Nittany Lions).

Five struggling schools - Louisiana-Monroe (Sun Belt), Pepperdine (WCC), Sacramento State (Big Sky), Southern Illinois (Missouri Valley) and Texas Tech (Big 12) - left this dubious category in 2013-14. Rutgers, eliminated by Louisville by 61 points in the AAC Tournament two seasons ago, is joined by DePaul and Samford on the following list of schools enduring honor droughts having no all-league picks at least the past seven seasons:

School	Conference(s)	Last All-League Selection
DePaul	Big East	Sr. G Draelon Burns in 2007-08 (2nd team)
Rutgers	Big East/American Athletic/Big Ten	Jr. G Quincy Douby in 2005-06 (1st team)
Samford	Ohio Valley	Sr. C Travis Peterson in 2007-08 (2nd team)

Kansas, if things pan out as expected regarding frontcourt replacements to complement Perry Ellis, could continue closing in on UCLA for most consecutive regular-season conference championships. Despite the early departure to the NBA of freshmen Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre Jr., the Jayhawks are expected to continue their sterling Big 12 Conference track record under coach Bill Self while surviving the loss of 15 undergraduates in the last nine NBA drafts - 2007 (Julian Wright), 2008 (Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush), 2010 (Cole Aldrich and Xavier Henry), 2011 (Marcus Morris, Markieff Morris and Josh Selby), 2012 (Thomas Robinson), 2013 (Ben McLemore), 2014 (Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins) and 2015 (Alexander and Oubre).

UCLA's streak of 13 straight undisputed league titles from 1967 through 1979, divided among three coaches, is considered one of the foremost achievements in NCAA history. Kansas' regular-season league losses in the last 11 seasons came against Baylor (one), Iowa State (three), Kansas State (five), Missouri (four), Oklahoma (three), Oklahoma State (five), Texas (four), Texas A&M (one), Texas Christian (one), Texas Tech (three) and West Virginia (two). None of the Jayhawks' last 10 teams had a player average more than 20 points per game. Following is a summary of the seven schools to secure at least eight straight regular-season league titles:

UCLA (13 in Pacific-8/10; 171-15 league record from 1966-67 through 1978-79)

Kansas (11 in Big 12; 152-32 from 2004-05 through 2014-15)

NOTE: Kansas tied Oklahoma in 2004-05, Texas in 2005-06 and 2007-08 and Kansas State in 2012-13.

Connecticut (10 in Yankee; 71-8 from 1950-51 through 1959-60)

UNLV (10 in PCAA/Big West; 165-13 from 1982-83 through 1991-92)

NOTE: UNLV tied New Mexico State in 1989-90.

Idaho State (eight in Rocky Mountain; 76-4 from 1952-53 through 1959-60)

Kentucky (eight in SEC; 82-3 from 1944-45 through 1951-52)

NOTES: Kentucky tied Tennessee in 1944-45 and Louisiana State in 1945-46. . . . UK did not field a team in 1952-53 before tying LSU in 1953-54 and winning outright in 1954-55.

Long Beach State (eight in PCAA; 75-13 from 1969-70 through 1976-77)

NOTE: Long Beach State tied Cal State Fullerton in 1975-76 and San Diego State in 1976-77.

Extra! Extra! Read all about memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players! Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopsters had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 8 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 8

• Jerry Adair (one of Oklahoma State's three leading basketball scorers in 1956-57 and 1957-58 while ranking among the nation's top 12 free-throw shooters each season) committed an eighth-inning miscue for the Baltimore Orioles against the Detroit Tigers in 1965, ending his MLB-record streaks for consecutive errorless games by a 2B (89) and consecutive chances handled without an error (438).

• San Diego Padres RHP Mike Adams (played for Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1996-97) notched his fourth hold in nine days but was scored upon for the first time in last 16 relief appearances in 2011.

• Philadelphia Phillies CF Ethan Allen (Cincinnati letterman in 1924-25 and 1925-26) supplied five RBI in a 13-6 triumph against the Chicago Cubs in 1934.

• Brooklyn Dodgers C Ferrell Anderson (Kansas letterman in 1936-37 and 1937-38) furnished four hits in an 8-5 win against the Cincinnati Reds in 1946.

• LF Bob Cerv (ranked fourth on Nebraska's career scoring list in 1949-50 when finishing his career) acquired from the Los Angeles Angels by the New York Yankees in 1961 for his third tour of duty in pinstripes.

• Philadelphia Athletics C Mickey Cochrane (five-sport athlete with Boston University) collected three doubles against the Cleveland Indians in 1932.

• Cincinnati Reds 1B George Crowe (four-year letterman from 1939-40 through 1942-43 for Indiana Central after becoming first high school player named state's Mr. Basketball) clobbered two homers in a 7-6 victory against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957.

• In 1948, Cleveland Indians RF Larry Doby (reserve guard for Virginia Union's 1943 CIAA titlist) whacked the longest home run at Washington's Griffith Stadium since Babe Ruth in 1922.

• St. Louis Cardinals CF Taylor Douthit (California letterman from 1922 through 1924) contributed four hits against the Boston Braves in the first of six straight outings with multiple safeties in 1929.

• Pittsburgh Pirates SS Dick Groat (two-time All-American with Duke in 1950-51 and 1951-52 when finishing among nation's top five scorers each season) provided three hits in each game of a 1955 doubleheader split against the New York Giants.

• Philadelphia Phillies 1B Harvey Hendrick (Vanderbilt letterman in 1918) went 4-for-4 against the Chicago Cubs in 1934.

• RHP Jay Hook (Northwestern's third-leading scorer with 10.7 ppg as a sophomore in 1955-56) traded by the New York Mets to the Milwaukee Braves in 1964.

• Atlanta Braves 2B Davey Johnson (averaged 1.7 ppg for Texas A&M in 1961-62) delivered two homers and five RBI against the New York Mets in 1973.

• LF "Sweet" Lou Johnson (Kentucky State teammate of legendary HBCU coach Davey Whitney averaged 5.7 ppg and 2 rpg in 1951-52) traded by the Milwaukee Braves with cash to the Detroit Tigers in 1963.

• Chicago White Sox RHP Bob Keegan (Bucknell letterman in 1941-42 and 1942-43) yielded three homers to Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame OF Ted Williams in a 4-1 defeat in 1957.

• Detroit Tigers SS Harvey Kuenn (played briefly for Wisconsin in 1951-52 after competing on JV squad previous season) registered his second four-hit outing in a six-game span in 1956.

• Chicago Cubs 3B Vance Law (averaged 6.8 ppg for Brigham Young from 1974-75 through 1976-77) went 3-for-3 with six RBI against the San Francisco Giants in 1988.

• Pittsburgh Pirates SS Johnny Logan (played for Binghamton in 1948-49) hit safely as a pinch-hitter for the third straight time in 1963.

• Chicago Cubs CF Jerry Martin (1971 Southern Conference MVP after he was Furman's runner-up in scoring the previous season) stroked four hits against the Cincinnati Reds in 1979.

• Baltimore Orioles RHP Ben McDonald (started six times as freshman forward for LSU in 1986-87 under coach Dale Brown) won his first seven starts in 1994.

• Philadelphia Phillies RF Bill Nicholson (Washington College MD guard for two years in mid-1930s) provided five RBI against the Cincinnati Reds in the nightcap of a 1949 twinbill.

• Boston Red Sox 2B Marv Olson (All-Iowa Conference selection in 1929-30 with Luther IA) manufactured four hits in a 7-5 win against the St. Louis Browns in 1932.

• Brooklyn Dodgers C-OF Don Padgett (freshman in 1934 excelled in multiple sports for Lenoir-Rhyne NC) smacked a decisive three-run pinch homer in an 8-5 win against the Cincinnati Reds in 1946.

Extra! Extra! Read all about memorable major league baseball achievements, moments and transactions involving former college basketball players! Numerous ex-college hoopsters had front-row seats to many of the most notable games and dates in MLB history.

Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 7 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 7

• Baltimore Orioles DH Al Bumbry (Virginia State's runner-up in basketball scoring with 16.7 ppg as freshman in 1964-65) provided four hits for the second time in a four-game span in 1975.

• INF-OF Harvey Hendrick (Vanderbilt letterman in 1918) traded by the Brooklyn Robins to the Cincinnati Reds in 1931.

• LF David Justice (led Thomas More KY in assists in 1984-85) jacked two homers while going 4-for-4 to help the Cleveland Indians erase a 9-1 deficit and defeat the Tampa Devil Rays, 20-11, in 1999. The next year, Justice provided three extra-base hits and five RBI against the Toronto Blue Jays in 2000.

• In 1946, Philadelphia Athletics 1B Bruce Konopka (Southern California letterman in 1940-41) collected his third extra-base pinch-hit the first week of the month.

• Detroit Tigers SS Harvey Kuenn (played briefly for Wisconsin in 1951-52 after competing on JV squad previous season) contributed four hits against the Chicago White Sox in 1955.

• 1B Ed Morgan (Tulane letterman from 1923-24 through 1925-26) hit safely in first 14 starts of the 1934 campaign with the Boston Red Sox before he was blanked by the Detroit Tigers.

• RHP Jack Ogden (competed with Swarthmore PA in 1918) traded by the Cincinnati Reds with Leo Durocher to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1933.

• Brooklyn Dodgers 2B Jackie Robinson (highest scoring average in Pacific Coast Conference both of his seasons with UCLA in 1939-40 and 1940-41) amassed multiple-hit outings in 13 of first 19 games in 1951.

• RHP Hal Schumacher (played for St. Lawrence NY) combined with New York Giants teammate Carl Hubbell to toss back-to-back shutouts in a 1932 doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds.

• Cleveland Indians rookie 3B Freddy Spurgeon (played for Kalamazoo MI in 1921-22) went 4-for-4 against the Chicago White Sox in 1925.

• Chicago White Sox LHP Matt Thornton (averaged 5.8 ppg and 2.4 rpg for Grand Valley State MI from 1995-96 through 1997-98) fanned five Toronto Blue Jays in two innings as he went unscored upon in 10 relief appearances during the month in 2010.

• 1B-OF Preston Ward (second-leading scorer for Southwest Missouri State in 1946-47 and 1948-49) tripled after three teammates walked to spur the Brooklyn Dodgers to a 9-5 victory at Chicago in 1948.

• New York Giants 1B Bill White (played two years with Hiram OH in early 1950s) homered in his first MLB at-bat in 1956 (against the St. Louis Cardinals).

Extra! Extra! Read all about memorable major league baseball achievements, moments and transactions involving former college basketball players! Numerous ex-college hoopsters had front-row seats to many of the most notable games and dates in MLB history.

Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 6 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 6

• Hall of Fame C Mickey Cochrane (Boston University basketball player in early 1920s) clobbered his first MLB homer with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1925.

• Boston Red Sox rookie RHP Boo Ferriss (Mississippi State letterman in 1941) hurled his second straight shutout in 1945, whitewashing the New York Yankees, 5-0.

• New York Giants 2B Frankie Frisch (Fordham captain) furnished four hits against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1924.

• RF Jim Gleeson (NAIA Hall of Famer was an all-league player for Rockhurst MO in early 1930s) traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1942.

• Detroit Tigers LF Hank Greenberg (enrolled at NYU on hoop scholarship in 1929 but attended college only one semester) contributed three extra-base hits in a 6-4 victory against the New York Yankees in 1940.

• Cleveland Indians 1B Mike Hargrove (Northwestern Oklahoma State letterman) collected three doubles against the Chicago White Sox in 1983.

• Milwaukee Braves SS Johnny Logan (played for Binghamton in 1948-49) supplied at least three hits for the third consecutive contest in 1959.

• In 1968, San Francisco Giants RHP Lindy McDaniel (played for Oklahoma's 1954-55 freshman squad) established a N.L. record with his 225th consecutive errorless game.

• New York Yankees LF Bud Metheny (William & Mary letterman from 1935-36 through 1937-38) stroked four hits in a 4-3 win against the Boston Red Sox in 1944.

• In 1967, 1B Cotton Nash (three-time All-American averaged 22.7 ppg and 12.3 rpg for Kentucky from 1961-62 through 1963-64) traded by the California Angels with cash to the Chicago White Sox for 1B Bill "Moose" Skowron (scored 18 points in eight games for Purdue in 1949-50).

• Cleveland Indians 3B Graig Nettles (shot 87.8% from free-throw line for San Diego State in 1963-64) stroked three doubles against the Chicago White Sox in 1972.

• A two-out, seventh-inning single by CF Jim Northrup (second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder for Alma MI in 1958-59) was the Detroit Tigers' lone safety when they were blanked, 4-0, by Dave Leonard of the Baltimore Orioles in 1968.

• Chicago White Sox rookie LHP Gary Peters (played for Grove City PA in mid-1950s) won his first MLB start in 1963, limiting the Kansas City Athletics to four hits and one run over eight innings.

• LF Rip Repulski (started a few games for St. Cloud State MN) traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Boston Red Sox in 1960.

• Cincinnati Reds 1B Champ Summers (led SIUE in scoring in 1969-70 after doing same with Nicholls State in 1964-65) went 4-for-4 and chipped in with five RBI against the Houston Astros in the opener of a 1979 doubleheader.

"It is better to be looked over than overlooked." - Mae West

It doesn't seem possible, but Billy Donovan is bound for the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder without ever earning acclaim as national coach of the year by a major award. The former New England athlete (Providence) didn't deflate balls, but was shunned despite becoming Florida's all-time winningest mentor and directing the Gators to back-to-back NCAA Tournament titles (2006 and 2007).

Maryland named its court after Gary Williams, the school's all-time winningest coach who guided the Terrapins to the 2002 NCAA title during a span when he became the only mentor ever to defeat the nation's top-ranked team in four straight seasons (2000-01 through 2003-04). Surprisingly, Williams never was courted as national coach of the year by one of the major awards, joining Donovan and other NCAA championship coaches such as Denny Crum, Joe B. Hall, Don Haskins, Rollie Massimino and Jim Valvano "shorted" by this dubious distinction.

Does this blemish exist because of envious fellow coaches or is the Brady Punch-obsessed media in dire need of brain scans while focusing more on deflated Patriot balls than inflated Clinton Crime Family wallets? A total of 16 individuals received acclaim as national COY despite never reaching an NCAA playoff regional final - Rod Barnes, Tony Bennett, Perry Clark, Jim Crews, Keno Davis, Matt Doherty, Cliff Ellis, Eddie Fogler, Frank Haith, Leonard Hamilton, Marv Harshman, Todd Lickliter, George Raveling, Al Skinner, Charlie Spoonhour and Dick Versace. Following is an alphabetical list of high-profile retired or non-DI coaches joining Donovan who never received one of the five major national coach of the year awards since 1955 despite their significant achievements:

Dave Bliss - Compiled a total of 14 20-win seasons with three different schools.

Dale Brown - Led LSU to 15 consecutive postseason tournaments (1979 through 1993) en route to becoming the second-winningest coach in SEC history at the time (behind Adolph Rupp) in both overall and SEC games.

Vic Bubas - Guided Duke to NCAA Tournament Final Four appearances three times in a four-year span from 1963 through 1966.

Pete Carril - Never incurred a losing record in 29 seasons with Princeton from 1968 through 1996.

Gale Catlett - Went his first 23 seasons without a losing record with Cincinnati and West Virginia; participated in nine consecutive national postseason tournaments in the 1980s.

Denny Crum - Won 15 regular-season conference championships in the Missouri Valley and Metro in his first 23 seasons with Louisville; only coach to twice win conference and NCAA tournaments in the same year (1980 and 1986).

Don DeVoe - Compiled a total of 12 20-win seasons with three different schools.

Don Donoher - One of first 10 coaches to take his first three teams to the NCAA playoffs guided his first seven Dayton clubs to national postseason competition; posted double digits in victories all 25 seasons.

Lefty Driesell - One of only three different coaches to guide four different schools to the NCAA playoffs; captured conference tournament titles in four different leagues; only coach to win more than 100 games for four different schools en route to total of 786 victories; had 14 final Top 20 rankings.

Hugh Durham - One of only three coaches in NCAA history to win at least 225 games for two Division I schools, directing both Florida State and Georgia to the Final Four.

Bill C. Foster - Only six losing records in 25 seasons at the Division I level with UNC Charlotte, Clemson, Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech.

Jack Gardner - Only coach to direct two different schools to the Final Four at least twice apiece.

Pete Gillen - Remarkable run with Xavier (winning five Midwestern Collegiate Conference Tournament titles in six-year span from 1986 through 1991) before posting 20-win seasons with Providence in the Big East and Virginia in the ACC.

Joe B. Hall - Averaged 23 victories annually in 13 seasons with Kentucky, reaching championship game in either NCAA Tournament or NIT three times in a four-year span from 1975 through 1978.

Don Haskins - Captured four Western Athletic Conference Tournament championships with Texas-El Paso in a seven-year span from 1984 through 1990 while winning more than 20 games each of those seasons; compiled a total of 17 20-win campaigns.

Lou Henson - Compiled only one losing record in his last 22 years with Illinois and New Mexico State; finished in first division of the Big Ten Conference nine straight seasons.

Terry Holland - Averaged 20 victories annually in 21 seasons with Davidson and Virginia.

Harry Litwack - Finished third with Temple in three consecutive national postseason tournaments (1956 and 1958 in NCAA and 1957 in NIT). Posted only one losing record in 21 seasons with the Owls through 1973.

Rollie Massimino - Averaged more than 20 victories annually in the 1980s; participated in 14 consecutive national postseason tournaments with Villanova and UNLV before coaching at small-school level in Florida.

Ray Mears - Finished lower than third place in SEC standings with Tennessee just once in his final 14 seasons from 1964 through 1977.

Shelby Metcalf - Averaged 18.6 victories annually with Texas A&M in an 18-year span from 1971-72 through 1988-89.

Eldon Miller - Won more than 20 games with three different DI schools (Western Michigan, Ohio State and Northern Iowa).

Joe Mullaney - Reached the 20-win plateau nine straight seasons from 1958-59 through 1966-67, directing Providence to the NIT semifinals four times in the first five years of that stretch; won more than two-thirds of his games with the Friars decided by fewer than five points.

C.M. Newton - Posted at least 22 victories with Alabama six times in the last seven seasons of the 1970s.

Dave Odom - Won 20 or more games 10 times in a 14-year span from 1992-93 through 2005-06 with Wake Forest and South Carolina.

Ted Owens - Finished first or second in Big Eight Conference standings each of his first seven seasons with Kansas from 1965 through 1971.

Tom Penders - Won at least 20 games with three different schools (Rhode Island, Texas and George Washington) a total of 10 times in a 13-year span from 1987 through 1999 before winning more than 20 games three times in six seasons with Houston.

Jack Ramsay - Worst record in 11 seasons with St. Joseph's was an 18-10 mark.

Wimp Sanderson - Won five SEC Tournament titles with Alabama, including three in a row from 1989 through 1991.

Fred Schaus - Won Southern Conference Tournament championships each of his six seasons with West Virginia from 1955 through 1960 before posting winning records in Big Ten competition all six years with Purdue.

Roy Skinner - Compiled only one losing record in 16 seasons with Vanderbilt.

Billy Tubbs - Directed Oklahoma to 12 consecutive 20-win seasons, a Big Eight Conference best; took the Sooners to national postseason play his last 13 years with them before moving on to TCU and Lamar.

Jim Valvano - Guided Iona to a school-record 29 victories in 1979-80 before winning at least 18 games each of his last nine seasons with North Carolina State from 1982 through 1990.

Gary Williams - All-time winningest coach for Maryland directed 13 teams to Top 20 finishes in final polls, including a couple of them with Boston College.

Ned Wulk - All-time winningest coach for Arizona State finished atop conference standings in six of his first seven seasons with the Sun Devils.

Golden State guard Stephen Curry, anointed NBA Most Valuable Player in 2014-15 before shattering the league's record for most three-pointers in a single playoff and guiding the Warriors to their first NBA Finals appearance in 40 years, neither is too small nor too fragile. What is too small and fragile are the brains of any genius who overlooked the Davidson All-American for significantly inferior performers as a high school recruit, those who subsequently bypassed him in a similar fashion in the NBA draft and blabbermouth such as Charles Barkley claiming Curry is "just a shooter." Knuckleheads offended by Curry's dynamo daughter at a post-game press conference podium should save their angst for those individuals on a basketball payroll despite shunning Curry - occasionally including colleagues.

In retrospect, it defies belief ESPN "expert" Seth Greenberg boasted the gall to patronize Virginia Tech All-American Dell Curry's son by offering a spot on the Hokies' roster as a walk-on before the Minnesota Timberwolves picked long-forgotten Jonny Flynn one slot ahead of the incomparable Curry in 2009. In other words, Greenberg and the Timberwolves are the only individual and pro team capable of stopping Curry. Of course, Loyola (Md.) is the only college capable of containing Curry, holding the nation's top point producer scoreless in 2008-09.

In a previous non-sexist straightforward generation when fifty-something Hannah Storm also dressed like a teenager, Stockton-to-Malone could have been a hallmark of the Washington Bullets/Wizards rather than the Utah Jazz if there were more astute judgments made in 1984 and 1985 between mid-major and SEC/ACC players. Smug egghead prosecutors seeking face time appealing to low-information voters by indicting hard-working policemen probably would have more stature probing low-intelligence individuals previously laying an egg bypassing workmanlike Curry. Following is an alphabetical list of mid-major standouts selected behind players from current power conference members before they became league MVP such as Curry, Finals MVP, appeared in five or more All-Star Games or all-time Top 10 in assists, blocked shots, rebounds or steals:

NOTE: Drafts in 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963 and 1964 included territorial picks.

Will Billy Donovan, who directed Florida to back-to-back NCAA Tournament titles in 2006 and 2007, find out it's a star-crossed crossing over from college to the NBA (Oklahoma City Thunder)? Ditto Fred Hoiberg, who returned to his old stomping grounds with the Chicago Bulls after assembling a program at Iowa State capable of returning his alma mater to the Final Four for the first time since 1944. Just ask Dick Vitale if it takes more than a fresh or "pretty" face to make a successful transition. Only four NBA coaches boast tenures of five or more seasons. Brad Stevens, who guided Butler to back-to-back NCAA playoff championship games in 2010 and 2011, was swept this year with the Boston Celtics in his first NBA playoff series.

SMU's Larry Brown, one of the first six men to be hired by an NBA team after winning an NCAA championship, is the only one in this category to compile a winning NBA playoff record. Three other coaches directed teams to the NCAA Final Four and the NBA championship series - Jack Ramsay (St. Joseph's 1961 and Portland Trail Blazers 1977), Fred Schaus (West Virginia 1959 and the Los Angeles Lakers 1962), 1963, 1965, 1966) and Butch van Breda Kolff (Princeton 1965 and the Lakers 1968, 1969). Neither Ramsay (8-11) nor Schaus (6-7) finished their collegiate coaching careers with winning NCAA playoff records, however.

Only Phil Jackson and Pat Riley coached in and won more NBA playoff games than Brown. Following is an alphabetical list summarizing the NBA careers of Brown and 16 additional individuals who aligned with NBA franchises as head coaches after guiding a college team to the Final Four:

*Feerick's NBA record includes one season with the Washington Capitols (1949-50) before he was named coach at Santa Clara.

NOTES: Jucker (Rollins), Julian (Dartmouth), Kruger (UNLV and Oklahoma), McGuire (South Carolina), Olsen (Northwestern), Pitino (Kentucky and Louisville), Schaus (Purdue), Tarkanian (Fresno State), van Breda Kolff (Lafayette and Hofstra) and Winter (Northwestern and Long Beach State) returned to college as head coaches after their stints in the NBA. . . . Ken Loeffler was coach of the St. Louis Bombers and Providence Steamrollers for three seasons (1946-47 through 1948-49) before directing La Salle to back-to-back Final Fours (1954 champion and 1955 runner-up). . . . Phil Woolpert, coach of San Francisco's back-to-back NCAA champions (1955 and 1956), coached the San Francisco Saints for one season in the old American Basketball League.

Do you want to be our hero? Last year, Fox News carried a riveting two-part program featuring Navy SEAL Team 6 member Robert O'Neill (senior chief petty officer is recipient of two Silver and five Bronze Stars) as "The Man Who Killed Usama Bin Laden." Amid focusing on the fourth anniversary ridding Planet Earth of UBL, it seems we should also be celebrating authentic courage from the college basketball ranks stemming from an individual instrumental in tracking the terrorist down. But the selfless ex-athlete from a Midwest university hasn't "come out of the closet" for security reasons and might be underground with a fake identification unless, of course, ax-grinding Left Coast Sen. Dianne Feinstein rats him out amid another of her vendettas.

In the documentation about dispatching UBL to hell (equivalent status even if satisfying 72 virgins is what transpired), the White House unveiled a photograph of President Barack Obama and his Cabinet inside the Situation Room, watching the daring commando raid unfold on May 1, 2011. But POTUS (JV player for Occidental CA) apparently wasn't the tallest ex-college hoopster in the room. Standing just outside the frame of that famous pic was an anonymous Central Intelligence Agency officer ("CIA John") who pursued UBL as a dogmatic deputy chief and reportedly was also influential as one of the principal proponents of drone deterrence. Two days after the world's most-wanted man was transformed into marine treat when dumped into the North Arabian Sea, "CIA John" accompanied then CIA Director Leon Panetta to Capitol Hill, where the Senate Intelligence Committee received a full briefing on the mission.

According to AP accounts at the time, the meticulous senior intelligence analyst was the first individual to put in writing that a legitimate CIA lead had been assembled on possibly locating UBL. He spearheaded the collection of clues for nearly 10 years, leading the agency to a fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and its epic counter-terrorism success. Our freedom-loving nation is eternally grateful that his manhunt accuracy as a deep-cover agent in pinpointing UBL's whereabouts stood in stark contrast to his free-throw marksmanship as a deep-bench player (barely over 30%) as a member of multiple NCAA playoff teams.

Sy Hersh muckraking notwithstanding, box-office hit "Zero Dark Thirty" was an inspiring movie focusing on a young female CIA operative allegedly also from flyover country. She exhibited her tenacity, dedication and courage in primarily monitoring a vital courier for al-Qaeda's upper brass. According to Esquire, the shooter who killed UBL (subsequently acknowledged as Butte MT native O'Neill) gave the magazine out of his gun as a souvenir to bloodhound "Maya." While the film doesn't do justice to the male super spy, the patriot is likely to defer anyway to the concept "there is no 'I' in team." Naturally, Langley issued a perfunctory "no comment" because concern exists about publishing his name and running biographical details might make him a target for retribution.

Over the decades, there have been other notable "Secret Agent Men" in the CIA who were former college hoopsters. In fact, a Final Four player isn't required to hit a decisive basket or be selected Most Outstanding Player to be a hero. He doesn't even need to participate on the court. Bob Ames, a member of the Tom Gola-led La Salle teams in 1954 (national champion) and 1955 (runner-up to San Francisco), never got off the bench at the Final Four those two years although he was the only La Salle player to hit more than three-fourths of his free throws the season the Explorers won the NCAA title.

"Our coach, Ken Loeffler, only used seven guys, and Bob was the eighth man," said Frank Blatcher, a starter for the Explorers each season and their leading scorer with a total of 42 points at the Final Four on the championship team. "He had the talent. He just never got a chance to show it."

Ames, a pre-law major who scored a total of eight points in three NCAA playoff games in 1955, did have an opportunity to show his ability in another more vital endeavor, however. He joined the CIA and worked his way up the chain of command to become the Director of the CIA's Office of Analysis of the Near East and South Asia. "The Spy Who Loved Basketball" worked closely with both the Carter and Reagan administrations.

Regrettably, Ames was killed in Beirut in 1983. A truck loaded with TNT on a suicide mission rammed into the facility where Ames was staying while serving as a liaison trying to allay contacts among the Lebanese, Syrians and Israelis in hopes of calming the escalating discord.

"Here was a guy that turned out to have had a greater influence on our lives than just about any 1,000 other basketball players you can name," Blatcher said. "It just shows you that you don't have to be a star to accomplish something." Something like becoming a genuine American hero.

Elsewhere, the CIA's deputy director under George Bush in 1976 was Hank Knoche, the leading scorer in the Mountain States (Big Seven) Conference with 16.4 points per game for Colorado's 1946 NCAA Tournament team. Knoche, the father of former American University coach Chris Knoche, reputedly was the first player selected in the NBA's first college draft in 1947 after enrolling at Washington and Jefferson (Pa.) to play on a 16-4 team with two of his brothers. But he never appeared in the then-fledgling league, which doesn't have any official draft records prior to 1949. The franchise that selected him, the Pittsburgh Ironmen, folded shortly after the draft, and his rights reverted to the New York Knicks.

"I didn't know I was the first No. 1 pick until a writer from Atlanta called me for a story," Knoche said. "An NBA historian had informed him of my alleged status."

The elder Knoche, who went to live in the Denver area, chose not to play in an uncertain situation for little money. "I never received any contact from the Ironmen," he said. "The Knicks sent a contract offer in the mail, but it was for just $3,500 and that's if I made the team (many NBA standouts earn five times that amount every quarter).

"I chose to play industrial basketball, where I remember playing six times one year against seven-footer Bob Kurland (Oklahoma State three-time first-team All-American who never played in the NBA). That wasn't much fun going against Kurland because I was just a 6-4 center."

Knoche was recalled to the military during the Korean War, where he was assigned to intelligence work for the Navy and later embarked on a civilian career leading to a job with the CIA.

Another former college hoopster who carved out a CIA career was Pete Sivess, a center for Dickinson PA in 1935-36 before compiling a 7-11 record as a righthanded pitcher with the Philadelphia Phillies in three years from 1936 through 1938. While Moe Berg is the most famous MLB player linked with the CIA, his career as a spy pales in comparison to baseball contemporary Sivess, who is credited with defining CIA policy for handling Eastern Bloc defectors. During the height of the Cold War, Sivess conducted a "first haven" on Maryland's Eastern Shore where defectors were shipped to be debriefed. Probably the highest-profile spy Sivess monitored was "notorious double agent" Nicholas Shadrin, who died on a trip to Vienna in 1975 in a kidnapping attempt by Moscow's counterspies.

In the shadowy world of the CIA, no precise clues exist as to whether a basketball background for "CIA John" contributed to helping POTUS develop a comfort-zone bond with him similar to other ex-college hoopsters in his inner circle - Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (Harvard), departing Attorney General Eric Holder (Columbia), former "body man" Reggie Love (Duke) and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen (Navy). But it isn't ridiculous to suggest there might not have been a second inauguration for President Obama if he didn't trust "CIA John."

A vital hurdle approving the raid came when the SEAL Squadron leader briefed Mullen on merits of the mission. According to O'Neill's anonymous interview with Esquire, Vice Admiral William McRaven, head of Joint Special Ops Command, compared the raid and its fighters to the basketball movie Hoosiers in a final briefing with the participants in Operation Neptune's Spear.

A pithy precept occasionally surfaces in basketball trash talking that "some talk a good game and some play a good game." Depending upon your point of view, Time's Person of the Year in 2011 and each subsequent year could have been "CIA John." Surely, ex-Time managing editor Rick Stengel, a backup for Pete Carril-coached Princeton in the mid-1970s, would have encouraged co-workers to give "CIA John" special consideration after the White House acknowledged him and his colleagues as "unbelievably competent professionals."

Deserved or not, other ex-college hoopsters may get the bulk of the glory ranging from taking credit for UBL's demise to some searing social issue actually paling in comparison. When, if ever, will our nation get the opportunity to pay homage to a genuine hoop hero comparable to Ames, Knoche and Sivess? Heaven only knows we need an authentic hero these days to offset riots in major U.S. cities, a lawless West Wing supported by ideologically-driven lame-stream media plus collegiate academic scandals and athletes treating women as bad as Sharia-Law zealot Islamic radicals. But at the moment, the stirring tale will simply be "The Greatest Hoop Story Never Fully Told."

Historically, the first 15 NFL drafts from 1936 through 1950 had a former college basketball regular selected among the top 10 picks. Four of the top six choices and five of the top 11 in the 1957 draft were ex-college hoopsters. To our knowledge, none of them featured the excess baggage of Jameis "Crab Legs" Winston, who is also a versatile athlete but in baseball.

Back in 1963 when men were men before all of the draft-day crying/kissing and diversity sensitivity training (#BringBackOurMen), five of the top 22 picks, including four from schools that have always been or subsequently became members of the Big Ten Conference, were in the same category. Following is an alphabetical list of NFL first-round draft choices who played varsity college basketball for a current NCAA Division I university:

*Bechtol played in the AAFC, where he was a second-round pick (9th overall).