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The 2012 NCAA Tournament is nearly completed. On Monday night Kansas and Kentucky will clash in New Orleans, Louisiana to determine who is the national champion. This year’s tournament has been incredibly enjoyable from start to finish and to help cap it off, we’ve put together our awards list featuring the top individuals and moments from the first round on.

Top Coach: Bill Self – Kansas
The competition for this award was stiff with Kentucky’s John Calipari, Louisville’s Rick Pitino, Ohio State’s Thad Mata and Ohio’s John Groce. Had the Bobcats been able to upset North Carolina in the Sweet 16 Groce probably would have been the winner. Self has earned the honor, though, by taking Kansas to their second national championship under his watch in a year where nobody expected them to be a title contender.

Coincidentally, the last time Kansas was in the championship game they played against John Calipari’s Memphis Tigers. If Self can top him again, he’ll be a legend and icon in Lawrence, Kansas forever.

Most Outstanding Player: Anthony Davis

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Coach Anthony Macri is Director of Business Development and a Player Development Consultant for the Pro Training Center. Anthony works closely with NBA trainer David Thorpe, and writes the weekly Coach’s Notebook column for HOOPSWORLD. Coach Macri gets started at his new time of 11am EST every Tuesday.

CJ

Coach maybe you can explain this to me, because watching yesterday I just couldn’t understand at all. Thomas Robinson has a formidable post game. Bill Self insists on posting him up which is fine. Now what I don’t get is, WHY DOES HE HAVE JEFF WHITEY LINGER IN THE SAME POST AREA MAKING AD CONTEST ROBINSON ON TOP OF ROBINSON’S OWN DEFENDER? I undertand you could get a off board, but all he did was have AD help D on Robinson and really that’s alot to ask of Robinson. Why not drag AD out with a smaller lineup or a shooting big OR SOMETHING? OR EVEN TELL WHITEY TO TAKE 3 STEPS BACK?

Anthony Macri

Morning everyone! Sorry about the change in day in time for this week… but I actually like the 10a start time, so that might be a keeper. We’ll see how today goes. Back to Tuesday or stay on Wednesday? You decide – throw thoughts in the comment section. In the meantime, let’s get to your Qs… I’ll answer NCAA, NBA, and more.

I actually had a similar thought through part of the game – Jeff Withey (not Whitey) is effective as a garbage guy and is a good defender, so they like having him on the floor. Getting him involved in weakside screening actions that force his defender to at least take a half step away from the post action might have been a good idea. Moreso than Robinson’s struggles to me was the inability of Kansas’ guards to gain real penetration on a consistent basis. They had a number of “drives to nowhere” which just lead to bad possessions.

CMS

What is it about Iguodala that makes him such a good defender?

Anthony Macri

A few things jump out. He is legally physical – meaning he uses his body effectively and offensive players get touched by him regularly. He breaks contact at the right times to avoid fouls and he also does a great job of converting when an offensive player gets a half step on him of re-establishing position ahead of the defender. He also contests everything. Notice how he gets his hands high on catches: just that small adjustment can make a poor defender into a serviceable one, and make a solid defender into a good or great one.

calvinzero

2 Questions:

1.Coach Anthony, who do you think is the best back-up pointguard for Ramon Sessions? Is still Steve Blake or your personal choice of player coming from the other NBA teams??

2. Generally, what kind of gameplan will use of all teams(specifically in the Top 8 of both conferences) now the playoffs is approaching?

Anthony Macri

1.) I like having different kinds of point guards on my roster. A scorer, a speedster, a big bull, etc. I think that it changes the way your offense runs and that is hard to prepare for if you are the other team. Sessions and Blake are different enough that it seems a decent pairing. I need to watch Lakers more now that guys are getting settled in.

2.) I think each team needs its own approach. OKC’s approach should be fine-tuning, trying different things, just getting themselves in good working order before the playoffs. The Knicks have to scratch and claw for every advantage they can get! Hard to have a sweeping gameplan.

Roon

Coach, as a Bobcats fan, I was very interested in watching Anthony Davis in the National Championship game. There is no doubt that Davis holds possibly the greatest defensive arsenal of any prospect to enter the NBA Draft, but I was very unimpressed by his footwork and low-post moves.

My question is what do you think an NBA team could expect from Davis on the offensive side every night? He only had six points in the National Championship while he average a bit over fourteen for the year. I know he can be worked with because he seems to be tenacious, dedicated, and contains a very high basketball IQ. I am just wanting to know what his potential could be on the offensive end, especially considering the Bobcats already have a heavily defensive-sided forward in Bismack Biyombo.

Anthony Macri

Any front office that doesn’t pick Anthony Davis should be dismantled. The kid is a winner with a high motor, a great attitude, and a lot of growth potential. Remember he was a 6’2 guard like two years ago! It takes time to develop the right attack patterns in the post. He goes baseline way too much for me (that is a common theme amongst all younger players) but I do like how nimble he is. I’m not worried about one bad scoring night, especially when he was the MVP of the game!!! Davis is just like another Chicago product that did pretty well, with long arms and was better defensively than offensively early… Kevin Garnett.

Mac

Seeing how well Courtney Lee has played on both ends of the floor during Kevin Martin’s absence. Do you think Daryl Morey is regretting not pulling the trigger on the Marcin Gortat-Kevin Martin deal he was offered last year? Looks like the potential replacements this offseason will be worse as there are only few quality centers are on the market. Your thoughts.

Anthony Macri

I have always liked Courtney (and obviously have had a chance to work with both him and Kevin). Last year, Courtney had not shown the outright ability to produce consistently. He looks like he has reached that point, which is great, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Daryl Morey was wrong last year by not trading Kevin. It does make it easier to move pieces around when you feel you have a suitable replacement in house, however. I’m sure there will be movement one way or another this offseason.

Cricket

If you were starting a team from scratch, rank your preference for these pair of players (assume all in prime): Team #1 – Michael Jordan and Tim Duncan, Team #2 – Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Team #3 – Kobe Bryant and Hakeem Olajuwon

Anthony Macri

I think you got the order right when you presented it to me… 1, 2, and 3. Jordan and Duncan would be pretty darn good, beacuse they can do it in a number of different ways, and defensively they would be very tough. Magic functioned well in an fast-paced scheme, and then they used Kareem in any halfcourt action, so it was a nice 1-2 punch. Kobe and Hakeem is an interesting pairing – I’d have to think about that one a little more. How about this – Kobe and Shaq, both in primes, and able to get along – I’d take those two over anyone else. Not kidding.

Gery

What adjustments do you see Tyreke Evans making in order for him to reach his full potential?Can he and Thorton coexist? I always like TEvans to play with Monta cuz of defensice rotation, just like Mionta and Livingston.

Anthony Macri

Tyreke needs to consider shot selection and value floor positioning a little more. Right now he does neither. I think he can exist peacefully with one other high usage player but it would be difficult (the way he plays now) to be with two guys that need the ball a lot.

Gery

Who are top 5 most underated perimeted defenders in the NBA?

Anthony Macri

This is a really hard question to answer – I need a lot more than a chat answer to get to the heart of it. I will think about it, but I think the way a player is coached to play defense is just as important as his raw defensive ability.

Nick S

HOw much of a problem is inside scoring for OKC? When othere teams have it everybody is mentioning it but when Ibaka and KPErk score 10 points alltogether its not an issue.

Anthony Macri

It’s easy to point to something a team doesn’t do well and claim it is the end of the world because they don’t do “x.” I don’t seem to remember the Chicago Bulls teams in the 90s having a ton of scoring out of stalwarts like Luc Longley and Denis Rodman (and even Toni Kukoc was a perimeter player). In short, I think it is pretty irrelevant that they don’t have inside scoring when their perimeter attack is so good and they are good enough defensively.

Mac

I read on HoopsHype yesterday that Danny Ainge once offered Ray Allen for Kevin Martin (Sacramento) in 2010. This was surprising as I never heard this trade rumor. Questions: Is this report based on fact? And if so, are you surprised Ainge tried to break up the Big 3 so early (2010)?

Anthony Macri

Not too surprising considering the advancing age of Boston’s overall roster and the need to get younger at one of the big three positions. Kevin is also a good fit in a lot of situations because he can score without touching the ball a ton – the kind of guy to get 25 points on just 14 shots. That would look good next to Pierce, KG, and Rondo.

Need more Qs folks – send them in now!!!

JP

Hi coach, how are you?
can you please tell me which are your top 5 in this year draft and why?
Is it possible for Minne to get one of those picks via trade?

Anthony Macri

Anthony Davis is a lock for #1. I think selecting between Thomas Robinson, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Andre Drummond and Jared Sullinger will be difficult in the next four slots. Bradley Beal might shake that up but I would look at the four above before him, personally. Minnesota might be able to move into a position to select one of those guys – but why? Maybe they could want Bradley Beal – but the other ones (Kidd-Gilchrist being a potential exception) don’t seem like good fits, and I actually like Minnesota to build around what they have with depth, not bring in other guys who feel the need to be at the forefront.

James

Ed Davis for Wes Johnson… good deal for both?

Anthony Macri

Can Davis consistently play the five in the NBA or is he a career back-up to Kevin Love (which isn’t a bad situation, given Love’s status as maybe the best power forward of the last twenty years? I think a change of scenery would help both players careers, though I think this would be better for Davis than it would for Johnson, who I see having a solid but never great NBA career.

Frank

Which team has the stronger one-two punch out of the point guard spot: Houston – Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic or Denver – Ty Lawson and Andre Miller

Anthony Macri

I like how dynamic Denver is when Andre Miller isn’t pouty. I will try to watch them over the next couple of nights. I have not been able to see Houston in a while either… those are two teams that I need to get a little more acquainted with. Thanks for the notice.

Eric

overall who do think is the better coach mike brown or spolestra?

Anthony Macri

I am a Spoelstra fan and not a Brown fan, so that isn’t really a hard question to answer. I think Eric does a great job with adjustments throughout a season, and I think his players listen to him, which makes him better than Brown out of the gate.

Nick

Will the Lakers start playing up to their potential come playoff time? Will a 7-series benefit them over playing random different teams? It’s mind boggling how such a nice roster can’t improve on their basketball quality..

Anthony Macri

There is something to be said for roster stability and longevity. The Lakers have neither. Doesn’t mean they won’t put it together for the playoffs – in fact, I think they have to – but the same kinds of problems that plague them now will plague them forever: lack of creativity on the offensive end.

alex from sudbury

Hey coach! Love your chats!

2 part question

1) Do you think the raps should go after Mayo this summer.
seeing as there is a lack of all star quality 2 guards in the
league. Could he be a n All star on that squad.
2) If the raps made that trade would it make sense to move
Derozan to the 3. I feel he would perform better at that
position ( his game seems tailored for small foward).

your thoughts. Thanks.

Anthony Macri

I don’t think OJ is an All-Star caliber player on any team – just too many fundamental flaws that lead to inconsistency. It would seem Derozan would have to move to the three, and I question if those two guys are too similar to really fit together well on the floor… neither is dominant as a breakdown playmaker and both are mediocre perimeter shooters.

JP

Coach, if you have to choose between the following options which one would you select:
A) A big contract to Courtney Lee so Houston does not match the offer
B) Move up in the draft to get Beal
C) A trade for Wesley Matthews
D) A big trade for a veteran (Like …???)

Kidd, would be a great fit but he would also make Love play as a center to have Derrick Williams as the power forward and that

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