Since the weekly Player of the Year race feature has been so popular, I've received numerous requests to do something along the same lines for the Coach of the Year.
 
I did it a few weeks back, but this time I won't take the easy way out.

Here are the top 20 candidates in order:  

1) Matt Painter, Purdue - He's done it with a freshman-laden group and has the Boilermakers in contention for the Big Ten regular-season crown.

2) Rick Barnes, Texas - The Longhorns head coach has done a remarkable job after losing National Player of the Year Kevin Durant.

3) Trent Johnson, Stanford - I know he's got the Lopez Twins, but the Cardinal coach has done wonders hiding his team's flaws and has Stanford second in the Pac-10.

4) Keno Davis, Drake - In his rookie campaign after his father, Tom, retired, the younger Davis has led his team to the top of the Missouri Valley Conference.

5) Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt - The Commodores were expected to be somewhere towards the bottom of the SEC East. They just beat the nation's top team and have been a fixture in the Top 25 virtually all season.

6) Jim Calhoun, UConn - I wrote this team off after watching them struggle early in the season, but the Hall of Famer has done a terrific job as Hasheem Thabeet and A.J. Price have made dramatic progress this season.

7) Bo Ryan, Wisconsin - I don't think anyone really thought that the Badgers, who lost Alando Tucker, would be in the mix for the Big Ten regular-season crown. I didn't.

8) Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's - He should get the next quality Pac-10 opening. Bennett has done a tremendous job and has the Gaels battling with Gonzaga for West Coast Conference supremecy.

9) Herb Sendek, Arizona State - In just his second season in Tempe, Sendek has the Sun Devils in contention for an NCAA tournament berth. ASU has swept rival Arizona this season.

10) Bruce Pearl, Tennessee - The Vols coach is a master motivator and he led his squad to the program's first No. 1 ranking in its 99-year history.

11) Sean Miller, Xavier - He'd be even higher on this list, except the expectations were high for the Musketeers. They've lived up to the hype and Miller is one of the hottest young coaches in the nation.

12) Dino Gaudio, Wake Forest - You want to talk about difficult circumstances. Gaudio replaced his best friend, Skip Prosser, who died of a heart attack late in the summer. The Demon Deacons weren't supposed to be anywhere near NCAA tournament contention.

13) Mike Krzyzewski, Duke - You've got to give Coach K a ton of credit for altering his system and style of play at this stage of his career. The Blue Devils weren't expected to be in the mix to go deep in the NCAA tournament.

14) Mike Brey, Notre Dame - The Irish head man has his team in contention for the Big East crown at a "football" school.

15) Jim Christian, Kent State - One of the most underrated coaches in the country, He wins 20 games each and every year and his squad cracked the Top 25 this week.

16) Bobby Braswell, Cal State Northridge - No one picked them to finish in the top half of the Big West. Braswell has his team in first place.

17) Lon Kruger, UNLV - Talk about underrated. The former NBA coach lost basically his entire team and the Running Rebels are still competing for the Mountain West title. 

18) Anthony Grant, VCU - The Rams lost two starting guards from last year's team, but Grant has proven he's one of the best young guys in the business as VCU sits atop the Colonial.
 
19) Steve Donahue, Cornell - Usually, it's Penn or Princeton atop the Ivy. Donahue has Cornell in the driver's seat for the league title.

20a) Brad Brownell, Wright State - Seriously, this guy can coach anywhere. He won at UNC Wilmington and now he continues to rack up the victories at Wright State.
 
20b) Jay Lawson, Bentley - I know it's D-2, but no one has won more games in the last two seasons than Lawson.
 
VOLS BAT .500 

Tennessee just went into two of the most hostile environments in the country - and went 1-for-2.

There's no shame in that. In fact, Vols coach Bruce Pearl and his team should be content splitting at Memphis and Vanderbilt.

The bottom line is that Pearl's team will be as prepared as just about anyone come NCAA tournament time because of its experience going on the road and playing just about anyone.

Tennessee won at Xavier, knocked off former No. 1 Memphis and beat Gonzaga in Seattle.

Now it looks as though a North Carolina team that should get its point guard, Ty Lawson, back this weekend will reclaim the top spot it held for a while earlier this season.

Lawson has missed six games with a sprained ankle, but all signs point to his return on Saturday at Boston College.

Look for Tar Heels coach Roy Williams, who has made the correct move not to rush Lawson back, to ease his starting floor leader back into the mix.

This might work out perfectly for Williams and UNC - as Lawson should have enough time to get back to full strength before the NCAA tournament - and reserve point guard Quentin Thomas has had extensive playing time that has seen not only his confidence rise, but his teammates' confidence in the senior shoot up as well.