[hanster]

Conley could have gone to ANY school he wanted to. The real story was Daequan Cook was the first one among the freshmen trio to commit to OSU and somehow convinced both Oden and Conley to go to OSU as well. As one of the poster stated, there is not a single school that would reject a top 30 ranked recruit in the nation. Only a team that has the caliber of USC football can do so (the story of Carroll lining up players and choosing who he wants instead of recruits them) and college basketball does not have such a powerhouse.
Below is the list of the recruits that were ranked ahead of Conley from 2006 (according to Scout.com)

Tywon Lawson
Wayne Ellington
Kevin Durant
Brandan Wright
Greg Oden
Sherron Collins
Daequan Cook
Thaddeus Young
Darrell Arthur
Spencer Hawes
Javaris Crittenton
Jon Scheyer
Chase Budinger
Vernon Macklin
Brook Lopez

Eh, some of these players mentioned above have done a lot for their team in their season without having a top-notched, future NBA first pick overall center and another top 10 recruit coming out of high school with him. Conley would have been in serious contention for freshman of the year had it not been Durant/Oden's year.

Anyways, back to the topic.
1. Howland
2. Donovan
3. JT III
4. Matta
Donovan is up there though, i have to give it to him. He's built a football school into a house full of gator chompers that don't show much class after winning a game. But he is a great coach.

JT III and Matta aren't bad but are definitely out of the leagues of Howland and Donovan.

Other honorable mention coaches:
Coach K
Pitino
Tom Izzo

Don't know yet:
Bill Self
Tony Bennett (fluke)
John Calipari (Easy conf FTW?)

Dishonorable mention:
Rick Barnes (about time to win something?)

I'm tired. Please let me know if I omitted someone important.