Is it the program or the coach?

I have a lot of casual basketball fans ask me a question that is actually tricky to answer: When a school has a successful basketball era, or a longer chain of runs, is it the coach or the program that breeds success?

It's a case-by-case thing. And it's usually a tangled web because one coach usually builds a program into a powerhouse.

Example of "It's the program": Kentucky -- the winningest program in college hoops history. It started, of course, with Adolph Rupp, but the Wildcats have been winning -- for the most part -- for their entire existence. The winning tradition started with E.R. Sweetland in 1912. Sweetland helped UK to a 9-0 record. JJ Tigert, Alpha Brummage and James Park coached Kentucky to a 32-16 record over four years. Only three coaches out of seven over the next 11 years had losing records. Then Rupp came and went 876-190, winning four national titles.

But Rupp's retirement didn't end Kentucky's ongoing success. Joe Hall won 297 games and a title in 1978. Hall's Wildcats made it to the finals in 1975 and a Final Four in 1984. Eddie Sutton was 88-39, but left the school in controversy and scandal without ever reaching a Final Four. Then, Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith each won titles.

And while Billy Gillispie has struggled in his first few season, and Smith struggled toward the end of his time there, Kentucky is still a program built over a century by numerous coaches, most influential being Rupp, Hall and Pitino.

Others that "are the program" include Duke, Syracuse, Indiana (although Bob Knight, like Jim Boeheim at 'Cuse, really helps the Hoosiers make a good "It's the coach" argument), UCLA, Kansas, Louisville and St. John's.

"It's the coach" caveat: There are a lot of schools that have become superpowers because of a coach -- Arizona and UConn come to mind. But also, college basketball is such a young sport that many of these schools just hadn't plugged into the game until the '60s, '70s or later. Others, however, were good, but then became great.

Take UConn, for example, where Hugh Greer (wish I was related to him, but I'm not) guided the program to 286 wins through 1963, but for 23 years, UConn was irrelevant. Then Jim Calhoun came and made it a superpower.

Here's a good "It's the coach" example: Look no farther than a pair of A-10 teams for "It's the coach." John Calipari (pictured at the top) took UMass from obscurity (except for the Julius Erving years) to significance in a very short amount of time. Calipari was 193-71 in nine seasons at UMass, which included a Final Four trip and a No. 1 ranking.

At Temple, John Chaney won 724 games and made 30 trips to postseason play. For the most part, Temple was nothing before Chaney came. Temple is struggling to reach the same level of relevance in modern days.

DePaul is another good example of "It's the coach," but we'll throw in, "the coach's family." Ray Meyer coached the Blue Demons to 37 winning seasons, 12 20-win seasons and a pair of Final Fours. Meyer retired in 1984, and his son, Joey, took over the reins. Joey Meyer took DePaul to seven NCAA tournaments, but DePaul hasn't been near those levels since Joey left in 1997.

Overall, it's really hard to define many programs as "just the coach" or "a sustained winner as a program." Almost every school has had a few coaches with blips of success, but very few have had consistent brand names as winners. Some schools, like Arizona, Connecticut and Gonzaga, will grow into sustained programs for a while. Pitt, thanks to Ben Howland his predecessor, Jamie Dixon, will probably develop into a decent, sustained winner in the future.

Bye, Bye, Devendorf

The Syracuse guard that everybody loves to hate -- Eric Devendorf -- has been given a season-long suspension from Syracuse. The suspension, as of right now, will be lifted in May.

Seems like the kid can't stop hitting people.

Devendorf's lawyer said Devendorf plans to appeal the decision.

What does this mean for Syracuse?
Well, for a team that has been on a meteoric rise in the national rankings, this is a serious blow. Devendorf averaged 14 points a game and, after missing last year with a knee injury, would have been a key member of Syracuse's campaign this year.

Without Devendorf, expect Andy Rautins's role to expand. There is also a slew of forwards off the bench who will probably see more time, with Syracuse employing a big lineup with Paul Harris at the 2.

The suspension also limits the amount of capable ball-handlers on the floor for Jim Boeheim. Teams might press Syracuse more. And it might also mean Jonny Flynn's minutes will go up -- even though they're already at about 35 a game.

Bottom line: This suspension is a major issue that will have an immediate and lasting impact on the Orange. One of their best players and top shooters/ball-handlers is going to miss the rest of the season. When things like that happen, being successful is difficult at best.

Elsewhere
-- Gonzaga struggled with Washington State for a half before pulling away. Wazzou clearly lacks the punch it had last year, but the Cougs still make it tough for people to score.

-- UMass finally got its second win. Turnovers were still a problem.

-- The Yankees are loading up.

-- And the Nats are trying to.

Swallowed by the Beast

Jonny Flynn and the Syracuse Orange upset No. 17 Florida last night, 89-83. Wow. The second-best SEC team against the seventh-best Big East team. Keep watching Big East teams for more signs of dominance the rest of the year.

Or I could just give you some now ...

No. 2 UConn 76, No. 25 Wisconsin 57

No. 8 Notre Dame 88, Indiana 50

Oh, and Cincinnati and St. John's won, too, but those are just icing on the cake. Plus, who's really counting anyway?

Let's play good loss/bad loss
-- There is never really such a thing as a "good loss," but there are losses that, if close and against a good team, mean a little bit more than a bad loss to a bad team or a blowout loss to anybody. Yesterday provided a full plate of games to pick from:

Terrible loss: Jacksonville State 75, UMass 74. If UMass was hoping to surprise people in the A-10 and make a run as an at-large team, starting 1-3 and losing to Jacksonville State at home usually won't help.

Disappointing but not terrible loss: Syracuse 89, No. 17 Florida 83 (see above)

Tough home loss: UNLV 80, UTEP 67. UNLV is good, but UTEP had a chance to get a quality home win and build up its resume leading into C-USA play. If the Miners want to challenge Memphis for the conference title and stake a claim as a second or third bid out of the C-USA, a win in a game like this always helps.

Bad loss against a good team: Kansas 73, Washington 54. If Washington (or Worshington if your Bob Knight) wants to find its way out of basketball purgatory, it needs to come closer to good teams and win a few of them. More importantly, if Lorenzo Romar wants to keep his job after this season, the Huskies need to do better against quality teams. First step, don't shoot so many 3s if you aren't making them. Just a suggestion.

Awful loss: Yale 53, Oregon State 52. Craig Robinson is off to a very rough 0-3 start. Losing to Howard is tough. Losing to Yale is probably worse.

Embarrassing blowout: Oregon 82, Alabama 59. Not only is Alabama 1-2, with this blowout loss at home and a loss to Mercer ... at home ... but the Crimson Tide suddenly look like one of the worst teams in the SEC, which is terrible because some floated the idea of them being an at-large bid or a bubble team come March. At this point, they might still be a reach bubble team ... for the NIT.

Red Scare ... or Not

Pitt took care of Miami (Ohio) last night, 82-53. The first half was close; second half wasn't.

Like I said yesterday, the Panthers need Little Fella Levance Fields to ignite them, and he did in a major way. The 5-10 senior had his first career double-double: 12 points, 12 assists.

Jermaine Dixon and Sam Young each had 14. Big Fella Blair and Tyrell Biggs had 10. Call it a team effort.

This is a nice win for the Panthers. Miami (Ohio) gave UCLA all it could handle a few days ago before falling, 64-59. This time, the Redhawks were bludgeoned by a similarly styled team.

Next up for Pitt: Akron. Friday at 7.

Elsewhere
-- It's only a rivalry because there's a BCS bid (potentially) at stake.

-- Memphis and UMass were terrible last night, but the Tigers slowly but surely crunched the Minutemen, 80-58. It was fun to see Derek Kellogg and Coach Cal across the floor from one another.

-- Pete Newell, a legend, died Monday. Any true hoops fan should read more about him.

-- It's kind of weird seeing outlets report on their own news, but I guess we can all breathe easy now that Fox is out of the running for any future BCS games. Seriously, the less Joe Buck, the better.

The Perfect Fit

Great story by Andy Katz on ESPN.com about Derek Kellogg (above) and UMass. I suggest you check it out.