Two well-decorated head coaches from the college ranks now stand at the doorstep of one of basketball's highest honors.
On Saturday, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced its finalists for the 2015 Hall of Fame class. Kentucky's John Calipari and Wisconsin's Bo Ryan were both named finalists for the first time.
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Calipari, 56, has guided his 2014-15 Wildcats to a perfect 24-0 record entering Saturday and has 578 career head coaching victories to his credit from his time at UMass, Memphis at Kentucky. He has led all three schools to at least one Final Four appearance, with Kentucky appearing three times and winning the 2012 national championship.
Throughout his coaching career, Calipari has also produced an impressive amount of individual talent, coaching 16 All-Americans and three players of the year (Marcus Camby, John Wall and Anthony Davis). Calipari is also the only coach to produce three top NBA draft picks in Derrick Rose, John Wall and Anthony Davis.
Ryan, 67, was first known for his incredible success at the Division III level with Wisconsin-Platteville, where he led the school to four national championships and a 352-76 record from 1984 to 1999. He spent two years at Wisconsin-Milwaukee before taking over at Wisconsin in 2001.
At Wisconsin, Ryan has guided the Badgers to two Big Ten Tournament championships (2004, 2008), three Big Ten regular season titles (2002, 2003, 2008) and a Final Four appearance last season. His overall record at Wisconsin is 343-123, while his career win total is 726.
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2015 will be announced April 6 in Indianapolis prior to the NCAA championship game. Enshrinement ceremonies will take place Sept. 10-11 in Springfield, Mass.