Congratulations to the following coaches who have been selected as the HoopDirt.com Coach of the Week Award winners for week 8 of the college basketball season. The coaches are now eligible to receive the HoopDirt.com National Coach of the Year Award which will be announced at the conclusion of the 2015-16 college basketball season. The complete list of past weekly winners can be found below this weeks recipients.

Nominations for next week’s award can be emailed to: Coach of the Week Nominations – please include a brief statement as to why the coach should be recognized as well as any other information that may be helpful.

The Week 8 winners are:

NCAA DI: Bill Self – University of Kansas. What a week for Self and the Jayhawks.  On Monday, they assumed the AP #1 spot in the country. The same day, they faced #2 Oklahoma in a game that turned out to be an epic triple-overtime thriller.  In a back and forth game, Kansas’ Frank Mason III stole an inbounds pass with :12 seconds left in the 3rd overtime and then hit two free throws to give Kansas the 109-106 win.  The Jayhawks then pushed their wining streak to 13 with a 69-59 win at Texas Tech on Saturday.  Kansas is now 14-1 (3-0 Big 12) – they travel to Morgantown on Tuesday to take on 17th ranked West Virginia (14-1 3-0).

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NCAA DII: Josh Schertz – Lincoln Memorial University (TN).  A 2-0 week for Schertz’ 19th ranked Railsplitters.  They opened the week on the road with an offensive outburst – they defeated Mars Hall 120-84 in a game where they scored 65 second half points.  In the victory, LMU shot a ridiculous 17-26 (65.4%) from three and 42-62 (67.7%) from the field.  On Saturday, defeated 8th-ranked Queens University of Charlotte 86-76.  The loss was the first of the season for Queens, and ran LMU’s record to 12-2 (8-0 SAC).  The win also marked the Railsplitters first against a top-10 nationally-ranked program in the school’s NCAA Division II era.

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NCAA DIII: John Baines – Elmhurst College (IL).   Ranked #5 in the country, Baines and his Blue Jays upset #1 Augustana (IL) on Wednesday in a 77-75 overtime thriller in front of a standing room only crowd at Elmhurst.  In a wild ending to regulation, Elmhurst tipped in a shot at the buzzer for what many thought was the win, but as the crowd stormed the court, the officials went to the monitor and waived off the basket.  Baines’ crew the re-grouped and slugged out an 8-6 overtime for the victory in a game that featured 19 lead changes and 13 ties.  Elmhurst then downed Millikin on the road on Saturday 73-65 for their 10th straight win.  They are now 13-1 (3-0 CCIW) and should edge closer to the #1 ranking in the next D3hoops.com poll.

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NAIA: Kelly Wells – University of Pikeville (KY).  Three more wins this week for Wells and his UPike Bears.  The #2 ranked NAIA DI team in the country, Pikeville is now 16-1 (3-1 MSC).  They began the week with a 75-58 non-conference win at Ave Maria (FL).  UPike followed that one up with an impressive 98-63 blowout over conference foe and 15th-ranked Lindsey Wilson College.  They capped off the week with another conference win as they defeated Cumberland (TN) 86-78.  UPike trailed Cumberland by 1 at the half – it was only the 4th time in 17 games this season that the Bears did not go into the break with the lead.  

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JUCO: Steve DeMeo – Northwest Florida State.  The 9th-ranked Raiders pulled out victories in two very tight games this week. NWF opened the week on Wednesday with a 76-72 victory on the road vs. Pensacola State. They followed it up with a 101-99 double-overtime win at home against Gulf Coast State College.  The Raiders are now 16-2 (2-0) and playing well as they continue the defense of their 2014-15 NJCAA Division I National Championship.

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Past Weekly Winners (click on week for full write-up):

Week 1

NCAA DI: Craig Neal – University New Mexico

NCAA DII: Stephen Joyner, Sr. – Johnson C. Smith University (NC)

NCAA DIII: John Tauer – University of St. Thomas (MN)

NAIA: Larry Cordaro – LSU-Alexandria

JUCO: Craig Doty – Rock Valley College (IL)

Week 2:

NCAA DI: Jim Boeheim – Syracuse University

NCAA DII: Johnny Estelle – Texas A&M-Kingsville

NCAA DIII: Andrew Sachs – Salisbury University (MD)

NAIA: Dave Holmquist– Biola University (CA)

JUCO: Charles Harral – Arizona Western College

Week 3

NCAA DI: Frank Martin – University of South Carolina

NCAA DII: Jim Crutchfield – West Liberty University (WVa)

NCAA DIII: Frank Marcinek – Susquehanna University (PA)

NAIA: Carson Cunningham – Carroll College (MT)

JUCO: Steve Eck – Hutchinson CC (KS)

Week 4

NCAA DI: Mike Lonergan – George Washington University

NCAA DII: R.C. Kehoe – Holy Family University (PA)

NCAA DIII: David Hixon – Amherst College (MA)

NAIA: Donnie Butcher – University of the Cumberlands (KY)

JUCO: Jim Morris – Iowa Western Community College

Week 5

NCAA DI: King Rice – Monmouth University

NCAA DII: Cinco Boone – Angelo State University (TX)

NCAA DIII: Grey Giovanine – Augustana College (IL)

NAIA: Carson Harris – Marian University (IN)

JUCO: Corey Symons – North Idaho College

Week 6

NCAA DI: Dan Majerle – Grand Canyon University

NCAA DII: Christmas holiday – not enough NCAA DII games played to justify the selection of a winner.

NCAA DIII: Greg Mitchell – Hope College (MI)

NAIA: Bill Czech – Hope International University (CA)

JUCO: Christmas holiday – not enough JUCO games played to justify the selection of a winner.

Week 7

NCAA DI: Fran McCaffery – University of Iowa

NCAA DII: Lonn Reisman – Tarleton State University (TX)

NCAA DIII: Joe Nesci – New York University

NAIA: Bob Burchard – Columbia College (MO)

JUCO: Steve Green – South Plains College (TX)