By Mike Douchant

A striking number of mentors who coached this season directed schools to the NCAA playoffs right from the start of their head coaching careers. Indiana's Mike Davis, Butler's Thad Matta and Princeton's John Thompson III joined the following alphabetical list of active coaches this year who guided teams to the NCAA Tournament in their first full season at the Division I level:

Coach, School (Year)             	First NCAA Tournament Performance
Mike Adras, Northern Arizona (2000) 	Lost to St. John's in first round.
Tevester Anderson, Murray State (1999)	Lost to Ohio State in first round.
Rod Barnes, Mississippi (1999)      	Lost to Michigan State in second round.
Bob Bender, Illinois State (1990)   	Lost to Michigan in first round.
Jim Boeheim, Syracuse (1977)        	Lost to UNCC in regional semifinals.
Jeff Capel, N.C. A&T (1994)         	Lost to Arkansas in first round.
Bill Carmody, Princeton (1997)      	Lost to California in first round.
Tom Conrad, Charleston S'ern (1997) 	Lost to UCLA in first round.
Denny Crum, Louisville (1972)       	Lost to UCLA in national semifinals.
Dick Davey, Santa Clara (1993)      	Lost to Temple in second round.
Mike Davis, Indiana (2001)              To be determined.
Jerry Dunn, Penn State (1996)       	Lost to Arkansas in first round.
Mark Few, Gonzaga (2000)            	Lost to Purdue in regional semifinals.
Steve Fisher, Michigan (1990)         	Lost to Loyola Marymount in second round.
Bruiser Flint, Massachusetts (1997)     Lost to Louisville in first round.
Eddie Fogler, Wichita State (1987)  	Lost to St. John's in first round.
Fran Fraschilla, Manhattan (1993)   	Lost to Virginia in first round.
Pete Gillen, Xavier (1986)          	Lost to Alabama in first round.
Bill Guthridge, North Carolina (1998)   Lost to Utah in national semifinals.
Mike Heideman, Wis.-Green Bay (1996) 	Lost to Virginia Tech in first round.
Phil Hopkins, Western Carolina (1996) 	Lost to Purdue in first round.
Steve Lavin, UCLA (1997)            	Lost to Minnesota in regional final.
Bobby Lutz, UNC Charlotte (1999)    	Lost to Oklahoma in second round.
Gregg Marshall, Winthrop (1999)     	Lost to Auburn in first round.
Thad Matta, Butler (2001)               To be determined.
Ricardo Patton, Colorado (1997)     	Lost to North Carolina in second round.
Skip Prosser, Loyola, Md. (1994)    	Lost to Arizona in first round.
Steve Robinson, Tulsa (1996)        	Lost to Louisville in first round.
Quin Snyder, Missouri (2000)        	Lost to North Carolina in first round.
Kirk Speraw, Central Florida (1994)     Lost to Purdue in first round.
John Thompson III, Princeton (2001)     To be determined.
Mike Vining, Louisiana-Monroe (1982) 	Lost to Iowa in first round.
Melvin Watkins, UNC Charlotte (1997) 	Lost to Utah in second round.