SAN FRANCISCO – This morning, The Athletic posted an article by Seth Davis chronicling the top-40 people in college basketball under 40. University of San Francisco men's basketball head coach Todd Golden made the list.
 
"It's a great honor to be recognized within such an elite group in our game of college basketball," said Golden. "The reality is without the success of our student-athletes on and off the floor, and the great work done by our coaching staff, I do not make this list.  I am very appreciative for all of their effort and dedication to our program and university."
 
Golden, 35, is coming off a tremendous first season at the helm for the Dons.  USF's 22 wins in 2019-20 is matched only by the 2017-18 squad that went 22-17, tied for most victories in a season since the program was reinstated in the 1985-86 season.
 
With those 22 wins, Golden became just the fourth coach in USF history to win at least 20 games in his first season on the Hilltop, joining Kyle Smith (2016-17), Pete Barry (1981-82), and Dan Belluomini (1978-79).
 
Since Golden came to USF an an assistant under Smith, he and the Dons have always been stout on defense – but last year USF was remarkably efficient on both sides of the court.  USF was one of just 54 programs in the nation to finish in the top-100 in both offensive adjusted efficiency (68^th) and defensive adjusted efficiency (88^th) according to KenPom.com, the premier college basketball analytics website.
 
In the website's history, only one other USF team has finished in the top-100 in both categories--the Dons 1997-98 team that went to the NCAA tournament.