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Vacancies in college hoops’ top jobs? Not anytime soon

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A list of college basketball’s top coaching jobs last week Sporting News writer Mike DeCourcy sparked plenty of conversation on the story and endless chatter on his Twitter account.

Turns out everyone has an opinion of the best places to be. Well, that and people took it as DeCourcy’s list of the top programs.

Even if these aren’t the 10 best jobs – fans at Louisville, Michigan State, Florida, Villanova, Memphis, UConn and Syracuse are ready to argue – the list is interesting for when some of these jobs might be available.

DeCourcy’s list, followed by the coach and their ages:

1. North Carolina, Roy Williams (turns 60 this summer) 2. UCLA, Ben Howland (54) 3. Texas, Rick Barnes (turns 57 this summer) 4. Kentucky, John Calipari (52) 5. Ohio State, Thad Matta (turns 44 this summer) 6. Indiana, Tom Crean (45) 7. Kansas, Bill Self (48) 8. Duke, Mike Krzyzewski (64) 9. Maryland, Mark Turgeon (46) 10. Arizona, Sean Miller (42)

Five of these coaches here are in their 40s. If these truly are the nation’s top jobs, then half of ‘em aren’t going to be available for 20 years. The others might be a slightly shorter wait, but not by much.

Why would a guy like Barnes (pictured above) go anywhere anytime soon? He makes $$$ and wins without much pressure at Texas. That’s ideal.

Coach K’s the oldest, but he’s in the perfect situation, is coming off two fantastic seasons and shows no signs of slowing. He’s coaching at least another five years. Same with Roy Williams. (I figure if Dean Smith retired at 66, Roy may do the same.) Barring a sudden change, these are staying like this until at least 2017.

That’s quite a wait for someone like Brad Stevens or Shaka Smart who may be waiting for the perfect situation before they ever leave Butler or VCU.

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.