Fire Tubby?

Someone likes Tubby, they really, really like him! And they have always wanted to play for him. Rondo you say? Nope, guess again. Randolph Morris? Wrong again. It’s actually Missouri star Thomas Gardner. He was asked if he would return to Missouri next year since Quin Snyder resigned last month. Gardner mentioned a couple of coaches he would like to play for including Rick Majerus, John Calipari, Bob Huggins, and most relevant to this site, Tubby Smith.

“Tubby Smith was the kind of coach I grew up liking, kind of following. Tubby Smith, Roy Williams, coaches like that. He has a big name, and he does a great job at Kentucky. It would be an honor to play for Tubby Smith.”

Now that’s the kind of player we need on this team. Someone who knows you have to work hard to be a winner. Dare I say Chuck Hayesesque?

On a completely different note altogether, the line at the top, the “they really, really like him” stuff. I couldn’t remember where it came from, so I searched the internets and found that it was a Sally Field quote from an Oscar acceptance speech in 1984. Except there’s a problem with it. That’s not the real quote. She actually said “I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!” Very odd. Am I the only one that remembers it that way? Thank you internets!

This afternoon against Ole Miss begins the new season. Or so Tubby says. This is either the third or fourth “new season” this season. This probably means that the original starting lineup will return. I understand what Tubby is probably trying to do. He’s trying anything he can to get the team motivated to step up and play competitive basketball. As we’ve seen all season, some of the players just don’t seem to get “up” for games. So I like using the “ “, get over it.

I think the Cats are in almost regardless of what happens in this game unless they get embarrassed by Ole Miss. If that happened, I’m not sure I would still think they deserved to be in at that point. But that will not happen. Got it? That will not happen. Kentucky is -10 today. Go Cats!

Here is a funny game diary someone wrote. Has plenty of Duke bashing so that’s good. Could have been a little more unbiased though, and included Carolina hating as well.

Here is the audio from the Cowherd comment yesterday.

Rondo is back up a few notches on the latest 2006 NBA draft boards. He is now listed at #14 on nbadraft.net.

ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd comment during his “Monday Morning Riff” segment:

“Kentucky basketball lost on senior day for only the 5th time in 86 years. Florida beat’em. Say what you want, Tubby Smith is just not good enough.”

During the game yesterday Rondo and Al Horford exchanged a few words after Horford hung on the rim and bumped Rondo on the way down. It was pretty obvious what Rondo said to him (see last post), especially when CBS showed it in slow-motion replay. When something like that happens the announcers usually try to play it off by making a joke as to what they were talking about. So this gave me an idea. Maybe not a good one, but an idea nonetheless. What are some other things that they could have been saying?

Such as:

• You get dubs on your Denali? Me too.
• You and Walsh still together? (Come on, I had to do it since the “gay” chant reappeared in Rupp yesterday)

All in good fun of course.

Quote of the game:

Fu*k you
-Rondo to Al Horford

Kentucky couldn’t put it all together today and lost in blowout fashion for the second time to the Florida gators this season. Joakim Noah has completely owned us in both of those games as well. The most success the Cats had today against Noah was when Rondo guarded him. You wouldn’t think that a team with 28 feet 3 inches of center would have to play so much small ball but that’s the way this season has turned out.

In one of the few bright spots, Joe Crawford scored a stealthy 21 points. Patrick couln’t get going today and wasn’t a factor on either end of the court. Up next, Ole Miss on Thursday.

The despised Florida Gators roll into Rupp on Sunday. This particular Florida team has several of the most personally annoying players of any team in the country. From the chest thumping Joakim Noah to Corey Brewer, Billy Donovan has had some players that get under your skin when you watch them. Here are some that stick out over the years.

• Matt Walsh
• Anthony Roberson
• Matt Bonner
• Brett Nelson
• Mike Miller
• Udonis Haslem
• Teddy Dupay

The Cats are -3.5. I hope Kentucky can pull off a Florida is the new #1 type thrashing.

And now for something completely horrifying: