As pretty much everyone expected, Kansas out-manned, out-gunned, and out-played the Cats. Packer and Nantz had it right at the end of the game when they said that Kansas never felt threatened. The season is over and now we get to see how everything surrounding this team pans out. Scott Rigot and Reggie Hanson should probably already have their house on the market, because I don’t see any way they will be around at the beginning of next season. As for Tubby, my feeling is that he will get one last season to turn things around. I say that because Mitch Barnhardt has felt the need to make two statements in the last couple of weeks and the second one was in my opinion purely to get those last two recruits to sign. But I won’t be surprised by anything that happens around this program.
Not only didn’t UK make it out of the first weekend of the tournament but neither did my brackets. No, I didn’t pick Kentucky to beat Kansas. The tourney pool I’m in has 20 people participating. Oh, by the way, it’s only for fun. Playing for cash would be uhhh, wrong. Gambling is illegal in this state you know.
Back to my point. In years past, you could always count on one or two entries to have Kentucky making that miracle run and winning it all. Well this year 16 people had UK beating ‘Nova and out of those 16 only one person had them beating Kansas.
I’m sad the season is over and that they lost, but at the same time I’m excited to see how everything turns out. There are a lot of questions still to be answered. Next year there won’t be a Bobby Perry, Sheray Thomas or Woo to blame the problems on. Can this underachieving Junior class step it up as Seniors? Will Tubby be the coach next year? Will Randolph sign with an NBA team? I look forward to seeing what TFGimel has to say about everything.
I would just like to thank everyone who stopped by the site this season and hope you keep checking in to hear what we think about the crazy, crazy, Kentucky Wildcat basketball world.
March 18th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I agree, I think Tubby only has one more year. If he gets his recruits and they still can’t stay with the Florida’s or Vandy’s, He will definately be gone.
Other than Morris and Perry today, No one showed up. What has happened to Bradley???
Do you think Morris and the rest of the Juniors will come back??
Will Porter transfer?
Any luck with Tubby being fed up and quiting?
March 18th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Thanks for commenting Ramy. If the two recruits (Patterson and Lucas) end up going elsewhere (especially Florida) the fire tubby chorus will be louder than you have ever heard. Morris could probably make millions tomorrow if he wanted to by signing with an NBA team.
He still looks like he is being lazy at times to me. Maybe since Tubby did him such a huge favor by letting him come back it’s possible he would stick around for another year. The other juniors will be here next year.
I don’t see Tubby as being the kind of person that would want to leave when the team is down. I’m sure he would like to leave it just the way he found it.
March 18th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Why should Tubby have one more year to prove himself. Aren’t years of inferior recruiting proof enough? I think Tubby is a good man and a good basketball coach. It is time for him to offer those talents to another university or to the NBA. His year for “dramatic changes” is over and he failed. It is time for him to move on.
March 18th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
I wasnt saying Tubby deserved another year. I was saying Mitch is going to give him one more. If results are the same then he won’t have to quit, he will be fired.
March 18th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Fire Ten Loss Tubby now!!!!! We were completely out-manned against Kansas. And why is this? Because the Tubster cannot recruit. FIRE TUBBY NOW!!!!! Let Tubby go to Michigan or somewhere where a 20 win season, and a first round win in the tournament is good enough. It is NOT good enough for THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY!!!!!!!
Fire Tubby so we can get back on top!!!!!!!!!!
March 18th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
i agree why should Smith get another year? this is a slippery slope, it’s going to go downhill year after year after year. it’s just prolonging the inevitable and just making it longer and longer for the loyal fans to get back to a program that is suppose to be Kentucky Basketball.
there isn’t a year to waste, recruits or no recruits, the fans, the alumni and all UK faithful deserve for this to be put to rest and start the long road back to prominence.
how can you sit there an watch these junior college caliber wannabe basketball players suck it up to 15 points against Kansas and the night before watch a gutty Xavier team just about knock off Ohio State, the number team in the nation?
Smith has just about single handedly ruined the rich Kentucky tradition.
It is beyond me why any fans continue to support this program, they all talk about it and know what needs to be done but are not willing to put up when it comes to hitting this ignorant University’s athletic department right where it hurts….in the pocketbook.
It’s a sad pathetic state of affairs in Lexington and for the faithful outside of Lexington, and it will not get any better until this guy is told to hit the road.
He has not done a thing at UK and never will. So spare us the extra year because to be honest we don’t have a year to waste.
Get rid of Smith’s useless ass NOW!
March 18th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
There is a 90 percent chance that next years squad will lose ten or more games. I really believe that. So, UK is at least two years away from going 25-5. That type of record will only happen next year if key players stay, and the recruits are solid. It is possible this occurs, based on the upcoming weakness of the SEC next year. Florida will lose everyone. Other teams will replace key players with freshman. UK has a shot at that record if Morris stays, and if the recruits make an immediate impact. If the stars line up and they go 25-5, does that mean Tubby gets to stay? Who knows.
March 18th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Give Tubby 5 more years…heck, let him finish out his contract…by that time we may be in the sweet 16…of the NIT.
Tubby’s had his chance and done his best. He just ain’t up to the challenge.
Almost all of his recruits are too dumb…I mean, seriously, who takes the tests for these boys? Only 1 or 2 of them are “college material” upstairs…
Will Woo or Thomas leave with a degree? I honestly don’t know, but I doubt it. Perry should…
In my opinion, Tubby needs to look at recruiting some players that can actually run the court and think at the same time. Either that, or he needs to quit trying to teach them to run offensive plays that they are obviously too stupid to understand…
If he’s going to continue to recruit players with IQ’s that hover around 60, he should just let them play street ball and buy them ice cream if they win…
Heck, they wouldn’t do any worse, and it would help the Tubster not to work so hard…
March 18th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Webmaster says next year there won’t be a Bobby Perry to blame … this the same guy who laid 21 points with 1 turnover on the Jayhawks today? Sheray, whose 6 points doubled Ramel’s total, and whose charges and tough D stopped a number of runs? Woo played only 3 minutes, so you can’t blame him.
Kansas played no great D, we just missed a lot of open looks. Jodie and Joe rarely miss when they go to the hole, but the rim and glass were unkind to both of them today.
Tubby had the right game plan, and while the Cats followed it, they were in the game.
I have no idea what makes reasonable people think next year won’t be better - this year was better than last year, and next year will return a seasoned group of seniors, a healthy Jared Carter, some not-so-green sophomores and some promising freshmen. The Cats will go to the tournament again next year, and will not lose so early. Tubby Smith will remain at UK as long as he wants to, and good for him, and good for the University.
The saddest, sorriest thing about this season has been the disgusting, childish, sickening behavior of some so-called fans who claim to love the program, yet hate the coach so much they can’t see or think straight.
The day a national columnist reports that some donors are ready and willing to cough up $5 million just to buy out Tubby’s contract is the day you realize some people are just sick. Think of what great things that money could do for UK, for Lexington, for Kentucky, or for any worthy cause - and some fools would throw it away to rid the school of a great coach and open the program to who knows what. Sick, just sick.
These Cats and their coach worked hard this year and deserve better. Fortunately, the whiners are not in the majority and do not make the decisions for the program.
Go, Cats! We true blue fans are proud of you!
Go elsewhere, whiners! The whole Bluegrass State is ashamed of your sorry butts!
March 18th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
I don’t know why Morris thinks he should go pro, last year, or this year. Does he seriously think he can hang with the NBA players? He wasn’t SEC player of the year, his team is already out of the tournament; why is he so dillusional? If he does go pro, I hope he brushed up on his foreign language skills, because he’ll be Europe bound for sure.
March 18th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Could someone please send the professor some game tapes because I’m pretty sure he hasn’t been watching any games lately.
After watching the tourney all weekend it’s made me realize just how pitiful of an offensive coach Tubby is. He may be a great defensive coach, but our offensive is about as stagnant as any I’ve ever seen. It is so refreshing to watch teams like Louisville and Florida with their high octane, motion offense.
Tubby can stay around another year but if he doesn’t hire someone to help coach on the the other end of the floor, he’s crazy.
March 18th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
On the subject of firing assistant coaches, have you ever noticed how truly great coaches seem to always have assistants who become great coaches?
Does the fact that we might fire the entire coaching staff say something about Tubby or the people he surrounds himself with?
That is to say, do great coaches find and instill others with great coaching or do they just hire great talent…or both?
I’m not sure our assistant coaching staff could fare well at Dunbar, let alone any Div. I school in the nation.
March 19th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Ex-professor…
I can see why you’re no longer a professor…too stupid.
Take your sanctimony and go elsewhere.
As long as Tubby coaches at UK, we will not get recruits, we will never again be SEC champs and we will never see another final 4.
There’s a “Reality Check” for ya professor!
By the way, I don’t hate Tubby…I hate his basketball philosophy. I also hate that he only recruits players who have such low IQ’s that they can’t understand offense.
March 19th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Aaron:
I think your last post hits the nail on the head! As I said before, Tubby Smith is a fine man and a good coach. Unfortunately, he has surrounded himself with assistants that are very poor recruiters.
Tubby has had numerous chances to change this but he has not done so. After the “dramatic changes” speech last year, the only assistant to leave to my knowledge was the strength coach and I seriously doubt that he was out recruiting many players from high school!
On top of the coaching staff’s inability to recruit real quality basketball players, the prospective recruits see the type of offense Tubby plays and are turned off by it.
Lets face it, every high school kid with any basketball talent thinks they will eventually play in the NBA. Tubby’s offensive scheme does not lend itself to allowing them to showcase their talents and they pick other schools. Now I’m not saying Tubby’s brand of offense is wrong, just that it does not fly with todays high school players.
Regardless of what you think about Louisville’s current coach (I can’t use his name), he and his staff, understand what it takes to get kids into your program now days. Tubby either does not understand or refuses to make changes? Thats another huge reason that Kentucky is now a “decent” program rather than a great one.
March 19th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Thanks for all your hard work and dedication during the season guys… this has become one of my favorite sites to check for news and opinions on UK hoops…
This year could’ve been much better, but also might’ve been much worse. Let’s hope for a big improvement in ‘07-’08! In the meantime, I hope y’all can still feed us a steady diet of offseason updates.
Cheers!
March 19th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Well, you know, we , uh, you know, got, you know, out-mooed today, and uh, you know, uh Coach Smiff, well, he, you know…put me on the bench until you know, uh, we were so uhhh you know, far behind that uhh, you know uh, we couldn’t catch up wiff em…
March 19th, 2007 at 11:30 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upok5M4JI9c
March 19th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
I would like to submit my resume, I’ve led the Suns to several championships on NBA live
March 19th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Tubby’s gotta go, now!!!! UK should have never given him the second contract. The program has went downhill from the day he took over. Yeah, he won the title his first year, but, none of HIS recruits have even been to the final four. I don’t think it is recruiting per se. He had a great recruiting year two years ago, number one in the country, I think. It is more of recruiting the right players and then coaching them properly, adapting the play style to the players you have, properly motivating your players, getting some players to play better than they really are…….in other words……coaching!
Oh, by the way, to the writer of the editorials…….playing, for money, in the tournament bracket pools is not illegal!!!!!! How many times do the news stations have to do a story on this? It is only illegal if all of the money is not paid out to the participants.
March 19th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
a lot of the uk fans here are talking about who to blame for the kansas loss. throughout their time at uk i never thought perry or thomas could play at all. how they got signed at the university of kentucky ill never know. but really if you look at it, it hasnt been their fault in quite a while. other than blowing the miss st game, sheray has played hard and about as well as he can play (which still isnt great), and perry as played the best basktball i’ve ever seen him play. the blame lies on our great and famous junior class. this was the BEST RECRUITING CLASS tubby had ever recruited! what the hell happened to bradley and crawford i dont know but they flat out suck! all that i know is we are going to have a great year next we these bozos leading us at the guard positions. but it gets better! at point, well have the slowest and most scared guard (jasper) ive ever seen bringing the ball up! its simple, were no longer THE team of college basketball, teams no longer FEAR playing us or on our home floor, were just another average team. i love tubby and have supported him all his years but this has got to end. we need a new coach and a new team.
March 20th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Lets look at tubby’s record. His only national championship team was won with ricky p’s players. he has had 10 or more losses in 5 of the last 7 seasons. he is the first ky head coach to lose 10 or more games 3 straight seasons and remember ricky p’s only double digit loss season came in his first year when he had no scholarship players. He has lost 4 straight to vandy and 6 straight to fla. he has lost 3 straight to kansas and unc. he cant beat mich state, he cant beat duke. he is constantly out recruited by all the big dogs in the yard. he didnt recruit chris lofton and corey brewer. he didnt recruit scotty hopson, who is rated as the number 10 prospect in the class of 2007 and will probably be ky mr. basketball. he is not recruiting that pettigrew kid. Yet he goes out and recruits adam williams, shagari alleyne, lucas orbzut, ramon harris, sheray thomas and bobby perry. he let saul smith be the point guard when georgia wouldnt even offer him a scholarship. and the assistant coaches? well i would say you have a weak staff when no program in america is contacting your university to interview hobbs or hanson. these guys cant recruit and they sure as hell cant coach. please mitch read this and fire tubby before you end up on the cutting block!!!!
March 20th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Mitch will never end up on the cutting block. The pettigrew kid has offers from eastern western and mississippi. Not exactly power houses coming after him.
March 21st, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Tubby needs to be gone he has extended his stay way too long. He is a good coach at a great program who has made that great program just good. His recruiting is horrible and his offenses are dull and non offensive. Also for a defensive minded coach his teams seem to get run over when they are playing an athletic team like say, Kansas or Florida. It is time for Barnhart and the rest of the administration to get over being scared of offending someone by firing tubby. Go out and get Billy Donovan, if he will leave UF now, or go out and get John Calipari from Memphis. Furthermore, Patterson during his OFFICIAL visit to UK was seen in the section with the Florida fans doing the gator chop, hello, the FBI calls that a clue.
Choice number 1 Billy Donovan, choice number 2 John Calipari someone get this to Barnhart so he can choose one of the two and get this program back to where it belongs. If nobody has realized, while Tubby has been losing 10+ games per year the last 7 YEARS UNC and Kansas have been winning 25+ and UNC is about to catch UK in all time wins, things should be corrected before that happens. One more year of Tubby ball and UNC will be the all-time winningest basketball team in the land. I also believe if Tubby stays you will see Porter, Stevenson and Harris leave the program leaving UK with only a handful of players. This leaves only three who have experience playing and only one of them has potential, Morris, and he might get an NBA contract, leaving us with nothing.
Advise the professor that he has his head up his anal orafice all season long apparently, and also ask him what Tubby’s graduation rate is which will probably paint a different picture for him.
March 22nd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Pat Forde has a very good article on the situation over at ESPN.com. In part:
“There is no good reason for Donovan to leave Gainesville for UK — where he was an assistant to Rick Pitino for five years — other than this:
The defending national champion Gators filled every seat in their 12,000-seat arena for only one nonconference game: Ohio State. Kentucky, meanwhile, put more than 23,000 in the stands for its Midnight Madness practice.
So if Donovan wants to go to a place where basketball is king, he’d go to Kentucky. If he’d rather stay at the empire he’s built from the ground up, he says no and the Wildcats move on with their search.
Fact is, only one man other than Donovan has both a slam-dunk résumé and a thorough understanding of the Kentucky job. That man is Rick Pitino.
Don’t count on history repeating itself. But if you can switch sides in America’s most heated rivalry once, why not twice?”