6 en seguida

6 in a row to Florida, first ever. Longest stretch ever out of Final Four. Multiple losses in a row to Vandy (4?). first time to not beat a seeded team since '74. haven't beaten UNC or Kansas since the '03/'04 season (3 yrs). A #8 seed last year ('06) and most assuredly no better this year. They're a #4 seed from the Eastern Division in the SEC tournament!

I stated recently that the media is picking up on Tubby's woes, the latest coming from the Lexington Herald-Leader, the 'Cats home rag. It sums up everything else that has been said, that Tubby is un-fire-able. John Clay, the lead H-L columnist, also chimes in, stating that of course Tubby deserves a chance, or multiple ones, to get the program back to where it needs to be. This things are true. They don't mitigate, though, the fact that it's a second-class program at the moment; that's a fact not likely to change. It's a boring offensive set that doesn't attract the better recruits, and that's the ticket there. It's ALL about talent. No, coaching comes into play too, and those 'Cats just don't have it right now. And I don't think Tubby has the fire to change. He is what he is.

Comments

Anonymous said…
First, I haven't given a crap about UK basketball since 97 (and no it wasn't because they hired Tubby Smith). Still, I'll offer my two cents.

In my opinion, UK hired Tubby to show that they weren't racist. Yes, he had a fairly good track record. Yes, he had the blessing of the outgoing coach, but mainly UK was on an upswing and they felt they had the coaching staff in place so that no one person could badly muck it up.

And that first year they were right. Nobody could muck it up. I could have coached that team and gone all the way. Tubby took the team he was given and won a national championship. However, he has never impressed me with his recruits or with his coaching. In just the little I have paid attention, it seems to me that each year the team has slipped further down the rankings.

Now UK has its @$$ in the crack because they have finally slipped so far that they will be LUCKY to make it into the NCAA tournament. (I'm fairly sure they will because of the $$$ their fanbase bring...but they don't deserve it. Instead a decent regional university will be overlooked to bring these clowns in to lose in the first round.) Yet they don't want to pull the trigger and release Tubby. They are worried about the publicity.

Guess what...they are already getting bad publicity from people around the country who have a vested interest in keeping UK crappy. If UK wants to win and wants to get out from under the bad publicity then fire Tubby and hire someone else who can do the job (of course, if that person is another well-qualified black coach the better it will be for them in diffusing the racist commentary...they can always keep them on a short contract and if they don't work out then they can fire them and hire someone else without calls of racism). To hell with what anyone else says. I, mean Dick Vitale is UK's moral compass? Really?

Look, other schools have done that to coaches and taken heat for getting rid of quality coaches in a slump and guess what...when the wins start the furor ends.

I think its funny that UK fans would care what other people in other states (who support other programs and like the fact that UK sucks) think. Only image conscious Lexington could get its panties in such a twist.
LvilleTex said…
hmmm, I can't disagree with anything you've said. That said, firing Tubby would "re-rascistfy" the whole state regardless of outcome. Tubby had "good" results up until a couple years ago, although he never got back to the Final 4. Fact is, the program is in decline and will be until Tubby retires. He's making big money and has no impetus to reinvigorate things, especially recruiting. That said, with his winning percentage and reputation he will NEVER be fired, and maybe shouldn't be. It will be a slow decline until fresh blood comes in when Tubby gets too old. I should just stop watching.

Thanks "whatever"...
Anonymous said…
I was looking at an article in the UK newspaper yesterday. It appears that alcohol related crime on campus is now at a 5 year low. UK is touting its on-campus programs. I would suspect it is the outcome of not having a team that is contention.

So perhaps having Tubby around is not a bad thing.

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