March Madness is here!
Ok, like I have said this is my favorite time of the year. March Madness! I love it in high school basketball and I also love it in college basketball as well.
UK Basketball
I am still a Tubby believer even though just about everyone in the state is ready to chip in and buy him out and bring in Billy Donovan — who by the way has lost to some of the same teams we lost to and by pretty big margins. Of course he is getting ready for the tournament and it is ok by most UK fans that he lost those.
We lose in very close contests and we don’t have a coach, don’t have talent and all that junk! In Florida, Donovan won’t get much flack for losing to Tennessee and LSU and Vanderbilt, but if he were the coach at UK — watch out. The thing that amazes me is that there is no doubt that Florida has more talent than any team in the SEC — how did he lose these games?
Do I think Florida will make another run? Probably so. Do I think that UK has equal talent to Florida? Probably not. Do I think Tubby is as good a coach as Donovan? Absolutely!
Tubby is now 20-9 (13th straight season with 20 wins) and it is unacceptable to most and I agree that they blew some games they should have won. I think that record is accepted as a good year anywhere but UK, Duke and a couple other places. That is my point, could any other coach in the country handle the pressures of UK basketball.
Of course Tubby has handled all this talk with class and he is correct that he does not have to defend his record to anyone. I don’t agree with Barnhart coming out with the statement he did; he is suppose to back his coaches. Now, he can talk behind close doors, but he should not come out and basically say Tubby better get it together at the end of the season. Of course Barnhart wishes that, so he can get a bonus if Tubby and the team do well. Barnhart’s incentives are silly. If I read that correct he makes the bonus if the baseball team makes the NCAA and not the coach.
Like I said if Tubby leaves UK, there is slim to zero chance that Billy Donovan would come to UK.
Also, did anyone hear Patrick Patterson pretty much say that if Tubby is not at UK, neither would he? I would venture to say that we have blown chances at him and Jai Lucas because of uncertainty in the program. Of course that will be Tubby’s fault.
As you can tell, I will stick with what Tubby stands for and always be a Tubby fan. Do I question decisions he makes? I sure do, but I also believe he is one of, if not the best, bench coaches in college basketball.
Go UK, win some games in the tournament and the bandwagon will get going again!
What about Louisville? I am not a huge Cardinal fan, but wow are they playing good. Playing with a passion and Caracter is an absolute load! They could also make some noise in the NCAA.
My Final Four picks
If I had to pick a Final Four at this time I think I would go with:
UNC
Wisconsin
Texas A&M (this is my sleeper pick)
Ohio State
I do reserve the right to change in a couple of weeks. I also do feel UK will make the Sweet 16 and possibly the Elite 8. Not bad for a team that has a terrible coach and terrible players.
Who would your Final Four be at this time?
Until next week, keep your head up and shoot with confidence!
Next week I will blog on UPWARD basketball program that is doing great things in our community.
Chris,
Again a good blog. I agree with you fully about Tubby and his abilities. The area I think needs to be looked at first is the assistant coaches and how they are helping. I feel like instead of pushing to get rid of Tubby we need to start looking at his help and seeing if we could upgrade that part. I am not sure he has the best staff that he could get. I know everyone is going to say “Well Tubby hired them” and he did and that is his responsibility. I feel when the season is done, and I hope that is a good while yet, that Barnhart will discuss that very thing with Tubby. If Tubby refuses to listen then it could be very harmful to his future at UK.
I hope I am wrong, but I am afraid our recruiting has already suffered from the talk. We could still get Patterson and Lucas, but if this “get rid of Tubby” talk keeps up we can forget that happening. Hopefully Tubby can get things turned around and we can make some noise before it is all over.
Oh, by the way. I have been a Kentucky fan all of my soon to be 62 year life, but if we hired Billy Donovan I would have to force myself to remain one. We DO NOT NEED DONOVAN. If something were to happen Tubby leaves I hope we have smart enough people at UK to realize that.
Yeah, but UK lost to the Gators twice this year and six times in a row. Billy D. could take the UK team as is and beat the Gator team as is with OTS coaching it. It is time to right this ship–now. If OTS comes back for another year it will only get more ugly. For the sake of UK basketball and OTS lets take another direction no matter who is right or wrong. There comes a time when the air has to be cleared and that time is now. Just as soon as the Cats are booted from the Big Dance.