UK’s in Trouble
Uh, oh - UK’s in trouble. The basketball team lost to Georgia tonight after blowing a 17pt lead. This is on the heels of a loss to Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt? That’s three straight we’ve lost to Vandy - something’s definitely wrong. And this was supposed to be the easy portion of the conference schedule. We haven’t touched the hard part yet, with Florida, Tennessee, LSU, Alabama looming down the road. I thought we were doing better, having had an 11 game win streak before the Vandy loss last Saturday. We needed to take care of business early on in the conference schedule to make up for the tough later games. Now that we’re losing the games we should win, the season is going to get very, very long… Hopefully they can turn it around, but they way they’ve played the last two games, or we may very well miss the tournament.
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Jan 25th, 2007 at 14:27:46
Yes I thought the same thing about Vandy, but look at what Vandy has done over the last 5 games. They’ve knocked off ranked opponents in 5 out of the last 6 games. Them beating LSU last night made me feel a little better, but I too am a little worried. It’s a young team, they will get conditioned by this we hope.
Jan 25th, 2007 at 15:15:17
Something is definitely wrong…and his name is Tubby!! People got a false sense of hope during that 11 game win streak. The problem is we didn’t play anybody tough during that span. I think I saw on ESPN that the average ranking of the teams we played during that stretch was around 200!?! I think there record so far against top 50 teams is 1-4. Yes, Vandy has a decent team…but they are no where good enough to be beating a UK team 3 straight games. My goodness, it took them how many years just to win 1 game at Rupp? And now they have done it 2 years in a row. It’s time for Tubby to go!
Jan 25th, 2007 at 17:54:42
ya know, i hate it when people blame the coach as soon as things go south. tubby is a great coach! look at his record since he took over at uk. if blame is to be placed, it’s on a lack of experience. i could tell things were going to be rough last night even when they were ahead by 17. they were just playing sloppy! randolph morris isn’t consistent and they don’t have a team leader. joe crawford is the only reliable player they have right now. but… it’s a young team with ALOT of potential! i’ve pretty much lost hope for this year, but i can’t wait to see what next year and the year after hold in store!
Jan 25th, 2007 at 23:38:34
In watching two teams fairly closely this season, I agree with Chris that UK is struggling. Yes, they may have had a 11 game win streak but the competition was not all that superb. If you look at the team names, you may say that they have played decent competition but if you look at the team calibers at the time, there definitely was lack of play in some of the earlier games.
The IU vs UK game was a very dismal execution of basketball on both sides and either team could have came out with the victory. Thankfully it was UK that did avail in that game. But since then, I have watched both teams rather closely as some may know. (Those who don’t. I am at IU working on a masters and have season tickets to the IU men’s games.) I would say the outcome of that game today would be different than it was back in December. I personally feel that IU has improved over the past month more than UK has as a team. Both teams are still on the border and have a tough road ahead so we will see what happens in the end.
I think you also have to look overall at the situation of collegiate basketball these days. It seems like every team is getting beat by lesser opponents on a rather regular basis. It is hard to maintain perfect form and mentality game after game. Away games are getting harder and harder to win anymore, which makes homes games so much more vital.
The second loss to Vandy at home is a tragic thing and if UK cant pull off some upsets on the road in the next couple of weeks it may be another rough battle to the tournament again this year.
I will agree with both Jez and nickmc on the coaching situation. I believe there is a coaching issue, but at the same time the blame that people put on Tubby is not always laid out with evidence as it should be. Reason why people like nickmc don’t agree with people going after the coach.
Issues I have seen with the coaching staff over the past several years:
There has been a significant issue with team unity and team spirit over the past several years. Teams can’t succeed when they think there is an ‘I’ in Team and everyone is looking out for their best interest.
Players with great potential are brought in year after year but they seem to never improve or become what they are touted to be. Randolph Morris is the first player in years to actually finally improve and show potential. What happens to all the other guys? They seem to become mediocre players and/or fall out of the picture. I truly question what Carter would be doing had he gone to North Carolina instead of stay at Kentucky. It will be interesting to take this years freshman class that has had great highlights and see if they improve, stagnate, or decline next year.
My other issue, really more with the overall Div I Mens Basketball, is the departure from the fundamentals of basketball. I watched a woman’s game the other day and was amazed at the difference in fundamental basketball from the men’s game that I watched the previous night. Blocking out and getting rebounds is a foreign concept these days.
Those are a few of my thoughts on the situation. By the way did anyone see the end of the Duke/Clemson game tonight. Oh my gosh. I haven’t seen such a finale in ages. If you missed it, I am sure it will be all over the highlights of sportcenter tomorrow so check it out.
Jan 26th, 2007 at 00:05:16
I’m not laying blame on Tubby for just this season, because things have been going south for the past 8 seasons. Since he has been at UK, he has not drafted a single player with the skill sets of a Jamaal Mashburn, an Antoine Walker, a Tony Delk, a Walter McCarty…need I go on. Yes, he’s done a decent job with the talent he has…but part of being a coach is recruiting. Need I even mention the longest drought for UK not reaching a final four is under Tubby Smith. Sure he won a national title in his first year, but that was with Rick Pitino’s team. I just think it’s time for a coaching change before things get any worse.
Jan 26th, 2007 at 00:06:35
Too bad Duke was the winner of that game…
Jan 26th, 2007 at 16:54:05
Jez…I think you bring up another good point about talent and recruiting. Though I don’t think the issue lies totally in recruiting as much it does in coaching the talent once it gets there.
Chris…yes that is very bad especially the way they did it. It was a flashback of the unforgettable game. You know what I am talking about.
Feb 5th, 2007 at 08:12:56
Don’t feel bad. WKU is sucking too.
I did enjoy the UGA win over UK.