Gardner Webb- 84
#22 Kentucky- 68
Alright all you Kentucky fans, it's time to come out of the hills with your shotguns! Stop by Wal-Mart and pick up plenty of ammunition? Isn't that the what happens next? Isn't that what you do to coaches that don't live up to your heightened expectations? You did it to Tubby Smith. Never mind the man won a National Championship, had 5 conference championships, 4 elite 8 appearances, and won the Naismith Coach of the Year Award. That didn't matter to you did it? You didn't care, because you suffer from Bear Bryant syndrome. Is it not true that you compare every coach to Adolph Rupp, just like Alabama fans compare every new coach to Bear Bryant? You fell fast and hard for Pitino like a high school kid with his first crush, but now he is your most bitter enemy. Oh, how funny it was when you guys hired Billy "Can't beat Gardner-Webb" Gillispie. You were on cloud nine. You thought that the glory days of Kentucky Basketball were coming back. You thought that you would be back in your "rightful" place as the SEC elite. What happened? Here we are two games into your precious season and you run straight into a train wreck named Gardner-Webb, a team that went 9-21 last year and only returned two starters. That would scare me too. Never mind that Gardner-Webb will probably be a double-digit underdog to my Alma Mater (ETSU) when they play in conference play later this year. It only gets better Mr. Kentucky fan. To add a little insult to injury, you are now a distant second to your other hated enemy, Tennessee. While you've been spending your last few years criticizing and whining, the Vols have benn making themselves into a national title contender, not to mention the SEC's elite. You want me to keep going, OK I will. Guess what, you might not even be the second best team in your state. We all know that Louisville is the creme of the crop in the state, but maybe, just maybe, Western Kentucky is the second best team. Ouch, that hurt didn't it? I'm sorry, but maybe you know how it feels now. Maybe you can understand what it was like for Tubby Smith. How critical you were of a coach that had accomplished so much. Now it's time for the rest of us to be critical of you and your program that has accomplished so much. I know it hurts, but you'll get over it. It will never last for ever, I promise. In the meantime though, all of the rest of us can bask in your misery and gladly watch as Kentucky becomes a "football school". I have an idea that might help. Why don't you do the rest of us a favor and hire Ashley Judd to be your coach? Atleast we would have something good to look at on the sidelines instead of a stressed out coach trying to live up to lofty expectations. I know Tubby is glad to be out of that mess, and I'm happy for him. Maybe he will finally get the respect he deserves. Have a great year Mr./Ms. Kentucky fan, it's been great for the rest of us so far.
5 comments:
Kentucky basketball fans have been living in the past for quite some time. They love to spat off their historical records to cover up the fact that their program is no longer what it used to be. And it NEVER will be what it used to be. And while many basketball fans and so-called experts will probably forgive them for this early season loss, they do so only because they too want to see Kentucky for what it once was and not what it really is today...average.
And by the way...the most important fact to take from this loss for UK is that they never had a lead. Gardner-Webb dominated the game from start to finish. When was the last time we've seen something like that from one of the other big-time programs?
Kentucky looked bad yesterday, but come on, do you really expect Billy not to have them big and bad again in about 3 years? No coach in America works harder than Gillispie. I hate kentucky, but I'm not about to count them out. Not saying letting Tubby go was a good idea or a bad idea, I'm basically neutral on that subject, but Gillispie was a great hire.
He was a good hire, much like Saban was a good hire for Alabama football. The problem lies with the expectations of the fan base. Kentucky fans expect to dominate, and anything less than that is unacceptable. Those expectations are going to be tough for any coach to handle, no matter how hard he works or how great a recruiter he might be. The SEC is more balanced than ever, and that is going to make it difficult for any one school to dominate over an extended period of time.
I've spoken with two friends of mine who are rabid UK fans and both seem better with the loss than I had imagined. One said it's just that "Tubby's misfits" are still on the team and it will take some time for Billy to get his players. The other said, Gillespie used the game as a tool. He believed they could've switched to a zone D and responded better, but Gillespie was teaching the players a lesson because the players don't listen very well. Both were ok with the loss and didn't seem to worried about the future. Time will tell if that holds true though.
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