When you are a complete train wreck of a human being, at some point it will show up on the court. See Knight, Bobby. Won lots of games, but the season usually ended with a loss and a profanity laden tirade. With the 8pt win being equivalent to a 15pt win...Jesus...he's single. Either get off his jock or marry him already.
Its true. He will take out a mediocre team by only 6 or 7 and people think it was a close game when the fact is it was managed in a way that the opponent had no chance. Its hard to explain. His offense came off as bad when that wasn't necessarily by a deficiency in approach or strategy.
I actually wouldn't be opposed to Theus. I like Reggie, and since his background is with Rick that would be something to appease the pundits that we are going in the right direction. My original opinion was they wouldn't announce BG was gone if they didn't have a replacement... or they were going to take as long as necessary to find the right person this time. They are going to take their time it seems and it will probably be a two week to four week search before they make their decision.
Damn BCG, no wonder he couldn't keep a wife. Maybe the hotel thing worked out like he wanted it to... Create some unity. Gillispie employs former players on his staff, one left a lucrative job to go to Lexington so I don't know. It seemed to me players eventually loved the guy in the end. Thanks for posting that btw
No problem. This team was very tight long before that. They were a very solid group from boot camp. They talked constantly about how they were a family and how they depended on one another. I don't think he's necessarily a bad person, I think he was in over his head.
I have watched more than my fair share of basketball over the last 35 years. I understand what you are saying. I just think that your mancrush has overcome your objectivity. He's a good coach, but not an elite coach. He also does not work and play well with others, especially his players and the administration. Not the model for long term success.
Aside from UK, his players seem to love him though. I guess I would like some more articles posted as insight to that. But its true.... those Aggies loved him. He definitely wasn't right for UK, he probably isn't right for any elite program, but I still think he has a top 5 basketball mind.
hey Ziggy... if you want to read more about BG and what the media is saying about him and UK there is a great resource for it.... just click here John Clay has been covering UK sports for years. Also, something that upsets me is everyone in the media saying that we are "irrational" to expect championship winning teams. Do you think Duke fans expect winning teams? Do you think UCLA and UNC fans expect to be there at the end every year? Of course they do. It just bothers me that they make it into a big deal saying we are a "crazy" fanbase. There are crazies in every fan base, but when the fan base is as large as ours of course there are going to be more crazies. It's proportional. Everyone has high expectations, if you didn't you wouldn't be a fan of a team. I just get annoyed at the Jay Mariottis and Wilbons of the world saying it's our "expectations" that cause the issues. Edit: Here's one more of my favorite people responding in his own way... http://coachingbetterbball.blogspot.com/2009/03/know-expectations-of-position-before.html
Pesonally, I think he burned to many bridges in Aggieland to come back, at least for a while. I'm excited to see what Turge does for the program and have only seen and heard positives from him. Even met someone from his old school that is now an Aggie fan because of him If I'm UH, I'm firing Penders and going hard after BCG, I think he would do a heck of a job there. I think he knows Texas and could do a good job of keeping some Houston kids in Houston.
those teams expect to win sure...they're also not firing their coaches after 2 seasons. i dont think gillipsie was fired for on the court performance at all at this point. with the stuff you posted, it sounds he and the AD were on bad terms from the get go, gillipsie missing the tourney was just an excuse for the firing. though UK's AD is now going to have to hit a homerun with this next hire or hes gone.
A&M's hustle and defense was tremendous under BCG. He reminds me of a JVG type coach, not a person that rubs every admin type person the right way.
Sadly you might be right about this, but for every other program in the athletics department he has done great things. The football program, the baseball program.. pretty much all of our sports have gotten better since he was hired. Unfortunately most of the boosters don't care about anything other than the basketball program. I don't think it really had to do with him rubbing the admin the wrong way, it had everything to do with respecting the history behind the position. A little attitude is understandable for a person in that job, but there are a lot of things expected of a coach at UK that aren't in a typical coaching job position.. like the rotary event that he just ignored his first year here.. you don't mess with tradition when it's a 60 year thing. You just don't. He rocked the boat from the beginning when he was going to cancel the blue white scrimmage and all kinds of other events that are expected. He wasn't a horrible person. He did some really nice things during his time here too.. donated money to a lady so she could travel to see her sick son just because he heard her story on the radio... went to a couple of student organized events and donated huge sums of money... stuff like that but he just didn't "get it" as far as all the traditions and details that are a fundamental part of our fan base. Edit: and for the record I would love to have JVG as a coach.. think he wants to move to the fishbowl that is lexington??
As an Aggie, I do get where you're coming from. It's surprising that he wasn't aware enough of those factors...I mean even if you have jerk-like aspects (like most of us do), you would think job-security is important enough to him to make him understand the importance of those UK traditions.
Kentucky, just like Notre Dame football, they live in the was instead of the is. Most college kids doesn't give a hoot about adolph rupp and all the other stuff. They just want to hoop and try to get into the nba. There are no more past advantages like it used to be because scholarship limits and the tv deals. Kentucky, just like notre dame football used to be on tv a lot in the early days and had natural exposure. Now kids get seen on tv in every conference. So like someone said, its really appeealing to a kid to go to sunny gainseville,fl where the young women wear small clothes year round, hoop, and play for a coach that put 3 lotto picks in the league recently. What was the last lotto player from kentucky? As far as Gillipsie, he couldve stgayed at tamu , won , made the tourney, got paid, and been very confortable.
I disagree. I don't think the fans live in the past, the past is prologue. And I disagree, some kids do get it. All you have to do is listen to the kids that do come to UK. Ask Chuck or Tayshaun about it. It's a part of the recruiting process. They take those kids into a state of the art facility and the success of those that came before them is displayed for all to see. They want to become part of the history that is Kentucky basketball. And no they may not all be lottery picks, but I would have to say I am pretty proud of the kids we have turned out into the nba recently. Tayshaun, has a ring. Nazr, has a ring. Rondo, has a ring. Then you have good guys like Chuck, Buike, Bogans etc who may not be stars or have rings, but work hard and do what they can to help their team win. The players that don't get it I don't want in our program anyway. Do you disregard the history of the Rockets just because you haven't won a ring since 95? No you don't. Most all fans of the Rockets appreciate that there is no Hakeem on this team but embrace the talent that there is on the roster.. and hope that they can put together a team that can match that accomplishment. That's what Kentucky fans want as well.
First off the top recruits still go to UNC,Duke, and Memphis, so that sunny gainesville, fl excuse isn't really valid. If we get the right coach then we can get back to that prestige. Tubby was a guy looking for guys that were going to stay for 4 years, so obviously that isn't going to cut it when going after the top guys. As far as Billy G., he had some pretty good recruits but on the court and off the court he went sour with them. All of these articles show it and it didn't even mention the fact that him and Alex Legion(another one of his top recruits) had problems also. Kentucky can get things turned around with the right guy at the helm. This is our first year missing the Tournament in a long time. It's not like we have been missing tournaments for 4 or 5 years straight now.
It's all about the coach. Same for college football. Of course there are institutional advantages for certain places, but the coach is the most important thing when it comes to (1) getting great players and (2) getting the most out of them. We'll see if UK will buy a big name or hire someone "in the family". The idea that top-level kids will go to UK just because it's UK is a dated concept. I agree they don't give a flip about Adolph Rupp.
Yeah I agree with that, most of these players are looking for the Coach that will prepare them for the NBA the quickest. I hope we can get a great coach that is proven. I heard Dick Vitale wanting us to hire Bobby Knight, I don't see that happening at all.
If that happens Mitch and Todd might as well go ahead and pack their bags because the natives will revolt.