Will Tubby Smith have a job after this year?

[WMR]

Hey Blimpie, how's this Vandy loss strike you?

How would you rate Randolph Morriss' return?

[Blimpie]

Originally Posted by Ibleedblue

I don't really put this season on Tubby. How was he supposed to know that Kelenna and Morris would make stupid decisions and that Sparks would basically become useless? If Sparks was putting up the same #'s as last year, Kelenna was back and Morris didn't try and jump to the NBA, this team would be much better right now.

I agree that one would be hard pressed to hang this year's problems solely upon Tubby. Not only did he expect to have both Randolph and Kelenna in the starting lineup this season, Patrick Sparks is a shell of his former self. The real problem at this point of the season is the same problem they have had since October: The UK players are too selfish to play as a team. It is clear that there are serious personality conflicts between Rondo, Crawford and Bradley.

Rondo is the reluctant hero who would prefer he return to last year's role. Instead, he's being asked to do everything except mop Donna Smith's brow in the stands. How many D-I point guards are being asked to give more to their team than Rondo? Pretty soon, he's gonna get disgusted with the other players and just start mailing it in like the rest of them.

Last night, Crawford took so many bad shots at bad times that it is hard to even condense his suckitude within one post. Me, me, me, me....The guy knows nothing about playing within a team setting. Sure, plenty of UK fans love him when he scores 22 points on a night when nobody else can throw it in the river. But I saw through his act long before his hiatus to Detroit last season. This year, I thought that he would see the opportunity that Kelenna's departure had given to him. Instead, his eyes got bigger by the day. At least Kelenna would listen to Tubby on occasion.

Ramel Bradley has gone on record as saying that he "likes to take the big shot" and that he has "a hard time not going one-on-one" against his opponent. Even the announcers were feeding into that garbage last night by saying "It's hard to take the New York outa this kid." The hell it is. Have a seat on the bench, son.

If Ravi Moss doesn't start the next game, it'll get worse. The Tubby haters are out in full force. But, I don't know a coach in the land that can make a player(s) who is just plain old selfish--all the sudden buy into the team concept.

[WMR]

Blimpie I could not agree more; Last night, it was really appalling to watch Crawford take those absolutely horrible shots at the very end there when we were losing the game... it's just such poor basketball.

Hell, I say play LeMaster and Williams if they'll at least play the right way. You know, I really am at that point.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by Blimpie

But, I don't know a coach in the land that can make a player(s) who is just plain old selfish--all the sudden buy into the team concept.

Blimpie, who made the final decision that these were *his* kids and that these kids were the right ones to bring to the University of Kentucky?

I guarantee you that Crawford's playing style hasn't dramatically changed, probably since high school, and Ramel Bradley's "philosophy" is well-documented! Tubby knew what he was getting!

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by Blimpie

I agree that one would be hard pressed to hang this year's problems solely upon Tubby. Not only did he expect to have both Randolph and Kelenna in the starting lineup this season, Patrick Sparks is a shell of his former self. The real problem at this point of the season is the same problem they have had since October: The UK players are too selfish to play as a teamIt is clear that there are serious personality conflicts between Rondo, Crawford and Bradley.

The problem isn't all Tubby, there is no argument there, but it is Tubby's job as the coach to correct the mess. If Tubby is expecting this kind of selfish basketball with no heart and hustle to continue, its going to be a long, hard ride through the rest of his contract.

I'm not ready to call for his head just yet, but there has to be a turning point. I was hoping we could run the table in the SEC outside of Florida, but now it looks like we will be swept by Vandy, Florida, and probably split with South Carolina and Tennessee. Georgia could go either way, as could the games in the western part of the SEC.

This is Kentucky, we expect to win, not hope.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by WVRed

The problem isn't all Tubby, there is no argument there, but it is Tubby's job as the coach to correct the mess. If Tubby is expecting this kind of selfish basketball with no heart and hustle to continue, its going to be a long, hard ride through the rest of his contract.

I'm not ready to call for his head just yet, but there has to be a turning point. I was hoping we could run the table in the SEC outside of Florida, but now it looks like we will be swept by Vandy, Florida, and probably split with South Carolina and Tennessee. Georgia could go either way, as could the games in the western part of the SEC.

This is Kentucky, we expect to win, not hope.

WVRed,
These kids who are playing either need to start listening to Tubby's coaching or Tubby, AS THE COACH, needs to bench the "problem-children."

[Blimpie]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

Blimpie I could not agree more; Last night, it was really appalling to watch Crawford take those absolutely horrible shots at the very end there when we were losing the game... it's just such poor basketball.

Hell, I say play LeMaster and Williams if they'll at least play the right way. You know, I really am at that point.

Other than Rondo, the only two players I want on the floor for UK right now are Ravi Moss and Brandon Stockton.

Too bad your tallest one of that bunch is Moss. Cause I'm not yet sold on the fact that Morris is gonna play this hard every night. He had something to prove last night, but is he gonna play with this much fire on those ho-hum SEC February games? Not so sure.

The team is simply atrocious from the foul line. It was only fitting that Vandy knocked down every big free throw last night when UK couldn't stop them from hitting threes. This won't be the last game this year we lose due to foul shot differential.

The most disappointing person on the team to me this year is Sparks. Eveybody knew he was streaky--but now he just looks plain scared to shoot the ball when he's being guarded. Given that he couldn't defend his way out of a paper sack, how does he get playing time over Moss at this point? Rekalin Sims is # 2 with a bullet on the disappointment list; however, whatever we got from him this year should be construed as a bonus, so I can't really complain too much about him.

Other than Morris, the only post player with any kind of offensive game is Jared Carter. Of course, he usually has two fouls by the time he makes his first trip to the scorer's table.

I feel that this team is really, really close to tuning Tubby out completely. When that happens, it'll make "Team Turmoil" look like Athletes in Action.

[WMR]

See, last year Chuck was here keeping all this crap in line. You think they'd play like that on the court if Chuck was still here? He wouldn't stand for it.

That's the real glaring problem with this team, no veteran leadership whatsoever. Too bad Patrick Sparks isn't a little firebrand because he is probably the ideal candidate for that job.

You know what, though, if Tubby were smart he'd do what you're saying Blimpie and start Ravis Moss from here on out and tell him to assume that role. I think he could actually do that. But I think you gotta start benching some of these kids before anything can change meaningfully. But you gotta get some vocal veteran leadership out there RIGHT NOW, because we are looking at a rudderless ship right now.

[Blimpie]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

See, last year Chuck was here keeping all this crap in line. You think they'd play like that on the court if Chuck was still here? He wouldn't stand for it.

That's the real glaring problem with this team, no veteran leadership whatsoever. Too bad Patrick Sparks isn't a little firebrand because he is probably the ideal candidate for that job.

You know what, though, if Tubby were smart he'd do what you're saying Blimpie and start Ravis Moss from here on out and tell him to assume that role. I think he could actually do that. But I think you gotta start benching some of these kids before anything can change meaningfully. But you gotta get some vocal veteran leadership out there RIGHT NOW, because we are looking at an udderless ship right now.

You mean, like a "Cow-Ship?"

The Ravi Moss move makes sense because they now have Morris back in the frontcourt. Moss IS a fiery leader, but it's hard to rally the troops by waving a towel on the bench. Because he was a walk-on, Moss never had anything handed to him. Some of these antics displayed by the Blue Chippers on the team must make him want to

[Matt700wlw]

http://www.firetubbysmith.com

[Blimpie]

Originally Posted by Matt700wlw

http://www.firetubbysmith.com

WVRed is dead right about the fact that it is Tubby's responsibility to fix this mess of a team. However, any reasonable UK fan wouldn't be calling for his head--so much as they would be supporting him in public.

Unconditional fan support of the program throughout the "speedbumps" of the past is what has made UK the winningest program in history. Unfortunately, along with this fan support, comes a completely unrealistic sense of entitlement by Cats fans everywhere.

Most astute college basketball fans know that the talent drop-off between the historically "premiere" schools (UK, Duke, UNC, Kansas, Michigan State, Louisville, UCONN, Indiana, Syracuse, etc..) and the ones that were previously known as "second-tier" programs (Gonzaga, St. Joe's, Ohio U, Princeton) is almost imperceivable.

Nowadays, the best basketball players don't spend a single day in college, so parity in D-I basketball is widespread. With the schedule that Tubby plays, the overall character makeup of, say, one McDonald's All-American might end up being the difference between losing 8 games per year versus 3 or 4.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

WVRed,
These kids who are playing either need to start listening to Tubby's coaching or Tubby, AS THE COACH, needs to bench the "problem-children."

And if Tubby does not fix the problem(and he currently hasn't), then he needs to be benched, permanently.

[WMR]

They'll be spending at least one year there from now on.

[Blimpie]

Originally Posted by WVRed

And if Tubby does not fix the problem(and he currently hasn't), then he needs to be benched, permanently.

Just to try and put things in perspective, UK is currently one game out of first place in the SEC with 15 conference games remaining.

To date, we have the losses to Iowa, Indiana, UNC, Kansas and Vanderbilt. All teams that figure to be playing during those fabled three weeks in March, right?

Let's not forget about the wins over West Virginia, Louisville, Ohio and Iona. Also all teams that figure to be in the tournament, no?

Tubby is not going anywhere this year unless he decides otherwise.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by Matt700wlw

http://www.firetubbysmith.com

Sad thing is, the people running that website probably were singing Tubby's praises three years ago when Kentucky was no 1 in the nation before the NCAA tournament started(the year Dwayne Wade knocked them out in the Elite Eight).

I agree with Blimpie that it is unreasonable to call for Tubby's head right now, but if things continue like this throughout the rest of the NCAA, something will have to be done, whether it be a shakeup of the roster or even a coaching change(which we will never see).

On a side note, why Ravi Moss is still a walk-on is beyond me.