A firetubby.com reader has sent in a document that he created that breaks down the differences between Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith’s tenures at UK (ala Seth Davis). For now I’ll just call him RP until I hear what he would like to be called or if he would like to use his real name. He wanted to submit this to the site for everyone to read and I said I would look over it.
Well, I opened it up, and damn, it’s a 10 page 3300 word tome. I haven’t read all of it yet but just from skimming, I think it’s safe to say that he misses the Pitino days (as most of you reading this do). Personally, and this is just me, I am not ready to give Tubby the heave ho just yet. Am I frustrated? Oh yeah. I just wanted to say that we don’t endorse the point of view but I am more than willing to put it up on the site just because thats the kind of guys we are. Always willing to start a good flame war since I know there are still a few of you out there who still aren’t quite ready to stick a fork in this team yet.
So anyway, I’m going to go ahead and post it for you guys to read and talk about. Like I said I haven’t read it all so I’m not 100% sure about all the content as far as if there are any curse words if that type of thing bothers you. There are charts and diagrams, and twenty seven eight by ten color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining… no wait, I’ve broken into song again, sorry about that. I’m pretty sure this is the closest to a manifesto that will ever appear on this site. If you get through it all you’re quite the trooper. Ok, here it is.
- Where it was and where it is headed -
February 18th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Looks like somebody needs a woman. Too much free time on his hands.
February 18th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
February 18th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
I sort of hate that guy, evne though he’s thorough. It’s the worst kind of “well, I dismissed this fact because it didn’t fit my agenda” tripe. I don’t think you need graphs to tell you Tubby’s teams don’t score enough. Blech.
February 18th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Hey JL thanks for stopping by and commenting I still check your site every day. I see what you mean, but regardless of the point of view I kind of thought I had to put this on the internets. Where else could this kind of thing possibly exist besides the internet?
February 19th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Hey, the whole purpose of the document is to stir up the debate at even higher temperatures. I am surrounded by Tubby supporters like some of you. Every time I say that the program going down hill, people dismiss it because they think it is temparary. I had to prove it statstically once and for all. They all pretty much agree now. Those of you who dismiss it as too much information, are lazy and would rather blast off without any basis.
February 19th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Sounds to me like this guy should present this in a more structured way to Mitch Barnardt and let him see for himself if these numbers are precise. Good Job, I hope you may help convince some of the Tubby supporters that he is not what the program needs. I feel that these fans need to remember the concept of TEAM at UK. Maybe even throw out a chart and numbers on graduation rate. Except for Antoine Walker and Ron Mercer (only left b/c Petino did) his graudation rate is a lot better
February 19th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Mashburn too henderson. and not all graduated. Remember sean woods?
February 20th, 2007 at 12:01 am
While I don’t disagree with one or more points of the author’s argument (that Tubby has not taken UK basketball in a positive direction, and changes are needed), the document itself is garbage. I read it, and JL’s criticism (above) is just the tip of the iceberg.
February 21st, 2007 at 12:02 am
Ehhh. People need to remember when they prepare things like this for us that we are all still ol’ Kentucky Boys and none of this matters to us.
If you use blah blah blah fishing lure you have a 95% chance of catching a large catfish. Ok. That doesn’t matter to me. I just want a large catfish. Thus, I will proceed to get one any way I can, and not make everything so complicated.
The point is, we need to win basketball games, (more basketball games) and we aren’t doing that. There is no reason to waste like 2 weeks of your life preparing charts and graphs and etc. for us. Its easy to see without that. I dont care what the statistics are. The only statistic that matter is the W to L ratio which is unfortunately balancing itself out these days.
All I want to see is 10-20 point wins consistently. I want turn it to channel 13 on saturday afternoons and watch Kentucky just completely demolish other teams, regardless of who they are. Its about tradition. We want wins, and we want results, not statistics to prove that we aren’t getting wins and results.
I believe one of the problems is too many out of state recruits and not enough in state recruits. They just dont seem to realize how things work in this neck of the woods. Furthermore, there are no consequinces when things dont go how they should.
I honestly doubt I could have a serious conversation with Lucasz Obrzut and not laugh the whole time. I’m not saying hes any less of a basketball player, or person, for that matter, but we seriously lack people who understand how things work around here. I dont know if the University ignores everyone’s criticism like it isn’t here, or what, but they certainly aren’t heading to it. And for the most part, it isn’t people just talking out of their senseless heads, it is just people wanting results. I understand programs have rough patches, and I think alot of people do, but this isn’t just a little skid in the mud and get back up and play some more….this is a flatout fall on your face and then spend the rest of the week in ICU kind of thing.
February 21st, 2007 at 12:06 am
P.S.
If that good for nothing excuse of a Duke team (by definition of Duke history) can stay in the top 25, so can we.
February 23rd, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Kyle, I agree with you that the bottom line is Winning high percentage and high winning margin. But keep in mind that many of the Tubby spporters say he is one of the winningest coaches (listen to radio AM 1300 host), he has all american high school players so he can really recruit, he has won three coach of the year awards so he can coach, his team has scored 75 points per game so his offense can’t be described as boring and blah, blah, blah. The detailed analysis show that even though that might be true, the UK program is headed in the wrong direction in most categories. The trends and averages clearly show that. The last two years and this year’s numbers may be good for some schools but they are nowhere near acceptable levels for UK basketball.
February 24th, 2007 at 3:03 am
agreed