Fire Tubby?

I love defense. Specifically, I love frustrating defenses. The kind that leaves the opposing team shaking its head after each wasted possession. Pitino loved running those half-court traps and full-court presses that caused turnovers and easy points. Those were fun, but Tubby’s Defense was amazing for me. Seeing teams swing the ball to the second option, then the third, then the fourth, then standing around looking bewildered as the shot clock winds down. Keeping enough pressure on the “best” opposing players, but just shutting down his supporting cast. Pulling down rebound after rebound.

In 1998, it wasn’t the fact that we were winning, it was the way we were winning. At the beginning of the season, the team played like a Pitino team. Then they learned Tubby’s system, and just started shutting teams down. In February, you knew once the second half rolled around, Kentucky found its amazing defensive fifth gear and would claw its way back into the game.

The Regional Final against Duke, when we held them to 33% shooting in the second half? Fantastic. Bonus points for avenging 1992, of course.

So I’ve always been a fan of Tubby’s style. Yes, the offense got stagnant, but the defense kept us in it. His style would just shut down teams for 5, 7, 9 minutes at a time. Make the opposing team adjust, and then force them to adjust again, and again, until they were just launching 3 pointers desperately. (Admittedly, sometimes that worked.) Eventually, Tubby would find the weaknesses in the opponents offenses and exploit them; getting forwards into foul trouble and then Chuck Hayes would feast on the backups or finding holes in zones for Bogans to penetrate through.

Remember the great times?

We were a Keith Bogans injury away from slowing down Dwyane Wade and getting that second Final Four. Remember that? And that 2004-05 team, assembled from a hodge-podge of parts, earned that 2 seed in the NCAA thanks to Tubby’s D. What a coaching job that year, the third time he won National Coach of the Year honors.

Until recently, you never saw a team that was able to execute its gameplan with moderate success against a Tubby Smith Kentucky team.

Until recently, sheesh.

We all know things haven’t been great since that 2002-03 season. Tubby goofed on the recruiting front; nobody argues that. And without talent, all the great coaching in the world can only take you so far. Results: two 8-seeds in the NCAA’s a bunch of “near wins” against top-level teams, and a frustrated fanbase.

So, mistakes are made. But that doesn’t change the D, or the coach. Its been only 4 years since that 2003 season. I’d put good money on Meeks and the rest of this freshmen class proving to the former capital-C Concerned that Tubby can evaluate and sign talent. If Tubby had wanted to stay, he would have found the way back to glory. Probably through frustrating the other team, and slightly frustrating our fanbase with the slow offensive sets… nahhh.

The ten-year legacy of Tubby cannot be expunged by the “what have you done for me lately” bullshit everybody has been throwing around. One day, UK will add Orlando Tubby Smith’s name to the Rupp Rafters. And everybody will be cheering for him because they’ll remember the good and the great times. Maybe they’ll remember the D.

I’ll never forget the D, or the coach. Thank you, Tubby.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 6th, 2007 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Good Luck Coach, The Beginning is Near. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.