I sometimes wonder if Patrick Patterson had not got injured late in the 2007 team, would ole Billy still be our coach? I wonder because if he were healthy, I feel that team led by a couple of seniors in Crawford and Bradley, along with a couple stud freshman in Jasper and Meeks; along with Patterson could have possibly made an elite 8 run or so in the tournament that year. It was good game against Marquette even without Patterson, so who who knows. Point being, if he goes deep in the tourney that first year, he would have probably been given a pass the next year, and maybe he would have gotten us back to a sweet 16 the next year or something. That injury may have tilted our fate in many ways.
Patterson and Gillispie connection
- Thread starter joester5612
- Start date
That team was atrocious. I was actually at that Marquette game too. We were lucky to even make the tournament that year and in all likeliness, probably just got in on our name.
Elite 8? Dude, you must be forgetting how awful that team was even with Patterson. They lost by 41 to Vanderbilt, Gardner Webb, UAB, San Diego, Houston, etc just to name a few. Also, Meeks didn't become Meeks until the next year.
And Patterson and Darius Miller's parents are one of the main reasons we got rid of Gillispie. Miller was going to transfer and Patterson was going pro if Gillispie wasn't canned. Miller's mom told Mitch about the bus incident at the SEC tournament (I think?) and that was one of the big nails in the coffin. That and the fact that Gillispie was a drunk who was rude to so many people and had some horrendous off-court behavior with some serious accusations.
Again, even if Kentucky pulled off the upset against Marquette, they would have been rocked by Stanford and Brook Lopez in the 2nd round.
Elite 8? Dude, you must be forgetting how awful that team was even with Patterson. They lost by 41 to Vanderbilt, Gardner Webb, UAB, San Diego, Houston, etc just to name a few. Also, Meeks didn't become Meeks until the next year.
And Patterson and Darius Miller's parents are one of the main reasons we got rid of Gillispie. Miller was going to transfer and Patterson was going pro if Gillispie wasn't canned. Miller's mom told Mitch about the bus incident at the SEC tournament (I think?) and that was one of the big nails in the coffin. That and the fact that Gillispie was a drunk who was rude to so many people and had some horrendous off-court behavior with some serious accusations.
Again, even if Kentucky pulled off the upset against Marquette, they would have been rocked by Stanford and Brook Lopez in the 2nd round.
You've got that pretty much spot on HeismanWildcat. Mrs. Patterson was instrumental in the firing of BCG. Funny story now but Miller's mom was appalled by the bus incident but was literally too afraid to say anything to Mitch because she feared the repercussions Darius might face from BCG. Mrs. Patterson spoke to Mitch about the situation herself and both Pat and Darius faced some backlash from it. We should be forever grateful for Mrs. Patterson, without her who really knows how bad it could've gotten. She could've just kept her mouth shut and Pat could've gone pro and got the heck out of dodge, but she really cared about the other kids too and badly wanted her son to get his degree.
Those are interesting stories, I did not know that Patterson or Miller's parents had anything to do with the actual firing, that is interesting. It would have been interesting to see what if anything would have come of all of the Gillispie incidents if he had won more games. People always say that winning covers up anything, so who knows. I say elite 8 because had Patterson been healthy, if you look at the roster from that year it really wasn't as bad as one might think; not to mention that team was 12-4 in SEC play that year and were a way better than the team that lost to Gardner Webb. I do think that we would have beaten Marquette had Patterson been healthy, and Stanford did have the Lopez twins but that was about it, so I think it is possible that we could have upset them that year. Meeks was not great that year but there were certain games where he gave us a preview of what was to come.
Similar threads
