As much as we all hate Duke, I want to congratulate Coach K (and what he did for Cawood in '92 was awesome) on his retirement

[Gromcat]

Yeah for those wondering about that I originally said this over at psacard.com but that was only because someone had already brought up Coach K first before I did and that's when it occurred to me at the time he was retiring. And I thought it was a neat surprising coincidence that he stayed with one team for 42 years just like Rupp did.

So yeah, I will concede the timing (while I promise was totally coincidental) was not of my best judgement...but I do stand behind the message in general. I mean good natured "hating"/ribbing on a rival team is one thing but for the most part I don't like the idea of hating an individual person on a personal level...now someone who is mean to kitties for example, THAT'S an example of someone I consider worth truly hating.

For example, if let's say a rival player is at the free throw line with an important game hanging in the balance I might say something like (and I think this may be from a movie somewhere, Little Big League maybe?), "Look, I'm sure you're probably a nice swell guy who's a pillar to your community and your school and make your mama proud...but PLEEEEEZZZZZ miss those shots!" Or something to that similar effect.

I don’t know what you’re doing but if it’s trolling you severely missed the mark. All
Anyone is going to do after reading this garbage is assume you’re a Duke fan and trolling the UK board. I’d delete it. Bizarre.

 

[bbncal02]

I don’t. To each their own.

That’s pretty low. I never wish reallnill on my enemies.

 

[know1]

It was 30 years ago. He was congratulated enough at the time.

 

[FiveStarCat]

I just wonder if he would have walked over to Cawood and congratulated him if Duke had lost? I don't think he would have.

This is all that needs to be said. I give the man no credit for this in a win. Anyone can be “classy” in victory. I’d rather him just the STFU and move along tbh.

 

[mcwildcats04]

I know this might sound like blasphemy coming from a two time UK graduate and YES I hold that 1992 Christian Latner grudge just like all of them (I used to tell my Bostonian wife that was our "Bill Buckner" moment) but I wanted to congratulate Coach K on not only his retirement but would you believe his 42 seasons at Duke are the same as Adolph Rupp's 42 years with us (it honestly blew my mind when I first realized this)? So I guess this means to Duke 'K means every bit as much to them as Rupp does to us? Not to mention 'K holds the all time coaching wins record just as Rupp used to, both men won Olympic Gold Medals and similar to how Rupp never had a losing season (he came close in 1967)...K since 1984 had only never had a losing season, but lost ten games only five times and never once since 1984 missed the NCAA Tournament. And I'd say the man put Duke on the map just as much if not more than Rupp did for KY.

So yeah I hate those blasted Duke boys just like any other true blue UK fan but that man has (as far as I know) been nothing but a class act and represented his team well just as our late Rupp did. But what I will most remember and respect him for by far was right after that heartbreaking "Bill Buckner" moment of 1992, he went out of his way to personally congratulate perhaps the second biggest name in our history besides Rupp...our legendary radio broadcaster Cawood Ledford who was retiring that year. Check it out at 1:03:00...

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[UKUGA]

We all heard it at the time and most thought it was a nice a move.

However, in ‘98, Krzyzewski complained about being sent to Lexington for the first 2 rounds and cited the ‘92 game as evidence. (Up to that point, I had kind of respected K).

Accordingly, UK fans showed up at the open practice and some booed them.

Then, the Cats met them in Tampa and this happened.

 

[Estil]

Heh, sour grapes aside, bottom line is we kicked his and the Duke boys' ass this time (exciting comeback, plus the 17 point deficit we came back from predicted my future wedding date (6/17/2005); hee hee) and I loved this pic of what K was doing behind Scott Padgett's shot here (I saw this as a poster insert in my local newspaper at the time)...

http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/Graphics/GameAction/19980322Duke.jpg

And believe it or not this game occurred on my exact 18th birthday (3/22/98) no less!

And that whole booing K and his Duke boys at Rupp when we hosted that part of the NCAA's at the time? That reminds me of a local promo in the 90s one of our local TV stations did promoting UK basketball and ended with "IU fans? Well...you can watch Kentucky and root for the other team!" That must've been what the UK fans did at the time when the Dukes came to town!

 

[Estil]

This is all that needs to be said. I give the man no credit for this in a win. Anyone can be “classy” in victory. I’d rather him just the STFU and move along tbh.

Like I said if we had won it wouldn't have been Cawood's last game! Now the big question is, suppose (God forbid) we actually lost to Clown U in that next game *shudders* and that ended up being Cawood's final game...would Bob Knight have at least mentioned/congratulated Cawood at the post game press conference or something? Maybe, maybe not. I mean, did Knight (sorry MISTER Knight or COACH Knight) ever give any sort of shout-out/tip of the sweater or whatever to someone (even from a rival team) like a long time coach or announcer or something who retired or passed away or something? And on a related note, I thought this was a very kind gesture too; like Larry Bird/Magic Johnson at time (perhaps even more so), Reagan and O'Neill were very much major political rivals but nevertheless when Tip was retiring...



Bottom line, these are our opponents, not our enemies.

 

[ArcadiaFan]

Like I said if we had won it wouldn't have been Cawood's last game! Now the big question is, suppose (God forbid) we actually lost to Clown U in that next game *shudders* and that ended up being Cawood's final game...would Bob Knight have at least mentioned/congratulated Cawood at the post game press conference or something? Maybe, maybe not. I mean, did Knight (sorry MISTER Knight or COACH Knight) ever give any sort of shout-out/tip of the sweater or whatever to someone (even from a rival team) like a long time coach or announcer or something who retired or passed away or something? And on a related note, I thought this was a very kind gesture too; like Larry Bird/Magic Johnson at time (perhaps even more so), Reagan and O'Neill were very much major political rivals but nevertheless when Tip was retiring...

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Bottom line, these are our opponents, not our enemies.

Well, it wouldn't have been Cawood's last game, but it would have still been his final season, so a congratulations could have been extended to him by K had UK won. How many schools have congratulated K this season?

As far as Knight goes, he did give Rick Barnes, I believe it was the note cards he used for the game in which he set the all time record for victories, so it is conceivable he would have at least shook Cawoods hand, but much like K had they lost we will never know for sure.