I would take out the word "knowledgeable" and replace it with the word "passionate." Our fans are passionate and often irrationally passionate. We do have some very knowledgeable fans and that is one reason I have stayed on this board over the years. But, i have sometimes walked away to take a break because of the irrational passion that sometimes overtakes every single discussion.
Curious how some are feeling
- Thread starter Aike
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I would take out the word "knowledgeable" and replace it with the word "passionate." Our fans are passionate and often irrationally passionate. We do have some very knowledgeable fans and that is one reason I have stayed on this board over the years. But, i have sometimes walked away to take a break because of the irrational passion that sometimes overtakes every single discussion.
I think you're bound to get irrational people when it comes to all sports teams.
We just have such a huge fanbase that there's bound to be more of those type as well lol
We just have such a huge fanbase that there's bound to be more of those type as well lol
True but my point is that UK fans, as a general rule, are not all that knowledgeable. I think many of our fans would argue with a sign post. One of my favorite examples is when Tubby said he was considering redshirting Ramon Harris AFTER playing him in a game. When I posted that was not possible we ended up with a 4 page thread of people arguing with me. I posted the rule but still people argued. I finally contacted a friend in the UK compliance office and posted their reply to convince people that it wasn't possible to do a traditional redshirt AFTER a player had played in a game.
My point is that our fans are indeed irrationally passionate. I see it all the time on this board.
I was wondering if I was going to be on that list. lol
I made several criticisms of Cal over the years, but decided to hold out hope he might change right up until the Oakland game. He always brought in so much talent, it seemed feasible that one day it might be enough to overcome his mediocre bench coaching.
I was one of the last holdouts still thinking significant change might be possible, but Oakland was my final breaking point.
As for Pope, I still hate the process we used to land him, but he obviously has a ton of potential as a coach. He genuinely wants to be here, and now that he's officially our guy, I'm going to support him 100%.
Same here. Interestingly, Coach K and Cal were both in the E8 in 19. Both went 25-6 when the tournament was cancelled in 20. Then in 21, K went 13-11 while Cal went 9-16. If the top coach in the game is struggling, I guess it didn't seem so bad that Cal is struggling to me.
Then in 22, Cal lost to St. Peters (who then beat WKU and Purdue) while K went to the FF before retiring. At this point, to me, it still seemed logical that we had fallen but would get back up.
23 we go out in the second round and then lose to Oakland in 24. At that point, I threw in the towel.
You're not really allowed to be negative on here but here is what I got:
Feels like I just went back to Tubby Smith land. Ricky P all happy. 30 year ago players happy.
Im worried as hell. Anxious to see recruiting results.
Anxious to see who leaves or returns.
Anxious to see who Pope's assistants are.
Worried young players nowadays play for the coach or MONEY not the school.
g
Gratitude to play for Kentucky aint going to play well or work in recruiting.
And lastly I'm just wondering why I didn't see a single Calipary player at that whole thing just now? I love our recent players. The whole thing rubbed me wrong..
The greatest players in the NBA play for Kentucky right now. But none of them there 😪
Feels like I just went back to Tubby Smith land. Ricky P all happy. 30 year ago players happy.
Im worried as hell. Anxious to see recruiting results.
Anxious to see who leaves or returns.
Anxious to see who Pope's assistants are.
Worried young players nowadays play for the coach or MONEY not the school.
g
Gratitude to play for Kentucky aint going to play well or work in recruiting.
And lastly I'm just wondering why I didn't see a single Calipary player at that whole thing just now? I love our recent players. The whole thing rubbed me wrong..
The greatest players in the NBA play for Kentucky right now. But none of them there 😪
I really really liked ‘like’ Cal.
I won’t wish him any ill at Arkansas unless he plays us.
I also really really like this hire.
It will take a year or two to get used to the talent stream but I’m welcoming it.
I want the old Uk back, even most Cal loyalist should’ve recognized he had faults and he wouldn’t change which was frustrating but I Joe he comes back in 5-6 years as AD or ambassador and keeps his hands on us somewhat. I want Pope to win, and hope he does it quick for his sake but I’ll be patient with him. He was a Cat and wanted to be here, which Is the biggest quality I wanted in the next coach, someone who wants to be here.
I won’t wish him any ill at Arkansas unless he plays us.
I also really really like this hire.
It will take a year or two to get used to the talent stream but I’m welcoming it.
I want the old Uk back, even most Cal loyalist should’ve recognized he had faults and he wouldn’t change which was frustrating but I Joe he comes back in 5-6 years as AD or ambassador and keeps his hands on us somewhat. I want Pope to win, and hope he does it quick for his sake but I’ll be patient with him. He was a Cat and wanted to be here, which Is the biggest quality I wanted in the next coach, someone who wants to be here.
I will say I was part of the clan who thought there wasn’t a chance Cal would leave without his payout. So some of the guys who supported Cal and hoping he would be back next year and I sat in the same boat on that issue.
I never loved Cal. For me it was more about what can he do for us while he was more about what can you do for me. There was always that disconnect.
You were never a Cal over UK poster though. You supported Cal because you wanted UK to win, like me you hoped he would fix things and the offense this year gave us hope. In the end he was the same old Cal and it was time to go. Nothing wrong with that.
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Have been feeling like this since he was offered and accepted.. one of our own has come home!
You never posted anything I remember that remotely suggested you were a UK over Cal fan. In fact most of your stuff was so ridiculous that I assumed you were related to Cal.
That is the coolest baby ever.Have been feeling like this since he was offered and accepted.. one of our own has come home!
To be honest I’m pumped… 💯 in…. I’m ready to ride….
That said…. I’m feeling bad. I wanted Cal to Soooo. Retire here….. be great have the new coach / Joe B Hall Cal had with him….
That said I’m glad Cal is gone….i am so glad he is gone……..
That said I will always appreciate his good times…. Good Cal is UK…..
That said…. I’m feeling bad. I wanted Cal to Soooo. Retire here….. be great have the new coach / Joe B Hall Cal had with him….
That said I’m glad Cal is gone….i am so glad he is gone……..
That said I will always appreciate his good times…. Good Cal is UK…..
I’ve never doubted you were a UK fan and even thought some of the things you said were correct. But you said MANY TIMES that the only people that were tired of Cal , negative about him , or wanted him gone were people on this board. I live and carry on my day to day activities right here in Lexington and Central Kentucky. Talk to hundreds of UK fans , maybe thousands. You couldn’t have been more wrong about that. Maybe you were “insulated “ from it or just wouldn’t see it . But you were wrong.
There are very few posters on this board that hoped we lost, ever, much less the first SECT and NCAAT game. I very seriously doubt you stopped posting here for that reason. You were adamant cal would be here until he retired and he was still one of the best coaches in the game today. You were dead wrong on both accounts. Sometimes it is easier to cut bait instead of facing the music. I do commend you for answering the call to the thread though and appreciate your take but still disagree about cal as a coach. I’d be interested to hear the privy info you have behind the reason he left one day though if you choose to stay here and continue posting, even if after some time has passed. Glad to see you are a UK fan though, had my doubts but I take your post here at face value.
I was not as disappointed with the hiring of Pope as most. I liked the hire for all the reasons that most of BBN has now around too but admittedly was caught off guard about his hiring so early in the process. I think he is going to be great here. He already has us feeling like KY basketball again. I wanted cal here for a long time, had no idea we would become the university of calipari and yesterday was an amazing breath of fresh air. I feel like it is the 1990’s again. I hope against all hope that coach Pope can replicate even a small portion of the 90’s success. I’m confident he will. Go Big Blue!!!!!
Gimmicks often work once or twice. It was just plain idiotic to keep starting the best practice players and not the best players. Fundamental basketball wins over the long run. That year we finished unranked and barely slipped in to the tournament, losing in the second round.
Your personal anecdote notwithstanding, UK fans by and large are more knowledgeable than fans of other schools. Examples: UK fans rightly criticized the overuse of Saul Smith over Hawkins. UK fans also rightly criticized the overuse of Edwards and DJ over Rob and Reed. UK fans correctly predicted that Sharpe would never play a minute here. They also predicted Cal would never win another title after 2015.
He also said Reeves would ride the pine all season last year.
Classic misdirection post. You ignore any of the NUMEROUS CORRECT CRITICISMS of you and instead go on a self-serving rant about what an amazing person you think you are. Absolutely PATHETIC. You're nothing but a fraud and a troll.
Had forgotten that about him but you are correct. Tried telling anyone who would listen that reeves would be playing cigar victory minutes only and would be the worst guard on the team 😂. Guy is truly a clown. That is how I commented on most of his post, with nothing but a 🤡. Doubt we ever see him post on this board again.
I don't think it was a gimmick. Rondo is/was notorious for being head strong and telling coaches he knew better than them. Clearly Rondo wasn't on board with what Tubby was doing.
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Rondo spent two years at Kentucky coached by Tubby Smith, averaging 25 minutes as a freshman and 31 the following year. But even then, he and his head coach butted heads. This is from an incredible Rondo profile by Baxter Holmes in the Boston Globe.
Doug Bibby was his high school basketball coach and math teacher. He trusted Rondo and saw his knowledge enough to have him run part of the team's practice one year when Bibby's infant son was in ICU, and the team ran just as hard with Rondo in charge as they did with Bibby.
But even in high school, Rondo clashed with Bibby on the court at the times. Once more from the Globe story:
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you can call it a gimmick, I call it a coaching move to either motivate a talented but headstrong player to get on board with what the team was doing or cut his minutes so he'd get someone in there that would. At the end of the day I honestly believe Tubby was trying to put the best team out on the court.
I'll never say that of Calipari
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Thanks for a well thought out reply. I guess at the end of the day we will have to agree to disagree.
My last comment is that neither Tubby or Calipari was willing to make the necessary changes and both resorted to idiotic coaching moves. Neither put UK first and made that known. Neither retired here. Both moved on and I am thankful that they did.
As a side not, one of Tubby's problems was trying to somehow provide a job for Saul. He wanted him on staff at UK, had him on staff at Minny, Texas Tech (albeit a minor role) and then Memphis. My friends in Memphis were irate at Saul's comments about recruiting and I think that contributed to Tubby being shown the door and his DUI at Minny may have also contributed to Tubby's departure.
Now, at least, I think we have a coach who isn't just a mercenary looking for a big paycheck or to further the interests of his own family to the detriment of the program. I am looking forward to what Mark Pope will accomplish here.
In fairness, most of those examples were obvious to just about anyone with basic basketball knowledge. Using those kinds of examples I would add in UK posters telling others if you didn't see the star potential of Jared Carter, you were clueless. Or how about a majority of this board saying Minny would go to a FF before UK when Tubby left or how Tubby would turn Minny into a consistent E8/Sweet 16 team, etc.
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