You do you...whatever floats your boat. But, my guess is you weren't around here to root for the Cats in 1989.
You see, despite good arguments to the contrary, and in the infinite "wisdom" of the NCAA, Kentucky was judged to be sending money in a nearly hermetically sealed envelope (that magically popped open at its California destination), and our basketball program came out of it with barely a pulse. It was really more like we were in hospice.
Enter Rick Pitino. Thanks to alum and former UK basketball player (then AD) C.M. Newton, he was chosen to lead our team. In miraculous fashion, with loyal player holdovers not afraid of sanctions, UK went 14-14 that first year. It was all uphill after that. I'll save you all the amazing details of his tenure, but it was arguably the most exciting period of any in Kentucky basketball, as Rick not only steadied the ship, with plenty of accolades coming from Cawood to the fans to national media, he quickly restored our shambles of a program back to national prominence and preeminence. We were back with a vengeance...back to being the Gold Standard.
Of all its brilliance under Rick Pitino's direction, I can safely assert that, had first-team All-American Derek Anderson not gotten hurt for the 96-97 season, we would have easily won that 1997 championship over Arizona...a second straight championship.
What Rick Pitino did had lasting positive affects today. His record at Kentucky was truly astonishing--our program was saved and we today continue to be the finest program in college basketball history largely due to his efforts to save us. There is a very good reason why Rick Pitino is pictured in the Memorial Coliseum lobby alongside all other great Kentucky coaches as the leaders of our great legacy.
So, you go ahead and do what you have to do to live with yourself. It greatly hurt us that he left when he was on the precipice of forming a Wooden-like coaching dynasty (he was that good!). It was, in my view, bad form to go to arch-rival Louisville. But, he deserves no boos from a true Kentucky fan; on the contrary, every Kentucky fan should know exactly how great it was for him to resurrect our program from near-death to winning nearly two straight championships.