It’s a new season. No excuses.

[arenk]

That’s friggin awful. This attitude is why we’ve sucked the last 6 years

You’re no fan if you’re ok with losing. I’m serious. That’s what kills programs like our low expectations. We could lose to byu or Louisville and you’re ok. I’ll tell you we go in a 3 and don’t make it to sweet sixteen this ridiculously long honeymoon with pope will be over. We need a solid fanbase which means winning. You got the players now. You have the team now. Yeah “win one game and I’m happy”. What has happened to uk bb???

Very well stated. We don't have a God given right to be a perennial top 5 team because we're Kentucky, but we do expect our administration to do whatever is necessary to keep us in the top ten and in contention for a NC every year, especially with freshman eligibility and the portal, neither of which Rupp ever had. To be happy just to be ranked and maybe win 1 or 2 games in the NCAAT is very telling about how far this program is from what it was from 1948-51 and 1991-1998 under the Rupp and Pitino eras, and I include 1998 as part of the Pitino era because those were his recruits and not Tubby's. From 1966 through 1978 UK was pretty damn good too, but unfortunately most of those years were in the John Wooden era of players bought and paid for by UCLA alum Sam Gilbert. I don't know to what degree, if any, Rupp was ever involved in buying players, but even if he had been it would have been tough to compete with the deep pockets of the UCLA alums.

I've always felt as though the 1970 team could have taken UCLA had Mike Casey not been injured during the summer of 1969. I was a freshman at UK in 1970-71, but Casey was a mere shell of what he had been after suffering a very serious injury to his leg. With Casey, Issel, Pratt, Steele and perhaps Kent Hollenbeck as our other guard, I think we had a real shot at beating a very tough UCLA team with Wicks, Rowe, Patterson, Vallely and Bibby. That UCLA team lacked depth, but UK had Stan Key, Terry Mills, Bob McGowan (until he was kicked off the team), Jim Dinwiddie and Tom Parker coming off the bench. Most of that year, Hollenbeck was not a starter, although many people thought he was the most talented guard with Casey out for that season.

 

[arenk]

Very well stated. We don't have a God given right to be a perennial top 5 team because we're Kentucky, but we do expect our administration to do whatever is necessary to keep us in the top ten and in contention for a NC every year, especially with freshman eligibility and the portal, neither of which Rupp ever had. To be happy just to be ranked and maybe win 1 or 2 games in the NCAAT is very telling about how far this program is from what it was from 1948-51 and 1991-1998 under the Rupp and Pitino eras, and I include 1998 as part of the Pitino era because those were his recruits and not Tubby's. From 1966 through 1978 UK was pretty damn good too, but unfortunately most of those years were in the John Wooden era of players bought and paid for by UCLA alum Sam Gilbert. I don't know to what degree, if any, Rupp was ever involved in buying players, but even if he had been it would have been tough to compete with the deep pockets of the UCLA alums.

I've always felt as though the 1970 team could have taken UCLA had Mike Casey not been injured during the summer of 1969. I was a freshman at UK in 1970-71, but Casey was a mere shell of what he had been after suffering a very serious injury to his leg. With Casey, Issel, Pratt, Steele and perhaps Kent Hollenbeck as our other guard, I think we had a real shot at beating a very tough UCLA team with Wicks, Rowe, Patterson, Vallely and Bibby. That UCLA team lacked depth, but UK had Stan Key, Terry Mills, Bob McGowan (until he was kicked off the team), Jim Dinwiddie and Tom Parker coming off the bench. Most of that year, Hollenbeck was not a starter, although many people thought he was the most talented guard with Casey out for that season.

Speaking of Kent Hollenbeck, does anyone know where he is now and what he did after breaking his foot in his final game of his senior year at UK? I thought that aside from Tom Payne, he was the player on that 1970-71 team with the best chance of becoming a decent NBA player. He had an adequate handle, good hops, was very good shooter at all three levels, was quick and very athletic and being a 6'4'' shooting guard in 1971 was better than average size.

I think that rather than starting different guard combinations in the 1969-70 season when UK was ranked No 1 for much of the year, Rupp might have been better off starting Hollenbeck and Stan Key, a starter on the 1971-72 team who had a solid handle, high basketball IQ, hustled his rear end off, and was an above average shooter from outside. I don't recall after this many years whether he took the ball to the hoop very often, but I do recall that he and then freshman Ronnie Lyons were a good back court combination offensively. Their defense, and especially the team's, left a lot to be desired which is part of the reason they were demolished in the NCAAT by finalist Florida State who played UCLA pretty tough in a losing effort in the final. I think Florida State had one and possibly two Lexington high school players on their team that year.