John Wooden and Kentucky Fans

[Graves51]

Just having the best players, bought or otherwise, doesn't mean an automatic championship. If it does then WTF happened to us this year or 2010 for that matter. I think he was a pretty good coach. I remember his teams being so consistent and executing better than their opponents.

 

[EvilMD]

Just having the best players, bought or otherwise, doesn't mean an automatic championship. If it does then WTF happened to us this year or 2010 for that matter. I think he was a pretty good coach. I remember his teams being so consistent and executing better than their opponents.

Wooden had veteran players every year. And not just one or two, like Cal had in 2010 or 2015.

 

[OSOK]

Wooden was also an AA BB player, and is in the HOF as a player at Purdue.

 

[TeoJ]

Wooden was also an AA BB player, and is in the HOF as a player at Purdue.

He's in the Indiana hall of fame what's that got to do with he and gilbert?

 

[kyfan606]

Wooden is one of the greatest cheaters that college basketball has ever produced.

 

[BigRedMachineBigBlueNation]

Can't help but feel like UCLA stole that top spot from UK.

 

[UpstateNYCat]

Pretty sure Wooden won a title or two before Gilbert came upon the scene at UCLA. Dude was a helluva coach but also the biggest fraud in all of sports with his grandfatherly demeanor but his willingness to let shit slide with Gilbert. He even complained about Sam to the UCLA Admin, if this was a guy high with integrity, then why not resign from UCLA and coach somewhere else? Nope. Just like many in his profession, he became intoxicated with winning and his legacy.

 

[Lumpy 2]

Tarkanian was the one who came up with the phrase everyone uses to this day. When we were under investigation under Sutton Tark said the NCAA was so mad at Kentucky they'll put Cleveland St. on probation.

 

[stamm29]

Plain and simple: UCLA and Wooden won with players that should have been ineligible. Vacate the wins and titles. Remove the banners. The NCAA should do its job, even if the cheating was not discovered until later.

Besides UCLA and UNC, at least one, maybe more, Duke title should be voided. UMass and Memphis had titles and wins vacated retrospectively, with less, or in the case of Memphis absolutely no proof that the schools cheated. Why shouldn't UCLA, UNC and Duke face the same punishment?????

So why didn't rose fight it? If you did nothing wrong why would you let them do that to your school.

 

[Poetax]

So much of what has been said in this thread is ridiculous. Wooden was a great coach and a good person too. To call him "scum" is really ridiculous. No one has ever accused him of participating in cheating, or of Gilbert having any role in recruiting. Here is news for you - back in the 60s/70s many schools had boosters who bought things for players. Does anyone remember the $100 handshakes at UK? I'm not defending what Gilbert did or that Wooden might have turned a "blind eye" in some respects, but you guys are way off on your facts.

You believe in the tooth fairy, right?

 

[WhiteCityCat1]

So, I'm at work the other day and the subject of John Wooden comes up. My friends at work are, like me, die hard UK fans, with the exception of one very partisan UofL fan.

I found out immediately that each of them, to a man, were very enamored of John Wooden. They spoke of his "love for his players" and that he was "the greatest X's and O's basketball coach to ever live" that he did things "the right way" and that modern college basketball could "really learn something from him."

I completely burst their bubble by saying that I had zero, absolutely no respect for Wooden as a coach or a human being. I explained that Wooden was actually a good example of everything that is wrong with college sports in general: the use of power and prestige to trump what everyone knows is right. For years, Wooden turned a blind eye to boosters paying his players. Late in his career, it wasn't a question of "did he know?" it was, "how is he covering it up?" He used his considerable pull to bully UCLA officials and perhaps even NCAA officials. The obliged him because tearing down his facade would damage their reputations as well, since they too fueled the myth of Wooden as the patron Saint of Basketball Holiness. All the time, Wooden cultivated his reputation for basketball piety and life-affirming goodness, writing books and spinning folksy maxims that he former (well paid) players would echo on TV and in print. He was a walking definition of the term "hypocrite".

I explained to them that this was by no means a secret. Several books and countless newspaper and magazine articles have covered this material many times. No one who was at UCLA at the time denies it. The man flat out cheated, end of story.

When confronted with the evidence, my co-workers simply shrugged their shoulders. "I don't care what he did," stated on of my friends, "that man could flat out coach." (BTW, you might want to check yourself when you state sentences with "I don't care what he did"). They made it clear to me that they found it unsettling that I would "deny" Wooden's greatness, even questioning my character.

I was flabbergasted; it was like living in bizzaro world. Is the Wooden myth this pervasive? Has it infected even UK fans to the point that we can't openly criticize a man who shameless cheated to win? I don't defend Eddie Sutton, and I'm sure as hell not going to defend John Wooden.

Thoughts on this matter?[/QUOT I

 

[kytrue]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/everyone-loves-winner-023700951--ncaab.html

Reminds me of this very good Wetzel column from several years ago and this quote.

“If the UCLA teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s were subjected to the kind of scrutiny (other schools) have been, UCLA would probably have to forfeit about eight national championships and be on probation for the next 100 years." - Bill Walton

 

[Blueaz]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/everyone-loves-winner-023700951--ncaab.html

“If the UCLA teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s were subjected to the kind of scrutiny (other schools) have been, UCLA would probably have to forfeit about eight national championships and be on probation for the next 100 years." - Bill Walton

Drop the mic