On a 1 thru 10 scale. What's your interest in UK basketball today compared to 10/15/20/30 years ago?
- Thread starter TopCatCal
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Still a 10 and always will be...
I was probably a 15 on a scale of 1-10 from the age of 12-18...'92 to '98. I would cut out newspaper clippings and had a binder full of them (still do). That is youth stuff though. Obsessed.... priorities are in order now, but I don't miss a game.
I did turn off the Gonzaga game at halftime though. Watched a new episode of White Lotus. That game wasn't for me, I was about to do something stupid.
I was probably a 15 on a scale of 1-10 from the age of 12-18...'92 to '98. I would cut out newspaper clippings and had a binder full of them (still do). That is youth stuff though. Obsessed.... priorities are in order now, but I don't miss a game.
I did turn off the Gonzaga game at halftime though. Watched a new episode of White Lotus. That game wasn't for me, I was about to do something stupid.
Billy G wasn't here long enough to tarnish my interest in this team.
I had more passion for this team during the Tubby years than the Cal years.
Seems like ever since Cal formed that 2 lineup team in '15, then said he would never do that again despite going 38-1 told me to quit making this team my priority in life and focus on other things. Cal says lots of nutty things and he truly hasn't enjoyed being the HC for quite some time now. I'm just glad he stopped posting where he and Brad jetted off to for another major event.
I'm currently a 6 as I do have the interest, but I'm not sure I want to hear the results. Had I listened to the first half last night, I wouldn't even consider going through that pain any longer.
London? Meh.
WildcatfaninOhio
All-American
I’ve always been at a 10. Always will be a 10.
Hell, even the Billy G years didn’t shake my fandom. I haven’t been to games at Rupp very often. Maybe 10 times. But I was there for the home loss to Gardner-Webb. And was there again the following year for the home loss to VMI. I was disappointed, sure! But my level of fandom remained at a 10. I watched every televised game and expected to win. Still do. Will continue to do so until I’m dead!
Hell, even the Billy G years didn’t shake my fandom. I haven’t been to games at Rupp very often. Maybe 10 times. But I was there for the home loss to Gardner-Webb. And was there again the following year for the home loss to VMI. I was disappointed, sure! But my level of fandom remained at a 10. I watched every televised game and expected to win. Still do. Will continue to do so until I’m dead!
For those who call folks like me a fair weather fan for wanting UK to be the best team on the court every game, every year, you are the one who is fair weather my friend.
When you bleed blue you feel what is happening right now and it is not what we know UK basketball is about.
My interest is still high... it always will be.
My expectations have sunk to the bottom of the ocean. That's worse. I used to expect UK to win, now I just hope and pray we can win big games.
My expectations have sunk to the bottom of the ocean. That's worse. I used to expect UK to win, now I just hope and pray we can win big games.
Used to be 10, about 2 now, these teams are as if disposable, use once and throw away. he coach's sole purpose in life is to get players to the NBA. I keep up with them but don't watch them play anymore. Wins don't pump me up, losses don't bother me nearly as much as it used to.
I’d say about a 6 now. I don’t get as upset about the losses as i used to. Don’t even watch every game live anymore. When we lose i comment on it on here out of boredom more than anything. It’s something to do. But i mostly just shrug it off. It doesn’t effect my mood or day ar all.
It was a 10 until 2015. That wisconsin game, which i attended, took a lot out of me.
It was a 10 until 2015. That wisconsin game, which i attended, took a lot out of me.
5. Used to be 10. The rise of the football program combined with the fall of the basketball program has been the biggest contributor. College Football is just a better sport, and having a semi-relevant, competitive program is more exciting than sucking at basketball for the better part of 7 years.
My interest level is always a 10 until the day we get number 12. I'm retired after that.
the next coach needs to understand there's only one damn goal at Kentucky: catch UCLA reclaim what's ours.
The goal is not to making NBA players or losing in the first round of the tournament like chumps. Kentucky ain't no chump.
The goal is using the best players we can to catch UCLA. If those players go on to better Glory so be it if not they're still always a wildcat and got it made in Kentucky for life.
the next coach needs to understand there's only one damn goal at Kentucky: catch UCLA reclaim what's ours.
The goal is not to making NBA players or losing in the first round of the tournament like chumps. Kentucky ain't no chump.
The goal is using the best players we can to catch UCLA. If those players go on to better Glory so be it if not they're still always a wildcat and got it made in Kentucky for life.
Seriously??
Your interest in Kentucky basketball was lower when Tubby got us back-to-back 1 seeds, and one of thtose the overall number 1 seed, then when Cal led us to a 9–16 record?
What was it about that 9–16 season that kept your interest level at 10? What was it that was so bad about back-to-back number 1 seeds under Tubby?
I’m fully on board with the idea that Tubby just phoned it in his last two seasons. And couldn’t recruit a lick by then. And said some things about the fans after left that were uncharitable as blanket statements to say the least. But all the same…this I gotta hear.
It was a 10 when I went through High School, but as I got older, it naturally waned. I don't watch games unless I am with someone, and I might go to a Game or two each year. I'd still say it's about a 6-7 since I still want UK to win, and I am on this board often. But I won't let a game ruin my day, nor will I go out of my way to watch (I don't watch sports much period, but I still follow them).
EDIT: I forgot that we were even playing, but I checked my phone for some scores and we were tied at half. That has happened multiple times this year.
80’s -10+ 90’s 10+++++. 2000’s 9+. 2010’s 10 trailing off to a 9,8,7,6 5, now I’m at a 2 which means I don’t listen to coaches show, don’t listen on radio, watch games occasionally and never watch the app games. It’s just not worth the investment of my time. I have other things I enjoy doing more…..I am tired of the excuses, the failures. I thought we would have 12+ titles by now but now I can’t even see 9 in the next decade. I see us fast becoming IU basketball. I wish I didn’t feel this way but that is it for me. Can that be corrected? Not with this guy. He doesn’t care about the same things I care about. A divorce is needed.
I’m still an avid fan and bleed blue. However, as I’ve gotten older, I don’t get as upset over a loss. Don’t know if that’s because I’m more mature now, or Ive come to accept losses in a more mature way.
I still like Cal as our coach,, but I do get frustrated with his coaching at times. I think UK’s biggest problem is the turnover o great players every year In the past, the best players would stay for years, now they go to the pros after their freshmen year and we have to rebuild every year. It’s hard to win a championship when the team is composed primarily of freshmen and sopmores.
I still like Cal as our coach,, but I do get frustrated with his coaching at times. I think UK’s biggest problem is the turnover o great players every year In the past, the best players would stay for years, now they go to the pros after their freshmen year and we have to rebuild every year. It’s hard to win a championship when the team is composed primarily of freshmen and sopmores.
Tubby could not coach. It was obvious after the first year that he had inherited the title. I still had hope in the 2nd year. But that quickly went to no hope. There was never a chance that Tubby would get to the FF again. People want to say it was a recruiting problem. But it wasn't. Tubby had the number 1 recruiting class at least twice and was top 5 most years. The Randolph Morris bunch was certainly number 1. Tubby was the same guy the last 2 years as he was the previous 8. He stole UK basketball from a generation of UK fans. But the biggest thing was there was no hope.
Of course the losing season was terrible. But I believed right up to the end that we would win the SEC tourney and get in the NCAA tourney. Didn't happen. Besides being a worldwide pandemic, we had injury after injury and it was a dud of a recruiting class to boot.
Do you know that after Tubby's first season here he never beat a team seeded higher than a 6 in the tourney? Not here, not anywhere else. The year before Tubby came here he lost as a 3 seed to a 14 seed. So 1998 was truly an aberration in the career of one Orlando Tubby Smith.
Last season was a very enjoyable season for me. Except for the end. Oscar was transformed playing here. '20 was a great season and great team that didn't get to show the world. '19 was a great team and season. '18 was a good team riddled with injuries. Do you think with a healthy Jared Vanderbilt that team wouldn't have done damage. Keven Knox was a joy to watch.
'17 was great team. Went into the tourney as the best team in the country. Bam was awesome. Monk and Fox were superb. I'm not normally an officials blamer. But we got cheated in the E8 game.
'16 wasn't so great. Skal was a dud. But I very much enjoyed watching Murray play.
I don't what to say to you about your thinking the Tubby years were something to be proud of. But that's certainly your choice.
I'm not liking what I see from this team. I can't understand Cal playing Wheeler and Toppin. I don't understand not even trying to disrupt Bellarmine's offense for 30 minutes last night. Maybe Cal was trying to teach? But I don't know that was.
But none of that will stop me from wanting this team to win and expecting this team to win. I'm headed to London tomorrow. I sure as hell expect to see a victory over Michigan sunday.
If Tubby were our coach I would not be going. You can bet on that.
3/10 sadly
growing up I could tell you not just every players name and where they were from but the high schools they went to and what there averages were.
I didn’t even know we played bellarmine the other night until I logged on to rafters the next day. Cal has definitely left my fandom of UK depleted. It’s falls on no one else. It’s 100% cal
growing up I could tell you not just every players name and where they were from but the high schools they went to and what there averages were.
I didn’t even know we played bellarmine the other night until I logged on to rafters the next day. Cal has definitely left my fandom of UK depleted. It’s falls on no one else. It’s 100% cal
I was where you were with the last 4 years of Tubby time . But I’m about a 3 currently. Part of that is probably age (brings wisdom,lol) and just what the college basketball game has become DEFINITELY has a lot to do with it, but mostly because our head coach makes me want to puke .
I was a 10 from the time I was a kid until I was about 30. Currently in my early 40s. I’ve been a 7 or 8 since, dipped to a 2 after January of the 9-16 year, back to 7 or 8 last year and this year.
My shift has nothing to with Cal or results. I basically realized I am just a fan, nothing I do or say affects what happens on that court and allowing myself to be affected emotionally to the point of being pissed off for days over a loss is completely pointless for something I have no say in.
Basically, college and pro sports used to be life or death because I hadn’t been kicked in the ass by life yet. Once real world struggles cane into play, a ball game suddenly wasn’t so important to me.
My shift has nothing to with Cal or results. I basically realized I am just a fan, nothing I do or say affects what happens on that court and allowing myself to be affected emotionally to the point of being pissed off for days over a loss is completely pointless for something I have no say in.
Basically, college and pro sports used to be life or death because I hadn’t been kicked in the ass by life yet. Once real world struggles cane into play, a ball game suddenly wasn’t so important to me.
Mine is 2/3...with Gonzaga being the only game I've watched and I turned it off half thru the second half. Feel sorry for these kids having to play for a loud mouth, egotistical blowhard
I freaking went to UK and i teach at UK, dude, why don't you go take your entitled this program needs to kiss my azz or I'm gonna pizz on it endlessly, and go take your whining, moaning, and move to Indiana.
You'd rather have the drunk who struggled to recruit Dakatah Eutoah?. You must prefer drinking spit to sparkling water.
I used to pull my dead mule 10 miles through the snow just to hear Ralph Hacker call UK over three strands of barb wire as an antenna. Now I just lay in a pool of my own piddle and moan and curse Cal for ruining my life. He's made my diabetes worse. My cataracts have clouded into Cal shape. I caught him slipping out the backdoor of my wife's single wide. Life with Cal in my head is a sinking, sucking, eddy of despair. I'll start a new miserable post as soon as my blood pressure drops. Stay tuned.
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I watch every game I can so in a sense I'm still a 10.
However the 2015 game stung like no other and not sure I'll ever recover.
If we had a coach that cared perhaps I'd feel different and be a resounding 10... the NIL changes the game we grew up watching as well and currently not a fan.
I miss the home-home rivalries with Indiana, and UNC
Perhaps all of this is because I'm entering my 30's and I got other priorities.
However the 2015 game stung like no other and not sure I'll ever recover.
If we had a coach that cared perhaps I'd feel different and be a resounding 10... the NIL changes the game we grew up watching as well and currently not a fan.
I miss the home-home rivalries with Indiana, and UNC
Perhaps all of this is because I'm entering my 30's and I got other priorities.
Right?! It's weird to think that way, but that's the way it is now.
We went from showing up at a restaurant 2 hours before a game to get seats for 4-10 people, spending money, doing cheers and going crazy during games (while at a restaurant or bar), living and dying with every outcome...
...to sometimes checking espn website for updates as the game goes along, if I remember they are playing. Used to travel for the SEC Tourney and make a weekend of it, go to away games and NCAA TOURNEY, show up for autographs and tours, and even went to HS games if there were players we were recruiting.
Now I feel bad for the players not being coached, developed, or used as well as they should be. They don't usually give KY kids a sniff, or they languish on the bench while the "diaper dandies" get all of the playing time. "SHOOTERS" go cold and cant find their rhythm or shot while under the iron fist of Coach Can't. We used to invest for 3-4 years in the players and give them opportunities, but now all of those opportunities go to FR, whether they are better than upperclassmen or not, because our coach doesn't know what to do with mature players.
I'm glad others are still enjoying the team and season. I hope the team succeeds in spite of Cal's shortcomings. I'm just not interested in a coach that hates the fans and thinks he's better than everyone else he's meant to represent. I'll wait until we have a coach instead of someone who thinks they're a king but can't prove it on the court. There is no other way to be heard other than to not show up, not spend the money, and not listen to Cal's bullsht.
I've got properties to remodel. Investments to manage. Business to get done. Saving a lot of money and time not investing in a program and a game I grew to love. The UK seasons end with football.
You make a really good point. I do sometimes listen, and would rather, because it adds an energy from Tom and Jack that isn't there when watching on TV. Never liked watching people walk across fly paper, and that's what it seems like now. Need to find my old radio and listen more.
Only watched 2 games ( Michigan St and Gonzaga) so far this season and I have bled blue my entire life. Years past I would go out of my way call off work take vacation etc to watch a game. Hopefully once CCC leaves the passion and fire return. He is sucking the life out of the program and the fan base.
