On a 1 thru 10 scale. Your love for UK basketball now compared to 10/15/20/30 years ago?..... And has you enthusiasm for UK basketball ever been lower

[TopCatCal]

My love for UK basketball from 1969 up until 5 or 6 years ago was a 10. Now it's about a 2. I lay this 100% at the feet of Mitch Barnhart & John Calipari. I went for decades & never missed a single game. Now over the last few years I never watch any of the 9:00 games anymore. A couple more years of Calipari & I'll probably quit watching altogether. If I would have just got rescued from a deserted island & seeing the condition that the UK basketball program is in. My 1st question would be. What did we get put on NCAA probation over? It's that bad

 

[ukalum1988]

I haven’t dropped nearly as much…. I would say I’ve gone from a 10 to about 5. The loss to K State bothered me for about 15 minutes. The loss to Duke in 92 was almost like a death in the family and bothered me for over a week.

 

[storm1507]

I'm probably a 2 or 3 now. But, it's much more than our play as of late or Cal. It's much bigger than that.

 

[TNCatfanforever]

I don’t even worry if I miss a game on tv. I never expect to win any big games and the games against sisters of the poor are usually in doubt now. I am 68 and never thought I would ever lose this much interest. I was a 10 through 2015 now my interest is a 3. The right new coach could rekindle my interest, but I am done with a coach who is more worried about being culturally correct and the NBA than he ja about UK fans and our historic program.

 

[ncaaky]

I’m pretty enthused with 4 of the top 7 players in the country coming in. Calipari with that kind of talent even as freshmen is dangerous and fun.

 

[HarlanCountyCat92]

I’d say a solid 5. I wanna say lower but I still stay glued to the board, even after another let down season. It can easily get back to a 7/8. Part of it is age and responsibility, but the biggest is the revolving door of Calipari players and his tired scheming.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

I'd say around a 5 and that goes for the sport and sports as a whole. As I have gotten older I have realized wasting so much of my life living vicariously through spoiled college and pro players isn't the best use of my time.

I'll check scores on phone but don't watch as much sports overall. I'll talk on here but mainly during my work shift.

 

[Titpwhami2014]

I’d say a solid 5. I wanna say lower but I still stay glued to the board, even after another let down season. It can easily get back to a 7/8. Part of it is age and responsibility, but the biggest is the revolving door of Calipari players and his tired scheming.

This is me. I’m at a 5. Was probably still a 7 or 8 when Gillispie was the coach. Never thought Cal would sink us this low but I also thought he’d have moved on by now. Get someone in here who cares about the job. Cal used to care but nowadays he’s more concerned about his image than he is about the results on the court.

 

[bbncal02]

I still love UK basketball. I'm at a 7 or an 8.

By October I'll be a 10 again.

I'll never stop loving UK basketball. Unless the program became overtly corrupt or something like that.

 

[tomrain]

Same, forever was a 10. Would stay up all night to watch the 10:30 delayed broadcasts, if a game wasnt on tv, I was glued to the radio listening to Cawood, and around 2017-18 mine started fading. When I was a kid I would gather up any newspaper I could find and make scapbooks of the seasons, I have a room in my house completed dedicated to UK basketball. Now, I dont expect to win big games, dont expect win SEC tournament, dont expect to advance in NCAA. I guess Cals coaching incompetence has given me an apathy I never dreamed I would have. Losses at one time would ruin my entire weekend, now turn it off and its like, "Oh well". So Id say Im in the 3-4 range. My love is still a 10 but my enthusiasm with the current state of affairs is 3-4.

 

[OmahaCats]

10

 

[Wonky]

My love is still at a 10. That will never change. My enthusiasm? About a 2.

 

[OmahaCats]

If you say you’re less than an 8, then you wouldn’t be on here posting all the time

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I'm a 10. The only time it hasn't been a 10 was the last 8 years of the Tubby destruction. Probably got down to a 2 during that time. Had Tubby stayed one more year I probably would have stopped caring at all. That was by far the worst period of my over 60 year fandom. Tubby stole UK basketball from a whole generation of fans.

 

[ukalum1988]

I’m pretty enthused with 4 of the top 7 players in the country coming in. Calipari with that kind of talent even as freshmen is dangerous and fun.

I hear ya, but the OAD thing, transfer portal, etc, makes it difficult to form any kind of emotional connection to the players. Like another poster stated, the sport has changed and my overall interest in college BB has really dropped off over the last 10 years or so. I hardly watch any college BB anymore except for UK and to a lesser extent the SEC.

I know some folks on this board are really into the recruiting aspect of the program and I respect that, but I’m at the point where I hardly pay attention to UK BB during the offseason until Big Blue Madness.

 

[Wildcats520]

If you say you’re less than an 8, then you wouldn’t be on here posting all the time

I read this forum for entertainment purposes because we have some incredibly dumb fans and comment relatively rarely. Especially over on the off topic forum. It's like watching a train wreck, I can't look away.

With that said I'm at a 3.5. I only watched a few full games this season (MSU, Gonzaga, second UT game, Vandy SEC Tourney, Providence, K-State). Would catch bits and pieces of other games then turn it off because this was one of the least entertaining/most frustrating teams I have ever seen.

 

[dl51344]

For 50 yrs I used to plan my weekly schedule around it (10). Now retired (4)). If there is something else happening I will watch later on the internet, if they win.

 

[UKWildcatT]

Im still in these boards because I talk wrestling with folks and my son still loves it, so I try and keep up and know things for him

I basically quit watching in summer of 2020. The only game (any sport, college or pro) I’ve watched since that time is their first round match this year. To be honest, I don’t even remember who they played, lol

Im the guy that used to be able to tell you the lineups from the 60s to the present. But if you lined up a bunch of players, I’d really only know the Oscar guy.

 

[JonathanW]

Regardless of how well the team is doing, I think we all naturally have a slow reduction in interest, as we get older. Other things in life take priority (you start working 40+ hours/wk, you get married, you have kids, your kids start playing sports or other activities, you have grandkids, they start playing sports,....).

For me, in HS and college I never missed a game, even had to listen to about 1/3 to 1/2 of them on the radio, AND I kept stats for every one of those games. Then I stopped keeping stats (90's). Then it was ok if I missed a game or two a year (for something family related). Now maybe it's up to missing 3-4 games a year.
But there I was in Greensboro with my oldest son for those 2 games last month. And my son was there wearing his old A.Davis jersey, even though he is a student at NC St.

But that lessening in interest is not limited to UK basketball. I used to watch the MLB game of the the week and Monday night baseball every week. Then I got to where I only watched the playoffs. Now I don't watch any.
I used to watch every Steelers game I could, and would watch other games too. Then I would only watch Steelers games, and now I rarely watch an NFL game (maybe watched 2 this past season).

 

[YouKay]

Well I’m old enough to have witnessed Adolph Rupp going 13-13. Was a student when UK missed the NCAA tournament the year after reaching its first Final Four in 9 years. Was there when John Wooden was gifted a national championship that should have been ours.

I also lived through a 36 year period when UK won exactly one championship.

My enthusiasm for my Wildcats has never waned. And it never will.

 

[Mike-D]

1

 

[know1]

It was a 10+ for 30+ years until about 2018. It's been waning ever since. It's currently maybe a 5 and honestly, my main interest now is just in waiting out the current coach.

And it isn't waning because of the lack of results. It's waning because I don't believe in the direction and leadership of the program and I don't respect having a coach whose top goal isn't in winning college basketball games.

If I thought he'd be here for more than another couple of years, it would be about a 1.

It will return to a 10 with a new coach.

 

[JimboBBN]

5 or 6 years ago I was a 10. Now I’m probably a 6 or 7. I still love the Cats just as much. But Cals coaching, constant roster turnover, and the general state of college basketball has curbed my enthusiasm.

 

[JHannibalSmith]

I started watching as a young kid in 1978 & from game 1 until about 2016 my interest level was 100 on a 1-10 scale. I planned my life around UK basketball & went to extreme lengths to make sure I saw every second of every game & followed every aspect of the program down to the most minute information I could find.

In 2005, on the day of the region final against Michigan St, I chose UK basketball over my fiancé (together 5 years at that point) when I was given the ultimatum of going out with her bff & husband, or, watching the game. It was a no-brainer.

Now, I’d probably rank my interest somewhere around 3-4, at best. I change channels during games, now, & struggle to watch an entire game from start to finish. Losses that used to ruin my mood until the next win aren’t even a blip on the radar, anymore. I expect to lose games against any team with a pulse. And, that is total blasphemy for a UK fan. I despise the style of play & the manner in which Coach Ingalls runs the program. But, when he’s finally gone I’ll immediately be back to a solid 10 (or 100).

 

[MadaboutBlue]

I know this sounds nuts and unbelievable, but I'm seen almost all the games, at least the home and televised games, over the last 60 years. Back to when I watched Adolph Rupp's teams on black and white TV. I was the a freshman when Kentucky signed its very first African American player. So, yeah, I have some history.

I have had some ebbs in my enthusiasm for the program in all that time: the year Kentucky fell apart during the Sutton Scandal, The last couple of years of Tubby, almost all of Gillespie (thought he was a terrible hire from the get go without the character issues) and and the last four years under Calipari. My problems with Calipari aren't strictly related to wins and losses, although wins and losses are certainly a big part of the equation. I get that ultra talented kids want to get paid, but Cal lost me when we became a revolving door of low and mid level talent taking a shot at an NBA career. Succeed and Proceed became Fail and Bail (credit to whoever came up with that). I also don't understand Caliper's public defensiveness and abrasiveness toward the fan base. I'm not sure whey he can't ever just shut the fork up and enjoy and his job and the bottomless pit of money that comes with it.

Anyway, venting over. Love and Enthusiasm are a bit dormant at the moment-lets say hovering between a 3 and a 5, but with someone that is dedicated to the name on the FRONT of the Jersey at the helm could, easily be right back at a 10.

 

[crestcat]

The NCAA letting UNC off the hook and floundering about with the FBI revelations dropped my interest considerably and Cow has just about killed it.

 

[MegaBlue05]

My love for the program will always be a 10 no matter how good or bad we are.

However, my enthusiasm for each new season had dipped below a five, which is bad. No more blind faith or optimism for me.

I don’t get as worked up over it now as I did when I was younger. I used to view this as life and death. It’s really not but it took me decades to figure that out. I’m one of those people who used to punch holes in walls and break remotes over basketball games. Glad I finally grew out of that.

 

[CatCall]

Was a 10 and now am a solid 3.

To be honest, I'd like to be less than a 3 but this is a relationship I cannot quit, even though I feel I'm being abused the last 4 years!

I have ALWAYS been a big fan but the constant flow of players through the program makes it hard to invest my whole heart so it started dropping just a little each time that occurred. The 2015 Tourney loss was a gut punch that got me thinking we have a coaching issue. Losses to K St and Auburn in consecutive tourneys really helped convince me of that. I dropped 2 solid points just with the whole Sharpe debacle. Felt lied to and cheated as a fan. A couple more years of underperforming, uninspired teams + more BS coming from the coaching staff, and now I only watch parts of games unless I'm with a group to help me commiserate/cope. Therapy, if you will.

 

[Catfan2226]

Been a UK fan for all my life.Going to UK during probation hurt but we can out of that thanks to Pitino.Never missed a game at Rupp.We won and it was fun times.Tubby was a good person,good coach but didn't want to recruit which led to him leaving.BCG should have never been hired but Barnfart had to have him a Billy,he couldn't get the one he wanted....Enter Calipari,from 2010 to 2015 was a fun stretch but his pursuit for perfection drained him.Msking stupid ass comments such as draft day is the biggest day in UK history,his sarcastic approach to UK fans and his inept coaching has ruined it for me.I no longer expect us to win a big game,I don't waste time planning around a game.I don't have season tickets anymore and don't waste my money going to the SEC tourney since Calipari said it doesn't mean anything to him.We have lost records under Calipari.My uncle told me when we hired Calipari that he would start out fast,win alot and might get us to a title but then it would fall apart and become stagnant..I didn't pay much attention to what he said then but looking back,he was correct.

 

[WildcatfaninOhio]

10. I will continue to watch every game and will root for them to win. However, I do not allow this side interest to control my emotions. It’s just a past time I enjoy, nothing more.

After a win I’ll be happy for few minutes, then I’ll move on with my life. After a loss I’ll be disappointed for a few minutes, then I’ll move on with my life.

 

[GoToTexas]

Gone from 1,000 to 1 over the past 8 years. Haven’t fully cared like I used to, and won’t again until Cal is gone, since the UNC loss in 2017.

 

[ORCAT]

My love is still at a 10. That will never change. My enthusiasm? About a 2.

Great point. My love is still very high for UK basketball. I'm not sure my enthusiasm is as low as your 2 but it's nowhere near as high as it used to be for sure.

 

[ukjenning44]

My love for UK basketball is a 10.
My love for Cal is minus 10.

My enthusiasm for Cal ever making our program great again is minus 20.

 

[KYCAT78]

I sat in my car in my garage in Alabama listening to every game in the 80's. I have been to 1 FF, multiple Regionals and lots of first round NCAAT games. Until 2015 I never misses a game either on radio and TV. That is 37 years. I never liked the Cal model but it was successful until 2015 even though we had some crushing losses. Since then I can take or leave it and was so mad after the 9 win season I vowed to only follow Rupp Rafters until Cal is gone.

 

[OmahaCats]

I read this forum for entertainment purposes because we have some incredibly dumb fans and comment relatively rarely. Especially over on the off topic forum. It's like watching a train wreck, I can't look away.

With that said I'm at a 3.5. I only watched a few full games this season (MSU, Gonzaga, second UT game, Vandy SEC Tourney, Providence, K-State). Would catch bits and pieces of other games then turn it off because this was one of the least entertaining/most frustrating teams I have ever seen.

I’ll still watch every game I can. Even if we have a losing record. I live in Nebraska and am a Nebraska football fan. I’m use to losing now ha. But I watch every single game. And my love for each hasn’t faltered

 

[STL_Cat]

I’ll never stop loving it. My enthusiasm has waved significantly.

Sharing UK basketball (and football) with my son is helping my interest stay fully engaged, I love sharing it with him

 

[KentuckyCat420]

The season felt empty to me all year but the loss to Kansas State hurt as much as all the others.

 

[dickieVIII]

 

[bthaunert]

Mine is definitely lower, but it has more to do with college basketball in general than with UK. I used to ive and die college basketball. Outside of a tournament game, I cannot remember the last time I watched a non-UK game. There is just no name recognition anymore. It's a watered down product.

 

[electricat2]

been a 10 my whole life. prolly a 4 or 5 now.
i even say im not gonna watch them but it is so ingrained in my life i cant help but watch.