Players do care about being at UK per Mike Pratt

[Xception]

I agree, sort of. I really do. There are WAY to many negative fans with unrealistic expectations, HOWEVER its not "selfish" for some fans (especially some of the older guys...50-80 years old) to "want" some players to possibly return or have some type of roster stability considering they are FANS of the school/team. Without BBN/ the fans none of this would even be happening. Fans provide the $$ for all this to happen.

Personally I am perfectly OK with the O&D era. Its been VERY good to us and with the exception of the 1940's/50's Cal has UK on its most successful run in the history of the program.

Rupp built UK, not the fans. The fans don’t own anything and they jumped on board once Rupp started winning. Fans didn’t make all this happen but they helped once it got started.

Fans aren’t owners and the players don’t owe them ish. Fans support the school and if they don’t like things they can stop being fans but again they aren’t owed anything.

 

[FrankUnderwood]

Rupp built UK, not the fans. The fans don’t own anything and they jumped on board once Rupp started winning. Fans didn’t make all this happen but they helped once it got started.

Fans aren’t owners and the players don’t owe them ish. Fans support the school and if they don’t like things they can stop being fans but again they aren’t owed anything.

Agreed. I think we have different definitions of what “owing” means

If Jeff (random example ) from Rupp Rafters wants to see fringe undrafted players return to UK, i don’t think that’s “selfish” or him considering he’s “owed” anything. Just bc a fan wishes for more roster stability doesn’t mean they’re selfish or think their owed anything. It just means they wish for more
Roster stability. Now if they go on tangents and tantrums saying we should fire Cal or are constantly bitching then yeah... they’re idiots and not true fans (imo)

Again, I’m a “sunshine pumper” and “Cal apologist” to many on this board so I’m not the one to be confused with thinking I’m “owed” something.

But the point stands, if the fans stop being fans... then the $$ runs out and we dwindle to middle tier status. Not saying that will ever happen but the fans keep the $$ train going. Why do you think UNLV, Nebraska , South Carolina or some other Random tier school can’t afford to pay $8 million a year for their coach? Why is Kentucky and other top tier schools able to?

Because of the fans. Fans = $$, which = relevance and tv contracts and sold out arenas and sports apparel sales etc

 

[the stat man]

Mike Pratt: Players do care about being at UK
by Larry Vaught

Mike Pratt, right, with former Cats Louie Dampier, left, and Bill Busey. (Larry Vaught/Verizon Photo)
By LARRY VAUGHT

How much do basketball players truly care about playing at the University of Kentucky?

That was a question Tim Estes of WPBK-FM asked UK Basketball Radio Network analyst Mike Pratt when he joined us recently to talk all things UK basketball.

“There is no question they care. You can tell by way they respond to questions and interact with people around them,” said Pratt, a former UK All-American. “Do they care about getting to the league (NBA)? Sure.

“It sounds good when you sign (with Kentucky) to talk about one reason is because of the way Cal gets players to the league. But they have personalities and they really enjoy their experiences and the love they get from BBN.”

Pratt said sometimes he thinks fans might overreact to what they hear from those close to players or what might be said when a player leaves for the NBA.

“Kids really enjoy their stay and enjoy being a part of it here at Kentucky,” Pratt said. “They grow close during their time at UK. Calipari does wonderful job building a family atmosphere and anyone who doesn’t get that just doesn’t get UK basketball.”

I wish I could like this a hundred times !!

 

[Xception]

Agreed. I think we have different definitions of what “owing” means

If Jeff (random example ) from Rupp Rafters wants to see fringe undrafted players return to UK, i don’t think that’s “selfish” or him considering he’s “owed” anything. Just bc a fan wishes for more roster stability doesn’t mean they’re selfish or think their owed anything. It just means they wish for more
Roster stability. Now if they go on tangents and tantrums saying we should fire Cal or are constantly bitching then yeah... they’re idiots and not true fans (imo)

Again, I’m a “sunshine pumper” and “Cal apologist” to many on this board so I’m not the one to be confused with thinking I’m “owed” something.

But the point stands, if the fans stop being fans... then the $$ runs out and we dwindle to middle tier status. Not saying that will ever happen but the fans keep the $$ train going. Why do you think UNLV, Nebraska , South Carolina or some other Random tier school can’t afford to pay $8 million a year for their coach? Why is Kentucky and other top tier schools able to?

Because of the fans. Fans = $$, which = relevance and tv contracts and sold out arenas and sports apparel sales etc

You can wish all you or they want but they are owed nothing more than entertainment. Fans get confused about their role and convince themselves that they make it all go so therefore their opinion or input means more than it actually does.

Enjoy the show, that’s their rights and what their money buys. They pay to watch and nothing more, nobody owes the fans anything. For all the benefits fans have brought to sports they have also become the biggest detractors in sports.

 

[stoneycat_20]

If fans expect players to stay then it is selfish because they only want the player to do so to increase title chances. If players win a title then some fans think they did their part and are ok to leave, your 2012 example fits that. Players don’t owe fans a title and effort is not calculated by end of season accomplishments.

Fans are probably the most selfish group of all imo and they expect more than anyone involved. Fans think they’re the best and nobody cares as much as they do, somehow they deem their interests as righteous.

Fans have a right to want players to stay and build super teams..There would be no Kentucky basketball without the fans..Same for the NBA...I want to see UK win titles1st then the kids make their millions...This is the University Of Kentucky not the University of Jodie Meeks

 

[Xception]

Fans have a right to want players to stay and build super teams..There would be no Kentucky basketball without the fans..Same for the NBA...I want to see UK win titles1st then the kids make their millions...This is the University Of Kentucky not the University of Jodie Meeks

There would be no UK if not for Rupp, the fans didn’t build UK but they like to take credit for it. Blind luck that a driven coach cane along and fans latched onto a winner once he got UK going. If Rupp hadn’t came here then UK would be known for nothing, the fans wouldn’t have built a basketball program with any coach and wouldn’t have cared about bb to begin with.

Fans showing up and giving money at other schools doesn’t make them a winner. UK football fans have always shown up and gave money but they haven’t won anything, proves that fans don’t build ish. But they can maintain a program fortunate enough to land the right coach.

 

[stoneycat_20]

There would be no UK if not for Rupp, the fans didn’t build UK but they like to take credit for it. Blind luck that a driven coach cane along and fans latched onto a winner once he got UK going. If Rupp hadn’t came here then UK would be known for nothing, the fans wouldn’t have built a basketball program with any coach and wouldn’t have cared about bb to begin with.

Fans showing up and giving money at other schools doesn’t make them a winner. UK football fans have always shown up and gave money but they haven’t won anything, proves that fans don’t build ish. But they can maintain a program fortunate enough to land the right coach.

All boils down to fans..no fans no money for a coach or team

 

[DreDay247]

If he's so awful then why do you want him back?

I never said he was awful. Huge difference in being a damn good college player and being far from NBA ready. I don't mind if he comes back but with them saying they'll only leave after first round guarantee, then backtracking off that statement tells me if he gets told by a team that they might be willing to take him 60th then that's all he needs to hear to bolt. They obsiously realized a first round pick isnt going to happen so they backed off that statement because he really really wants to go pro and do it now regardless of how much he may be financially screwing hinself.

They just don't seem to realize how much his game needs to improve before being draftable, and how much weaker next years draft is to where he will probably get guaranteed money as apposed to being guaranteed nothing in this years draft. I'll be thrilled if he comes back, but at this point I really don't care if he leaves as they really come off as very irrational people IMO, it truly seems like they're just looking for any reason to leave at this point. And if this kid is true blue, then he would obviously realize coming back would be the best option for his professional conquests, I just don't think this kid is true blue and I just get this vibe that one more year of college is too agonizig for him to deal with even if it's the difference in guaranteed millions and being broke.

As I said give me Vando and Reid and call it a season. Never said he was a bad player, there just isn't any room in the NBA for post up downlow traditional centers that are 6'7 and the size of your average NBA SF. There is room for that in college though plus it gives him a chance to develop on other skills and making him more money. But as of now no way does he get guaranteed money no GM is giving a 6'7 post up center 6-7 figures in hopes they develop into more of a stretch 4 or 3 man. They'll stash him in the G League in hopes he can work on it there for 35k. You can be an All American college player and not make it in the NBA. 2 completely different things, I do think PJ is a damn good college player that's why I'd be thrilled to have him back, but don't really care what he does anymore tbh.

 

[Xception]

All boils down to fans..no fans no money for a coach or team

The coach is the most important piece, the fans weren’t winning anything when BCG was here. Indiana has great support and yet they are a shell of their former selves because they can’t get the right coach. UK can have great support and fail, the fans aren’t the most important piece. A great coach can go to a crap school with no support and turn it into a winner. Fan support can’t turn a loser into a winner without the right coach, you’ve got it backwards.

 

[Cat78Scot]

View embedded media

Higgins should be forced to watch videos like this. Show him the kids he is cheating out of their dreams. Scumbag probably wouldn't care but still.

 

[CHAMPCAT11]

If fans expect players to stay then it is selfish because they only want the player to do so to increase title chances. If players win a title then some fans think they did their part and are ok to leave, your 2012 example fits that. Players don’t owe fans a title and effort is not calculated by end of season accomplishments.

Fans are probably the most selfish group of all imo and they expect more than anyone involved. Fans think they’re the best and nobody cares as much as they do, somehow they deem their interests as righteous.

Fair reply on your part but I’m sticking with my opinion. The 2012 team wasn’t just composed of freshmen. We probably wouldn’t have won the NC without the few guys that came back. I said that these players have a right to leave. But the fans are fully vested as well and wanting UK to win a NC is totally warranted imo.

 

[susan2361]

If he's so awful then why do you want him back?

I don't.

 

[morgousky]

Rupp built UK, not the fans. The fans don’t own anything and they jumped on board once Rupp started winning. Fans didn’t make all this happen but they helped once it got started.

Fans aren’t owners and the players don’t owe them ish. Fans support the school and if they don’t like things they can stop being fans but again they aren’t owed anything.

Bull.

Without the fans there is no team. Some of you hate that, but its true. All the little sports would dry up to. The fans are "owed" (wierdo language) the normal, play hard, show the university respect, and dont embarrass them. The money they provide helps support them.

You are strange and so are many others who back born millionaires relentlessly and trash the fans (you are one) constantly. In your head you mean more than that but here in reality you mean less than a decent fan.

 

[docholiday51]

Rupp built UK, not the fans. The fans don’t own anything and they jumped on board once Rupp started winning. Fans didn’t make all this happen but they helped once it got started.

Fans aren’t owners and the players don’t owe them ish. Fans support the school and if they don’t like things they can stop being fans but again they aren’t owed anything.

I think fans have more of a stake in the program than you give them credit for. Rupp did build the program but the fans came and stuck around generation after generation,they expected then demanded that the program should strive to maintain the Rupp standard.Thru most coaches we have done that (Gillispie didn't and you see how long that lasted) It would take much of 2 generations for the fan base to leave the program.The fan base adjusts pretty well,we have survived OAD and that will likely go away(in it's current form) in a year or so.The fans will embrace whatever replaces it and demand that UK succeeds in that model. The fans have been the owners and they(we) still are for now.As to the players owing them ish,as McGuire said we had it before them and we will have it after them,they either embrace it and live up to expectations or they don't.

 

[bbncal02]

Fans SUPPORT a team. Whether that’s financially, in morale, or the like that’s what we’re here to do. Coaches and players CREATE a team. Without them the team doesn’t exist either. And without a players first mentality you don’t draw top level talent or kids that want to play for you.

Both pieces are in a symbiotic relationship. One doesn’t really exist without the other.

 

[Xception]

I think fans have more of a stake in the program than you give them credit for. Rupp did build the program but the fans came and stuck around generation after generation,they expected then demanded that the program should strive to maintain the Rupp standard.Thru most coaches we have done that (Gillispie didn't and you see how long that lasted) It would take much of 2 generations for the fan base to leave the program.The fan base adjusts pretty well,we have survived OAD and that will likely go away(in it's current form) in a year or so.The fans will embrace whatever replaces it and demand that UK succeeds in that model. The fans have been the owners and they(we) still are for now.As to the players owing them ish,as McGuire said we had it before them and we will have it after them,they either embrace it and live up to expectations or they don't.

I gave fans credit for maintaining but the general debate seems to be what is the most important component of a successful program. My contention (which I have given examples) places the coach at the forefront of what makes a program go. The others believe the fans make it all happen and it goes from there, I disagree.

Jim Calhoun turned a nothing Uconn into a power and did it with no fan support for awhile. Duke would be nowhere near as good without K, no matter how much support there is. Fans rally around successful coaches who many times turn nothing into something. The fans can help but they are not the most important factor.

Cal could go to Montana southwest northern state and within a couple of years pass UK and maintain if he wanted to. The coach matters the most because he controls what type of player the program can get, then the players and followed by the fans. BBN likes to think they built this program because it gives them importance, they love it when the media mentions them and they are important but many of their self evaluations are skewed.

 

[HICATFAN]

I gave fans credit for maintaining but the general debate seems to be what is the most important component of a successful program. My contention (which I have given examples) places the coach at the forefront of what makes a program go. The others believe the fans make it all happen and it goes from there, I disagree.

Jim Calhoun turned a nothing Uconn into a power and did it with no fan support for awhile. Duke would be nowhere near as good without K, no matter how much support there is. Fans rally around successful coaches who many times turn nothing into something. The fans can help but they are not the most important factor.

Cal could go to Montana southwest northern state and within a couple of years pass UK and maintain if he wanted to. The coach matters the most because he controls what type of player the program can get, then the players and followed by the fans. BBN likes to think they built this program because it gives them importance, they love it when the media mentions them and they are important but many of their self evaluations are skewed.

Let me just say that this tread has given to such very interesting and very good discussions, points and counterpoints...

Mahalo

AlohaCat

 

[BlueElvis]

Bull.

Without the fans there is no team. Some of you hate that, but its true. All the little sports would dry up to. The fans are "owed" (wierdo language) the normal, play hard, show the university respect, and dont embarrass them. The money they provide helps support them.

You are strange and so are many others who back born millionaires relentlessly and trash the fans (you are one) constantly. In your head you mean more than that but here in reality you mean less than a decent fan.

F*ckin' A..Nailed it!

 

[Xception]

Let me just say that this tread has given to such very interesting and very good discussions, points and counterpoints...

Mahalo

AlohaCat

I’ve got most of the morons on ignore, that allows for discussions like this.

 

[docholiday51]

I’ve got most of the morons on ignore, that allows for discussions like this.

No doubt the coach matters when it comes to having a program but to get the coach you have to have fans. Rupp started building in 1930,as the fan base took note and formed he became famous and his innovations took hold of college basketball. Few coaches of today will find it necessary to reinvent basketball (I'm not sure they could if they tried to do so)

UK is what it is and has remained so under Rupp,Hall Sutton,Pitino Smith and Cal.Even the lost years of Gilispie the fans stayed and wouldn't let him kill the program Duke is what K made them,it remains to be seen what they will be when he is gone.

This is why I contend that UK is different.Coaches have come and gone but the fans have been here handing something off from generation to generation.Maybe that will or has changed but it will take a generation to find out.

 

[Sawnee Cat]

This issue is not whether or not the players care about playing for UK. Of course they care. As a fan I expect them to care. But even though they care some are anxious to get out of Lexington. Some, and I say some, are not qualified to go to the next level but still they declare for the draft and go through the motions leaving the program hanging in the balance. We have at least three that declared who have no business doing so and here we are wondering if they will come to their senses and if not who can we get to skip their senior season in high school to fill the void. Or even look for that magic grad transfer.

Fans who question this are not bad fans. They are UK fans first and their money for tickets is just as good as someone who does not agree with them. The price of season tickets is $4,000 or more a set so I cut some slack to a UK fan who pays that much money and would like for those not ready to return and provide some experience and stability. But I know this is 2018 and that is 1980's thinking. Fans are suppose to shut up and stand up in the lower arena of Rupp. Not question anything.

 

[Xception]

No doubt the coach matters when it comes to having a program but to get the coach you have to have fans. Rupp started building in 1930,as the fan base took note and formed he became famous and his innovations took hold of college basketball. Few coaches of today will find it necessary to reinvent basketball (I'm not sure they could if they tried to do so)

UK is what it is and has remained so under Rupp,Hall Sutton,Pitino Smith and Cal.Even the lost years of Gilispie the fans stayed and wouldn't let him kill the program Duke is what K made them,it remains to be seen what they will be when he is gone.

This is why I contend that UK is different.Coaches have come and gone but the fans have been here handing something off from generation to generation.Maybe that will or has changed but it will take a generation to find out.

I’ve already given examples of coaches before fans, if you choose not to accept that then that’s your prerogative. Fans just want to be the reason it goes, makes them feel important but all you need is the right coach to build a program and the fans will flock to it like a moth to light. I’ve also demonstrated how a school like Indiana can fall back despite great support , proving the fans aren’t the most important factor.

In fact I have given examples to support my argument while you have just basically ran with the because you say so argument. Now that I’ve listened to the counterpoints or lack there of I’m even more convinced that the fans come in third behind coach then talent. They’re still important, I don’t want you to think I consider them irrelevant because that’s not the case.

 

[docholiday51]

I’ve already given examples of coaches before fans, if you choose not to accept that then that’s your prerogative. Fans just want to be the reason it goes, makes them feel important but all you need is the right coach to build a program and the fans will flock to it like a moth to light. I’ve also demonstrated how a school like Indiana can fall back despite great support , proving the fans aren’t the most important factor.

In fact I have given examples to support my argument while you have just basically ran with the because you say so argument. Now that I’ve listened to the counterpoints or lack there of I’m even more convinced that the fans come in third behind coach then talent. They’re still important, I don’t want you to think I consider them irrelevant because that’s not the case.

You have made your point and you believe what you believe.We are not at opposite ends of the spectrum on this.Coaching and talent attracts fans,fans attract coaches and talent,all three are necessary for a program to be all it can be.Uk is fortunate to have had all 3 most of the time over the past 80+ years.

One last thought,UNC fans saved that program's ass over 20 years of cheating,KU fans win a lot of games for that program.There are less than a handful of programs where fans matter as much as they do,UK is one of those programs.

 

[CatGotMyTongue]

There would be no UK if not for Rupp, the fans didn’t build UK but they like to take credit for it. Blind luck that a driven coach cane along and fans latched onto a winner once he got UK going. If Rupp hadn’t came here then UK would be known for nothing, the fans wouldn’t have built a basketball program with any coach and wouldn’t have cared about bb to begin with.

Fans showing up and giving money at other schools doesn’t make them a winner. UK football fans have always shown up and gave money but they haven’t won anything, proves that fans don’t build ish. But they can maintain a program fortunate enough to land the right coach.

UK fans stopped showing up during Jokers tailspin. Joker was fired now we have back to back 7-5 seasons and hopefully better from here on out.