Tubby Smith to be honored by NABC, NCAA at Final Four

[Samwise Ganjee]

Tubby Smith to be honored by NABC, NCAA at Final Four

Posted: April 1, 2015 - 11:37am

By KRISTA PIRTLE
A-J MEDIA


Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith has been selected as the 2015 honoree at the NABC and NCAA Office of Inclusion's "Celebration of Champions" event in conjunction with the Final Four slated for Sunday 3-5 p.m. at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, Indiana.
"I cannot thank NABC and the NCAA Office of Inclusion enough for this honor," Smith said in a press release. "It is more of an honor for the men and women I have worked with and the players I have coached for the last 24 years. Our successes through the years have been a team effort."

 

[Samwise Ganjee]

Tubby Smith to be Honored by NABC, NCAA at Final Four[/B]

 

[liveblue92]

Great for Tubby, I appreciate his contributions to our program.

 

[ednunn]

Do you have an underlying agenda i for posting this?

 

[Samwise Ganjee]

Originally posted by ednunn:
Do you have an underlying agenda i for posting this?

Ed, I am a space alien and I have been instructed by Starship Command to post about ex-UK basketball coaches until a rescue pod is sent to return me to my home planet of Ruppland. Of course, now that you have blown my cover I will probably have to stay here on Earth and bring you even more news of ex-coaches. Have you heard the one about the two coaches who were walking in a forest when a hungry grizzly bear confronted them? One coach started fumbling for his knife and the other calmly tied his shoes....

 

[GOING FOR #9]

Good for him...he brought us a championship and is a great guy.

 

[J_Dee]

Originally posted by GOING FOR #9:
Good for him...he brought us a championship and is a great guy.

Don't forget the 2002-2003 19-0 SEC season (in which we would've won it all had Dwayne Wade not gone off), the five SEC regular season championships, the five SEC tournament championships, and his overall 76% winning percentage at UK (fourth-highest behind Rupp, Pitino, and Cal). Those three SEC Coach of the Year Awards and his various National Coach of the Year awards are feathers in his cap, too.

This post was edited on 4/1 11:31 PM by Jon_D

 

[Wall2Boogie]

LOL wow! Where is all this tubby love coming from. The great tubby debate was missed last night. Everything that's been positive less than 24 hours ago it was back to hating tubby for ruining our program, 1 title while at UK, can't coach. I'm just glad to see him get his credit. He never put us on probation like some others. It could be worse look at boeheim at Syracuse 1 title 30 years and sanctions to boot lol.

 

[UKWildcatT]

Honest to God, I thought this was going to be an April Fools thread

 

[barryn2000]

Originally posted by ednunn:
Do you have an underlying agenda i for posting this?

 

[musrat59]

+Tubby is a good man and I am happy he is being recognized for his contributions to the great game of Basketball.

 

[Gary4UK]

Tubby was a good coach for UK.... Tubby is a good man, but a little paranoid and don't trust many people... I always liked Tubby and hated to see him go.... Of course, that only lasted until we got our next coach....

I don't like to see him taking over for John Thompson, Nolan Richardson and John Chaney.....

 

[UK till Death]

Awarding mediocrity? Thanks Obama.

Did you guys know that tubby is a good man?

 

[new era cat]

Originally posted by GOING FOR #9:
Good for him...he brought us a championship and is a great guy.

Well, he was the coach anyway....

 

[Vandalayindustries]

There are plenty of legitimate criticisms of Tubby and I agree with a lot of them. But calling him a mediocre coach is just plain stupid. Rewatch the 1998 NCAA tournament and watch him outcoach coach after coach after coach.

 

[CatFanInTheBathtub]

2003 and 2005 ap national coach of the year with his own players
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[65pacecar]

Glad to see Tubby get the well deserved recognition. Good man and coach, if it wasn't for the
Bogans injury I think he gets his second title, but by losing that game it made Crean look good and IU decided to jump on him. So if part of Tubbys legacy is sticking IU with Crean I like him even better.

 

[kats23]

At this point everyone knows everyone's opinion on Tubby Smith negative or positive. Just congratulate the guy. If you don't like him, don't comment on it and continue to hold that grudge.

 

[ThroughBlue]

Tubby should thank this program for what we have brought him a lot more than we should thank him for what he brought us.

 

[TankedCat]

He was honored along with some other coaches at the Final Four last year

 

[TNCatfanforever]

Originally posted by UKWildcatT:
Honest to God, I thought this was going to be an April Fools thread

Me too.

 

[Chuckinden]

I should have got into coaching.

 

[Bluegrass79]

To this day I would still take Tubbys ball line defense over any other defense's. Give him talent and you aint scoring.

 

[TankedCat]

Originally posted by Bluegrass79:

To this day I would still take Tubbys ball line defense over any other defense's. Give him talent and you aint scoring.

Talent is a great equalizer for all coaches

 

[Free_Salato_Blue]

Originally posted by TankedCat:

Originally posted by Bluegrass79:

To this day I would still take Tubbys ball line defense over any other defense's. Give him talent and you aint scoring.

Talent is a great equalizer for all coaches

Rick Barnes approves this message,

This post was edited on 4/2 1:55 PM by Free_Salato_Blue

 

[Bank Cat]

Originally posted by Samwise Ganjee:

Originally posted by ednunn:
Do you have an underlying agenda i for posting this?

Ed, I am a space alien and I have been instructed by Starship Command to post about ex-UK basketball coaches until a rescue pod is sent to return me to my home planet of Ruppland. Of course, now that you have blown my cover I will probably have to stay here on Earth and bring you even more news of ex-coaches. Have you heard the one about the two coaches who were walking in a forest when a hungry grizzly bear confronted them? One coach started fumbling for his knife and the other calmly tied his shoes....

LMAO!!!

 

[CatPhight]

Déjà vu

 

[Midway Cat]

Originally posted by Bluegrass79:

To this day I would still take Tubbys ball line defense over any other defense's. Give him talent and you aint scoring.

Are we getting rid of the three point shot? If not, no thanks.

Call me crazy, but giving up wide open perimeter jumpers over and over again just isn't a good strategy in the modern era of basketball.

 

[mj2k10]

Originally posted by GTownJJB:

Originally posted by Bluegrass79:

To this day I would still take Tubbys ball line defense over any other defense's. Give him talent and you aint scoring.

Are we getting rid of the three point shot? If not, no thanks.

Call me crazy, but giving up wide open perimeter jumpers over and over again just isn't a good strategy in the modern era of basketball.

And might help explain why Tubby Smith never went back to the FF after 1998.

Some numbers to consider:

AJ Granger, 3/3 on 3's in the 1999 Elite 8 game. And they were huge in terms of the final outcome of that game.
David Bluthenthal, 6/9 on 3's in the 2001 Sweet 16.
Steve Novak 5/8 on 3's in the 2003 Elite 8, and Marquette 10/19 as a team.
UAB 8/18 as a team in the 2004 2nd round.
Shannon Brown 5/6, Michigan State 10/19 as a team in the 2005 Elite 8.
Brandon Rush 6/7, Kansas 10/16 in the 2007 2nd round.

 

[wildcatwelder]

Originally posted by Vandalayindustries:
There are plenty of legitimate criticisms of Tubby and I agree with a lot of them. But calling him a mediocre coach is just plain stupid. Rewatch the 1998 NCAA tournament and watch him outcoach coach after coach after coach.

I was VERY vocal in my desire to see him leave, several years before he actually did, but yes, in 1998, while he DID inherit that team, he did in fact coach as well as any coach I've ever seen, IMHO.

 

[UKWildcats#8]

Originally posted by mj2k10:

Originally posted by GTownJJB:

Originally posted by Bluegrass79:

To this day I would still take Tubbys ball line defense over any other defense's. Give him talent and you aint scoring.

Are we getting rid of the three point shot? If not, no thanks.

Call me crazy, but giving up wide open perimeter jumpers over and over again just isn't a good strategy in the modern era of basketball.

And might help explain why Tubby Smith never went back to the FF after 1998.

Some numbers to consider:

AJ Granger, 3/3 on 3's in the 1999 Elite 8 game. And they were huge in terms of the final outcome of that game.
David Bluthenthal, 6/9 on 3's in the 2001 Sweet 16.
Steve Novak 5/8 on 3's in the 2003 Elite 8, and Marquette 10/19 as a team.
UAB 8/18 as a team in the 2004 2nd round.
Shannon Brown 5/6, Michigan State 10/19 as a team in the 2005 Elite 8.
Brandon Rush 6/7, Kansas 10/16 in the 2007 2nd round.

Yup...UVA's "great D" reminded me a bit of that strategy this year. They were always susceptible to leave people open from 3's and always double teamed the low post man to leave someone wide open for a dunk/layup if you could move the ball fast enough to get open looks.

 

[preacherfan]

Ha ha! We all knew that Tubby would make it back to the FF!!

 

[maverick1]

Originally posted by Bluegrass79:

To this day I would still take Tubbys ball line defense over any other defense's.

Any other defense's what?

 

[lobbyman]

I wish we could all just move on as all of the attempts to rewrite the history of the the ten loss era is depressing.
Texas Tech and Minnesota have certainly thrived under his typical recruiting and coaching magic.
The UK program made him rich and he gave us the lost decade of UK Basketball,

 

[BlueChuck]

Originally posted by lobbyman:
I wish we could all just move on as all of the attempts to rewrite the history of the the ten loss era is depressing.
Texas Tech and Minnesota have certainly thrived under his typical recruiting and coaching magic.
The UK program made him rich and he gave us the lost decade of UK Basketball,

This. It is amazing that people look back and honestly say that he was a good coach. As someone else mentioned above, he should thank Kentucky, instead of Kentucky thanking him.

Ball line defense? Please!!!!! Open 3, after open 3, after open 3.

 

[yoshukai]

Originally posted by GTownJJB:

Originally posted by Bluegrass79:

To this day I would still take Tubbys ball line defense over any other defense's. Give him talent and you aint scoring.

Are we getting rid of the three point shot? If not, no thanks.

Call me crazy, but giving up wide open perimeter jumpers over and over again just isn't a good strategy in the modern era of basketball.

This , ball line D was great before the 3 point shot . There is a reason no other coaches run it today . It is also VERY hard to have a running team out of that defense . And finally , it allows inferior teams to stand out front and run the shot clock down with no pressure on them . It allows opponents to ALWAYS dictate pace of play . It fits Tubby's personality , ultra conservative .

 

[yoshukai]

If I remember correctly , after 1998 Tubby never defeated a team seeded above a 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament . AND HE WAS AT KENTUCKY ! That is just unfathomable for me .

 

[katkraze]

honored for what? most chokes in big games in a career??