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02-16-2006, 10:35 PM
Tubby needs to fix his mess before bolting Kentucky
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width=10> </TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width=50></TD><TD noWrap></TD><TD width=10> </TD><TD align=right><SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--//var dclkFeaturesponsor='http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/sponsorships.spln.com/fs/stories/'+vTag+';'+vTarget+';'+uID+';sz=234x42;tile=5;ord='+random+'?';if (switchDclk != 'off') { if (location.search.substring(1).indexOf('DCLK')>-1) document.write('<input type="text" value="'+dclkFeaturesponsor+'" style="width:">
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Tubby Smith wants out of Kentucky. That's the word on the street.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=175 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD width=175>[Image: http://images.sportsline.com/u/photos/ba...235482.jpg] </TD><TD width=15> </TD></TR><TR><TD width=175>[size=1]Tubby Smith is struggling through a rare three-game losing streak at Kentucky. [size=1](Getty Images) [/size]</TD><TD width=15> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Smith, the unpopular Kentucky coach, is tired of being the unpopular Kentucky coach. So when an NBA team comes calling this spring, Smith will listen. That's the rumor. Every year, that's the rumor -- but this year it's a very loud rumor. And this year, it would make sense for him to go.
But that wouldn't make it right.
Smith, frankly, hasn't earned the right to leave. Not yet. Not like this. Nine years ago he inherited from Rick Pitino enough talent to win the 1998 NCAA championship. Whoever coaches Kentucky next year won't have enough talent to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Forget his potential replacement, and forget the poisonous UK fan base. Neither has done a thing for Smith, and so Smith owes them nothing. But he owes it to this elite basketball school, which gave him one of the great jobs in sports, to leave it as he found it. He owes it to Kentucky to stay until he again has elite talent. And if Kentucky doesn't have elite talent -- which it won't next season -- Smith owes it to Kentucky to find a way to win until that talent arrives.
See, Kentucky's going to be bad next season. How bad? Along the lines of Wake Forest bad. After five straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a No. 2 seed last season, the Deacons are last in the ACC. Wake Forest might go to the 2006 NIT. But might not.
Kentucky won't drop to last in the SEC next year -- that's why God created Ole Miss -- but the Wildcats will need a friendly non-conference schedule to be an NIT team. Jolting words, yes, but look at the facts. Kentucky's not all that good this year, and this year's roster includes Rajon Rondo, Patrick Sparks and Ravi Moss. Sparks and Moss, who combine for 15.1 points in 45.5 minutes per game, are seniors. Rondo's only a sophomore, but he's expected to enter the 2006 NBA Draft.
Smith has brought in a typical recruiting class, which is to say, a boring one. Smith is great with X's and O's, but his recruiting -- and the recruiting of his assistants -- has not been Kentucky-quality. Which is why the Wildcats are in the position they're in.
Next year's starting five probably would include Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford at guard, Bobby Perry and Sheray Thomas at forward, and Randolph Morris (assuming he sticks around) at center.
Shhhh ... can you hear that? It sounds like Billy Donovan and Bruce Pearl giggling.
Next year's UK freshmen include another project in the middle (6-foot-9 Perry Stevenson), three guards and nobody to challenge the desultory mix of Thomas, Perry and Rekalin Sims at forward. Those three guards -- 6-4 Derrick Jasper, 6-4 Jodie Meeks and 6-2 Michael Porter -- aren't nearly as talented as the Crawford-Bradley-Rondo group of two years ago. And lest we forget, the Crawford-Bradley-Rondo group is the heart of the worst Kentucky team in 16 years.
Back then, Pitino had an excuse. He inherited from Eddie Sutton a program on probation. Talented players had transferred out. Pitino had been forced to start over with a scrappy group that went 14-14 in 1989-90.
Sixteen years later, there is no excuse. Kentucky doesn't have Kentucky talent, and the result is a 15-9 overall record, a 5-5 league mark in a bad year for the SEC, and a three-game losing streak that makes Wednesday's visit from Georgia a must-win game.
Kentucky fans are miserable, which is not news, but they've started to make Smith miserable. And that is news. For years Smith has laughed off -- OK, grimaced off -- the absurdity of Wildcat Nation. This year, the absurdity is apparently wearing on him. So is the immaturity of his team.
NBA scouts who have attended multiple UK games say Rondo and other players seem to have tuned Tubby out. If NBA scouts can pick up on that, you know Tubby has. But again, who does he have to blame? Not only did he recruit this team, but he enabled its nonchalance by welcoming back two players -- Crawford and Morris -- who disrespected the program by trying to leave at the wrong time (Crawford, 12 games into his freshman season) or in the wrong way (Morris, last spring, by fax).
By bringing back Crawford and Morris, the message was clear: Smith needs the players as much as the players need Smith. That is not the equilibrium of a healthy program.
Kentucky basketball is sick, no question about it. But Smith needs to find the cure before bolting. Otherwise, he'll be guilty of malpractice.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Tubby Smith wants out of Kentucky. That's the word on the street.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=175 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD width=175>[Image: http://images.sportsline.com/u/photos/ba...235482.jpg] </TD><TD width=15> </TD></TR><TR><TD width=175>[size=1]Tubby Smith is struggling through a rare three-game losing streak at Kentucky. [size=1](Getty Images) [/size]</TD><TD width=15> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Smith, the unpopular Kentucky coach, is tired of being the unpopular Kentucky coach. So when an NBA team comes calling this spring, Smith will listen. That's the rumor. Every year, that's the rumor -- but this year it's a very loud rumor. And this year, it would make sense for him to go.
But that wouldn't make it right.
Smith, frankly, hasn't earned the right to leave. Not yet. Not like this. Nine years ago he inherited from Rick Pitino enough talent to win the 1998 NCAA championship. Whoever coaches Kentucky next year won't have enough talent to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Forget his potential replacement, and forget the poisonous UK fan base. Neither has done a thing for Smith, and so Smith owes them nothing. But he owes it to this elite basketball school, which gave him one of the great jobs in sports, to leave it as he found it. He owes it to Kentucky to stay until he again has elite talent. And if Kentucky doesn't have elite talent -- which it won't next season -- Smith owes it to Kentucky to find a way to win until that talent arrives.
See, Kentucky's going to be bad next season. How bad? Along the lines of Wake Forest bad. After five straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a No. 2 seed last season, the Deacons are last in the ACC. Wake Forest might go to the 2006 NIT. But might not.
Kentucky won't drop to last in the SEC next year -- that's why God created Ole Miss -- but the Wildcats will need a friendly non-conference schedule to be an NIT team. Jolting words, yes, but look at the facts. Kentucky's not all that good this year, and this year's roster includes Rajon Rondo, Patrick Sparks and Ravi Moss. Sparks and Moss, who combine for 15.1 points in 45.5 minutes per game, are seniors. Rondo's only a sophomore, but he's expected to enter the 2006 NBA Draft.
Smith has brought in a typical recruiting class, which is to say, a boring one. Smith is great with X's and O's, but his recruiting -- and the recruiting of his assistants -- has not been Kentucky-quality. Which is why the Wildcats are in the position they're in.
Next year's starting five probably would include Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford at guard, Bobby Perry and Sheray Thomas at forward, and Randolph Morris (assuming he sticks around) at center.
Shhhh ... can you hear that? It sounds like Billy Donovan and Bruce Pearl giggling.
Next year's UK freshmen include another project in the middle (6-foot-9 Perry Stevenson), three guards and nobody to challenge the desultory mix of Thomas, Perry and Rekalin Sims at forward. Those three guards -- 6-4 Derrick Jasper, 6-4 Jodie Meeks and 6-2 Michael Porter -- aren't nearly as talented as the Crawford-Bradley-Rondo group of two years ago. And lest we forget, the Crawford-Bradley-Rondo group is the heart of the worst Kentucky team in 16 years.
Back then, Pitino had an excuse. He inherited from Eddie Sutton a program on probation. Talented players had transferred out. Pitino had been forced to start over with a scrappy group that went 14-14 in 1989-90.
Sixteen years later, there is no excuse. Kentucky doesn't have Kentucky talent, and the result is a 15-9 overall record, a 5-5 league mark in a bad year for the SEC, and a three-game losing streak that makes Wednesday's visit from Georgia a must-win game.
Kentucky fans are miserable, which is not news, but they've started to make Smith miserable. And that is news. For years Smith has laughed off -- OK, grimaced off -- the absurdity of Wildcat Nation. This year, the absurdity is apparently wearing on him. So is the immaturity of his team.
NBA scouts who have attended multiple UK games say Rondo and other players seem to have tuned Tubby out. If NBA scouts can pick up on that, you know Tubby has. But again, who does he have to blame? Not only did he recruit this team, but he enabled its nonchalance by welcoming back two players -- Crawford and Morris -- who disrespected the program by trying to leave at the wrong time (Crawford, 12 games into his freshman season) or in the wrong way (Morris, last spring, by fax).
By bringing back Crawford and Morris, the message was clear: Smith needs the players as much as the players need Smith. That is not the equilibrium of a healthy program.
Kentucky basketball is sick, no question about it. But Smith needs to find the cure before bolting. Otherwise, he'll be guilty of malpractice.
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02-17-2006, 01:27 AM
I say get Happy Osborne if Tubby leaves.
02-17-2006, 06:25 PM
It appears that so many more are starting to wake up! The ship is sinking fast.
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