John Clay's Sidelines

A few from the in-box:

Tyler writes:

I was reading your article concerning the embarrassement of last
night’s loss and I was wondering what your feelings were about Downey
asking referee Kitts to not call a technical on Patterson and Kitts
not making the call? Shouldn’t the referee make the call based on
what he saw unfit during a play, not based on what the player on the
other team desired him to do?

Reply: A technical foul is a judgement call. Kitts just looked like he was about to call the T, when Downey went to him. I’m sure if Kitts thought it was flagrant enough, he would have rejected Downey’s request.

Bill from Somerset writes:

When’s Billy G gonna’  start takin’ the blame?

This basketball team is in shambles.  This late in the season and they’re playin’ worse now than they did
against App. State and VMI.   What happened to Billy G’s coaching prowess?   This team has shown lack
of preparation when the game’s on the line.  Billy G seems to be desperate by blaming the players more
than himself.

There is no reason for this collapse except coaching and motivation and evidently Bily G and his staff don”t have a clue as to how to rectify the situation.  How could the Cats play this badly given the talents of two of the best players in the SEC that other coaches would kill to have on their roster?  How could Billy G waste Meeks’ talent by banishing him to the bench in the second half over a pout.  This was no time to take your best and most consistent player out of the game when there was still a light glimmering at the end of the tunnel.

Why do basketball teams in the SEC and other nondescript conferences continue to take the measure
vaunted Kentucky basketball with seemingly less coaching and player talent?  Is Gillispie overmatched
in the SEC and is his coacthing style a bad fit for Kentucky?

Could there be a Horn in Kentucky’s future?

Trent writes:

I enjoy reading your articles. I`m a UK grad from the early nineties living in cinci. I wanted to express my complete frustration with the way Gillispie is running this program. Their complete lack of effort and intensity on a consistent basis is disrespectful to this university and unfair to the fans. This coach will not make any adjustments to better the team, or give players fair opportunities at playing time (ie Harrelson) I truly believe guys do not want to play for him and it`s really starting to show. I can see a mass exodus at years end through transfers and early exits. What`s your OBJECTIVE opinion? Also, these halftime interviews with Jeannine Edwards

Are embarrassing to the program. Will he ever get a clue. I hope things can get turned around, but I believe this coach is his own worst enemy.

John writes:

Don’t you hate it when the opponent brings his can of whop ass.

K.S. writes:

Just writing to convey my befuddlement and frustration overy the current state/condition of UK’s basketball program. The losses at home, the losses to programs to whom we never should have, and the blow-out losses suffered despite the relative talent level are unacceptale. UK alumnus, class of 1969, followed UK since a little boy, native Kentuckian. Fear that we made the wrong selection as basketball coach to succeed Tubby. Let me state that it was time for Tubby to go-given his lack of recruiting success in his last 2 recruiting classes and his refusal to change staff to assist him in better recruits. Here’s what I think:

(1)The most important ability in a coach, particularly at UK, is to sign talent capable of competing for a national championship-It doesn’t matter how good a coach your are, if you don’t have talent capable of competing for the NCAA title-You have to have talent similar to North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, UCLA,, Connecticut, etc. Gillispie has had better recruiting success in his tenure than Tubby the last 2classes(can’t remember the class before that as to Tubby’s recruits) so Gillispie is better there; (2)You need to maximize the talent you recruit.  He isn’t maximizing the talent out of the recruits he has signed-Patterson the exception(Meeks he didn’t sign). In conjunction with maximizing talent, perhaps he is just not a good psychologist in that some kids needed to be patted on the back, others a kick in the behind. His style is frightenly similar to Bobby Knight for whom he has stated an admiration. We know Bobby Knight hasn’t had significant success since ! the 1980′s.(3)A good bench/game coach is vital-Gillispie doesn’t appear to be that in my obseravation.

In summary, think he has offered some hope in his recruiting classes to date. However, don’t think he yet is on the same level as the aforementioned colleges, but should be at UK. Don’t think he’s maximizing the talent he has signed. Don’t believe he’s a good bench coach. Thus far, he has been disappointing, and under achieved at UK. Think that if Patterson and Meeks return next year, the proof will be in the pudding as to the success of that team-a team which should then compete for a national championship given another recruiting class and return of talent and experience.

Roger writes:

First of all, I’ve enjoyed reading you for years. You do a great job!

I’ve got to vent. I grew up in Somerset and now live in Northern Kentucky. One of the ways I learned to read was by reading UK basketball articles aloud when I was just a little kid. I remember reading about Pratt and Issel. I remember how crushed I was when UK lost to Jacksonville in the NCAA Tournament in Pratt and Issel’s senior year. The point is I’ve been following UK basketball for as long as I can remember.

Last night was an embarrassment to the program. I’ll admit the frustration has been building with me because I’m just so perplexed by the lack of cohesion within this team. What is their goal? What are they trying to accomplish on offense and defense? On offense, they don’t move a lot, they don’t set any screens and they don’t crash the offensive boards. They don’t run any sets. Can’t you just try something to spring Meeks? He doesn’t need much daylight. The big men don’t screen for one another on the blocks. Everybody just stands around and passes the ball back and forth until someone shoots, penetrates, or tries to pass it inside. We’ve all played basketball. The easiest person to guard is the guy who doesn’t work to get open. He just stands there.

On defense, it’s straight man-to-man or bust. What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. South Carolina was giddy. They knew UK would play man and they knew they would eat them alive. Downey had one turnover. There’s nobody bothering him. Can you imagine how effective this UK team would be if it played a half-court trapping defense?! With so many 6-6 and 6-7 athletes with long wingspans, how tough would it be to attack the defense and see over and around the traps? It would be especially tough on smaller guards. At least show it! What do you think LSU is doing to get ready for UK? They’re talking about face-guarding Meeks (because you don’t have to work through or around any screens) and helping off on Patterson.

In the NBA they play the two-man game with a great outside shooter (Meeks) and a great inside player (Patterson) on the same side. You have to decide which one you’ll try to stop. You either stay glued to Meeks or you drop off and help on Patterson – pick your poison. If the opponent goes zone, that’s fine because they won’t be hounding Porter out front and he can comfortably pass the ball someplace.

At least I’m thinking of ways to cross people up. What are the Cats going to work on in practice? Probably the stagnant half-court offense and stubborn man-to-man defense, I would guess. I prefer the man-to-man defense, too, but not if you don’t match up well. You have to recognize your own players’ strengths and weaknesses and game plan accordingly, don’t you? Maybe not.

Matt from Massachusetts writes:

Watching this Kentucky team from afar, it’s tough to get a grip on what type of team they really are.  They blow out Tennessee last Saturday and then get pounded by South Carolina last night.  Earlier in the season they blow a 10 point lead to South Carolina at home and get pounded by Mississippi State at home, then come back from 6 points down with four minutes to play and beat Florida.

I don’t like placing blame on one person, but inconsistancy is a reflection of the coach.  Part of a coach’s job is to get his players motivated and prepared.  It’s the players’ job to execute but the coach’s job to prepare them.  A team that has 19 wins, is second in the SEC East, has wins over West Virginia, Tennesssee, and Florida, and has one of the best inside/outside combinations in the country should not have the worst turnover margin the SEC.  There is no excuse for that.  And great coaches don’t have players who give so little effort that they have to be benched for an entire half.

They still have three games left and they can obviously still make the NCAA tournament, and amazingly I think they’ll play well on Saturday against LSU, but at this point in the season, nothing would surprise me.

Dan writes:

Relative to your Thursday column you are letting Gillispie define what went wrong in the game. Obviously, they looked horrible, you could question their competitiveness, they did not respond, lack of guts and that all is fine. However there is another side that does not get addressed and that is the more complicated side of managing the game. Let’s start with trying to guard their guards. No way that Kentucky can guard their guards out on the floor. They blow by with ease, once they are in the paint they can score, or even better the defense is in a help mode, leaving our defense  to cover up, hence the wide open three’s. Further, when you are scrambling on defense, the defense is out of position on rebounding resulting in more put backs and flying dunks. Very simple, we did what they wanted us to do on defense playing to their strength. Our point guards are so poor with handling the ball, their first concern is just that and getting into their ! offensive sets becomes secondary. A good point guard has no problem handling the ball and getting it where it needs to be. Carolina and other teams have not only pressured our point guards, they overplay on the other four Kentucky offensive players, making passing hard, the ball in the hands of our inept point guards which makes for a disaster. Not to mention, except for Miller, none of our front court players move, dribble and pass the ball very well. It might have been a good idea to use Miller to handle the ball since he would have been guarded by a forward. To allow Patterson to get all those shots blocked without an adjustment as to his placement on the floor was another error. In today’s game you have to play a little zone and in fact our boy up in Louisville play’s a lot of zone these days. Zones tend to get people standing around,you can shade toward shooters and the game takes on a different flow even if even if a few shot’s are made. My point is that Gillispie is ! just as responsible for this game as his players as well as a number o f the other losses. So let’s not be so quick as to let him define the reasons for the losses. Kentucky basketball is where it is today because there has not been enough truth telling and calling people out by those that have the capacity to do so both for Tubby and now Gillispie.

Willis writes:

I did not get to see the game but I had it on the radio and from what I heard you need to have you glass checked there was a lot of talk by the radio that this was a game of hard fouls that were not called and maybe the sec commissioner should take a look at the way games a called I remember that basketball was not a contact sport but it seems as if you think that is the way all games should be played. Am waiting for a reply.

Mike writes:

I know you have been waiting to hear from me!!  Bottom line is this John.  Billy G is paid over 2 million dollars to win basketball games.  As a coach myself it is my belief that in each game you try to give your team the BEST chance of winning by preparing for that particular team.  Obviously Billy G did nothing different in preparing for  SC.  Simply put UK does not have the talent to play man to man for 40 minutes.  That is obvious to me and most of the country but he  refuses to make any in game adjustments.  Forget that we make no adjustments in the game we don’t make other teams take up practice time preparing for different things.  LSU coach right now is thinking….boys forget zone offense..forget match up offense… forget zone press offense…all we have to do to beat UK is run our man to man half court offense and they are easy meat.  Now UK might win against LSU Saturday  I don’t really know.  But how on earth can a coach seeing the talent he has continue to do the same things over and over again and get his lunch handed to him.  Now when UK plays teams that don’t have athletic guards (UT) they can compete but when they play a team with guards that are quicker we won’t win.  Penetration equals lay ups which equals stopping penetration which equals kick outs for 3’s.  What would happen if one time we came out of a time out with  Galloway at the point on a 1-3-1 with Liggins and Meeks on a wing.  Patterson in the middle and Stephenson or Miller on the back of it.  We have big long players John.  Use them!!!!!  Use some imagination!!  I have never seen a coach in my life alienate a fan base quicker than Billy G.  Like I said its not the wins and losses that bother me so much it is the inability to try to change something to see if it works.  Is this type of coaching going to attract big time recruits to UK??  Would you have a son play at UK with his type of substitution pattern?  I mean there is no rhyme or reason for how he does things.  I am a little tired of the practice excuse.  Anyhow I just don’t see this getting better soon.  Obviously better talent would help but man try to adjust to what you have to win games now.  When you get the talent you need for your style play the way you want!!!    OK my job is done!!

William writes:

John, this is the Tubby Smith fan that wrote you last year and I just read your column about not drawing concussions about Billy Gillispie. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!! Did you write this because you believe it or did you get ripped for the kind article you wrote about Tubby and his recruits. Billy G. has single handily bought down a legendary basketball program at UK. The SEC is the weakest conference in the nation and Kentucky still can’t win. Billy Gillispie is a joke. His kids and the program is hurting for his incompetent. Where is the person that developed the fire Tubby web site, he’s probably in Minnesota wishing the Cats had a real coach. Tubby doesn’t have a gold star chili all-American let alone a McDonalds all-American and he has won twenty games in both of his seasons at Minnesota. The first time in their schools history that the team has won twenty games back to back. Fire Billy Clyde and get a real coach. Did you see the decision he made on Wednesday night t! o bench Meek’s for a missed assignment. That decsion ranks up there when Jodie was the leading score against VMI and Billy wanted to do something different so he sat his hottest shooter the start of the second half. A real genius!!!!!!

J.P. writes:

Being in Virginia, I don’t always see every one of your articles, but I try — so if this an outdated observation, I apologize.

Regarding Men’s BKB: am I crazy to think that UK’s goal of being the first school to 2,000 wins is no longer a law-of-physics guarantee?  IF I’m reading the data correctly, UK is at 1,985 wins after tonight’s flop in Columbia.  But North Carolina has won 1,974 and playing much better, and with more promise in the program*.  Eleven wins is a significant margin at this point in the chase, and UNC could get stunned in the post-season (losing to Maryland right now means you can lose to anyone).  But suppose UK stumbles along with this maddening inconsistency while UNC gets on a tear, perhaps even the Final Four?  Next season would place them well within striking distance.  Weep some more, m’ laddies.

Not trying to be a negative fan, just a somber one.

Ken from Illinois writes:

What if North Carolina wins 2000 games first? Shouldn’t the AD who led the program during this collapse resign the next day?

I can’t stand the entire University Executive & Athletic Department’s leadership complete lack of compassion or concern for this ONCE elite program and its direction over the last 6 years.   OOO RAH, let’s replace final fours and championships with the annual goal of reaching the Music City Bowl in football.

What is the longest period UK basketball has gone without winning the SEC?  I think it would be interesting to post the UK worst records in modern history.  Worse loss in SEC? Most consecutive 10 loss seasons? Longest period between final fours? etc.  Who was in charge of the Athletic Department during those records?

Herman writes:

The immortal words of Lexington Herald Leader sports writer John Clay” Kentucky is a better team with Patrick Patterson”,Kentucky is down 28 with 9:03 to go in the game at South Carolina. 57 games is not enough time to tell if a coach can actually coach at the University of Kentucky which is another bright evaluation of talent by the great sports writer John Clay. John it is evident that what you and Mark Story know about basketball you can stick in a thimble,what is your take on this debacle?, a shellacking, run clean out of Columbia,South Carolina.The sooner the University of Kentucky runs this character Billy Gillispie out of Lexington and starts all over again the sooner the better. An embarrassment would not even begin to address what this team is all about,arguable the worst team to wear the blue and white in years,Patrick Patterson and All American, forget it, an NBA first round draft pick, forget it, this team did not even show up to play, as unprepared a t! eam as I have seen at Kentucky in decades. This program,this coach, this team is a joke, NIT here we come.