As we know, Billy Gillispie prides himself on toughness. He wants toughness from his team. He greets each defeat with the “We weren’t tough enough,” mantra. He says he has never walked away from a fight, blurted out last season about an on-court scuffle, “I’ve been in some fights; that was no fight.” He’s Mr. Tough Guy.
But is Billy Gillispie tough enough to take what’s going to be coming his way the next few days?
Kentucky doesn’t lose to Georgia. Not the Kentucky that UK fans see, or want to see. Not if Georgia is 2-12 in the SEC and 0-7 in SEC road games. Not if it’s a Georgia that lost 87-53 at Florida, 79-48 at Tennessee, 69-47 at Ole Miss and 89-67 at Arkansas. Not if you are Kentucky and you are clinging to the NCAA Tournament bubble on the final week of the regular season. And not if you began the SEC season with five straight wins, and are now 8-7.
Kentucky fans don’t take to those kinds of things kindly, nor should they. The Tubby Smith supporters are asking “We ran off a good man and a good coach for this?” The Tubby bashers are asking, “Did Mitch Barnhart really do his homework on this guy?”
Don’t give me that Kentucky doesn’t have the players. It has two SEC Player of the Year candidates in Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson, two players who should be first-team all-conference. It has a supporting cast good enough to play Louisville down to the final shot, to beat Florida, to sweep Tennessee. This isn’t a Final Four team, or an Elite Eight team, or probably a Sweet 16 team. But it is a team that should beat a Georgia at Rupp Arena with so much on the line.
But it didn’t. And that’s going to come back on Billy G. Hard. His substitution patterns only fan the flames. So does his post-game comments, his refusal to sign his contract, his general attitude. So get ready. (You, too, Mitch Barnhart.) The talk shows. The message boards. The blog comments. The heat is coming. Heavy heat.
We’re going to see if Billy Gillispie is tough enough.
John: I think the display of choice words between Patterson and Coach Gillispie when Patterson took too much time?? to foul Jackson, who missed both free throws, says thousands of words. Patterson waves away the coach and heads down to the lane with Jackson. This display will not help Billy Clyde Gillispie land five star recruits. The last three games have hurt Meeks and Patterson with first round NBA draft. Meeeks and Patterson have been to easily shut down by inferior talent. Booing the Players and Coach by so-called UK Fans does not help recruitment in the long run.If Mike Casey and Kenny Skywalker can do a better job, bring them on now. Billy Clyde Gillispie took this coaching challenge when every decent coach in America turned it down, including “It’s a done deal Billy Donovan”.
The striking thing to me isn’t just the loss, it’s like you said in your column – we’re crashing. Teams usually get better over the season, right? Even if just a little.
To me, that’s the disappointing part. This team is going backwards. Lost seven of its last 10.
John, I think you’re column is right on target. I know a reporters job is to be objective, but its nice to have someone sympathize with the frustration that the fan-base is feeling. I don’t know if this frustration will even reach/phase Billy or Mitch Barnhart, but knowing that its out there makes me feel a little better.
At this point in time Billy has made the players afraid to just play the game, to play to win games.
They are playing not to make mistakes and get jerked to the bench.
Big, big difference…and it shows.
Mark Liptak
John, you’re right on target. We’ve been saying it for a long time on the messageboards. Folks just won’t listen. Regardless of the talent issues does anyone really think there isn’t enough talent on this team to show better than they have ?
I’m not sure what’s next with this team but with Florida coming up on the road one has to assume a loss and a trip to the NIT. An SEC run seems pretty unlikely at this point.
You have to hand it to Tubby though. He’s getting a lot out of a much less talented team in a much tougher conference and giving three freshman, Iverson, Sampson, Joseph, major minutes.
Mistake getting rid of Tubby or hiring Gillispie ?
Will be debated for many, many, years to come.
John,
Have listened to Colin Cowherd the past week talk about why teams in some markets are always good. He claims it’s because the media outlets set a very high standard for the team. I’m glad you are starting to take them on. They need a voice to hold them accountable for the horrible job being done over there. It’s nice to hear an objective voice instead of the homer network (WLAP), which won’t say a negative word. Keep up the good work.
As far as the team. It’s obious they have quit on BCG and he has quit on them. The players know who should be on the floor. Porter and Harris have stolen valuable minutes all year long that could have been used getting the first year players ready. Too bad for a wasted season.
BClam:
You won’t find a better person then Tubby and he is an excellent coach. But the fact is that even his biggest defenders openly wondered about, why UK recruiting was always in a scramble / panic mode and why they stopped getting the top players.
Tubby lost his “edge” in the lifeblood for any program at any level. He compounded that by hiring basically incompetent assistant coaches and then when told by the A.D. to let them go, refused.
I appreciate his loyalty but the fact is University of Kentucky basketball is much bigger then any single individual or a coaching staff.
Tubby had to go, pure and simple, since he was not going to change.
Ultimately (and now perhaps sooner rather then later) the same fate may befall Billy.
The mark of a great coach is one who adapts to the talent he has, not tries to hammer every square peg into a round hole. (Think asking Porter to guard anybody in the man to man…)
Mark Liptak