The Final Four Thread

[cabbageboy 0]

Here's the thing: UK really, really wants the guy. As in this is a must if you're UK. Is it really a must for Florida to retain Donovan? Not really. As long as the Gators are winning the SEC in football and going to the BCS, basketball is but an afterthought.

 

As far as Izzo goes, why in the hell would UK want him? One of the main knocks against Tubby was that his teams played that ultra boring Big 10 style. Aside from the fact that a lot of UK fans probably dislike Izzo to begin with (mainly due to the 1999 and 2005 Elite 8 games), Izzo is the ultimate in physical, boring Big 10 basketball. I suppose he could at least do that style right, whereas Tubby was always conflicted as to whether to be uptempo or not.

 

Barnes isn't a bad idea. Hell, the guy can recruit like a mofo at the very least, which was a 2nd big knock on Tubby. He's made a FF and another Elite 8 with Texas. I just doubt his actual in game coaching ability. As far as Gillespie goes, I dunno about that one. He had an All American in Acie Law at A & M, but does reaching 1 Sweet 16 really qualify someone for being head coach of the all time winningest program?

 

That said, the most moronic name is still Tom Crean. Dwayne Wade carried the guy to one fluke FF appearance, but since they beat Tubby's "best team of his own recruits" in 2003 some UK fans think Crean is actually a great coach. Bear in mind that Crean hasn't won a tourney game since that 2003 FF run.

[Slayer 0]

Guy's 41 and has already hit the highest high he'll ever hit at Florida. You really can't accomplish more at a school than back-to-back national championships. At UK he goes to one of the top--if not the top--traditional basketball schools, and gets a whole new set of challenges and expectations. He's been at UF for 10 years, which is a long time for any job; dude could want a change of pace. The money's going to be the same at either place, so I wouldn't be any more surprised to see him bolt than stick around.

If it were me, I'd stay at Florida (or whomever, given the same situation) and try to bring the program up to one that could be mentioned on the same list as UK, Kansas, Duke, UNC, etc. rather than go to one of those primo schools and just be another in the long line, even if I did do well

 

Essentially, big fish small pond and so forth

[therealworldschampion 0]

Aren't Izzo and Tubby friends too? I doubt Izzo would want to swoop into a job that his friend got forced out of.

 

I think John Pelphrey might be a darkhorse, South Alabama coach, one of UK's own.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I'd be the same way, but many coaches are egomaniacs and don't like playing second fiddle.

[therealworldschampion 0]

Dana Altman decided to go back to Creighton, so now the Arkansas job is open again.

[Hawk 34 0]

Ouch. That has to hurt your reputation and value as a program.

[therealworldschampion 0]

Bobby Cremins did the same thing in 1993, he accepted the job at his alma mater South Carolina, then went back to Georgia Tech 2 days later. Though here Altman spurned the more prestigous program to go back to a mid-major, whereas Cremins was torn between two major programs.

[CanadianChris 0]

Donovan is staying at Florida.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

While I was hoping Donovan would come to UK I'm not shocked he decided to stay. After all, he doesn't owe Kentucky anything and Florida is the program that he built up.

 

I guess Rick Barnes is next in line to get the call according to reports but I REALLY question his coaching ability. Granted, he can get good recruits and talented players but his X's and O's aren't up there with the best coaches in the game. I DEFINITELY agree with cabbage that Tom Crean is overrated by the Kentucky faithful and the only thing we'd get out of picking him up would be to further inflame the game with Louisville since they hate that man.

 

I am not too favorable towards any of the coaches on the shortlist at the moment. I'd have Izzo and Mark Few at the top of my list and I think Izzo won't leave MSU because there isn't a reason why and for the other reasons cabbage discussed. I was favorable to Calipari but he's staying with Memphis.

 

Basically I think UK has really messed itself up over this Donovan deal and I shudder to think what next season is going to be like. Guess I'll be rooting for Louisville next March because they'll be going farther in the tourney than UK.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I find it really amusing when these so-called powerhouse programs, be it football or basketball, get left with egg on their face when trying to poach talented coaches away from other programs. Nobody is entitled to anything anymore. It's so arrogant of them to think that everyone wants to come to their program and that anything less than multiple championships is a failure.

[CanadianChris 0]

EDIT: Wrong thread.

[cabbageboy 0]

Oh man, UK is so screwed at this point. This is what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket and then it all backfires. In all honesty, even when it looked like Donovan might go to UK I couldn't help but think that the ship had sailed. I personally think the time to get Donovan was in roughly 2001, right after his first FF with Florida and also at the point where Tubby Smith had started wearing out his welcome over pushing his mediocre son Saul. Consider some of those UK teams during the 2003-05 period that were maybe 1 recruit away from winning it all, a recruit that maybe Donovan would have gotten that Tubby did not. But that's all hypothetical.

 

At this point there really isn't that one guy UK can go to that is surefire. Gillespie is an odd mention, having done little besides beat U of L this year in the 2nd round (and subsequently blowing it vs. Memphis in what was damn near a home game). I dunno...he's dubious. Was his success due to Acie Law and not much else? I wonder.

 

If I'm Barnhart I'd at least check into getting Calipari. He'd be an interesting hire to be sure, and he would spark the rivalry with U of L and Pitino without antagonizing U of L fans so much as to be sickening. That is what hiring Crean would do. Not only do UK fans not want him one iota, but hiring Crean would be kissing good bye to U of L fans that follow UK on a casual basis.

 

I'd go with Barnes. His coaching is iffy to be sure, but hell even Joe Hall stumbled into 1 national title at UK. Barnes can recruit like a mofo at least, and his teams are exciting and uptempo.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

I agree with making the push for Calipari but didn't he recent sign an extension at Memphis after his team was eliminated from the tournament? Also, Calipari did have that sketchy history at UMass where there was an NCAA investigation after he left for the New Jersey Nets. UK may not want that for fear of having the NCAA breathing down its neck again but I really like the way Calipari builds his teams. I think he's done all he can at Memphis because I just don't see them ever being a title contender due to playing in lame Conference USA. Just seems like they've hit a wall in those Elite Eight games against teams that have been better tested during the regular season.

 

While I'm not big on Barnes I'd give him a shot (as I would any coach we hire). UK message boards now have people saying we should hire Travis Ford but he's unproven as a recruiter and upper tier coach to me at the moment. It is funny though to see delusional fans who were screaming for us to get Billy D and singing his praises now calling him "Billy Dickhead." A lot of them now seem to have given up on the next 3-4 years of UK basketball which is extreme but those are the fans that give the UK faithful a bad name anyway.

 

Why is Bob Huggins not on the short list? I mean he doesn't graduate his players but the man can coach and basically had a national title stolen from him when Kenyon Martin broke his damn leg many years ago. Rumor has it that he's on the market and is looking at the West Virginia job and I know we have more to offer than that. However, there is a lot of bad blood between UK and Cincinnati so that might explain why he's not on the short list.

 

Mitch Barnhardt just needs to be careful about this coaching search because if he picks wrong the UK faithful will be calling for his head next, football program success be damned.

[therealworldschampion 0]

Huggins is going to West Virginia.

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/6648384?MSNHPHMA

[Slayer 0]

Motherfucker

[Guest]

Yeah, that sucks. Hopefully his recruits stick around.

[cabbageboy 0]

I have now lost all respect for WVU as a hoops program.

 

UK fans have zero right to be pissed at Donovan for spurning UK. I seem to recall Billy D. bringing in various FL teams to Rupp and the crowd would start chants of "Walsh is gay!" during the game. Or the same for Joakim Noah. After the sort of treatment his teams received in Lexington why would Donovan go out of his way for such fans?

 

Barnes would be well liked in Lexington at least. He's got that good old boy manner that would fit nicely.

 

As far as Calipari goes, did he even have anything to do with that NCAA violation at UMass? I thought that was Camby taking money from an agent before he declared for the draft.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Not that it's a big surprise, but Noah, Horford, Green and Brewer are all turning pro and will sign with agents.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

As far as Calipari goes, did he even have anything to do with that NCAA violation at UMass? I thought that was Camby taking money from an agent before he declared for the draft.

 

I think your right about Camby but I think the NCAA investigation was into other practices as well (my mind escapes me over what they were investigating since it was a decade or so ago). While they never blamed Calipari for anything when you have the NCAA investigating your program for ANYTHING red flags go up in certain places and some people think your guilty of stuff you actually might be innocent of. I think Calipari's record speaks for itself and I'd love to have him coach UK but I have a feeling that he's not going to be jumping ship considering the team he has in place for next year.

 

Sucks for K-State that Bob Huggins is bolting so soon. I knew he was the favorite to take the job and that he might lean towards it since he played there but am a bit shocked that he abandoned a program that he had poised with top tier recruiting talent for next season and had a team nucleus that some thought could compete for the Big 12 title and made a deep NCAA run. It'll be interesting to see if his recruits try to follow him to WVU or stick it out at K-State. I'd assume the former over the latter but they might stay due to the trouble of getting out of a written commitment and sitting out a year due to transfer rules.

[Hawk 34 0]

I'm hearing now on radio that OJ Mayo hadn't signed the letter of intent with USC and would be a strong chance of staying home to play with his favorite coach. Is that true? Has he yet to sign?

[Guest]

Don't know.

[CanadianChris 0]

As far as Calipari goes, did he even have anything to do with that NCAA violation at UMass? I thought that was Camby taking money from an agent before he declared for the draft.

 

I think your right about Camby but I think the NCAA investigation was into other practices as well (my mind escapes me over what they were investigating since it was a decade or so ago). While they never blamed Calipari for anything when you have the NCAA investigating your program for ANYTHING red flags go up in certain places and some people think your guilty of stuff you actually might be innocent of. I think Calipari's record speaks for itself and I'd love to have him coach UK but I have a feeling that he's not going to be jumping ship considering the team he has in place for next year.

He was on the Jim Rome show yesterday and basically said as much. He has no desire to go to another school.

[cabbageboy 0]

Calipari has mainly showed over the years when it comes to college that he would prefer to be the big fish in a small pond. His UMass teams were successful in an "Eh" Atlantic 10, though I guess Temple was still somewhat of a force. But it was hardly a top tier league. C-USA now is complete Jobberville aside from Memphis (no one else even made the NIT). Note that when Calipari was coaching in a more competitive C-USA he didn't really win anything.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

As if the UK search couldn't get any worse cabbage, Andy Katz is reporting that Rick Barnes has withdrawn his name from consideration for the UK job. With him knocked out I dunno who is on the top of the damn list now.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Katz said Tom Creane would take the job if he was offered.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Oh lord.

[cabbageboy 0]

Well, the www.catspause.com they are practically saying Billy Gillispie is the new coach. UK's athletic dept. and fans are so childish when it comes to this stuff. It's like they only look at coaches who either fucked over UK at some point in a major game, or in this case fucked over U of L a few weeks ago (at Rupp Arena to boot). Why else would they even consider Tom Crean?

 

Gillispie is a curious hire if it is him. He hasn't shown any particular aptitude for recruiting, and his teams play a similar dreary Tubby style with a bit more efficiency. It reeks of hiring a guy because they had to hire a guy.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

I guess Gillespie would be better than Creane but I'm certain that this hiring is going to be the beginning of the end of Mitch Barnhardt's reign as AD at UK. Fans are already blaming him (rightly or wrongly) for not getting Billy D and if he hires a coach that fails to live up to expectations then he'll be the one the finger is pointed at after this debacle of a search. The sooner UK gets a head coach, though, the better because this is just killing whatever recruiting we had going on before Tubby left.

 

I wonder why Mark Few hasn't been brought up as an alternative candidate. He's shown that he can recruit decent players at Gonzaga. I dunno whether he'd leave but I'm just surprised his name hasn't been mentioned along with the other candidates because people said he was going to be a candidate for the job for years. Just a bit odd.

[iggymcfly 0]

Yeah, ESPN's officially saying Gillespie's the guy now. Personally, I think it's a great hire. He took over a Texas A&M team that was 0-16 in Big XII play the year before he took over and had them in the Sweet 16 in three years. It's not just "oh this guy got to the Final Four and this guy didn't", it's how quick he turned the program around. I think this reestablishes Kentucky as the definite #2 program in the SEC. (I know Wildcat fans want to be #1, but come on, Florida just won back-to-back titles.)

[cabbageboy 0]

You know what this Gillispie thing is? It's a ground rule double when UK needed a home run to the upper deck. It's not a bad hire really, I don't think anyone is going to be up in arms over his hiring (not like fans would have been with Crean or even Izzo).

 

I will take back what I said about Gillispie's recruiting though. He did recruit most of the guys on the stellar Illinois team that made the title game.

 

That said, you just know the main reason he was hired is because A & M beat U of L in the tourney at Rupp Arena.