The Final Four Thread

[iggymcfly 0]

I really don't see how this is anything but a success. They got the best up-and-coming coaching candidate from a major-conference team that a had a very good season last year. Kentucky complaining that they had to settle for Gillespie instead of Donovan would be like the Florida football team complaining last year that they had to settle for Urban Meyer instead of Pete Carroll. I mean, you can't just snatch away a coach that's won back-to-back titles.

[Slayer 0]

Word is that the Huggins departure from KSU might leave the program in even worse condition than he came in, with his highly touted recruiting class mostly looking to bail now.

[cabbageboy 0]

Slayer, I heard a faint rumor that Beasley might want to get out of his letter of intent and go to U of L. Yeah, come here and stick it to Huggy Bear and WVU!

 

I think UK fans have truly gone off the deep end. They whiff on trying to get by far the best candidate in Donovan, now they get Gillispie and act like all is wonderful and they'll win 3 out of 5 national titles. I've seen threads on www.catspause.com where people are saying "Yeah, Billy G. is a way better coaching hire than Billy D. would have been!"

 

Are these people out of their fucking minds????? Yeah, some of it is sour grapes at Donovan, but there's no way Gillispie is a better coach. I don't recall Gillispie winning 2 national titles. Or getting past the Sweet 16 for that matter. Or winning the Big 12 with A & M. Add in Gillispie's DUI arrests and the whole thing reminds me of when UK hired Eddie Sutton, minus Sutton's FF credentials.

 

As far as the comparison to Urban Meyer....Meyer had a Utah team that went 12-0 and was a really great team that played an innovative style (in fact I dare say that Utah team was better than his Florida title team). Gillispie's a good coach, but let's face it. His best year was this year with A & M where they went 27-7 and lost in the Sweet 16. That's like a down year at UK under Pitino.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Yea delusional UK fans give fans like me a bad name due to their ridiculous assertions and expectations for the coming year. As Pat Forde said yesterday on Sportscenter, UK is not going to be a great team next year and it's going to take 3-4 years to revitalize the program and get back to an Elite Eight run.

 

As far as cabbage's conclusion that Gillispie reminds him of when UK hired Eddie Sutton I have to say that's a funny conclusion because I kept thinking of Sutton yesterday during the press conference.

[iggymcfly 0]

As far as the comparison to Urban Meyer....Meyer had a Utah team that went 12-0 and was a really great team that played an innovative style (in fact I dare say that Utah team was better than his Florida title team). Gillispie's a good coach, but let's face it. His best year was this year with A & M where they went 27-7 and lost in the Sweet 16. That's like a down year at UK under Pitino.

 

Comparing the records is like comparing apples and oranges. The fact is that the year Gillespie came in at Texas A&M, the Aggies were a sub-200 team and the year he left, they finished as one of the Top 10 teams in the country. That's a huge turnaround. When Meyer came in at Utah, they were probably ranked about #50 or so, and the year he left, they finished #3 or #4. The turnaround's pretty similar. Both were strong candidates for coach of the year in they're final season and both were considered the hot young coaching property following the season. Yes, Donovan would have obviously been a better coach, but that's irrelevant, because he just won back-to-back titles at Florida. You can't just steal the absolute best coach in the country who's already made his program into a huge powerhouse. As stated, that's the equivalent of trying to take Pete Carroll from USC.

 

Oh, and quickly while I'm at saying "that's a down year under Pitino" doesn't mean shit. The Kentucky program that was coached by Rick Pitino doesn't exist any more than "the Florida program under Spurrier" existed when Meyer took over. The UK program that does exist has finished with 22 wins two seasons in a row and got bounced in the second round both years. Gillespie will be a huge upgrade and with the resources and tradition of the Kentucky program to work with, I'd be surprised if he doesn't get UK back to the Final Four within 4 or 5 years.

[cabbageboy 0]

Considering that Florida just won the national title after going 12-1 I'd say that program does pretty much still exist. What we shall find out with Gillispie is this: Was his success recently at A & M due to his coaching for the most part, or was it due to Acie Law's ascent to All American status? And can he develop more guys like Law at UK?

 

I don't get the comparison with Pete Carroll and Billy Donovan. Carroll going to Florida would have been a bizarre move, considering that all time USC is a better program than Florida. Aside from the 1990s under Spurrier Florida hadn't been that amazing in football, certainly not regularly in major bowls. USC is a program that rivals Alabama, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, etc. Donovan would have been going from a school where basketball is a 2nd class citizen (that sold out all of 1 home game, and I bet that was against UK) to the all time winningest program.

 

In the end UK fans have no one to blame but themselves for Donovan not budging. Remember all the times he brought his Florida teams to Rupp only to have fans chant "Walsh is gay" or "Noah is gay" and all that? And they wonder why the guy wasn't keen on returning to UK.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

On a side note, I kinda get sick of commentators now saying that we are in a "new age" of college basketball and that programs like UK will never be that prestigious again. If that were the case then why is it that when UK goes on the road nearly every away game gets sold out? The UK name still has appeal and I just get angry when commentators run down the team and the program.

[Hasbeen1 0]

(in fact I dare say that Utah team was better than his Florida title team).

 

 

No.

[cabbageboy 0]

Danville, have you been listening to some of this stuff ESPN has been saying about UK? I mean my god, what is their problem exactly? Vitale and Phelps both buried UK, defended Tubby, etc. I can see it with Digger since he hates UK anyway from his time at ND, but isn't this a bit out of hand? They act like Tubby dared not to make the FF for a year or so and then UK fired him.

 

Just now on the Sports Reporters guys like Mike Lupica just flat out buried UK, saying Donovan would have been making a huge mistake going there. How exactly? He'd have been adored by UK fans, likely would have turned it around and won national titles, and if he stayed long enough could have ended up UK's best coach since Rupp. This isn't to say he made a mistake staying at Florida, but there's no assurance that Florida will stay a top level program. Either way Donovan was going to make millions and be a top level coach.

 

From what I've personally seen UK fans don't demand national titles every year. That's truly insane. UK fans DO however want high quality basketball.