As it may seem the sky is falling I do not quite think this season can be laid wholly at the feet of Coach Billy Gillispie. I have summed up this basketball team in poker terms....Essentially we have a 3 of a Kind all the time. Now 3 of a Kind will win a majority of your hands, last time I checked 19-11 was around a 2-1 win/loss ratio...I repeat WE DO NOT have a LOSING record Kentucky fan. At the same time you are going to run up against Straights, Flushes, Full Houses, and Four of a Kinds that will beat you, on occasion quite badly. Our problems boil down to more than just coaching and are quite simple to those who pay attention...
1.) Lack of Talent: Other than Meeks and Patterson(and maybe Miller) we don't have another player who would START on any of the teams currently ranked in the Top 25, so how can we be a Top 25 caliber team. Also 90% of the team that plays the majority of the minutes were recruited by one Tubby Smith, who recruited defensive minded, middle of the road talent. The cupboard was left bare with the likes of Stevenson, Harris, Porter, Stewart, Carter, etc...none of who is typical Kentucky Talent. Now while I can't prove it but I believe Tubby did this as a big middle finger, to those Kentucky fans who wanted him fired and placed For Sale signs in his yard, as he walked out the door for Minnesota. He had accepted that job halfway through his last season and basically left us hanging. You just cannot win basketball games 2vs5 or 3vs5. One of the best questions I've seen on a message board was someone who offered you two options 1.) Replace any of our guards with Devan Downey from South Carolina( a really great point guard and leader) or 2.) Replace Billy Gillispie with any other coach who could be hired right now(no Coach K, Roy Williams, Calapari, Pitino, or Donovan). Which option makes us better right now? In my opinion this is a no brainer, switch Downey for Porter and we are a Top 10 team easily while I don't know if any other coach could take this talent and make them a GREAT team. Our turnovers would be cut in half and we would have a skilled Point Guard who could bring the ball up the court, score, or penetrate. Even though we have 2 guys who average 20-25points per game, we have 4 to 5 guys that play over 20 minutes(half the game) and average only 3-4. That just will get it done for a championship caliber team.
2.) Inexperience: On Senior Night Wednesday we said goodbye to our single Senior player Jarrod Carter...who played maybe an entire game's worth of minutes in 4 years and essentially accomplished nothing. Other than Porter and Stevenson, both Juniors who didn't play much their first few years we have no leaders who have been to the tournament and won. Meeks and Galloway are also Juniors one who missed all of last year and the other a first year Junior College Transfer learning to play at a new level. Stewart and Patterson are just sophmores, while Miller, Liggins, and Harrelson are just Freshman. We have none of the guys who have "been there before" to take the reigns and lead this team to victory. Meeks while our number 1 players as far as scoring is a very quiet player, not a leader. Due to this inexperience we are having trouble taking care of the ball and losing close games that we won last year. Porter is a Shooting Guard playing Point Guard in his first year at a new position and his backup is a true Freshman in Liggins. We were 18-12 last year with 2 solid Senior leaders in Crawford and Bradley, who did a great job running the team as the PG and are 19-11 this year replacing those guys with Freshman. Many people praised Gillispie's Job last year, as evidenced by his SEC Co-Coach of the Year....he's had less to work with this year and has a better record! We reward him with boos and asking for him to be fired, what kind of sense is that?
Now I have some problems with Gillispie as he's been responsible for some of our worst losses in this proud program's history. Gardner Webb, San Diego St., VMI outside of conference and the Vandy debacle last year and Georgia this year are very BAD losses. He lost 6 home games for the first time in almost 40 years and we may miss the NCAA Tounrament for the first time in 18 years(30 if you count non-probabtion years). However, its just been 2 years and this guy has been a COACH OF THE YEAR in every conference he's coached in. Just like with Rich Brooks after 2 years, things look bleak but I really believe after another 2 years people will be praising this guys. However keep fanning the flames of negativity and you may see something really worth booing. Should Gillispie be run out of town or fired, we could lose 2 recruits in Daniel Orton and GJ Villarino, Patterson and Meeks would declare because why do they want to start all over with a new coach, and maybe a couple guys transfer. We would have nothing and probably have gasp....A LOSING SEASON. Then maybe the sky would be falling!
