Caption Winner Thoughts: Chapter 1

Below is an assessment of how one reader looks at the current UK basketball situation. Reading article after article gets boring after a while, so I encourage more feedback from any readers and you'll get published! Kudos to Clay for this piece.

First off, I need to say how excited I am to have been selected as one of the top 3 contestants of the “caption winner" contest, and therefore have the ability to write an article for this blog. Nevermind the fact that there were only 3 people who entered the contest. I guess I should put a disclaimer at the beginning of this like you see on DVD’s that says something to the affect of the views you are about the see are solely the views of this poster, and not necessarily the views of Mark Mayes and Big Blue Booyah.

So, here goes…There is no question in my mind that BCG is responsible for this year’s disaster of a season. To have such a turnaround from going 5-0 to start conference play to going 3-8 and be all but an SEC championship win from not making the NCAA tourney falls squarely on the shoulders of the coach. This is the same team that had enough talent to beat West Virginia, thump UT twice, and had an apparent Final Four team in U of L on the ropes until the final second. Sure, this isn’t a team with Final Four talent, but for a team with the talent we do have to fizzle like this at the end of the season points directly to poor management. There isn’t enough talent here to win championships, but there surely is enough talent to beat Georgia and make the tourney. The guy makes millions of dollars a year, has the best facilities and resources, and two nationally-recognized players and potential NBA draft picks. To not have success with those ingredients is unacceptable.

That said, I am not ready to bail on BCG just yet. This is the same coach that has won coach of the year honors in 3 different conferences over the span of just 6 years and got the most out of a mediocre 2007-2008 UK team that became even more mediocre due to injuries. This is also the same coach that is the only coach in the country that can match our passion for basketball. His work ethic is what we expect from a coach and he has had some success on the recruiting trail. From a talent standpoint, the future looks good. Firing him at this point would do more damage than good, I think.

Best Case Scenario for 09-10: PPat and Meeks come back next year, Orton comes in and dominates the paint which gives PPat some breathing room, Miller gains confidence over the summer and develops into a consistent scorer, Galloway or Liggins learn how to take care of the ball, GJ Vilarino shows promise as the PG of our future and Jon Hood comes off the bench as a productive 6th man. Worst Case scenario: PPat and Meeks go to the NBA, BCG quits/gets fired, therefore Orton bails on his commitment as do other recruits, and Liggins and others transfer. That leaves us with a starting 5 of Porter, Miller, Harris, Stevenson & Harrelson. Not to mention the black eye the university gets for having such a quick hook and the trouble we would have trying to woo a top-rated coach who would be willing to work under such conditions and be talented enough to do any better.

In the Worst Case Scenario that is spelled out above, some of that stuff may happen if BCG stays. However, I would venture to say that ALL of that stuff will happen if BCG goes.
When BCG was hired, most folks I listened to agreed that you had to give the guy 4 years or so to see what he could do. He would need time to bring in “his team”, get through the first few years, and then really see what he can do. Why now are we ready to bail on him halfway through? When you really think about it, the guy hasn’t even been here a full 2 years yet.·

We were tired of “just making the tournament”, so we got rid of Tubby. Now it seems like just making the tournament is the most important accomplishment. Remember that a few years ago we were a great regular-season team but we could never get the job done in the post-season. Being a great post-season team required a change in leadership and a change in strategy. Maybe that change results in a temporary set-back that must be gutted through before improvement can be seen.

BCG is still new to the head coaching position. Maybe he learns a lot from this season and makes the minor tweaks to his substitution patterns or practice philosophies that translate into the last piece of the winning puzzle.

UK has seen mediocrity before and has always come out better on the other side. UK won it all in 48 and 49 but then didn’t even make the tourney in 50. We won it all again in 51, then didn’t make the tourney in 53 & 54. We didn’t make the tourney 4 years in the 60’s and 3 years in the 70’s, including not making the tourney in 79 after winning it all the year before. We went 20 years (from 58 to78) without a national championship. 20 years! Then we have the probation years – without question our darkest hours. Follow that up with the 90’s, which are considered UK’s finest years.

Just because we might miss the tournament this year doesn’t mean we are close to “losing what is special about UK basketball”. UK basketball has been both great and not-so-great before, even in the same decade. UK basketball is bigger than any one season. We aren’t going to lose what is special about UK basketball just because of one or two mediocre seasons.

No matter what side of the fence you are on regarding whether BCG should stay or should go, let’s all try to be the best fans we can be for the players and for each other. These are kids, after all, and they need our support. Whether you still have hope or gave up a long time ago, we need to cheer our team and cheer until the last horn sounds. We all want the same thing, after all. There you have it.

Tell me how wrong I am in the comments section.