wikipedia and tubby smith

[UKCATZFAN]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubby_Smith

an on-line encyclopedia

Orlando "Tubby" Smith (born June 30 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_30), 1951 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1951) in Scotland (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scotland%2C_Maryland&action=edit), Saint Mary's County (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Mary%27s_County%2C_Maryland), Maryland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland)) has been the head basketball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball) coach at the University of Kentucky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Kentucky) since 1997 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997). He previously served as head coach at the University of Tulsa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Tulsa) and the University of Georgia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Georgia).

Coach Smith graduated in 1973 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973) from High Point (N.C.) College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Point_University), where he was a standout player. He coached at two High Schools before serving as an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Commonwealth_University), the University of South Carolina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_South_Carolina), and the University of Kentucky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Kentucky) under then Head Coach Rick Pitino (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Pitino).



In his first season at UK, he coached the Wildcats to their seventh NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Men%27s_Division_I_Basketball_Championship), including a come from behind victory against Duke in the Elite Eight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Eight) (see 1998 NCAA Tournament (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_NCAA_Men%27s_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament )). Coach Smith was picked as a Coach of the Year in 2003, and was the recipient of the Jim Phelan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Phelan) National Coach of the Year Award for 2005 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005)

Smith's teams, known primarily for a defense-oriented slower style of play coined "Tubbyball", have received mixed reviews among Kentucky fans who have historically enjoyed a faster, higher-scoring, and arguably more exciting style of play under previous coaches.

Despite his initial success, Coach Smith has garnered much criticism at UK, where the fanbase expects good value from the highest paid college coach in the country. He has been unable to escape from the shadow of his predecessor Rick Pitino, who built and handed Tubby his only championship team which was fielded in Smith's first year of coaching UK in 1998. Smith is widely criticized for his lack of even a single trip to a Final Four since his first year as UK coach in 1998.

[JohnJ]

"Tubbyball" now...

UKCATZFAN wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubby_Smith

Smith's teams, known primarily for a defense-oriented slower style of play coined "Tubbyball", have received mixed reviews among Kentucky fans who have historically enjoyed a faster, higher-scoring, and arguably more exciting style of play under previous coaches.


versus what we were told to expect about "Tubbyball" in 1997 ...

http://uk.schooltoolz.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/smith051297pressconf.html

On what Kentucky fans can expect:
"I think Rick has done a magnificent job and left some outstanding players in the program, but I also realize we've lost some. Rick has done an unbelievable job. We want to continue to play hisstyle. We played a very similar style to the Wildcats at Georgia. We tried to push to ball up the court and put the ball in the basket as often as we could. We played a motion offense, we liked to play the match-up press and we were one of the top teams in the league in defensive field goal percentage. We will be entertaining and it will be a winning style. I want to maintain. I think we can win. We have great talent in the program and there is no reason why we can't be as successful and maintain this same level of excellence."

[audacious1]

Somebody need to edit some of that stuff. Wikis are notorious battlegrounds for opinion, I know, but for the most part, when discussing Sports Figures, the accentuate the positives, not point out perceived faults, which a portion of that page does.

[Will Lavender]

Tubby did play a much faster style at Georgia, and especially at Tulsa. His Tulsa teams were almost exact replicas of those Rick Pitino teams. When they had Shea Seals and Michael Ruffin and that bunch, Tulsa was a big-time scoring team.

I think Tubby got to UK and saw (1) the full-court press was becoming defunct, and (2) he fell in love with size. Tubby loves big guys, even if they're projects. Big guys normally slow the game down if you want to run an inside-out system, which Tubby definitely does.