I Was There and It Was Brutal

[RaleighCat]

Well, at least the beer's cold in Athens.

That about sums up my experience after watching our beloved Wildcats snatch bitter defeat from the jaws of victory. I've been thinking about it since the final horn sounded and still can't sum it up. I truly think we saw the wheels come completey off for the rest of this season. And possibly for the Tubby Smith era.

Stegman was a morgue in the first half. Except for the thousand-or-so Cat fans scattered throughout. Everything we did was working. (Alright, everything except the Mark Coury experiment). My two Cat friends and I were dumbfounded by how good UK looked and how thoroughly we were running Georgia out of their own barn.

And then it happened. Tubby leaves Morris on the bench to start the 2nd (and yes, his 3rd foul was B.S., but that crap happens to road teams). Eight unanswered points later and Stegman was rockin'. You could see and feel the life get sucked out of the Cats and injected into the Dawgs. I swear, Mo got up off our bench, checked in at the scorer's table and took off his warmup wearing a Georgia jersey. It was that brutal.

Way to finish down the stretch, Cats! Have Sheray and Bobby ever played that poorly combined? How can we forget that Morris is on the court for long stretches? How can we not box out the FT shooter? More than once??? The tension and bitterness amongst our own players at the end was staggering. I thought Joe Crawford was going to strangle Sheray Thomas at one point.

In the end I see nothing good or positive or redeeming coming out of The Loss last night. Time to face a stone-cold reality- Kentucky is in serious trouble under current leadership. It's time for a coaching change at the end of this season.

[I. Melvin]

Thanks for the report, RaleighCat. (Darn, I was just in Raleigh doing some work for Lenovo - shoulda had a beer together while I was there.)

Your view really helps me understand what happened a little better and just how lost the leadership of this team really is.

[UKfaninCO]

Yeah, and you know it's not so much that they lost, but the way they lost. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory... exactly. Hoping to be in Raleigh in March for a week or so. Will try to get together with you for a cold one.

[UKhoov]

saw the tension too, but from my living room.

At one point a timeout was called and Perry (Bobby not Stevenson) was met out on the court by one of the coaches, this happens often after a timeout. But instead of giving him a five. He slapped his hand like he was trying to slap a knife out of someones hand.

That kind of shocked me.

[Josh]

If it was brutal watching in the friendly confines of my living room, and I can only imagine what you were going through, buddy.

It was a colossal meltdown that is going to haunt my basketball dreams for a long time (well, until we beat UT on Sunday!).

[UFWildcat]

Yes, I feel for ya having to witness that in person. I've witnessed some pretty nasty road defeats myself.

UK basketball is just a shadow of what it was before.

I was thinking the other night on some of the things the heretic waswritting about Tubby and I couldn't help but think he had reduced this program down to the Oakland Raiders status in the NFL. I was going to post and say he was completely wrong but after last nights debacle I am starting to see the similarities.

College basketball is an ever changing spectacle. Athletes are getting bigger, strong, faster, and smarter than ever before. The Raiders have been so poor (at least this last decade it seems) because they refuse to adapt to the changing NFL. They still think that they can throw the ball all over the field and put thirty plus points on the board. Al Davis refuses to acknowledge that his tactics back in the 80's will not work in today's NFL.

This is what I see with Tubby Smith. He has not adopted his philosophies. The recruiting thing is a whole nother animal in itself. Will Lavender is right...."Recruiting is the Life Blood of any program." But that can not be changed right now, we've got what we've got. Tubby is coming up short in all aspects.

[Will Lavender]

Bitter, bitter loss.

I don't necessarily think the wheels are going to fall off, but a lot of things became clear last night. Most importantly, like last year, we don't have a leader. Andwe definitely aren't tough enough.Both those thingswill hurt us a lot more as this season goes on -- and, in all reality, they'll probably end up killing us dead by the end.

I noticed the tomb-like silence of Stegeman, too. This is another reason leaving Morris in hurt: Felton was able to sort of put the kiss of life on the home crowd by getting Takais Brown three or four lay-ups early in the second half with Morris on the bench.

This loss has plagued me all day. I'm just disgusted.

[ukwebfan]

Brutal post for a 2-game losing streak. Much more than seeing it unravel in person, suffering a sprained ankle and 8 1/2 hours of driving.
:cry:

UFWildcat wrote: Yes, I feel for ya having to witness that in person. I've witnessed some pretty nasty road defeats myself.

UK basketball is just a shadow of what it was before.

I was thinking the other night on some of the things the heretic waswritting about Tubby and I couldn't help but think he had reduced this program down to the Oakland Raiders status in the NFL. I was going to post and say he was completely wrong but after last nights debacle I am starting to see the similarities.

College basketball is an ever changing spectacle. Athletes are getting bigger, strong, faster, and smarter than ever before. The Raiders have been so poor (at least this last decade it seems) because they refuse to adapt to the changing NFL. They still think that they can throw the ball all over the field and put thirty plus points on the board. Al Davis refuses to acknowledge that his tactics back in the 80's will not work in today's NFL.

This is what I see with Tubby Smith. He has not adopted his philosophies. The recruiting thing is a whole nother animal in itself. Will Lavender is right...."Recruiting is the Life Blood of any program." But that can not be changed right now, we've got what we've got. Tubby is coming up short in all aspects.

[PeachtreeCat]

ukwebfan wrote: Brutal post for a 2-game losing streak. Much more than seeing it unravel in person, suffering a sprained ankle and 8 1/2 hours of driving.
:cry:

UFWildcat wrote: Yes, I feel for ya having to witness that in person. I've witnessed some pretty nasty road defeats myself.

UK basketball is just a shadow of what it was before.

I was thinking the other night on some of the things the heretic waswritting about Tubby and I couldn't help but think he had reduced this program down to the Oakland Raiders status in the NFL. I was going to post and say he was completely wrong but after last nights debacle I am starting to see the similarities.

College basketball is an ever changing spectacle. Athletes are getting bigger, strong, faster, and smarter than ever before. The Raiders have been so poor (at least this last decade it seems) because they refuse to adapt to the changing NFL. They still think that they can throw the ball all over the field and put thirty plus points on the board. Al Davis refuses to acknowledge that his tactics back in the 80's will not work in today's NFL.

This is what I see with Tubby Smith. He has not adopted his philosophies. The recruiting thing is a whole nother animal in itself. Will Lavender is right...."Recruiting is the Life Blood of any program." But that can not be changed right now, we've got what we've got. Tubby is coming up short in all aspects.




I feel for you and Raleigh. I was actually going to try to make the game at the last minute and drive up from here, but I got stuck at work longer than anticipated and was mad about it until about 9:10 pm. It was awful, and Sunday cannot come soon enough.

[UFWildcat]

ukwebfan wrote: Brutal post for a 2-game losing streak. Much more than seeing it unravel in person, suffering a sprained ankle and 8 1/2 hours of driving.
:cry:

UFWildcat wrote: Yes, I feel for ya having to witness that in person. I've witnessed some pretty nasty road defeats myself.

UK basketball is just a shadow of what it was before.

I was thinking the other night on some of the things the heretic waswritting about Tubby and I couldn't help but think he had reduced this program down to the Oakland Raiders status in the NFL. I was going to post and say he was completely wrong but after last nights debacle I am starting to see the similarities.

College basketball is an ever changing spectacle. Athletes are getting bigger, strong, faster, and smarter than ever before. The Raiders have been so poor (at least this last decade it seems) because they refuse to adapt to the changing NFL. They still think that they can throw the ball all over the field and put thirty plus points on the board. Al Davis refuses to acknowledge that his tactics back in the 80's will not work in today's NFL.

This is what I see with Tubby Smith. He has not adopted his philosophies. The recruiting thing is a whole nother animal in itself. Will Lavender is right...."Recruiting is the Life Blood of any program." But that can not be changed right now, we've got what we've got. Tubby is coming up short in all aspects.



It is a little harsh but what you see is what you get. 11 game winning streak. Only a decoy.

Don't get me wrong though. I think this team still has fight in it yet. We all will be glued to the T.V. come March WHO EVER we play. I always think Tubby's teams have a fighting chance.