CatFanInTheBathtub
03-20-2006, 10:15 AM
So, we've come to the day. This day has happened all but two years since I've watched this team and it hurts the same every year. I thought that I wouldn't be as mad this season because we had such a slim chance of going very deep. Everyone with a firm grip on reality was picking us to lose in the 2nd round, including me, which is something I've never done. Watching that game, I saw opposing talent that we had not seen this year, or probably in at least a few years. Those guys looked like an NBA team compared to us and I was ready for a blowout when we first went down 13. But the boys kept their heads (despite a few questionable shot attempts), got in great position for rebounds, started hitting some threes, turned up the D, and once again never backed down, as I would expect from a UK baketball team. They stayed in it until the last few seconds with probably the best team in the country, and gave all fans alot to be proud of.
Man, this has been such an incredibly different season. In my 20 years of dedicating myself to the team, I've never seen anything like it. I remember there being alot of promise...alot of final four predictions, etc. Living here in gainesville as I do it can be a bit overwhelming getting gator talk shoved down my throat and reading daily babble from resident Billy Dononvan rear-kisser/professional idiot Pat Dooley who I'm sure has been waiting years to see the big blue in this position. As I just discovered WCN mid-season, I've found that there are even a group of our own who have found in this year a maginfying glass for their anti-Tubby arguments. But with WCN, I've also found what I consider a VERY intelligent core group of individuals who respect the game, and can talk and analyze it with the best of them. You men and women are something I've missed here in gator country, where fans' "basketball knowledge" is pretty much non-existent. Fortunately the SEC TV coverage is good around here, and I got to see alot of Cats games; the rest I listened to online. So to continue this "year in review" post, I thought I'd sort of go through most of the games, and give you my thoughts about them, along with a few personal stories about them. I'd also like to invite any of you to quote a game or two and give your own story about it. Hey, what else you gonna do, watch the NIT ?
Nov. 21 Iowa L First game I saw on tv. Last season, I bought an open-box dvd recorder with a hard drive (like tivo) to record games. Of course best buy included the wrong remote and I couldn't use the thing until I had the right remote shipped from Japan which, no lie, took about 6 months. So after not using this machine for its intended purpose for about 11 months, I was real happy to record the Iowa game. Oh well, a 2-1 start isn't the worst thing in the world.
Nov. 22 West Va. W I'm really embarrassed. For the first time since we played NC St. on a sat. afternoon in 1985 when I was 9, I didn't realize there was a Kentucky basketball game this day. Had I paid more attention to the Guardians Classic schedule I may have known there was actually a consolation game, and that we were playing in the late afternoon that day. Stinks because I missed what would become our biggest win for a while at least.
Dec. 3 NC L Remember thinking that NC would blow baloons this year ? Such a tough loss at home but early season so not such a big deal
Dec. 10 IU L This was just embarrassing. But hey, they were hot, "probably would've beaten anyone", wasn't at home, early season, no Morris yet, move on.
Dec. 17 UL W Ok so UL turned out to be NIT junk, but still this was ABSOLUTELY huge. We were on fire at least in first half. I went to a buddy's graduation party that night and his roommates are all blue bleeders. It was awesome, we needed that game so bad...I took my dvd copy of the game over to watch but his player wouldn't work. Oh well we put down some Makers and were glad about that one for a while.
Dec. 23 Iona W On Festivus I was driving from gainesville to Louisville to visit my dad and family for the holidays. My girlfriend was flying up a few days later to meet me so on the drive it was just me and my dog. I was planning on stopping somewhere past chattanooga for the night but that insane ATL traffic put me back a bit. I called my girl and asked her to check online TV guide for Dalton and Chatt. She said it looked like the game was on in Dalton, so with tip-off coming soon I checked into a cheap motel and first thing surfed thru the channels and hell yeah, it was on ! Quickly I hit the close jiffy store for a six pack and enjoyed what turned out to be a pretty unimpressive performance from the Cats. Still a W is a W and I was just happy to see the boys after a long drive.
Dec. 30 Ohio W I WENT TO THE GAME ! First time I've seen them since they pulled it out in the O'dome in '04 after being down 10 w/ a few left. I bought tix for this game for my dad and stepmom for x-mas and we drove from Lou. to cincy barely in time to make the tip. We were way up in a corner of US Bank and there was this group of Bobcat losers two rows in front who were pissing everyone off the entire game with their high fiving, jumping, and general "unsportsmanlike conduct" as Ohio handed it to us most of the game. One UK guy in front of me actually stood up, put his hands on an ohio guy's shoulders, and PUSHED HIM DOWN into his seat because he couldn't see. A fight darn near broke out but I think mr. bobcat knew he was outnumbered by about 19-20 thousand. Anyway, when the Cats clawed back and took over in the last minutes, it was real fun to watch everyone in the section wave bye bye to that bunch of drunk losers as they wallowed and gave us loser one finger salutes. I think my dad said it best when he called to the drunkest one "hey, it's just another win for us".
Jan. 3 UCF W Ok I was back in Gainesville listening to this game on the net and not believing what I was hearing as UCF stormed back to make this a game, in Rupp of all places. Thank you RAJON! Will you guys now please practice or something.
Jan. 7 KU L Wow, I've never seen the Cats look that bad, including the IU game, including probation, including football. But still no Morris so we'll see what happens. Least it was in Lawrence. These high noon games are KILLING us.
Jan. 10 & 14 Vandy, Bama L, L MORRIS BACK., but still chemistry a major issue. Real tough time to be a fan, but I can't give up on this team yet
Jan.17 UGA W Wow. I've never been so happy to beat georgia. We needed that one bad and took a team by the throat like we should have. We are starting to show signs of being a TEAM
Jan. 21 & 24 USC, Auburn W, W USC a great win, especially since they had just beat florida. The Auburn game might have been the most boring UK game I've watched in a while
Jan. 29 Ark. W A pitiful first half balanced by a trademark UK spectacular 2nd half comeback. As bad as we had played initially, I was so proud of the boys for not folding. One thing I love about us, WE DON'T FOLD.
Feb. 1 Miss. St. W Boring but at least our fifth in a row
Feb. 4 @ UF L Before this game, I had just started a new job as a Banquet Manager, meaning I'd be working all day on Saturdays, and pretty late too. So I had to record the game, and pray that I could avoid hearing any drunk gator necks spew info about the game before I could get home to see it. I did, and stayed up really late watching the game, to be pretty dissapointed in the end. At least it was on the road.
Feb 7 UT L People thought we were right back where we started after the UF loss. I didn't think it was so bad. I really thought we'd pull this one out, and this was a great chance to beat a top ten team at home. This one hurt REALLY BAD.
Feb. 11 Vandy L Ok so we dropped two in a row, but to top ten teams. Vandy is usually the aspirin to our headaches, and I still don't see how we lost this one. I'd call this the absolute low, rock-bottom point of the season. At least Tubby, who was visually stunned himself, made some drastic changes that our play demanded, and let the Mickey D's get used to the pine.
Feb. 15-22 UGA, USC, Ole Miss W, W, W So it looks like Tub at least found some answers way down that bench. Thank you Brandon Stockton for waiting your turn and thank you Preston Lemaster for giving us a show against Ole Miss. USC was probably our most complete game of the year to that point
Feb 25 @LSU L This was a game that I said might be our toughest yet. I thought we had a great chance but would not be upset if we lost. I really think the last play (Sherray Thmoas) was overblown and over criticized. We played really well and came up a bit short. We still OWN LSU.
Mar. 1 @UT W Absolutely amazing battle, my vote for game of the year. I had no idea that these guys could shoot like they did in that second half. If we could have even approached those percentages the rest of the year we might have 5 more W's. Note to Bruce Pearl : billy packer will make an intelligent assessment before your team can hold our jocks in this leauge
Mar. 3 UF L Well......we beat UT !
So, as I'm getting a little tired of this post and if you're still awake to read this, I won't even get into the SEC and NCAA tourn. games. We all know what happened. I'll just leave it at "we got screwed with the 8 seed". Yeah we put ourselves in that spot with a few poor stretches through the season, but late in the year we were much better than that, and probably didn't deserve a potential 2nd round with Uconn. The team we put on the floor Sunday would have polished hardwood with most of the remaining field, but I'm not ready to complain about the the way the seeds are set up. Hopefully we don't have to worry about being an 8 or 9 for a long, long time (or ever again). I am taking from this season alot of comfort in the way we played down the stretch. Tub DID have us peaking in March, even if that peak was not quite high enough. We'll see what happens over the summer, watch some baseball, and I'll look to you guys for some talk when I start jonesing for some roundball. Thanks for reading.
Man, this has been such an incredibly different season. In my 20 years of dedicating myself to the team, I've never seen anything like it. I remember there being alot of promise...alot of final four predictions, etc. Living here in gainesville as I do it can be a bit overwhelming getting gator talk shoved down my throat and reading daily babble from resident Billy Dononvan rear-kisser/professional idiot Pat Dooley who I'm sure has been waiting years to see the big blue in this position. As I just discovered WCN mid-season, I've found that there are even a group of our own who have found in this year a maginfying glass for their anti-Tubby arguments. But with WCN, I've also found what I consider a VERY intelligent core group of individuals who respect the game, and can talk and analyze it with the best of them. You men and women are something I've missed here in gator country, where fans' "basketball knowledge" is pretty much non-existent. Fortunately the SEC TV coverage is good around here, and I got to see alot of Cats games; the rest I listened to online. So to continue this "year in review" post, I thought I'd sort of go through most of the games, and give you my thoughts about them, along with a few personal stories about them. I'd also like to invite any of you to quote a game or two and give your own story about it. Hey, what else you gonna do, watch the NIT ?
Nov. 21 Iowa L First game I saw on tv. Last season, I bought an open-box dvd recorder with a hard drive (like tivo) to record games. Of course best buy included the wrong remote and I couldn't use the thing until I had the right remote shipped from Japan which, no lie, took about 6 months. So after not using this machine for its intended purpose for about 11 months, I was real happy to record the Iowa game. Oh well, a 2-1 start isn't the worst thing in the world.
Nov. 22 West Va. W I'm really embarrassed. For the first time since we played NC St. on a sat. afternoon in 1985 when I was 9, I didn't realize there was a Kentucky basketball game this day. Had I paid more attention to the Guardians Classic schedule I may have known there was actually a consolation game, and that we were playing in the late afternoon that day. Stinks because I missed what would become our biggest win for a while at least.
Dec. 3 NC L Remember thinking that NC would blow baloons this year ? Such a tough loss at home but early season so not such a big deal
Dec. 10 IU L This was just embarrassing. But hey, they were hot, "probably would've beaten anyone", wasn't at home, early season, no Morris yet, move on.
Dec. 17 UL W Ok so UL turned out to be NIT junk, but still this was ABSOLUTELY huge. We were on fire at least in first half. I went to a buddy's graduation party that night and his roommates are all blue bleeders. It was awesome, we needed that game so bad...I took my dvd copy of the game over to watch but his player wouldn't work. Oh well we put down some Makers and were glad about that one for a while.
Dec. 23 Iona W On Festivus I was driving from gainesville to Louisville to visit my dad and family for the holidays. My girlfriend was flying up a few days later to meet me so on the drive it was just me and my dog. I was planning on stopping somewhere past chattanooga for the night but that insane ATL traffic put me back a bit. I called my girl and asked her to check online TV guide for Dalton and Chatt. She said it looked like the game was on in Dalton, so with tip-off coming soon I checked into a cheap motel and first thing surfed thru the channels and hell yeah, it was on ! Quickly I hit the close jiffy store for a six pack and enjoyed what turned out to be a pretty unimpressive performance from the Cats. Still a W is a W and I was just happy to see the boys after a long drive.
Dec. 30 Ohio W I WENT TO THE GAME ! First time I've seen them since they pulled it out in the O'dome in '04 after being down 10 w/ a few left. I bought tix for this game for my dad and stepmom for x-mas and we drove from Lou. to cincy barely in time to make the tip. We were way up in a corner of US Bank and there was this group of Bobcat losers two rows in front who were pissing everyone off the entire game with their high fiving, jumping, and general "unsportsmanlike conduct" as Ohio handed it to us most of the game. One UK guy in front of me actually stood up, put his hands on an ohio guy's shoulders, and PUSHED HIM DOWN into his seat because he couldn't see. A fight darn near broke out but I think mr. bobcat knew he was outnumbered by about 19-20 thousand. Anyway, when the Cats clawed back and took over in the last minutes, it was real fun to watch everyone in the section wave bye bye to that bunch of drunk losers as they wallowed and gave us loser one finger salutes. I think my dad said it best when he called to the drunkest one "hey, it's just another win for us".
Jan. 3 UCF W Ok I was back in Gainesville listening to this game on the net and not believing what I was hearing as UCF stormed back to make this a game, in Rupp of all places. Thank you RAJON! Will you guys now please practice or something.
Jan. 7 KU L Wow, I've never seen the Cats look that bad, including the IU game, including probation, including football. But still no Morris so we'll see what happens. Least it was in Lawrence. These high noon games are KILLING us.
Jan. 10 & 14 Vandy, Bama L, L MORRIS BACK., but still chemistry a major issue. Real tough time to be a fan, but I can't give up on this team yet
Jan.17 UGA W Wow. I've never been so happy to beat georgia. We needed that one bad and took a team by the throat like we should have. We are starting to show signs of being a TEAM
Jan. 21 & 24 USC, Auburn W, W USC a great win, especially since they had just beat florida. The Auburn game might have been the most boring UK game I've watched in a while
Jan. 29 Ark. W A pitiful first half balanced by a trademark UK spectacular 2nd half comeback. As bad as we had played initially, I was so proud of the boys for not folding. One thing I love about us, WE DON'T FOLD.
Feb. 1 Miss. St. W Boring but at least our fifth in a row
Feb. 4 @ UF L Before this game, I had just started a new job as a Banquet Manager, meaning I'd be working all day on Saturdays, and pretty late too. So I had to record the game, and pray that I could avoid hearing any drunk gator necks spew info about the game before I could get home to see it. I did, and stayed up really late watching the game, to be pretty dissapointed in the end. At least it was on the road.
Feb 7 UT L People thought we were right back where we started after the UF loss. I didn't think it was so bad. I really thought we'd pull this one out, and this was a great chance to beat a top ten team at home. This one hurt REALLY BAD.
Feb. 11 Vandy L Ok so we dropped two in a row, but to top ten teams. Vandy is usually the aspirin to our headaches, and I still don't see how we lost this one. I'd call this the absolute low, rock-bottom point of the season. At least Tubby, who was visually stunned himself, made some drastic changes that our play demanded, and let the Mickey D's get used to the pine.
Feb. 15-22 UGA, USC, Ole Miss W, W, W So it looks like Tub at least found some answers way down that bench. Thank you Brandon Stockton for waiting your turn and thank you Preston Lemaster for giving us a show against Ole Miss. USC was probably our most complete game of the year to that point
Feb 25 @LSU L This was a game that I said might be our toughest yet. I thought we had a great chance but would not be upset if we lost. I really think the last play (Sherray Thmoas) was overblown and over criticized. We played really well and came up a bit short. We still OWN LSU.
Mar. 1 @UT W Absolutely amazing battle, my vote for game of the year. I had no idea that these guys could shoot like they did in that second half. If we could have even approached those percentages the rest of the year we might have 5 more W's. Note to Bruce Pearl : billy packer will make an intelligent assessment before your team can hold our jocks in this leauge
Mar. 3 UF L Well......we beat UT !
So, as I'm getting a little tired of this post and if you're still awake to read this, I won't even get into the SEC and NCAA tourn. games. We all know what happened. I'll just leave it at "we got screwed with the 8 seed". Yeah we put ourselves in that spot with a few poor stretches through the season, but late in the year we were much better than that, and probably didn't deserve a potential 2nd round with Uconn. The team we put on the floor Sunday would have polished hardwood with most of the remaining field, but I'm not ready to complain about the the way the seeds are set up. Hopefully we don't have to worry about being an 8 or 9 for a long, long time (or ever again). I am taking from this season alot of comfort in the way we played down the stretch. Tub DID have us peaking in March, even if that peak was not quite high enough. We'll see what happens over the summer, watch some baseball, and I'll look to you guys for some talk when I start jonesing for some roundball. Thanks for reading.