What is wrong with Kentucky?

Oh Tom.... what have they put in your Kool-Aid? Sanders a good OC? A good HC?

I thought I would faint when I read such a statement from a normally reasonable man...

 

I'll post my evidence when I'm feeling better tomorrow. Gallbladder issues.

 

UK down the road from here visiting Pete's Palace against that upstart Bayou Bengal team this weekend...i LOVE IT! Geaux Tigers!!!

 

Yep, we get LSU on the road today; the first of 3 very tough games to end the regular season. The good news is I get this game on HDTV today. The bad news may be the outcome, but lets hope not.

 

We need you guys to beat LSU so we can run the table and win the SEC regular season outright

 

Uh, I believe the last two posts did not get the outcome desired!
Ed

 

LSU wins, Vols lose...and the Bayou Bengals are the least respected and appreciated 20 win team in the country. Maybe beating UK will FINALLY get us into the top 20.

 

oh yeah...Geaux Tigers!

 

TomVols,

Thanks. Its a wonderful little town we have here. Really a "classic" small town. A college town, very pretty. I live 2 blocks from the college and one block from the downtown buisiness district.

And we manage to be a tourist attraction without losing the "realness" that some other places have lost.

I've driven through Knoxville several times and it looks like a great place to live.

And when I drive through on the interstate and look over at the football stadium right there on the river I cant imagine a more beautiful place for college football in the fall.

Who are the pastors you know here in Berea?

Mike

 

TomVols,

The Cardinals have just been so pitiful this year. They have no chance at the NCAA tourney. If they make the Big East tournament they will be coming home the next day.

Pitino hasnt lost his touch in the least, last years Final 4 proved it, but we are just too young and have had too many injuries.

Look out next year, though!

I think they will get in if they win one of the next two. If they lose them both they are out.(unless they are spectacular in the SEC tounament)

But this team I believe has some internal problems. I've heard some things from people who I think probably arent exagerating things. Nothing as bad as "team turmoil" from a few years ago, but some issues.

Pitino has already said they will turn down an NIT bid. He said it was injuries, but I wouldnt be surprised if he wanted to send a message to his players...

"We are LOUISVILLE. We go the the NCAA or we go nowhere."

I think Kentucky should have that attitude as well. Turn it down.

IF they both went, and IF they ended up playing each other it would be a huge game.

Around here Louisville-Kentucky is just like Duke-North Carolina in basketball or Ohio St-Michigan in football.

Mike

 

I know the UK-U of L rivalry well. I spent ten years in the state, 4 of which in Louisville, and have lived surrounded by UK fans my whole life. My whole life has been spent living in places near the border of Kentucky.

No one is going to turn down an NIT bid for one reason....$$$$$$$$$$$$. Bobby Cremins was one of the last, if not the last, to do it at Georgia Tech. But that was Cremins being Cremins. He felt shafted by the NCAA and said let someone else that got shafted go to the NIT in their place.

LSU is definitely one of the most under-rated teams in the nation. I can't believe that the Vols blew them out last year. LSU was far superior. The Vols folded down the stretch against Arkansas and have handed the Tigers an easy way to lock up the regular season crown. LSU will have a tough game tonight at Columbia against the Gamecocks. Tennessee plays Kentucky tomorrow night at home.
Contrary to popular belief, I believe Kentucky is in regardless of what they do here on in, unless some wild upsets happen and some non-tourney teams win their conference tournaments. It's the Golden Spoon thing - UK is in. But I don't want a win over my Vols being the capper

 

According to the Knoxville News-Sentinel, an agreement in principle should be finalized by the end of the SEC tournament that will pay Bruce Pearl somewhere between $1.1 and $1.5 million per year. The number of years extension is not known. He will get a bonus of just under $50,000 for his SEC Eastern division title to go with his $800,000+ salary for this year. Pearl will likely pass Bama's Mark Gottfried, who comes in at $1 million, and will be behind only Florida's Billy Donovan ($1.7 Million) and Kentucky's Tubby Smith (around $2 million).

Pearl has told The Tennesseean (Nashville's newspaper) that he and his family are committed to staying at Tennessee.

 

Hey Kentucky fans....Rick Pitino was recently quoted as saying [Kentucky fans] "aren't happy unless they're unhappy."

Your reaction?

 

Ha ha!

I'm one of a rare breed...I pull for the Cardinals and the Wildcats both. I'm more of a Lousville fan because I was raised there, but I really do pull for both.

When I was growing up we pulled for Louisville when they were playing, and Kentucky when they played. I've been to many home games by both teams, both basketball and football.

So I'm really in a unique position regarding Pitino.(Most UK fans just LOATH him now) I loved him at Kentucky, was disapointed when he left, and hoped he'd come back to Kentucky. Then I was thrilled when he came back to...Louisville!

Pitino makes all these statements about UK and their fans and I'm not really sure how he means them. He says he means it affectionatly, he admits he loved his time in Lexington, and is just "ribbing" them regarding their zealousness.

But somethimes I think there might be more to it. I'm not sure about that, but I just wonder. Those of you who arent here in Kentucky probably dont know, but when he made his 1st return to Rupp arena again after leaving...as Louisvilles coach...the negative reaction seemed to go beyond the norm.

It was pretty nasty.

Some oif the signs where about his wife. And some compared him to a terrorist, which is really pretty thoughtless considering Pitinos best friend and brother in law was killed a year earlier in the 9-11 attack.

Some feel that that hurt Pitino very deeply.

I do know that he is still very close with many players and others from the program while he was at Kentucky. His UK players are still very loyal to him and where overwhelmingly in favor of his taking the Louisville job.

So, I dont know exactly how to take Pitinos occasioanl "digs" at UK fans. Every time one is given on TV he is smiling and laughing a bit about it, so I tend to think he is just engaging in some good natured ribbing.

Mike

 

That comment does apply to some of the fans at every major program. I know the Vols have their "Legions of the Miserable" as Johnny Majors once called them. These are the folks that got Randy Sanders fired.

Thing about Pitino is most of the UK fans I know hated him. He wasn't a UK boy. He didn't play at UK, wasn't from Kentucky, had no Rupp connection whatsoever. They rejoiced when he resigned to go to Boston. These same fans shrieked when they hired an African-American as coach.

I think some UK fans are like Bama football fans. They want an ex-coach to come back from the dead and then they'll be happy.

 

UK UK UK UK UK

Enjoy the link below:
http://www.uky.edu/FineArts/Music/Bands/WMB/on-on.mp3

We are now officially in the big dance and will cause some trouble for teams and rest assured that no team wants to meet these cats...

 

Most true UK fans could care less that Tubby is black. All they want is someone to play KY basketball and win...