Well, that's another coach run out of town. We took too long to fire Tubby, and I have to say I think they fired Billy Clyde Gillispie a little too quickly. Yeah, I've heard all the rumors that his drinking was heavier than anyone realized, and that he liked to chase the co-eds a little too much, but I think everyone knew that about him at Texas A&M, too. The problem with Billy is that A) he was too stubborn to adapt his system to fit the personnel he had, B) he played Michael Porter 30 minutes a game when Michael Porter is completely awful instead of taking his lumps with DeAndre Liggins, C) he never signed his contract, and D) he was too prickly with the media.

Alan Cutler, the guy chasing poor Billy Clyde around in the video above, is a complete ass-hat. That goes without saying. However, Billy's treatment of Jeannine Edwards on national TV was also complete ass-hattery, and totally beyond the pale for a college basketball coach. Not just as Kentucky; wherever you coach, you need to represent your school with class and that's not exactly classy behavior.

That's kind of the whole problem with the situation. Billy's personality isn't cut out for Lexington. It's okay to be a prickly borderline alcoholic asshole when you win and stay off probation (Hi, Eddie Sutton, are you dead yet?), but when you're losing and having public pissing contests with the girl from ESPN, throwing your players under the bus like your name is Greyhound, and not actually under contract? Whole other scenario.

Like when Tubby left, I've got no hard feelings towards Billy. I hope the kids he recruited come to UK and I really hope the next coach (John Calipari?) can get the team back on the right track. This is a fan base that, admittedly, has been spoiled by the years of success we had under Rick Pitino and all our other coaches. But when ESPN calls North Carolina the greatest college basketball program EVER, I take serious offense. Kentucky has the most wins all time (or had, UNC might have caught up this year) and second most national titles of all time. When you're talking greatest college hoops programs it's Kentucky, UCLA, and then UNC.

UK is a basketball school in a basketball state. If you can't win with class, you don't belong here. Bring on Pitino Jr.

03/28/09 | Posted by Ron | Category NCAA Basketball 42 comments | Permalink | No Trackbacks |

March Madness is in full swing here at Sports Bastards World Headquarters, and I've watched so much basketball over the past two weeks that I'm now seeing Dick Vitale in my nightmares. While that's pretty bad, at least I'm no longer having sex dreams about Lesley Visser, so all in all I'd call it a win. Anyway, nightmare fuel aside, how was your first day?

Because of general laziness on Jaime's part (I blame her for this because she's the one who usually puts together all the SB fantasy sports competitions), we don't have a March Madness contest this year. I know our reader is very disappointed, but in lieu of gloating updates about how awesome I am and predicting the bounce patterns of a brown rubber ball versus the other writers here, I'll just share my bracket directly with you.

Here's my bracket, cleverly titled Death to the Big 10. I don't actually hate the Big 10 (well, not the basketball Big 10). I can appreciate a hoops league where a 60-54 win is a Phoenix Suns-style barn burner just as much as the next insomniac who needs something to put him to bed. When Tubby Smith is your breath of fresh air, your league is boring as hell. But this isn't about Tubby; this is about me going 13/16 on my first day and how I overthink the opening rounds of this tournament.

If I hadn't changed the ones I did, I would've gone 16/16. ESPN overrates the major conference powers, and I overrate the mid-majors. Guess I love upsets too much.

03/20/09 | Posted by Ron | Category NCAA Basketball 25 comments | Permalink | No Trackbacks |