What happened???

[WeWant9]

Sorry for the confusion. RR really pissed me off because I wanted and tried to register, but I kept getting a notification saying I'd have to pay something like $8.95 per month just to register for an account so that I could post comments in their online forus.

What???!!??!!!

That enraged me, so I never bothered....but unfortunately, that place was much more active than here.....so I'd lurk both places for the best and latest info.... because I like to stay up to date on things.

My fear is that a lot of people who were grandfathered in over there may have been told they'd have to start paying, so they looked for other alternatives and ended up coming over here.....have now returned over there for whatever reason. Maybe they ended up scrapping their pay model. Maybe they decided to continue letting those grandfathered in remain without having to pay. I don't know...but it sure seems like we got a hell of a nice boost in traffic here.....only to lose most of it when this site went down about a month ago.

Rafters is free to post on, HOB requires you to pay to read and post. It’ll be interesting to see the different places once bball tips off. I was on rafters since 14, but have no desire to start posting there again.

[KentuckyWild2020]

LOL....I guess old habits are hard to break. You were complaining about Tubby 16, 17 years ago.... and you're STILL complaining about Tubby! LOL...I was ready for him to go, that's for sure...but I never hated the man. Matter of fact, I used to tell people that I'd like to see him removed as the head basketball coach but given the AD position that Barnhardt has. Kind of like when C.M. Newton left coaching at Vandy to take the AD position at UK I hope that in 16 or 17 years I don't hate Cal the way I do now....but I can't make any promises. I didn't like Tubby's recruiting or style of play, but I never questioned if he wanted to win or cared about the state of the program, the fans, and it's tradition. With Cal, I have all of those concerns because Cal proved that he was all about Cal and would raise a middle finger to the fans, boosters, alumni, etc.

I don't hate Tubby at all. I just assumed he was hired to carry on Rick Pitino style basketball. After Rick's guys had come and gone, Tubby was determined to do it his way and I don't think that is what most people wanted in my opinion.

Still, 17 down with 9 to go against DUKE in the NCAA tournament, Tubby was as good as anyone in the game on that particular day in my opinion. He absolutely called the right shots and navigated the team to a comeback win on that day.

[SportsFan]

I don't hate Tubby at all. I just assumed he was hired to carry on Rick Pitino style basketball. After Rick's guys had come and gone, Tubby was determined to do it his way and I don't think that is what most people wanted in my opinion.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you hated Tubby...it was merely saying I was ready for him to go but that I didn't hate him, unlike Cal...who I do have a bit of hatred for. I don't think Tubby harmed or would harm the program intentionally...where as Cal did and didn't care. When he was called out on some of the crap he was doing he'd get defensive and start insulting anyone questioning him and have them banned or personally blackball them if they didn't worship the ground he walked on.... just ask Jeff Goodman.

Still, 17 down with 9 to go against DUKE in the NCAA tournament, Tubby was as good as anyone in the game on that particular day in my opinion. He absolutely called the right shots and navigated the team to a comeback win on that day.

Agreed. One of the best coaching jobs I've ever seen, not just in college basketball but sports in general. I still think of Billy Packer laughing and praising Tubby for not calling a timeout when Coach K was out of timeouts and was hoping Tubby would call one! LOL...Packer, who is by no means whatsoever a Kentucky fan, was praising Tubby for how he handled that situation.

[40bill]

Tubby had one glaring weakness and he openly admitted it. He hated recruiting.
as far as an x and o coach he was one of tge best i have ever seen.

[blueheretic]

That lack of recruiting ability led to teams that always had at least one glaring hole or weakness which led to those Elite 8 losses.

How many fans of how many teams would have loved to have had that problem, though. lol

Hilarious if you think about it.

I straight "hated" on TLT as much as anyone could have in his last few years. That said, you can't argue with this record. Looking back, of course.


Key NCAA tournament highlights at Kentucky:

• 1998 NCAA Championship:
  In his first season as head coach, Smith guided the "Comeback Cats" to Kentucky's seventh NCAA championship.

• Sweet Sixteens:
  He led the Wildcats to the Sweet Sixteen in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005.
• Elite Eights:
  Smith's teams also made it to the Elite Eight in 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2005.
• Ten Consecutive Tournaments:
  Smith took Kentucky to the NCAA Tournament in each of his 10 seasons, an impressive feat.

Tubby never lost in the first round and was never relegated to the NIT.


Serious question?

How in the heck did Gillispie win SEC Coach of the Year? lol



What in the name of all that is unholy were they thinking?

[blueheretic]

Hate that Prince and Bogans never made a Final Four.

And my boy, Cliff Hawkins, as well.

Hawkins is one of my fave players of the Tubby era.

[Jload]

Tubby was lazy. Recruiting in his era was the lifeblood of a program and he quit doing it. His unwillingness to recruit a big time point guard during Sauls tenure was coaching malpractice. The numerous disciplinary problems with players was also a symptom of his laziness. Who else that has coached at UK that had to land the team plane( in Knoxville no less) because of a brawl amoung players midflight. He was looking and negotiating for a new job in DECEMBER of his last year at UK because he didn't want to deal with the pressure and the workload of a premier basketball program. I could go on but I'll stop there. Good riddance.

[blueheretic]

I don't think it was Tubby's unwillingness.

Everything that I remember is Point Guards refusing to come because they knew/felt that Tubby would give his son all of the PT.

Catch 22

[blueheretic]

Has a father putting his son on a team he has coached ever worked out.

Even Brad Calipari served to distract. That tattoo. Laughable. Hilarious. A kid to whom everything is given gets a tat that says "Earned not Given". LMAO

I think the Sutton father/son team up may have worked until son was hired to replace coach at OK St. I might be wrong about that, though.

[SportsFan]

Hate that Prince and Bogans never made a Final Four.

And my boy, Cliff Hawkins, as well.

Hawkins is one of my fave players of the Tubby era.

Agreed. I'm on record saying that Cal more or less "lost me" after the Wisconsin loss in 2015.... well, Tubby more or less did the same with the 2004 loss to UAB in the second round of March Madness. No way that team, a #1 seed, should have lost to UAB. The difference is....I think the university knew that a change probably needed to be made with Tubby, which is why he only lasted 3 years after that loss. Unfortunately, Cal was actually given a "lifetime contract" 4 years after the Wisconsin oss and ended up lasting NINE freaking years after his loss!

[BlueHeaven]

Tubby was lazy. Recruiting in his era was the lifeblood of a program and he quit doing it. His unwillingness to recruit a big time point guard during Sauls tenure was coaching malpractice. The numerous disciplinary problems with players was also a symptom of his laziness. Who else that has coached at UK that had to land the team plane( in Knoxville no less) because of a brawl amoung players midflight. He was looking and negotiating for a new job in DECEMBER of his last year at UK because he didn't want to deal with the pressure and the workload of a premier basketball program. I could go on but I'll stop there. Good riddance.

To me, the nail in Tubby's coffin came at a time when a reporter questioned him about the quality of players he was signing. Tubby's response was something to the effect of he didn't have to sell Kentucky because Kentucky sells itself. He wasn't around much longer after that. He was a good x and o's coach. I always said that if Cal had the coaching acumen of Tubby we would've had a few more Titles for sure.

[blueheretic]

To me, the nail in Tubby's coffin came at a time when a reporter questioned him about the quality of players he was signing. Tubby's response was something to the effect of he didn't have to sell Kentucky because Kentucky sells itself. He wasn't around much longer after that. He was a good x and o's coach. I always said that if Cal had the coaching acumen of Tubby we would've had a few more Titles for sure.

Knew Tubby would never make it to a Final Four after the Elite 8 loss to Tom Izzo.

Seems like Izzo always had Tubby's number.

Knew Cal would never make it back to a Final Four during that meltdown against Wisconsin. Called it then. People told me I was nuts. lol I didn't care. Once Cal started playing to not lose instead of to win, it was all over.

[Mr.Nezzer]

To chime in on the original post, I hadn't beenn on a board in about 3-4 years. Before that I was a regular/Mod/Admin on a board no longer in existence . Also back then I had a job that "allowed" time to get on the board ....alot...then things change
Once Pope got hired, got the itch again to chat. Tried X...that was a mistake . Searched for a free board and WN seemed good.
My issue is...I'll post then not check back for a couple of weeks. I haven't found anything inherently with the forum or the posters here..seemed about as good as my last board...

Anyway that's my 2 cents

[blueheretic]

This is a good board with a lot of good people.

My opinion. There were some drama queens who thought they were special. Those drama queens decided that since no one would take their drama seriously and validate their feelings, they would step away and, THEN, take on a surrogate to take up their cause instead of having the intestinal fortitude to actually be a human being and discuss the issue.

State your case. Openly. Don't hide out in closed forums that you create to whine about this and that.

Either you're right or you're wrong.

Then we had a couple of people who stepped away because they didn't like the drama of the drama queens being called out on their drama.

[Cat9Lives]

This board will be very busy come basketball season. We’ll all get in the groove of being here together - long time posters and us newbies from RR