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The High Court |
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Deep Thinkers Only... |
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The Truth About ‘Cats |
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February 12, 2007
From the desk of The Chief Justice...
It’s probably fair to assume that by the time the Florida Gators had pushed their lead over the Kentucky Wildcats to 30-14 Saturday night, message boards dedicated to the Big Blue were crashing as Big Blue Nation gave Tubby Smith another cyber-lashing. It’s probably even fair to assume that for the legion of Smith critics out there it was a bittersweet perfect storm. Sure, their beloved ‘Cats were getting swamped again by the Gators, but here was a nationally-televised infomercial for why Tubby had to go. Florida came into storied Rupp Arena as the #1 team in the land (a perch that only the regal ‘Cats should occupy), and on an even more galling note, as the defending NCAA champions (a title only the ‘Cats should hold). And worst of all, these football-addled Gators were on their way to beating Kentucky for the fifth straight time (something that should never happen to the ‘Cats…and certainly not every 30 years). No doubt about it: If the UK administration needed proof that Tubby Smith needed to go, this was it…
I have a good friend who happens to be among those that want to see Tubby run out of Lexington, and part of his argument points to the fact that UK is on the verge of its longest Final Four dry spell in team history. Kentucky, he argues, is not a program where twenty-plus wins and an NCAA tournament berth are acceptable. Kentucky, he states with conviction, is a program where nothing less than Final Four appearances and championships should be delivered. This is how it has always been, this is how it should be, he claims. Except…that isn’t always how it’s been…
I mentioned the record-tying dry spell on Final Four appearances that Coach Smith is currently in the midst of earlier. What Tubby’s critics won’t tell you is that the program has endured Final Four droughts of eight years twice before. The most recent occurrence was after Kentucky’s 1984 trip to the Final Four in Seattle (when they fell to Patrick Ewing and the Hoya Destroyas in the semis…shooting 9% in the second half), a dry spell finally ended by Rick Pitino’s squad that was led by Jamal Mashburn and Travis Ford (losers in the semis to Michigan’s Fab Five). That drought came during the end of the Joe B. Hall era and through the ignominious Eddie Sutton years…and if it hadn’t been for Christian Laettner, Pitino’s Unforgettables would have stopped the streak a year earlier.
But that was just Kentucky’s second eight-year wait for the Final Four. The first began following Kentucky’s national championship loss to Texas Western, and six of those eight years came under the direction of the legendary Adolph Rupp. That was not, however, the longest Final Four drought of Rupp’s career either, as he went seven years between appearances after his fourth and final championship in 1958. The reality is, Coach Rupp only reached one Final Four in the last fourteen years of his career, and he did not claim another national title. In fact, UK would go twenty years without an NCAA championship, breaking through when Joe B. Hall’s squad toppled Duke behind the scintillating shooting of Goose Givens. That two-decade span is still the longest Kentucky has gone without a basketball title since the inception of the NCAA tournament, and the biggest part of that run came under the leadership of one of the great coaching icons in history.
For all of those that would criticize Tubby Smith because he is somehow failing to live up to the expectations and storied history of Kentucky basketball, I would suggest that you check your facts. At the moment, Smith is in his tenth season at the University of Kentucky. During his tenure, his winning percentage stands at right around 77 percent, with one national title. In the last ten years of Rupp’s career at the University of Kentucky, his winning percentage was right around 76 percent (206-65), with zero national championships. More importantly for those who get their undergarments in a twist when they see Kentucky log a 22-13 record, during the 1960’s, Rupp compiled records of 16-9, 15-10, and 13-13 (including an 8-10 mark in SEC play). But did that mean the man should be run out of town or that he could no longer coach? No. He finished his career by putting together marks of 22-5, 23-5, 26-2, 22-6, and 21-7. But still there were no Final Fours. It would seem getting there is tough, even for a legend.
What’s my point? Just this: Kentucky’s basketball heritage, while proud and worthy of great admiration, isn’t exactly what popular myth would make it out to be. There have been rough patches, and there has been plenty of admirable competition for the throne…just not nearly as much as Tubby Smith has to deal with today. Consider…at the height of his powers, Rupp won back-to-back titles and three titles in four years (helped by the REAL Fab Five, the Fabulous Five) and an Olympic gold medal to boot (’48, ’49, and ’51). But as much as Rupp’s Kentucky teams were dynastic, they certainly had plenty of company in the era. Henry Iba’s Oklahoma State teams were the first to win consecutive championships, behind the massive Bob Kurland, in 1945 and 1946. San Francisco, behind Bill Russell, would also turn the trick in ’55 and ’56. Along with Kentucky’s dominance, that gives you three multiple championship winners within a decade’s time. It speaks volumes about the lack of depth in the game at the time. And the most dominant teams were yet to come.
After UK’s fourth title in ’58, Cincinnati would appear in FIVE STRAIGHT Final Fours, from 1959 through 1963, winning back-to back in ’61 and ’62 and losing the ’63 title game to Loyola of Chicago (doing so, amazingly, after Oscar Robertson graduated). Their in-state rivals, the Ohio State Buckeyes, were similarly dominant, also appearing in three straight championship tilts. OSU was victorious in 1960 (behind Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek, and some fellow named Bobby Knight), but succumbed to Cincinnati the following two season. All of that action set the stage for the most dominant program in NCAA history, UCLA. John Wooden’s Bruins won the ’64 and ’65 titles, and then ripped off seven straight championships following Texas Western’s ’66 upset of Kentucky. The Wizard would have to wait one more year for his tenth title, as NC State took home the trophy in 1974. But in 1975, Wooden would retire with his tenth title in twelve years, with…fittingly perhaps…a win over the Kentucky Wildcats.
Yes, Kentucky’s 1,944 wins makes it the country’s leader in all-time wins. And yes, the ‘Cats seven national titles are second only to UCLA’s eleven. But much of that so-called dominance was established when the rest of the country wasn’t interested in basketball and the game was almost completely populated by white players. No disrespect is intended towards the great Rupp; he was a remarkable innovator and he simply dominated the competition in front of him. But the South in particular was football country, and few of his SEC brethren cared anything about what their basketball program was doing. Because of his brilliance, and because the game remained white on white for so long, he was easily able to build Kentucky into a superpower.
In case you haven’t noticed, however, things have changed. How deep is the game now? This deep: since UCLA won back-to-back titles in 1972 and 1973, only once has a program followed one championship with another. Duke turned the trick in 1991 and 1992. But in the 33 years since Bill Walton led UCLA to consecutive wins, there have been 32 different national champions. When Rupp was busy winning his four national titles in eleven years, his last title capped the first twenty years of the tournament. How many champions in that span? Only 14. It was simply a different time.
Bill Russell’s San Francisco teams signaled the beginning of change, as the African-American basketball player changed the landscape of the game, and not just in terms of talent. The integration of basketball provided the game with more depth, and it eventually spread the wealth across the country. By the mid-1970’s it was no longer possible for one or two programs to rule the game with an iron fist. Where once a handful of teams had a chance at the title at the beginning of a season, now 20 to 25 teams can consider themselves legitimate contenders at the start of every year.
When considering the Baron’s success, it is also key to remember that it was at the same time easier and more difficult to win the tournament. It was more difficult because only one team per conference got into the Not-So-Big Dance. But it was easier once you got in; because of the smaller fields (the tournament began with eight teams in 1939, expanded to 16 teams in 1951, and moved to 24 teams in 1953…the largest field Rupp would ever face). Rupp only had to win three games to win his first two titles; the next two required four each. Today, three wins would only get you to a regional final.
Sadly for Tubby, though, I don’t really believe it is the mythology of the Man in the Brown Suit that he has to run from. It’s the legend of the Man in the Armani Suit that gives him fits. Tubby doesn’t have Pitino’s .814 winning percentage. He doesn’t play Pitino’s aesthetically pleasing full-court basketball. He doesn’t have Pitino’s salesman’s way with the media and the public. And he doesn’t have the built-in capital of having resurrected Kentucky basketball and restored it to its rightful place above all in the college basketball universe. Let’s face it: Pitino was fabulous. He was an overtime loss to Arizona away from making Kentucky the last team to win back-to-back championships, and had he stayed around for Smith’s title in ’98, he might well have had three in a row, something that would have given him only Wooden for historical company. But he didn’t stay, did he?
Pitino walked, bombed in Boston, and came rolling back to the Bluegrass to replace Denny Crum. And you know what? He’s on the verge of making Louisville a regular in the National Invitational Tournament. None of that diminishes Pitino’s brilliance as a basketball coach, of course, nor does it tarnish what he accomplished at Kentucky. What he accomplished was, frankly, nothing short of astounding. He was able to rebuild the probation-riddled program almost immediately, and that he delivered the program three Final Fours (and almost a fourth) and a championship (and set the foundation for another) in his relatively-brief time at Kentucky is nothing short of incredible. And it is likely the standard that he set, and not Rupp, that my buddy and thousands of other Kentucky fans expect the Wildcats to meet every year.
It’s not going to happen. It’s just not. Could another coach come in and be more successful than Tubby Smith. Sure. Somebody could. But what they would have an easier time doing is being whiter, being more engaging with the public and press, and running a system that was more fun to watch and more fun to play in, which just might result in better recruits. Maybe another coach could do all that. Maybe Rick Pitino could be begged back. Or maybe his younger clone, Mr. Donovan, could be convinced to leave his growing powerhouse in Gainesville. But why? Because Kentucky fans are too impatient to ask anything other than what have you done for us lately? Or because they are too arrogant to realize that other programs can play this game too?
If you don’t like Tubby Smith, that’s OK. If you want another coach, that’s OK, too. But don’t hang it on the fact that Tubby Smith can’t coach. The man can absolutely coach. He won a national championship, and I don’t want to hear anything about him having coached Pitino’s players. Pitino’s been coaching his players for years; he has one title, too. He’s coaching his players now, and they are only on the brink of back-to-back NIT trips. And as for Donovan…yes, Billy D has done a phenomenal job at Florida. But the man wins one national title, and all of a sudden, he’s the greatest coach in the land. Anybody remember his slew of early round flameouts? Or how many mega-talents fled Florida early? Miller. Harvey. Kwame Brown never got to campus. The Christian Drejer debacle. Roberson. Walsh. Donovan just happened to put together the right group of kids, and those kids are just as responsible for that championship as their head coach. Will Billy D be the same brilliant coach without his Oh-Fours? Only time will tell. I guess he’ll know that he’s built a dynasty when his fans snipe at him for anything less than a Final Four berth. Apparently, that’s when you know you have tradition…
My own favorite coach in the country is a fellow by the name of John Beilein. I love the way his West Virginia clubs operate on offense, and he has made a career out of building very good basketball teams out of whatever personnel he had at his disposal. But I wouldn’t rather have Beilein than Tubby Smith. Why? Because Beilein isn’t better, he’s just different. Both men are great coaches. And Tubby Smith has built up a certain capital with me, because he’s a man of character and integrity, and mostly because he has gone about the business of trying to make Kentucky basketball great all while his fan base has mostly gone about tearing him down.
As examination of the career arc of Adolph Rupp illustrates, great coaches don’t always have great records. Not even at great programs (Mike Krzyzewski has lost four straight. Maybe Duke should fire him…). Why? Because other people are trying to win, too. That’s where the arrogance of the Kentucky fan comes in. Oh, WE aren’t winning? It must be our coach’s fault. The college basketball landscape just isn’t what it was in the early days of Kentucky’s dominance. Heck, it isn’t even the same as it was during Pitino’s run of dominance. There is a good chance every single night that your team could be beaten on a hoop by a Croatian or a Lithuanian or the child of a Swedish beauty queen and a French tennis star with African heritage. It used to be that the most exotic locale an opponent would hail from was somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon. The addition of black athletes in the late 1950’s and 1960’s and the influx of global talent in the last ten to fifteen years have balanced the scales in college hoops in a way that gives almost everybody a chance to be good. But it could never be that another program (or programs) is doing an excellent job. Just blame the coach. That’s the easy way.
Such, I suppose, is the dark side of the great passion that Kentucky fans have for their basketball program. And it is true: There isn’t another college hoops fan base in the country more passionate about their ballclub than UK fans are about their ‘Cats. But it’s time to wake up and realize that you have a good man and a great coach leading that program. It’s time to support the man and appreciate him, because the reality is this: the next guy might not be better.
But what do I know? I’m the same guy that thought you should keep Rich Brooks…
Contact The Chief Justice at chiefjustice@thehighcourtofsports.com.
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