Realism vs. Optimism after Black Saturday
Hard as it seems, it may have been easier to stomach Kentucky's humiliating blowout loss to arch-rival Indiana in early December, if only because it was to a probable Big Ten contender in Indianapolis in early December.
By contrast, Saturday's 73-46 obliteration at the hands of a talented, but decidedly mediocre, Kansas team was a hard dose of reality for both the diehard fans and, even moreso it would appear, to a Wildcats team still searching for its soul.
With Randolph Morris returning for Tuesday's SEC opener at home against Vanderbilt, such a lopsided whipping opened eyes across the country, and not just among UK fans. The media, already convinced Kentucky was only the 19th best squad in the land, have been relatively tame in their assessment of this year's edition thus far, eschewing the urge to stick the knife in a little deeper and taking a wait-and-see approach with a Morris-led Cats.
That's where the reality sets in.
Unless Morris has a hidden passion yet unseen with which to motivate his teammates, it won't matter all that much whether he's improved or not through his tumultuous ordeal. Despite the kneejerk reactions of a few overzealous, negative fans, talent alone is not the issue with this year's team.
With three McDonald's All-Americans in the probable starting lineup, a former All-SEC performer in Patrick Sparks and several top 100-rated recruits in guys like Ramel Bradley, Bobby Perry and Rekalin Sims (JUCO), there is more than enough in the cupboard for a tasty Final Four stew. While in hindsight Tubby's two-headed project The WooShag has not progressed as hoped after 2 1/2 seasons, role players are role players and despite the protestations of those fans who seem to recall an era in which Kentucky had top 10 players three deep across the board (never happened, folks), every team needs glue guys who don't need the limelight.
That said, what therefore shocked and awed Big Blue Nation on Saturday was the lack of enthusiasm and effort displayed by the Cats. Beaten off the dribble, beaten to the ball, beaten in the lane, beaten on the glass ... beaten. The reason this amazed folks so much? It never happens to Tubby coached teams.
It did happen to Pitino teams from time to time, where the shots didn't fall and the press didn't work and thus the rest was academic. However, one of the positives to the Tubby Smith system is that -- in theory -- even if the offense is offensive, the defense and hustle keep you close until a few key shots fall. To wit, a 20-win season out of a transfer-depleted Jamaal Magliore/Tayshaun Prince team that may be the least talented UK team in 20 years (again, this year's team has talent, even if it is not showing).
"It disappoints me that we did not defend very well," Tubby said after Saturday's loss. "Not scoring is one thing. When you don't defend at the other end (his voice trailed off).
But right now the talk shows, water coolers and message boards are aflutter with self-proclaimed "realists." According to this view, the realist looks at this team and sees nothing but the negative -- no talent, no coaching, no future. The realist, if ascribing to this theory, cannot see potential growth because there is no seed to grow. According to this view, a realist is focused only on what cannot happen, seeing all that is not there.
Or better, perhaps, to say that the "realist" fan opposes in this imagined universe the optimist, the Kool-Aid drinker, the "blue tinted" glasses/blindered fan who sees nothing but hope in the face of pain, who sees Tubby winning, not losing, in the end. A bit overhappy and unrealistic, perhaps. OK, for sure. But a realist is not a pessimist. A pessimist opposes an optimist, refusing to see anything but what cannot, even will not, happen.
By its nature, a realist clearly sees Reality. Reality dictates that there are talented, if underperforming, players here. Reality dictates that this coach has a national championship -- something only 10* other active coaches can say (* if you count Steve Fisher). Reality dictates that a post presence traditionally gives shooters more room to breathe, that a motivated Tubby Smith has produced a 26-game win streak, that one win can change a team's fate (Vandy, 2003).
The pessimist cannot see these things because they attest to the power of faith and hope in a fan, and a pessimist has neither of these. A realist, therefore, deals in truth, in precendent, in the known. Missing the NCAA tournament? Less than 20 wins? lower than a 5 seed in March? Tubby's history at UK offers none of these things, and therefore it is the pessimist who renders them not only possible, but likely.
One myth that really must end is the idea that subjective opinion can be equated with truth, even if it seems consistent with reality. Opinion is never truth. Opinion can be proven prescient, sure, but cannot be truth. Opinion, like anything subjective, requires context and nuance, whereas truth lives in fact. And any concept of the Kentucky program sliding off the map, becoming a "midmajor" team, losing its luster with recruits, is not fact. It is opinion, which anyone is certainly entitled to.
Despite the immense job facing Tubby Smith, and the huge task he and his team face of turning around a team in the proverbial wilderness, the UK fanbase should dispel itself of the idea that heated opinion and subjective observation in the immediacy of an embrassing defeat on national television is the same as truth and fact.
It's not. Despite what that caller from Radcliffe or the message board poster from Lexington may say.
By contrast, Saturday's 73-46 obliteration at the hands of a talented, but decidedly mediocre, Kansas team was a hard dose of reality for both the diehard fans and, even moreso it would appear, to a Wildcats team still searching for its soul.
With Randolph Morris returning for Tuesday's SEC opener at home against Vanderbilt, such a lopsided whipping opened eyes across the country, and not just among UK fans. The media, already convinced Kentucky was only the 19th best squad in the land, have been relatively tame in their assessment of this year's edition thus far, eschewing the urge to stick the knife in a little deeper and taking a wait-and-see approach with a Morris-led Cats.
That's where the reality sets in.
Unless Morris has a hidden passion yet unseen with which to motivate his teammates, it won't matter all that much whether he's improved or not through his tumultuous ordeal. Despite the kneejerk reactions of a few overzealous, negative fans, talent alone is not the issue with this year's team.
With three McDonald's All-Americans in the probable starting lineup, a former All-SEC performer in Patrick Sparks and several top 100-rated recruits in guys like Ramel Bradley, Bobby Perry and Rekalin Sims (JUCO), there is more than enough in the cupboard for a tasty Final Four stew. While in hindsight Tubby's two-headed project The WooShag has not progressed as hoped after 2 1/2 seasons, role players are role players and despite the protestations of those fans who seem to recall an era in which Kentucky had top 10 players three deep across the board (never happened, folks), every team needs glue guys who don't need the limelight.
That said, what therefore shocked and awed Big Blue Nation on Saturday was the lack of enthusiasm and effort displayed by the Cats. Beaten off the dribble, beaten to the ball, beaten in the lane, beaten on the glass ... beaten. The reason this amazed folks so much? It never happens to Tubby coached teams.
It did happen to Pitino teams from time to time, where the shots didn't fall and the press didn't work and thus the rest was academic. However, one of the positives to the Tubby Smith system is that -- in theory -- even if the offense is offensive, the defense and hustle keep you close until a few key shots fall. To wit, a 20-win season out of a transfer-depleted Jamaal Magliore/Tayshaun Prince team that may be the least talented UK team in 20 years (again, this year's team has talent, even if it is not showing).
"It disappoints me that we did not defend very well," Tubby said after Saturday's loss. "Not scoring is one thing. When you don't defend at the other end (his voice trailed off).
But right now the talk shows, water coolers and message boards are aflutter with self-proclaimed "realists." According to this view, the realist looks at this team and sees nothing but the negative -- no talent, no coaching, no future. The realist, if ascribing to this theory, cannot see potential growth because there is no seed to grow. According to this view, a realist is focused only on what cannot happen, seeing all that is not there.
Or better, perhaps, to say that the "realist" fan opposes in this imagined universe the optimist, the Kool-Aid drinker, the "blue tinted" glasses/blindered fan who sees nothing but hope in the face of pain, who sees Tubby winning, not losing, in the end. A bit overhappy and unrealistic, perhaps. OK, for sure. But a realist is not a pessimist. A pessimist opposes an optimist, refusing to see anything but what cannot, even will not, happen.
By its nature, a realist clearly sees Reality. Reality dictates that there are talented, if underperforming, players here. Reality dictates that this coach has a national championship -- something only 10* other active coaches can say (* if you count Steve Fisher). Reality dictates that a post presence traditionally gives shooters more room to breathe, that a motivated Tubby Smith has produced a 26-game win streak, that one win can change a team's fate (Vandy, 2003).
The pessimist cannot see these things because they attest to the power of faith and hope in a fan, and a pessimist has neither of these. A realist, therefore, deals in truth, in precendent, in the known. Missing the NCAA tournament? Less than 20 wins? lower than a 5 seed in March? Tubby's history at UK offers none of these things, and therefore it is the pessimist who renders them not only possible, but likely.
One myth that really must end is the idea that subjective opinion can be equated with truth, even if it seems consistent with reality. Opinion is never truth. Opinion can be proven prescient, sure, but cannot be truth. Opinion, like anything subjective, requires context and nuance, whereas truth lives in fact. And any concept of the Kentucky program sliding off the map, becoming a "midmajor" team, losing its luster with recruits, is not fact. It is opinion, which anyone is certainly entitled to.
Despite the immense job facing Tubby Smith, and the huge task he and his team face of turning around a team in the proverbial wilderness, the UK fanbase should dispel itself of the idea that heated opinion and subjective observation in the immediacy of an embrassing defeat on national television is the same as truth and fact.
It's not. Despite what that caller from Radcliffe or the message board poster from Lexington may say.
5 Comments:
At 5:38 PM, Anonymous said…
I like your style here, fellow fan. Realism, indeed. This, like Team Turmoil, will be a true test of Coach's ability.
At 7:55 PM, dgags said…
I really don't know what to make of this team, other than the fact that I really don't like watching them very much -- and that they're really not very good right now.
But, that doesn't mean they won't be good and watchable in two months.
And that is certainly where I agree with your ideas about pessimism vs. realism.
The realistic view is that UK is not particularly good right now. The pessimistic view is that UK won't be any good in March, either. As you say, that's not truth, that's opinion.
At 10:51 PM, TopUKFan said…
Final Four stew? Keep dreaming. Looks like you're the one in need of a dose of reality. This team is nowhere near being in the Final Four mix. There is no way in hell a team that has Bobby Perry or Sheray Thomas as it's power forward is going to the Final Four. UK's power forward slot simply lacks a player that can impact a game the way Chuck Hayes could. Tenacious, savy and smart .... characterists that Sheray Thomas and Bobby Perry lack, much less could even spell. I don't deny that our team has talent. It's simply not distributed and balanced correctly. Tubby has managed to over-recruit at the guard position and totally, and I mean TOTALLY disregard the power forward and center position. Players like Thomas, Perry, Obrzut, Alleyne, Carter and Stockton are wasted scholarships. These players have no business playing for Kentucky. They should be playing up I-75 at Georgetown College. And last time I checked, being ranked 32 or 33 is the definition of mediocre. We're barely ranked ahead of Norther Iowa, for Christ' sake. Tubby simply can't get big recruits to sign with us. Tubby's style of play isn't exciting. It's excrutiating. Blowouts on national television are turning this season into a nightmare. And as long as Tubby stays, the more real the nightmare becomes. Mark my words: Kentucky will never win another championship as long as Tubby is the coach. It's time to think about getting someone like Mark Few of Gonzaga or Johnny Dawkins of Duke. Watch those teams play. Duke, Gonzaga, UConn... they are fun to watch. Now that's an exciting brand of basketball. But not Tubby ball. Tubby ball is real, alright, real hard to watch. To think that Kentucky will make the Final Four this year, well you're the one being unrealistic. I wonder what you're smoking.
At 1:14 PM, Agonica said…
Appreciate the feedback. ANd glad that you are the topUkfan 4-EVA! Last night went a long way toward disproving my optimism...very sad to see one on the last vestiges of the old regime fall. Beating Vandy at home was a UK birthright. That said, it will be a trying time...and UK will always be UK, Tubby or no.
At 9:59 PM, zoom said…
We can be certain now this is not a Final Four team. We can be equally certain that only Moses parting the zone defense will allow UK to get players in the paint. And while we wait for that miracle we'd do best to remember that Tubby ball IS exciting when executed by players who give a damn about team ball and have some pride.
That is the most damning thing about this team. It's not the coaching. Any jibbering fool who looks at a coach that runs the table in the SEC, makes the Final Eight on practically an annual basis, and regularly sends players to the NBA and thinks that this team's problem is COACHING...well, then that person is simply looking for another reason to dislike a coach they clearly never supported.
Going unbeaten in the SEC is exciting. Tight losses to a great Marquette team and the always March-deadly MSU are exciting. And something that too many fans with a man-crush on that Pitino guy (he saved the program, sure, but he's still not going to marry you and move in to your house) forget is that exciting ball does not come in one form.
The recruiting failures of recent years are definitely highlighted by these last two losses, but the NBA prospects we've turned out just as strongly highlight our successes. Bad season? Yes, awful so far. The end of UK's place at the top of college hoops? Hardly.
Those with too short a memory to remember that we've been in worse spots - we were on probation for two years, remember? we lost in the first round of the tourney with Pitino, remember? - can perhaps remember the one thing that gets us through that time, and the one thing that makes so many other programs hate us.
We are UK. We were here before you were, and we'll be here after you're gone.
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