About face? Rondo would help

The Big Blue Nation is widely respected for its basketball acumen. Blessed with a consistent winner, beginning early in Adolph Rupp's tenure fans turned to grading style as well as substance, becoming self-proclaimed experts on everything from offensive execution to uniforms to a player's body language. Given the Cats fans' hoops smarts, little frustrates me more about them than their penchant for kneejerk reactions, with struggling Rajon Rondo (and his perceived poor attitude) being the most recent example.

Let's be clear about one thing: a player of Rondo's caliber hates losing, and he hates sitting on the bench, as any talented player would. His coach's new emphasis on basics and grading each practice has left not only Rondo -- the team's leading scorer, rebounder, assist man and one-on-one defender -- but fellow hot shot sophomores Joe Crawford and Randolph Morris watching the tip-off from the bench as well. Smith's premise is that the defensive intensity that is created by the new starters sets a better tone for the game and lessens the pressure on the talented second-year players as well. Judging from the experiment's first two games, he may well be right.


On Wednesday, the Cats played inspired defense and hung on for a win over a then-surging Georgia team. As Victoria Sun's recap of the Georgia game tells it, the outsider's view of the program is that the suddenly sitting sophs took not starting about as well as you could expect them to, given that for some of them it was the first time in their entire basketball careers that they had come off of the bench.

Senior Patrick Sparks, who has started every game of his collegiate career dating back to his Western Kentucky days, noted Wednesday after the game that his teammates didn't throw any hissy fits, and that the team was sharper for the changes.

"I thought we responded well to it, the veteran guys stepped up, started the first half, started the second half, played well," Sparks said. "People got some opportunities tonight and I think they took advantage of it."

Rondo's replacement, senior Brandon Stockton (pictured at right, below), said of his mate, "I never thought he was down. It didn't show when he was on the bench cheering or when he was on the court because he was always talking and communicating. He was involved in the game. I thought he handled it very well."

Despite not starting, Rondo was still second to Sparks in minutes against Georgia, and claimed that he didn't mind the change either.

"It was different, but I don't think it was a big deal to me," Rondo said. "I just tried to still come out and play as hard as I could to support my teammates."

In addition, despite not starting against the Bulldogs, Crawford and Morris tied for the team lead in rebounds with 6 each, and both logged nearly as many minutes as "graded" starters Bobby Perry and Ravi Moss. My point being that they all three benched starters played plenty. Only fourth sophomore Ramel Bradley has struggled to find PT since the change. And maybe there are reasons for that, eh?

But despite Rondo's and his teammates' protestations to the contrary, many fans harped after Wednesday's game -- and even moreso after Saturday's satisfying pounding of a previously hot South Carolina team -- that Rondo looked sluggish and disinterested, and focused heavily on the guard's body language and demeanor as proof that he was either (a) miserable, (b) a team cancer or (c) both.

In fact, the criticism of the season's first-half savior has reached ridiculous proportions, even by Kentucky standards. There is no denying that Rondo has struggled mightily lately, especially in the last three games (9, then a season-low 4, then a new season-low 2 points). Maybe it's the emergence of Morris in the paint as option No. 1 or the pressures of trying to keep the team afloat or nothing at all, but no one can -- or would -- deny that the Cats' most athletically gifted player is badly out of sync. And that's not a good thing.

On Saturday, Rondo looked tough on defense, but lost on the other end, and the team seemed to run markedly smoother when Stockton or Sparks was running the offense. Whether this is because Rondo is frustrated or because of other reasons, none of us can know. But that hasn't stopped the cascade of criticism of Rondo -- without whom, this team might be facing a .500 season at this stage, by the way.


Fans on the message boards have been merciless, and the calls for Rondo to go pro have reached a depressing level. Beyond the classlessness of calling out a 20-year-old who is struggling to regain his once-golden game, the notion that he (or the Cats) would somehow be better off with him gone is absurd. I thought being a Wildcat was supposed to be a cherished memory, not an invitation to a mudslinging contest.

Yes, Rondo's play of late has been less than stellar, and on a few occasions his decision-making may have cost the Cats the game, but that's no reason to act like a child whose favorite toy's batteries are failing, thereby rendering it useless. Are we really, as a fan base, so spoiled as to wish our players ill? That sort of shadenfreude is why UK fans often get pilloried in the press.

Rondo's talents are not in shooting the ball, that much is clear. His free throw shooting is a liability late in games, even as his drives to the basket can (and were for most of the year) a critical success. But the implication that sending him packing would somehow help the program is dangerously short-sighted. Rondo is Kentucky's highest profile player, its only Wooden finalist and a recruiting magnet. I've seen no less than three recruits note Rondo as a reason they like the Cats, and ridiculing him is certainly not the way to get him to play better.

I'm not saying that coddling him or excusing poor play is the same as supporting him. That said, the offending would-be fans would be wise to keep their pop psychological profiles based on a one-minute Alan Cutler interview and a few camera shots of a frustrated kid to a minimum. Everyone reacts differently to struggles, and nearly everyone has tough-to-read demeanors at times.

How many times did we hear how lazy or lackadaisackal Tayshaun Prince was because he was quiet and intense? Not everyone has to be slapping the floor and screaming after dunks to be into the game, and from all evidence, Rondo is a quiet, shy kid whose response to failure is to turn against himself.

Despite a stellar 54-point second half against the Gamecocks, this Kentucky team will not reach its zenith without a contributing and consistent Rondo playing a major role. Every team being the sum of its best parts, this year's Cats are just starting to understand what is expected of them. Rondo's brilliance in games against Louisville, Iowa, Central Florida and Mississippi State, to name just a few, helped the Cats to even get to this point. Without him, they would be doomed.

Fans should set aside their petty angers over a botched play, swallow their prideful ways, forget the name-calling and root for Rondo's return. Marquee Wildcats have struggled before, and more will in the future. Rooting for them to do so as if that's appropriate or a sign of knowing the game is just plain sad. The worse case scenario is that those calling for the enigmatic McDonald's All-American's ouster may get their wish -- and God help next year's Cats if they do.