GETTING INSIDE
The lure of Kentucky basketball -- even in a down year -- was on display March 31, when John Calipari agreed to become the Wildcats' head coach.
Calipari, who guided Memphis to the NCAA title game in 2008, becomes the highest-paid college basketball coach. He reportedly agreed to an eight-year, $31.65 million deal.
The Kentucky faithful will be expecting more than victories from Calipari, 50.
If it were simply a matter of wins and losses, Billy Gillispie might be returning for a third season as Kentucky's basketball coach.
Not that a two-year overall record of 40-27 was all that pleasing to Wildcats fans, but Gillispie supporters certainly could make the case that it wasn't bad enough to get a guy fired, especially with the top two players on the team due to return and an outstanding recruiting class coming in.
But there are aspects to the job at Kentucky other than mere wins and losses. Basketball holds a special place at Kentucky, one that not even football coach Bear Bryant could compete with despite a 60-23-5 record, an SEC championship, and Orange, Sugar and Cotton Bowl appearances during his eight-year stay in Lexington.
Joe B. Hall, one of Gillispie's predecessors, started off his career with a record very similar to that of Gillispie after his first two years. He was 33-21, and his Wildcats nearly became the first Kentucky team to have a losing record since 1927 when it finished 13-13 in his second year in 1974. Hall wasn't fired, he reached the Final Four the next year and won the school's fifth national title in 1978 before retiring after the 1985 season.
A native Kentuckian, Hall was a former player and an assistant under Adolph Rupp for seven years before taking over the program following Rupp's retirement after the 1971-72 season. He spoke with the Lexington Herald-Leader about the special status of Kentucky basketball with the fans in the state, telling columnist Tom Eblen his "behavior was dictated by what was good for the program."
"If it meant standing at the state tournament and signing autographs for an hour, then you had to do that," he told the columnist. "If it meant not going to bars and getting in fights with irate fans, then that was something that you had to do. If it meant being seen in communities throughout the state, looking at the local talent as much as possible, to let people feel like you were aware of your in-state talents ... There's no end to what responsibilities you have to the public."
Hall wasn't saying Gillispie spent his off-court time in local watering holes or wouldn't sign autographs. In fact, Hall declined to comment on how Gillispie handled those aspects. But it was evident in his two years that Gillispie wasn't comfortable going beyond the normal coaching responsibilities when it came to his job.
Athletic director Mitch Barnhart referred to that in one of his remarks at the announcement of Gillispie's dismissal.
"It is my evaluation that we have not done all we can to manage the entire scope of the program and all that we expect," Barnhart said. "There is a clear difference in how the rules and responsibilities overseeing the program are viewed. It is a gap that I do not believe can be solved by just winning games. It is a philosophical disparity that I do not believe can be repaired, and again, the chemistry is just not right."
NOTES, QUOTESFINAL RECORD: 22-14, 8-8 in the SEC, tie for fourth in Eastern Division.
WHAT WENT RIGHT: In Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson, the Wildcats had their most prolific scoring duo since Dan Issel and Mike Pratt back in the 1969-70 season. Meeks and Patterson combined for 41.6 points a game compared to the Issel-Pratt combo's 53.2.
The Wildcats began SEC play by winning their first five games and looked very much like contenders not only for the Eastern Division, but the overall league title as well. At that point, they were the only undefeated team in either division in league play.
The Wildcats were the best shooting team in the league, hitting 48.1 percent from the field and 77.3 percent from the free-throw line in all games, and they held their opponents to under 39 percent shooting for the season. That put them in the top 12 teams in the country in all three categories, and they were among the leaders in the country in blocked shots per game (6.6).
WHAT WENT WRONG: The Wildcats lost at Ole Miss to end their five-game winning streak, and that put them on a three-game skid. They were only 3-8 over their last 11 games of the regular season and won only one game in the SEC tournament.
Part of the problem was no other player stepped up to support Patterson and Meeks on a consistent basis in the scoring department, and when Meeks began to struggle more and more at the end of the year, the Wildcats struggled as well.
Turnovers plagued them throughout the entire season. They were as apt to commit 23 in a game as they were 10. Many of the mistakes seemed to be of the careless kind rather than the result of defensive pressure.
The Wildcats lost six games in Rupp Arena, matching the six home losses set by the NCAA-troubled 1989 team.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "This is not a place I thought we would be at this point, or one that I would want to be." -- Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart, announcing the dismissal of Billy Gillispie as coach of the Wildcats.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNELTHE GOOD NEWS: The arrival of coach John Calipari figures to energize the players, the fan base -- and the recruiting base. Both Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson are scheduled to return in 2009-10, along with three other starters. Jared Carter (10 games) was the only senior on the roster. Kentucky has an outstanding three-man recruiting class coming in headed by Daniel Orton, a 6-10 forward out of Oklahoma City. Jon Hood, a 6-6 shooting guard from Madisonville, Ky., and G.J. Vilarino, a point guard from McKinney, Texas, also signed in November. A junior-college guard, Konner Tucker from Lon Morris, also has given a commitment to the Wildcats.
THE BAD NEWS: Patterson and Meeks both could depart for the NBA draft, and the incoming recruits were taking a wait-and-see approach in the wake of Billy Gillispie's removal. No other returnee averaged as much as eight points a game.
KEY RETURNEES: G Jodie Meeks and F Patrick Patterson are as strong an outside-inside duo as there is in the game. Meeks nearly tripled his scoring average to 23.7 points a game, and Patterson nearly averaged a double-double with his averages of 17.9 points and 9.3 rebounds. Patterson also blocked 70 shots. Perry Stevenson was the third-leading scorer (7.8), second-leading rebounder (5.9) and second-leading shot blocker (67). G Michael Porter started all 36 games, and F Ramon Harris had 28 starts. Darius Miller and Kevin Galloway were inconsistent, as freshmen are wont to be, but both had their moments.?
ROSTER REPORT:
--Meeks, who set a school record with 54 points in the first win over Tennessee, ended up with the highest scoring average for a Wildcat since Dan Issel averaged a school-record 33.9 points a game in 1969-70. Meeks' average of 23.7 points noses out the 23.6 of Kevin Grevey (1975) for the No. 5 spot on Kentucky's all-time list. Issel also has the second-highest average (26.6) followed by Cotton Nash and Cliff Hagan, both 24.0), and then Meeks.
--F Patrick Patterson ended up shooting 60.3 percent for the season, making him the second player in the last four years to hit better than 60 percent for Kentucky. Randolph Morris shot 60.8 percent in 2005-06. Patterson had 15 double-doubles in points and rebounds for the season, giving him 21 for his career.
--G Michael Porter and G DeAndre Liggins tied for the team lead in assists with 91. Porter, a junior, had 80 turnovers, the freshman Liggins 74.
Previous Report: 04/02/2009
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