Tubby Watch--Day 10

Sorry about the delay folks, but I was out of town with my other job and when you are trying to chaperon (doesn't have an "e" on the end, which I think is weird) a bunch of high school kids, you don't always have time to get to a computer. I would like to thank The Lon for texting me all the relevant UK info, of which there was plenty. So, let's get to it.

First, UK Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart had an interview with an AP writer about Tubby. This was apparently to clarify the position he stated earlier about Tubby. The last statement was taken as both a vote of confidence and absolute proof that Tubby was gone. This one will probably be taken the same way. Click here to read the whole interview. http://blog.kentuckysportsradio.com/?p=1833The big thing is that the writer used the Rick Brooks situation to give Mitch the opportunity to state without a doubt that Tubby will be back. Mitch did not.

Although a lot of people do not care for him, Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal had a pretty good column about Mitch, Tubby, and the interview. What made it odd for me is that the CJ pretty much worships at the altar of Tom Jurich, as does the LHL know that I think about it, and this may be the first time one of the columnists actually views MB as a good AD. http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070313/COLUMNISTS01/703130480/1029/SPORTS03

Finally, the title of this post is a link to a Dan Wetzel column at Yahoo sports. It is probably one of the best out there dealing with UK, Tubby, and the UK fans. I liked it. A lot.

So, the next post will have to do with some NCAA picks and some thoughts on UK's actual game against Villanova, a game I predicted they would lose last week, but on which I am wavering now. There were a few other random Tubby shout-outs over the past few days (Scoop Jackson, who is terrible, says he's gone, Jay Mariotti, also terrible, says UK fans would be crazy to get rid of him and hints that Tubby at Michigan could be a possibility, and The Sports Guy cast him in an unfavorable light as compared to Rick Barnes of Texas. And The Sports Guy cannot stand Rick Barnes of Texas.

One thing a lot of these mentions and columns say to me is that if Tubby left at the end of the season, the backlash against UK might not be that bad. Smart basketball people, those who follow it for a living and not casual fans, recognize that UK is slipping and when a program is slipping the fault can like at the feet of only one person, the head coach. A lot of people seem to be worried about what others outside of the Commonwealth might say, but I think they may be worried about not that much at all.