This baby looks like he just discovered something unpleasant in his diaper. That is kind of how I (The Kid, President of Tubby Watch) felt after listening to Tubby Smith on The Mike and Mike Show this morning. What did he say? Let's roll the recap!
Basically, this interview was in Five segments:
Segment 1: Tubby on UNC/Duke. Of course, despite being referred to all morning as "embattled", the first question has to be about the Hansbrough incident. Glad M&M are covering this on Tuesday, I didn't hear nearly enough about it on Monday. Anyway, their question to him involved whether it was OK to have your starters in. Tubby said...well...I'm not quite clear if he agreed or disagreed. He did that thing where he starts a sentence and then stops in the middle of it and starts another one. I think it boiled down to a "well, you get criticized either way"
Segment 2: Tubby on UK's resume for the NCAA Tournament. This was preceded my Mike Greenburg (aka Greenie) saying he thought UK needed at least one win in the SEC tournament. Tubby thinks they are in because of their tough schedule (agree, toughest in the country), their RPI (agree, hard to leave out a Top 10 RPI team), and their victories over tough teams such as Indiana (agree), Louisville (not sure UK would beat them right now, but agree), Santa Clara (what?), UMass (huh?), and Eastern Kentucky (seriously????). Well, if UK is at the point where they are claiming victories over EKU as proof of belonging in the tournament, the Tubby detractors may be right. Segment 3: Tubby talks about his job security. Greenie opens by referencing a USA Today article about Tubby's job security (full disclosure, I have not read this article or found it online. it is possible it does not exist. but it probably does). In what may have been the funniest part of the interview, Tubby insisted that although he and his staff do not read these articles, they can in fact read. I have no idea why he felt the need to stress this point. I have not hear any Tubby critic accuse him or his staff of being unable to read. Although it might explain a lot. Anyway, he and his staff are focused on the team. The job is pressure packed, all you can do is do your job, and Tubby has done his job. (But has he done it well? Isn't that the question). Also, the critics will always be there (true), but they are now just more vocal (i would argue that they are more vocal b/c the team is playing so bad). Segment 4: Greenie wonders if there is too much focus on March and/or the Final Four. This is the segment that probably upset the most UK fans, myself included. Tubby, after having stated in the past that UK needed to get back to the Final Four, said that they are not that big of a deal and that no one remembers who was in last year's Final Four (I do. UF, UCLA, LSU, George Mason). Greenie also expressed that he was surprised that UK fans would be upset with a coach who always makes the tournament as a high seed. No mention of the fact that they were in the 8/9 game last year and will be lucky to make the 8/9 game again. Segment 5: Good Luck Tubby! And that's it. Greenie and Golic both agree that it would be crazy to get rid of Tubby and as an example they point to the Alabama football search. I think this is a horrible, horrible comparison if you are looking to defend Tubby. When I look at the Bama search, although it took too long, they got a great coach, who they actually wanted from the beginning, who immediately raised their recruiting class several spot in the rankings, and who has proven himself to be an elite college football coach. If UK can get the basketball equivalent of that, I would be ecstatic. My "Say what?!?" moments were the use of Santa Clara, UMass, and EKU as quality wins as well as the downplaying of success in March and the Final Four. I'm sorry, but in Rupp Arena, they only hang banner for the Final Four. That tells you right away what the bar is for a successful season. The more Tubby talks, the more I think he is not going to simply walk away like a lot of people want.
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