STUPID SPORTS SH!T: BILLY GILLESPIE EDITION

by Chris Richardson, Intentional Foul

OK folks, normally I'm finding silly stuff from the sports world to post about but for this post, I'm going to do something that's a little more topical and closer to my heart: University of Kentucky basketball. And while I'm thinking about it, seeing them struggle like they are is pretty f**king silly... at least to me.

Besides, Doug said I could deviate from the subject every once and while...

I'm sure many of you are enjoying UK's recent struggles. Some have gone as far to suggest UK's run is coming to an end (finally). I find these types of reactions funny, especially coming from a hopeful Louisville fan (nice win, btw). While I'm not convinced UK is anywhere near their death knell, I, like some other UK fans, am unsure about what's to come.

At the center of all this hubbub is one Billy Clyde Gillispie, Kentucky's new coach and already a subject of some discussion here. As his roster becomes healthier every day (I've spoken ad-nauseum about Kentucky's injury issues), it's pretty apparent he doesn't like the way the majority of his inherited roster approaches the game:

"Confidence is playing hard and taking something that isn't given to you," Gillispie said. "We want things given to us, and that's not going to happen.

"When something isn't given to us, we have to take it. We haven't done that yet. Until we do, we're going to continue down this path."

However, unlike a lot of UK fans hung up on blaming Tubby Smith for everything, including Iraq, Gillispie doesn't blame his team's talent level:

"I haven’t worried about that (talent) at all. We have plenty of players here to play better than we have. That is my responsibility whether we have had injuries or not. We do not have a complete roster and are trying to shore it up, but the roster is OK and we should have played better than we have."

The word around the campfire is that many of the players haven't responded well to Gillispie's hard-nosed, my-way-or-the-highway, no zone at all, ever, approach after being around the more fatherly figure demeanor of Coach Smith. However, as you can see in the first quote, this doesn't concern Coach Gillispie.

All he seems to care about in terms of this UK basketball team is toughening them up and get them playing basketball the way he wants them to, something Truzenzuzex pointed out at A Sea of Blue.

So this is what it comes down to: if UK fans are going to stick with Coach Gillispie, they have to understand that while he's committed to winning, it will be done so his way. He will not alter his approach to the players or to the game in order to perhaps avoid embarrassing losses to Gardner-Webb and San Diego. From Gillispie's perspective, if the players were playing the way he asked them to, they wouldn't be losing in the first place, so why should he change his approach?

Is such a gamble going to pay-off or is the coach some call Clyde jeopardizing his future by sticking to his guns so severely? As it stands, one thing that always helps a team dealing with losing is more talent and Gillispie has a reputation as a strong recruiter, which is evidenced by his signing of Patrick Patterson after being at UK a little over a month. He's already created some ripples by signing some significant underclassmen like K.C. Ross-Miller.

The caveat to that disclaimer is next year's class, while boasting Darius Miller and Deandre Liggins, is sorely lacking a big man to assist Patterson.

Moving forward, there are some questions that still haven't been answered:

1. Can UK salvage this season with a respectable run in the SEC or is it time to start looking forward to Big Blue Madness - 2008?

2. If not, how many seasons before UK is competitive again? Do you need to overhaul the entire roster?

3. Will the fans and the administration give Coach Gillispie enough time to stock his cupboard or will he be another Matt Doherty, dismissed while another coach coming in to reap the rewards of his recruiting work?

It certainly is an interesting time to be a UK fan. Football team better than the basketball team? GTFO of here! That's some Stupid Sports Sh!t indeed.