Perfect Storm of Events Hits Gillispie!

Lwcat
Wildcats Thunder Administrator

It seems like yesterday when Billy Gillispie accepted the UK job. There was a tremendous amount of excitement among UK fans as Billy addressed the UK fans. Everyone was full of optimism....the excitement for Big Blue Madness was tremendous with fans even camping out to get tickets. Big Blue Madness was packed as the fans got their first look at the UK team and coach in person.

Gillispie was getting great press as he had already brought in blue chip recruits...Patterson and Legion and gotten commitments from other recruits for 2009 and 2010. Cat fans had heard all about BCG's tremendous success at UTEP and Texas A&M. Importantly, they had witnessed Gillispie's Texas A&M team bring down rival Louisville in Rupp arena in the NCAA tournament.

Sure Cat fans knew that this UK team wasn't a Final Four team....far from it, but they expected a season similiar to when Pitino took over in his first year. A team that played hard....overachieved.....and played an exciting brand of basketball.

Then a so called perfect storm of events hit Gillispie and the UK program.

Jasper was not healing as quickly as everyone expected and Meeks suffered an early season injury. Both players missed weeks of practice and many games. Even Harris sustained a stress fracture in his foot while Crawford was recovering from a knee injury. All of this played havoc as Billy attempted to in stall his new culture and system on his new team. Not having key players Jasper and Meeks especially hurt the Cats badly.

Early game performances were disappointing as it was obvious that the talent level was down and players were either having trouble learning or accepting all the changes Gillispie was installing on the offense and defense.

Then a horrible loss to Gardner-Webb at Rupp arena sent shock waves across the Big Blue Nation. How could this happen? How could UK lose badly to Gardner-Webb of all teams? Then a loss to San Diego soon followed. Cat fans expected a tough year, but loses to Gardner-Webb and San Diego were hard to swallow. UK fans then saw their beloved Cats lose badly to rivals North Carolina, Indiana and Louisville.

While all of this was happening....one of Gillispie's prize recruits, Alex Legion, decides to transfer.

After 13 games and a 6-7 record....it is fair to say that the Billy Gillispie honeymoon with UK fans is over. Message boards are full of some UK fans questioning everything that Gillispie does except how he brushes his teeth in the morning. Sports reporters and analysts all have their thoughts on the state of the UK program under Gillispie. Questions arise from fans....as often happens when a team isn't winning or playing well. Is Billy practicing the team too hard? Why does he hold same day practices? Why does he change the lineup every game. Why is this player playing and this player isn't? Why doesn't Billy play a zone defense? Why isn't he making adjustments in games? Why isn't Billy more vocal? It goes on and on as some fans question virtually every decision Gillispie makes. Well, welcome to Kentucky basketball..Billy!

Yes, there has been a Perfect Storm of events that hit Billy and this UK team and the vast majority of UK fans still support Gillispie because they understand the challenges and tough breaks that have beset Gillispie and this UK team.

First, the losses of Jr. Morris, and seniors Perry, Thomas and Woo were greater than most fans realized. While only Morris was a big time talent, the others were frontline line players with experience and brought solid defense to the UK frontline last year. Perry easily had his best year as a Cat last year and scored in double figures numerous times. It's been UK's frontline that has been a huge negative for the Cats. Harris, Stewart, Stevenson, Williams and Carter have simply not provided the needed offensive and defensive help that Patterson needs. The result has been teams can put increased pressure on UK's scoring threats..Crawford, Bradley and Meeks. With freshman Patterson, the only frontline talent, the Cats are having big rebounding problems on the offensive and defensive ends. The Cats seldom get easy second chance baskets on the offensive end while too often giving up 2nd and 3rd chances on the defensive end. The result, is that the Cats are essentially reduced to being a perimeter team. Patterson has done an overall solid job, but most of the scoring must come from outside shooting. There is the rub....UK's outside shooting has been too often very inconsistent.

There is no question, but that not having a healthy Jasper and Meeks available at the start of the season has cost UK at least a couple of wins....along with setting back the overall development of the team.

Having Legion transfer was very unfortunate....no one blames Billy...and rightly so as there were a number of issues involved. Still, Legion is a talent and would have been a solid plus for this struggling UK team.

So, while the honeymoon is over....importantly, Gillispie still has the support of Mitch Barnhart (who previously termed this year..a rebuilding year for UK) and most of the UK fan base.

The season is not over! If the team can stay healthy then it's still possible that UK can start showing improvement and get some badly needed wins in the SEC.

There is no question that there is great pressure on Billy to get the UK program heading in the right direction and that will require some outstanding recruiting....next year the Cats have Miller and Liggins...both very talented players....joining the Cats. However, the real test for Gillispie will be recruiting frontline players....Tubby failed at that task....and Billy knows that if he is to return UK to elite status....he must start bringing in frontline talent to help Patterson.

UK basketball is the golden jewel of the University. You don't have 24,00O fans jam an arena, spend 30 million on a state of art basketball practice facility....and discuss the building of a 25,000-30,000 new basketball arena in a few years....and allow this program to be mediocre.

The fans who question Gillispie love UK basketball....they mean well....but, hopefully, they will step back and consider the perfect storm of events that has engulfed this UK program and Billy Gillispie. I'm certain that Mitch Barnhart and all UK fans will be looking for solid recruiting from Billy...the 08 class is not finished. They will be looking for solid improvement in the play of the Cats and they will expect a much improved UK team next year and beyond. Billy will be held responsible, as all coaches are for their teams performance on the court, and will be evaluated by Mitch.

However, it will take Billy at least 3 years to get UK back to elite status....in the meantime....it isn't unreasonable to expect this UK team to be moving forward in talent and wins and loses.

Lastly, all UK fans should remember....Billy Gillispie brought a solid record of achievement to UK with fantastic successes at UTEP and Texas A&M. Before that, he was an assistant to Bill Self at Tulsa and Illinois. Billy Gillispie has brought a system and model that has been successful for him in coaching to the UK program. Billy is respected by his peers. Frankly, it makes no sense to ask Gillispie to change the way he practices or coaches this team....why should he deviate from what has made him a successful coach. Billy will succeed or fail doing it his way....not the fans way. I have great faith that Billy Gillispie will meet this tough challenge of restoring UK basketball to greatness. He will need time and he deserves the time and support from this great UK fan base.