NIT or Bust

I've been getting a real kick out of reading the comments on the Kentuckysportsradio blog lately. The thousands of "Fire Gillispie" comments crack me up.

I, for one, am nowhere near that point. I do have issues with his refusal to ever play a zone defense. I also have questions about his full game-day practice. I also feel like he had enough talent to win a few more games.

But I feel like the best he could (should) have managed was an 8 or 9 seed, and either a first- or second-round NCAA loss. So the performance is not that disappointing.

They just don't have enough talent to be a top 20 team yet. I looked at today's box score, and by my calculation there were at least 50 minutes of playing time filled by guys who would not have been out there for an elite team. That's 1/4 of the available minutes, which is quite a big hole.

That made this year difficult. The good news is that 50 minutes can easily be filled next year. It is a lot easier to improve greatly from one year to the next in basketball than it is in football. All it takes in this case is two new faces who can contribute at a good level.

The bad news is that at least 25 of those minutes need to come at point guard, and I'm not sure that's going to happen.

Further good news-Gillispie seems well aware of the point guard problem. That's why he moved Porter from his natural (backup) 2-guard spot, signed Liggins and Galloway, and is still trying to recruit to fill the hole. He might not succeed in filling it next year, but he's trying.

All of the above is not, in my opinion, an argument that Tubby didn't recruit well enough. Last year's senior class (if all had stayed) was Rondo, Crawford, Bradley, and Morris. Any coach would have had difficulty recruiting directly behind that, so this year's weak senior class is understandable. The current junior class as recruited by Tubby is not bad, either (Meeks, Stevenson, Porter, Harris, +Jasper).