Before this nonsense even starts:
"I've got the job that I want," the Louisville coach said today. "I'm where I want to be."
Aside from having a vacant head coach position, the main focus of every UK fan now is on putting a cap on the '07 recruiting class. Many were worried that Tubby's announcement would hurt Kentucky's chances of landing Huntington High star Patrick Patterson, worries which were confirmed when the Lexington Herald-Leader spoke with Patterson's mother Tywanna early Thursday night.
"Like a family member had died," she said.
Patterson's mother said her son hoped to talk to Smith on Thursday night and said Kentucky would have been in Patterson's final three before Smith took the Minnesota job Thursday. When asked about UK's chances now that Smith is gone, the player's mother responded, "It doesn't look good right now for Kentucky. That's all I can say."
Patterson's mother also had some choice words for the Wildcat faithful, saying, "If that's how fickle the fans and boosters are, they're not loyal. It looks like Tubby was a little more loyal to his staff than Kentucky was to him."
As for Kentucky's secondary target Jai Lucas, he's taking a more cautious approach.
"It's something you have to look at because (Smith) was the coach who recruited me. ... you have to wait and see who they hire," he said. "Then I'll get a better feel for how things will turn out."
Lucas' father John was rumored to be accepting a position as an assistant coach under Smith, but of course all that is now null and void with Tubby's departure. Still, I think Jai is going to be wearing blue and white next year so long as Barnhart names a suitable replacement within the next week and-a-half or so.
UK fans will also have the chance to see Patterson playing plenty, unfortunately it will be because he's wearing Gator blue and orange...unless Mitch can pull some magical strings with Billy the Kid.
It should be an interesting month or so in that city down the road.
By the way I'm officially not cool with Texas A&M anymore. It's bad enough that I had to watch you clang 5-of-10 free-throws after hitting 322 against us (not hyperbole...look it up), but can you not grab a fucking rebound? It's Memphis State, you know they're not going to hit a big shot in the last 15 seconds, all you have to do is camp out under the glass and grab the ball when it comes flying off the glass.
Damnit. With SIU out I'm not cheering for anyone anymore, only against Memphis State. Georgetown's still kind of cool too.
God we should have been playing last night...I'm having a hard time getting over this one, it's like Wake Forest in '96 all over again when that loss dominated my brain for at least a month.
Go Buckeyes I guess. Whatever. Bullshit hand-check calls. Curtis Shaw is never getting off the not cool with list.
I need to watch the Carmody wins Groza video again to clear my mind.
Peace, love, Cards.