Former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith had an ironic message for panicky UK fans: Be patient.
As UK coach, Smith did not get the benefit of the doubt from a noisy segment of fans. When he watched a portion of Wednesday night’s loss to Gardner-Webb, he saw a team that can greatly improve with time.
“They’re still young and missing pieces,” Smith said yesterday. He noted Derrick Jasper being sidelined, Jared Carter still affected by shoulder surgeries and Jodie Meeks “limping around with a groin pull, it looked like.”
The Cats also played without sophomore Ramon Harris, who started the two exhibition games but is now sidelined because of a stress fracture.
“You have two or three freshmen out there, it can be brutal against an experienced team like Gardner-Webb,” Smith said. Kentucky will be a fine team “when they get everybody healthy and he gets the whole rotation and chemistry down. It takes awhile. Those players will adapt and everyone will make the adjustments they need to make in the system Coach (Billy) Gillispie wants.”
During his 10 years, Smith proved the wisdom of patience. His first team heard grumbles after home losses to archrival Louisville, Florida and Ole Miss. Ole Miss hadn’t won at Kentucky since 1927. Then the Cats won the national championship.
In 2002-03, Kentucky stumbled out to a 6-3 start capped by a loss to Louisville. Then the Cats won 26 straight games.
Smith noted how Kentucky began this season earlier than ever, and played after three weeks of practice.
“That’s tough with a young club with injuries,” he said.
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald- Leader has covered Kentucky basketball since the 1981-82 season. That time includes five coaches, five Final Fours, four athletic directors, two interim athletic directors and many memories. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. He covered Marshall’s basketball team for two seasons before coming to the Herald-Leader.
Tubby is right, and he proved a slow start doesn’t mean a team can’t fight through to a good season (though the last two years sure didn’t see that). But to say Tubby didn’t get the benefit of the doubt? As you pointed out, he slogged through many a slow start in his tenure, and at the end of the day, unless we are told differently, he left on his own terms.
Tubby, like all UK coaches, were held to the same demanding standards. Fans grumbled when he lost, as they always have. But he got the benefit of the doubt several times.