Post by MyBlueHeaven on Jan 14, 2006 23:55:00 GMT -5
.....so, don't take it for real. I borrowed this off of another site:
Transcript from the CatTalk call-in show
Greg: Hi, and welcome to another edition of CatTalk. I’m your host as always, Greg Bishop. We’ll be getting to your phone calls at the top of the hour, but first we’ve got a special guest in the house today. Tubby Smith, coach of the UK Wildcats basketball team. How goes it Tubbs?
Tubby: Fine Greg, pleasure as always.
Greg: Kentucky got a little good news/bad news yesterday. Tuesday saw the return of savior Randolph Morris, unfortunately his stellar effort wasn’t enough at home as the Cats fell to a determined Vanderbilt team 57-52. Coach, your thoughts on Morris’ return, and the game yesterday.
Tubby: Well, Randolph returned for the first time, and I thought his play was just stellar. Unfortunately, we had a very determined Vandy team on our hands, and we wound up falling to them 57-52.
Greg: (pause): Okay. Well, as coach Smith points out, Kentucky did lose at home to Vandy, the first time that’s happened in the history of Rupp Arena.
Tubby: And what an incredible stat that is, 30 straight years of dominance. I think a run like that against a quality caliber opponent in the SEC speaks volumes to the legacy here at Kentucky. Unfortunately you can’t win them all, as last night showed.
Greg: Of course we had won them all before last night. All 30 of them. Let’s talk for a second about what Vandy did to get UK out of sink, and how to fix it.
Tubby: Well, ya know, - and this has been a problem all year, not just last night – but we ended up playing at Vandy’s tempo and not playing Kentucky Basketball. We’d like to see a nice controlled game in the 30’s, but Vandy was able to push the matter and get us playing a little out of control. (chuckles) By the end it looked like a track meet out there.
Greg: (laughing) Yeah, they were streaking up and down the floor coach.
Tubby: And all season it’s been the same story, 52 points is just too much up and down, giving the other team extra possessions and opportunities to score with the ball. The more chances you give the other team to score, the more chances you have to lose. It’s just that simple. Morris helped slow the game down a little more for us, but we’re just not playing at a slow enough tempo yet.
Greg: Talk about Morris a little bit for me. There was a bit of griping in the local paper today that he wasn’t started from the get-go. What was the thinking behind that?
Tubby: Well being slow is what we hang our hat on. I was afraid sending Randolph in right away wasn’t the way to go about keeping that deliberate pace. Here’s a kid that hasn’t played all year, been through a legal battle with the NCAA, a real emotional roller coaster. Putting him in right away like that, well he was likely to try and score a couple of quick baskets, and as we all know, that just leads to more scoring opportunities for the other team. By letting him sit, we were able to lull him in with the tempo that we wanted to establish.
Greg: Okay, there you have it, straight from the horses mouth. Let’s go to the phones. Scott from Paducah, you’re on the air with Coach Smith.
Scott: Hi Greg, long time listener, first time caller. My question for the coach is about tempo.
Greg: Sounds good, go ahead caller.
Scott: Well, Coach, we’ve been watching the slow ball for 15 years now and I’m sick of this stuff. Pitino’s teams – *dial tone*
Greg: Sorry, we had to cut that last caller off. Obviously a UL fan, no one around here mentions that name anymore. And to correct what the previous caller said, Coach Smith is in his 9th season as wildcats coach, not his 15th. (Chuckles) Sometimes it feels like 15 years, doesn’t it coach?
Tubby: (laughing) It certainly does.
Greg: Okay, next caller. Marge from Lexington, you’re on the air with Coach Smith.
Marge: It seems ever since the Louisville game that Rondo hasn’t been getting into the paint. Is that part of the offense adapting to what the defense gives him, or is there something else going on.
Tubby: Yeah, the lack of driving is by design. You see, when Rondo gets into the lane it causes too much confrontation in there. There are some tall players down there guarding the basket, and he’s just not tall enough to get over them. Worse yet, he might even try and pass the ball out of the paint, and every pass is the opportunity for a turn over. So instead, we’re trying to keep Rondo at the top of the key all the time, where he can keep the game slow and take 10-13 3’s a games. He’s too pure a shooter to be under the basket instead of spotting up a three.
Marge: Great, thanks Coach Smith!
Greg: There ya go, another interesting tidbit from inside the locker room. These little adjustments are just the kind of thing the average fan watching a game on the TV doesn’t see.
Tubby: It’s a complex sport Greg.
Greg: Well, that’s all we got time for tonight. The Cats take on Alabama at home this Saturday, 1 p.m. eastern time, I’m sure a lot of people are interested to see how the cats’ll come out for that game. Cat Talk will be back next week at the same time, until then this is Greg Bishop for Tubby Smith, saying have a great night and go Cats!
Transcript from the CatTalk call-in show
Greg: Hi, and welcome to another edition of CatTalk. I’m your host as always, Greg Bishop. We’ll be getting to your phone calls at the top of the hour, but first we’ve got a special guest in the house today. Tubby Smith, coach of the UK Wildcats basketball team. How goes it Tubbs?
Tubby: Fine Greg, pleasure as always.
Greg: Kentucky got a little good news/bad news yesterday. Tuesday saw the return of savior Randolph Morris, unfortunately his stellar effort wasn’t enough at home as the Cats fell to a determined Vanderbilt team 57-52. Coach, your thoughts on Morris’ return, and the game yesterday.
Tubby: Well, Randolph returned for the first time, and I thought his play was just stellar. Unfortunately, we had a very determined Vandy team on our hands, and we wound up falling to them 57-52.
Greg: (pause): Okay. Well, as coach Smith points out, Kentucky did lose at home to Vandy, the first time that’s happened in the history of Rupp Arena.
Tubby: And what an incredible stat that is, 30 straight years of dominance. I think a run like that against a quality caliber opponent in the SEC speaks volumes to the legacy here at Kentucky. Unfortunately you can’t win them all, as last night showed.
Greg: Of course we had won them all before last night. All 30 of them. Let’s talk for a second about what Vandy did to get UK out of sink, and how to fix it.
Tubby: Well, ya know, - and this has been a problem all year, not just last night – but we ended up playing at Vandy’s tempo and not playing Kentucky Basketball. We’d like to see a nice controlled game in the 30’s, but Vandy was able to push the matter and get us playing a little out of control. (chuckles) By the end it looked like a track meet out there.
Greg: (laughing) Yeah, they were streaking up and down the floor coach.
Tubby: And all season it’s been the same story, 52 points is just too much up and down, giving the other team extra possessions and opportunities to score with the ball. The more chances you give the other team to score, the more chances you have to lose. It’s just that simple. Morris helped slow the game down a little more for us, but we’re just not playing at a slow enough tempo yet.
Greg: Talk about Morris a little bit for me. There was a bit of griping in the local paper today that he wasn’t started from the get-go. What was the thinking behind that?
Tubby: Well being slow is what we hang our hat on. I was afraid sending Randolph in right away wasn’t the way to go about keeping that deliberate pace. Here’s a kid that hasn’t played all year, been through a legal battle with the NCAA, a real emotional roller coaster. Putting him in right away like that, well he was likely to try and score a couple of quick baskets, and as we all know, that just leads to more scoring opportunities for the other team. By letting him sit, we were able to lull him in with the tempo that we wanted to establish.
Greg: Okay, there you have it, straight from the horses mouth. Let’s go to the phones. Scott from Paducah, you’re on the air with Coach Smith.
Scott: Hi Greg, long time listener, first time caller. My question for the coach is about tempo.
Greg: Sounds good, go ahead caller.
Scott: Well, Coach, we’ve been watching the slow ball for 15 years now and I’m sick of this stuff. Pitino’s teams – *dial tone*
Greg: Sorry, we had to cut that last caller off. Obviously a UL fan, no one around here mentions that name anymore. And to correct what the previous caller said, Coach Smith is in his 9th season as wildcats coach, not his 15th. (Chuckles) Sometimes it feels like 15 years, doesn’t it coach?
Tubby: (laughing) It certainly does.
Greg: Okay, next caller. Marge from Lexington, you’re on the air with Coach Smith.
Marge: It seems ever since the Louisville game that Rondo hasn’t been getting into the paint. Is that part of the offense adapting to what the defense gives him, or is there something else going on.
Tubby: Yeah, the lack of driving is by design. You see, when Rondo gets into the lane it causes too much confrontation in there. There are some tall players down there guarding the basket, and he’s just not tall enough to get over them. Worse yet, he might even try and pass the ball out of the paint, and every pass is the opportunity for a turn over. So instead, we’re trying to keep Rondo at the top of the key all the time, where he can keep the game slow and take 10-13 3’s a games. He’s too pure a shooter to be under the basket instead of spotting up a three.
Marge: Great, thanks Coach Smith!
Greg: There ya go, another interesting tidbit from inside the locker room. These little adjustments are just the kind of thing the average fan watching a game on the TV doesn’t see.
Tubby: It’s a complex sport Greg.
Greg: Well, that’s all we got time for tonight. The Cats take on Alabama at home this Saturday, 1 p.m. eastern time, I’m sure a lot of people are interested to see how the cats’ll come out for that game. Cat Talk will be back next week at the same time, until then this is Greg Bishop for Tubby Smith, saying have a great night and go Cats!
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