Morning Newspaper for March 2nd

And it took Billy D. TEN years at Florida to get a title. His big claim to fame after 2 years coaching at Florida? They went to the NIT…

was not even going to read the article until you mentioned the comments. could only make it through one page of the comments. that is why i no longer go to the HL discussion board. at least the disagreements here are civil and somewhat logical.

I could only wish. :-)

I like your thinking! 10 seed is actually not to bad considering what has happened to us the last week. Florida will be tough to beat as they are in a hole now too. I think though that we will do some damage in the SEC.

but if that is what happens then that is what happens. NO good can come of “turning down” an NIT invitation. It will do nothing more than make Kentucky look like sore losers and pompous jack-asses. Too good for the NIT?? Obviously NOT if that is where we are invited to go. A refusal would look nothing more than childish – plain and simple. Not to mention that the NIT – though not the NCAA – does provide the team with additional playing experience and does give experience in a tournament setting.

Ideal? No. Do I want to miss the NCAA and go to the NIT? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! But, I feel that to just cross our arms and say, “No Thanks” if that is the way things turn out this year is the epitome of poor sportsmanship.

I really believe that this will be a non-issue and that we will pull through and make the Big Dance, but sportsmanship is a very important part of the game and to turn up our noses at a post season tournament invite – simply because it is not the one we would prefer – is just plain wrong, IMO.

It is unsportsmanlike to decline to participate in the NIT. I would consider it very rude to decline such an offer, hence unethical.

There is absolutely no reason Kentucky should not participate if invited. None. It would be good for the team, good for the sport, and good for the image of the school if we stood up and showed that we can take it just like everybody else who does not quite make it to the NCAA tournament instead of acting like a bunch of whiny, arrogant elitists. Leave that to North Carolina, I say.

Kentucky should stop setting itself up as too special to attend a tournament with a great history under the rubric that it is beneath us. That is bad sportsmanship, in my humble opinion, and hence, unethical.

So now tell me again — why do you think my remark was hypocritical?

me Tru if I am speaking for you but I think that he is saying we shouldn’t turn our noses up at the NIT. That would just give us an even more “better then everyone else” attitude and frankly we have nothing to back that up right now.

… to serve as the link. Then hit the link icon and paste the URL into the box.

Hit the preview button. Your text should be blue, but the URL missing.

Hope that helps.

It’s just a tournament. We used to play in it all the time. Yes, it meant more then, but good grief.

This is exactly the kind of “bigotry” I was talking about in my previous article, and saying that “they” will hate us anyway just isn’t the right way to think of this. We aren’t trying to win friends and influence people — just do the right thing. It always pays dividends in the end to just man up and do the right thing, and quit acting like missing the NCAA tournament is the death of the program. It isn’t.

I’m not saying we should do it because Florida did, or because it is good for the team (although I happen to think it is). I’m saying to do it because it is the right thing to do, and it’s bad sportsmanship not to.

How many you think will want to come to this program if we do something stupid like that. Do the right thing is perfect.

… they are games. At the very least, and looking at this very, very selfishly, it gives us an opportunity to keep North Carolina from getting to 2000 wins faster than UK.

That isn’t why we should do it. But if every other reason is unpersuasive to you, there’s one you can surely get behind. :-)

… but maybe not. We get lots of help next year, and UNC loses lots of experience.

Chin up. They still have it to do. :-)

Instead of playing in the NCAA and getting beat in the first round and finishing our year with (for example) 23 wins… we could play in the NIT and get to 28 wins!!!

Just swallow the lousy-tasting medicine and cheer for our team.

Leave it go. :-)

and what you are trying to do, however, I have to admit that I, too, had some pretty high predicitions that did not come close this year:

28 wins by Selection Sunday, First place in the SEC, and Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament.

Happens.

I don’t think anyone in that entire thread predicted any worse than 12-4 in the SEC. We all had high expectations, which is exactly why there’s so much angst now.

We played in the Big East. No wonder the outcry

… to the original author of the piece that started this debate, he did call on Barnhart, not Gillispie, to reject the NIT if it came calling.

except for the fact that he doesn’t post here.

I need to get back to work. :-(

… gave my monitor a nose-coffee coating. :-)

Ashland is my hometown as well. Thanks, DTB.

I still visit the Shamrock just about every time I’m back visiting family during the holidays.

… on the link.

I think you raise a good point. We really can’t know why he made the decisions he did, but your argument seems as plausible as any.

I do hope we see a change. I am convinced, rightly or wrongly, that we need one.

Of all the things that came from LSU game, I truly hope BCG has finally learend which team needs to be starting. If the 2nd half against LSU is not the evidence he needs then I think we have a problem. I have stayed out the Porter bashing all season but Galloway did such a great job in the 2nd half leading a good comeback that he has got to start….right???

May you celebrate 71 more!

If we ended up in the NIT, is would likely give us a game or two in Rupp, right? And then an opportunity for an MSG appearance.

Many happy returns!

As to your point, it is a good one.

Always good to have another birthday even we grow older…hey we are still alive,

Congrats on your longetivity. I had no idea your age.

How do you really feel? lol

I have no problem with someone suggesting UK turn it down and I saw nothing in that guys article that was unethical.

My position was simply this — Suggesting Mitch Barnhart should turn down the NIT is unsportsmanlike and therefore unethical. That’s what I said, and I am convinced I am 100% correct about that.

I don’t want to go to the NIT either, but if that’s our lot, we should accept it with good grace and try to win the tournament. We should not even consider turning it down.

I’m not going to ban you for making an argument, as flawed and misguided as it is. I am offended you feel it necessary to use such pejorative language, but your long and distinguished membership here earns you considerable latitude on that. My tone was nothing like yours, except to the journalist, who I think is positing an absolutely unsportsmanlike position in asserting that UK should decline an NIT invitation. How that makes my opinion “asinine” and “crap” is simply beyond me. As far as hubris is concerned, well, I plead guilty to that, but then again, there’s a lot of hubris in your own statement presuming to “correct” my opinion. You may surely disagree, but before you correct me, I think you need to be on the right side of the argument. Here’s a hint — you’re not. How’s that for “hubris?” :-)

If you believe it is OK to turn down the NIT, I am sorry for you. I hope you someday see the error of your ways, but whether or not you do is irrelevant. It doesn’t change my opinion in the slightest, and your suggestion that my opinion is hypocritical is a non-sequitur.

Congrats on your new family member, and thank you for your service.

I agree that the NIT is not beneath us. Never has been before. If we are offered a bid, we should gracefully accept and give our all. That is the right, and sportsmanlike, thing to do.