Another gem from erstwhile UK grump Jerry Tipton, whose ability to write stories that piss off UK fans seems as limitless as his love for quoting "experts" in defense of an already decided-upon premise.
The latest is his Sunday notebook which tells UK fans, in effect, stop believing because there's no shot at the NCAA tournament.
That's the opinion of several college basketball observers from around the country.
What I love here, as a writer myself, is the subtle structure whereby Tipton allows himself the "out" of saying it's other people's opinion, not his. But the sentence structure is so awkward, and we have to assume intentional, as to suggest that it is in fact Tipton who is saying this, but with backing from a few pundits.
I'm not trying to suggest that Tipton's premise is inherently flawed. Hell, a 41-point loss on national TV just as you play your way back onto the NCAA bubble is about as nasty as it gets.
But why write this now? And why paint a picture of a situation with no other outcomes? It's stupid.
Say the Cats inexplicably win out, including a 15-point road win over Tennessee. You're saying because of the Vandy loss, "the death knell" has been sounded, so no reason to think otherwise. If UK loses only the UT game, finishes 12-4 in the conference and wins two games in the SEC tourney that "Kentucky lost its battle," so there's really no hope, despite the fact that such an outcome would likely have Kentucky at 18-11 (12-4) with an RPI in the 40-50 range. Yeah, bubble clearly burst. End of discussion.
Huh?
At no point does Tipton take the logical route, which would be a simple addendum of "for now."
And he wonders why people think he's a negative ninny?