Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
Last night’s game was altogether perplexing for me on a number of levels. First, was the unbelievably awful play on offense, which culminated in Michael Porter’s five second half turnovers and a great line from Billy Clyde after a Ramel turnover where he looked at him and yelled, “why not just throw it to the other team’s bench to save time?” Second, was the amazingly sparce Kentucky home crowd for the fourth game in a row, a feat I didnt think possible. Usually a new coach and a new season brings energy to the home fans, but either due to football fatigue or simply a protest on the game scheduling, Cats fans are simply not coming this early in the year. And finally, it was the site of the man sitting next to me looking at one of the walk-ons and saying, “Is that guy old enough to play in college?”
But most interesting was the news that AJ Stewart did not play because he fell asleep during a the team’s film session. Now I will admit, I am predisposed to like AJ a great deal. HE was a frequent guest on our old podcast and even announced his commitment to UK while talking with us at the old Shelbyville studios, an event that is still one of our highlights of this whole endeavor. But AJ falling asleep during a film session reminds me of a bad episode of “Saved by the Bell.” Maybe it happens all the time and we just dont know about it, but who falls asleep preparing for a major college basketball game? It is almost unbelievably juvenile and seems like something that would be in a movie about a coach taking a bunch of rag-tag kids and straightening them up and leading them to a championship. AJ Stewart stars in “Mighty Ducks 4.”
Still though, even though falling asleep was odd in and of itself, the strangest part of the whole scenario might have been Billy Clyde’s postgame reaction. He required AJ Stewart to come talk to the press about why he didnt play. At first, AJ just said he didnt play for discipline reasons, but then after talking with the UK media folks, he admitted that he had fallen asleep. It is clear that Billy Clyde has no problems throwing his guys out to the press and occasionally even throwing them under the bus publically (see his postgame comments after most games). My feelings on this are a bit mixed, but I am not totally opposed, in part because he is confronting a reality in the UK basketball program. Play at UK and EVERYTHING you do will be scrutinized. No matter what, people will wonder why AJ didnt play….why not get the truth out and quash the speculation…..while also letting the kid give his side. I have no problem with that and it made “Sleepgate 07″ a bit less of a story.
Either way, UNC comes on Saturday and it could get ugly. Heres hoping that Ramel Bradley doesnt slip in a copy of Maxim into his playbook during study hour…..
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November 28th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
No four in a row here….
November 28th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
why not just throw it to the other team’s bench to save time?” Now that is a funny statement and I admit I felt like saying something along those lines a few times myself while trying to make it through the game last night without falling asleep…
November 28th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
It seems to me like he always talks positively about his players, but they do have to take responsibility sometimes.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
If you remember on “Saved by the Bell” the gang always learned a very important lesson at the end of the show, maybe “our gang” will be better from learning from their mistakes!
November 28th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
It was a horrible game but I’d rather look to the positives
AJ should be well rested for UNC
Crawford (and a few others) didn’t leave much on the floor last night, so they may be ready-to-rumble on Saturday too
Go CATS – make us proud!!!
November 28th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
better to know what AJ did then speculate he missed class or did something else more reprehensible
November 28th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
He’s a man, he’s not in high school. He’s got to grow up and be responsible. I guarantee he never sleeps again and I’ll bet no others do either.
BTW, I didn’t go back and read comments from late yesterday, but it appears Joe Crawford’s brother got kicked off the IU squad for team rules violations…Did we discuss this?
November 28th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
While I agree that AJ will most likely learn his lesson from all this, I completely disagree with a coach requiring his players to report to the media and explaining theirselves. It’s not like the word wouldn’t have gotten out anyway. Punishment by missing the game was enough. I have to disagree with you #7, AJ is not a man. He is not high school, but he’s still a kid. It is inexcusable to fall asleep during a film session, but this much transperancy only does good for the reporters selling the story.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
I think the offense looked so bad for a number of reasons, but I think A.J. Stewart not playing might have been a big part of why at times, we looked like we’d never seen a zone before. When A.J. is in with Patterson against the zone, Patterson plays the high post and from there Patterson can hit his 10-15 footer and really break down the defense. When they start keying in on him at the high post, he can usually feed it down low, but with Stevenson, he is not able to catch any pass quicker than a lob, and he is not the best at pulling down contested rebounds. With A.J. Stewart on the inside, the high post works better because he has better hands and imo is tougher with the ball. Last night though, Patterson wasn’t really looking to shoot that shot thoughand I’m not sure why… maybe he felt they were coming to him to quickly.
After Patterson was in the high post for a bit and Stevenson lost a lot of passes down low and dropped some rebounds, they pulled him to the top and that let him hit some jumpers, but I think the offense flows better with A.J. down there… Stony Brooks pretty much decided from the get go that it would be low scoring though and they slowed it down a lot… my main problem was with the guard play… we couldn’t hit a three to save our lives, and when they’re playing zone on you and you don’t hit threes then you can’t really force them out of the zone… with the guards we have, we should be able to hit the out side shot with some consistency… and there should be no excuse for the way that we tried to break their press. Their press was not that good, but our guards (porter especially) kept picking up his dribble and passing backwards to someone or directly sideways insteead of forcing the issue and trying to just dribble past the press. I’m sure BCG is still working on a lot of different things and hasn’t gotten to everything, but if a good defensive team wants to beat us all they have to do right now is play an agressive zone and watch our PGs crap themselves.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
The Cats will be a different
team Saturday and will play
their best game of the season.
Unfortunately so will UNC.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
#8 A.J. is atleaset 18, maybe 19. You are a man when you are 18 and you need to start acting like one… at 18 you can vote and you can join the military and fight in wars, but you can’t take responsibility for falling asleep in a team meeting? Thgat’s crap! I joined the Air Force at 17 and you learn to adjust to adult life pretty quickly, you shouldn’t need to be coddled along when you are 18 years old.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
AJ would have fit right in with Tubby, Hobbs, Rigot, and Hanson. Many times last season I felt they were asleep on the bench.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Since I have been around 18 and 19 year olds have been making life and death decisions thus I hardly believe that AJ will be permanently scared by his experience of publicly accepting responsibility for falling asleep! Heck, maybe Kelly will hold his hand. But as someone before mentioned it does make a great story.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
#11 I couldn’t agree with you more about how 18 “technically” makes you a man in the government’s eyes. On a side note, thank you for defending our country especially at such a young age. Honestly, I do feel that by that time every guy should start taking responsibility for his actions. My whole point was that shaming yourself to the public is too much for an 18 year old to take in. I was probably wrong in saying he is a kid, but I stand by my argument in that a college coach should take care of discipline in the locker room. If he had a million dollar contract and an agent, maybe I could understand. But saying “Now go tell those cameras what you did” is bad at building morale and confidence in my opinion.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Can’t wait for the Carter vs. Hansborough matchup!!!!
November 28th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Sorry I should have stated “scarred”.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
being 18 does not make you a man..being 18 makes you legally liable for your own actions but most are not near the maturity of a man..in recent polls and studies men do not reach the realm of being an “adult” until around the age of 26..stewart fell asleep, mistakes happen especially for freshman and im sure he has learned his lesson as well as taught one to the rest of the team
November 28th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
That iStockphoto is one of the worst i’ve seen. Surely you could have ripped off a better free one.
November 28th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Hey, you’ve got to accept responsibility for yourself sometime, whether you are 18 or 28. AJ took a step in the right direction and learned a lesson. He’ll be better for it. I promise you that. And we don’t know everything that went on, either. His “outing” may have deeper roots with the coach. We can’t just jump to the conclusion that coach turned him out and tried to embarass him. As BCG has shown, he’s a believer in accepting responsibility for your actions. He accepted the Gardner-Webb loss as his fault when other coaches would have thrown the whole team under the bus. He’s a man and expects his players to me men and to grow up and think. One of his quotes last night was “not thinking enough” when asked about the poor play. I think it is all linked together in his plan.
November 28th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Too many times in this world people don’t take responsibility for their actions. I’m happy to see that we have a coach who doesn’t sugarcoat things. He’s not just getting his players to buy into his system, he is making them take responsibility. You play bad, you sit. You practice bad, you sit. You fall asleep in practice, you sit. Life’s tough, suck it up and become a better person for it.
November 28th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
haha, well said 19. You beat me to it.
November 28th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Taking responsibility for your actions and learning from your mistakes is what makes you a man. But I grant you none of us wouldlike for our mistakes to be known to everyone, especially for a teenager (that’s what I should have said all along). You don’t magically mature into an adult at the age of 18. #19, I really am agreeing with you on everything except for this being acceptable as a public matter. Billy Clyde is the coach, he actually is an “adult” and it’s his job to answer to the media. Our basketball players have enough pressure and scrutiny already, and they probably knew going into this that playing for Kentucky would be a very difficult chore. Am I really alone on this argument?
November 28th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Carter will have the GAME OF HIS LIFE against NC… you just wait NAYSAYERS!!!
2 Points, 1 Rebound and a turnover.
November 28th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
#22 JPEAZY… WE WILL HAVE NO MORE SLEEPING IN MEETINGS BUSTER!
One way or another, THATS AFFIRMATIVE!
November 28th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
In my opinion, this decision was good for Gillispie AND good for AJ.
I don’t agree that all 18 year olds are adults, that all 18 year olds should be ready to accept adult responsibilities, or that all 18 year olds deserve to be regarded as adults. Everyone is different and different people mature at different rates.
Last night’s game was excellent in my opinion and was just the kind of humble-pie needed before going up against a formidable opponent like North Carolina.
I’m not happy about the way UK played last night – I don’t think many Cats fans are pleased, I don’t think Gillispie is satisfied, and I am sure that the team is disappointed by their showing – on the other hand, there will be a lot to work on and think about for the UNC game and I expect that we’ll all see some improvement over the next three days. It probably won’t be enough to defeat a team like the Tarheels, but it should be an interesting game. I think that UK physically matches up well with UNC – if Crawford, Legion, and/or Bradley (possibly even Porter) start sinking jumpshots and take care of the ball, anything can happen.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Why shouldn’t AJ get to sleep? The fans at Rupp do it all the time. I have never heard (not heard?) such a silent bunch. I literally saw a guy asleep in his seat as the game was starting… I am perplexed when I hear about the “storied Rupp arena” crowds and all the hoopla that supposedly surrounds our program. All I see this year (and past years) are a whole bunch of old, tired, grumpy people who are there to…ummm… why are they actually there? Certainly not to encourage their team. Even the student section has been a non-factor. I wish I could get some tickets without paying scalpers.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
I can sympathize with AJ. I seriously did fall asleep during the second half of last night’s game and then didn’t even bother to rewind when I saw the final score. I figured I was better off wondering just how bad it was (didn’t think it could get much worse than the 1st half), than being mad about it.
As for Carter vs UNC, maybe Carter will take a page from the Cuban baseball team when they play in the U.S. and defect…
November 28th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
The only reason Carter is a Cat is UNC recruited him and Tubbs offered to keep him from going down there and maybe becoming a dominant player…Wouldn’t look good for a central KY boy to play at UNC, would it? Tubbs bowed to pressure, much like Eddie Sutton did when he signed Ritchie Farmer…But Farmer was a player through and through. Different, yet similar.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
His feelings are mixed on Stewart being sent out to tell the media why he didn’t play? It was his fault that he didn’t play was it not? He’s a big boy isn’t he and not some 5 year old spring chicken isn’t he? Billy G. making him sit out the whole game and then sending him to the media to explain why was 100% the right thing to do even if would’ve cost us the ball game.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Everyone seems to be missing my point, it’s no question that falling asleep watching film should be reprimanded. My question is where should the coach draw the line between what is said to the media and what remains within the team. I don’t think this specific situation deserves so much attention, and I agree with Matt that possibly calling him out avoided more press and speculation as to why he missed. But like Matt said, Gillispie has no qualms about throwing the boys to the lion’s den. Where does it end? If I’m a player (even at UK where you are watched like a hawk), I would hope that not every little mistake that I make be open for discussion and criticism to the public. I’m done it’s no that important really.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Gillispie is not throwing his players in front of the bus– he simply taught him a hard lesson. Our team needs to learn discipline & perhaps making AJ admit it to UK’s scrutinizing fanbase/media is the only way to teach it. Stewart showed a lack of respect for his teammates, coaches, and the program by falling asleep during game preparation. He’ll improve greatly now b/c he’s been humbled & embarassed. Plus, now he’ll have to work extra hard during both practice & games to get in BCG’s good graces again. That can only help the team.
Is it really a big deal? No, shit like this happens occasionally. (and its kinda funny) But, the long-term repercussions would be totally different if a different player falls asleep during game prep every week. BCG is making an example of AJ & it should teach the whole team a lesson.
November 28th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
It is nice to see Billy G getting on to the players last night. This team does have very good talented players and they needed to be kicked in the butt for how they played last night. If they played that bad against Stony Brook just think what NC is going to do to them. If this team keeps playing like they are i see them losing 15 to 20 games this year. This team has three Mcdonalds all Americans plus other talented players.
November 28th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Guys, of course everyone is different and a lot of 18 year olds haven’t fully matured, but that does no mean they shouldn’t take responsibility for their actions. I know a lot of 18 and 19 year old males that make tough decisions and that show more maturity then men 5 to 10 years their senior… However, the reason a lot of young people don’t have that maturity and don’t know how to take responsiblity is because they’ve never had some one hold them completely accountable for their actions.
The sooner these kids have to go out and answer for themselves and the sooner the realize what its like to have those around them see that the blame rest squarely on their shoulders, the sooner these kids will learn to stop and think about what they’re doing before they do it. These “kids” will become men as soon as they learn this… because thats where maturity comes from. A little humility will only help the process.