Orange and Blue Hue » Patrick Patterson, You Chose… Poorly

Patrick Patterson, You Chose… Poorly

Bad decisions lead to predictable results
I’m not quite as high on our young Gators’ outlook for this year as I was initially. The loss to FSU and a close, nearly epic struggle against Georgia Southern yesterday have shown us that while our kids will be very, very good, they’re not a world-class team yet. At this point I would be very pleased with an NCAA second-round appearance.

Still, considering the Gators lost 5 players to the NBA last year — three of them were top-10 picks — plus our baby-faced assassin, Lee Humphrey, I’m damn happy with this squad. They consistently get better, progress, and improve as a Donovan-coached team should. They are fun to watch. They’re cohesive. They move well without the ball, are fluid on offense (usually), and there are big-time playmakers all over the court in Calathes, Speights, Chandler Parson and (now) Dan Werner. They have good players in depth and the game is uptempo. At times they play like freshmen, but usually they look far better than they should.

The mistakes they do make, one tends to quickly forget. They play hard and sometimes try to do too much. With only one junior on the team, one expects that to happen at times. And it’s clear that a year of bulking up will do wonders for most of these guys, Chandler Parsons in particular. Florida will not be considered one of the SEC’s more physical teams this year.

The Gators are one player short of being a potentially dominant team in the SEC. One player could have tilted the balance: Patrick Patterson.

P-Pat... don't do it As you’ll recall, VHT recruit “P-Pat” was the subject of intense scrutiny during his recruitment period up through the summer of ‘07. He waited until the last possible moment to announce his choice between Florida, Kentucky and Duke. Gator Nation was disappointed when Patterson donned a UK ballcap on ESPN, but that disappointment quickly turned to scorn when he referenced the UF-UK rivalry and said “In the end, Kentucky will win.”

That was a bold statement for a freshman. Even bolder when one considers the fact that Florida was a team which won back-to-back national championships and hadn’t lost a game to Kentucky since early 2004.

However, Patterson’s early play for the ‘Cats has shown that his body might be able to cash the checks his mouth makes. He’s Kentucky’s best player despite the fact that once-heralded Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley are now seniors. He’s the only guy on the roster who’s a consistent scoring threat. Despite the fact he plays for the bad guys, it’s not possible for me to objectively say that Patterson is anything less than a very fine basketball player.

The problem is that Patterson plays for a team which isn’t even close to his level. Kentucky is a train wreck under Billy Gillispie in his first year as head coach. Since I cover SEC hoops for FanHouse I’m required to give Kentucky objective consideration, and generally I feel I’ve done a pretty good job of that.

My assessment? Not revolutionary: the ‘Cats suck. They’re off to a 4-4 start. It’s important that Kentucky is given credit for scheduling teams like North Carolina and Indiana; had Florida played those two teams, I see at least a 1-1 split (loss to UNC and win against IU) but either way, the ‘Cats faced the music while the toughest team UF has played in the pre-season is FSU. Problem is, in addition to losing to two clearly superior teams, they were blown out by Gardner-Webb at Rupp and just lost to Mike Davis’ UAB Blazers at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

Yeah, they’re doing it with two starters sidelined. But UAB was missing their leading scorer, point guard Paul Delaney, and Indiana had what seemed to be half their starting lineup sitting on the bench with various injuries.

The ‘08 Cats are worse than the ‘07 Cats. And the ’07s weren’t exactly the Cat’s Meow (ho! ho! ho!) to begin with.

Kentucky fans are beginning to realize that not only is this team worse, the new coach is not necessarily better than Tubby Smith. Smith won multiple SEC championships, tourney titles, and a national championship in his time at Lexington. Gillispie posted a 31-17 record at Texas A&M and 16-20 at UTEP. His claim to fame is a Sweet 16 berth in the 2007 season and that wouldn’t have happened without a player by the name of Acie Law IV.

At Kentucky, the jury’s out, but the early returns indicate something’s missing. For the life of me I cannot understand Gillispie’s Xs and Os job on the sidelines. He chose to use his underathletic guard, Michael Porter to guard a red-hot Robert Vaden in the UAB game. He runs “grueling practices” on game day. He doesn’t utilize talent on his bench. He starts walk-ons. He absolutely refuses to play zone defense regardless of the opponent and his gameplan is set in stone before the players take the court.

I’m no expert, but I don’t believe you win basketball games that way.

I feel sympathy for Patrick Patterson. Torn between two Billys, he faltered at a critical moment.

The right Billy wins conference titles, conferences tourneys, and sends his players to the NBA ready to start as rookies.

The right Billy hits the recruiting trail with twin crystal basketballs.

The right Billy has taken his team to the Final Four three times in the least eight years.

The right Billy develops his talent to be the best they can possibly be.

Patrick Patterson is a great talent playing for a lousy team. Had he chosen to ascend into the light, he could today be competing for an undefeated team ranked in the Top 15, gunning for a conference title and a future filled with great things. Instead, he languishes in a dark corner of the college basketball universe, biding his time and contributing his efforts to a rebuilding project which might never pan out.

Patrick Patterson chose… poorly. And that’s a crying shame both for him and for the Gators.

56 Comments so far
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When HS players choose poorly I dont feel bad for them. I’m sure Billy D tried to tell him what was right, he just didnt listen. P-Pat and all FSU players deserve no sympathy. They deserve the lose every game and I hope they do.

There has been a lot of talk that P-Pat’s parents were the ones that guided him to Kentucky. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know; I do know that if he carries a lot of “mama and papa” style baggage, then I’m glad Florida didn’t have to deal with him. You’ll remember that Billy Donovan didn’t pursue Alex Legion, and look how that recruit turned out for Kentucky. I’ve learned to trust Billy D. when it comes to picking the right group of players for our teams.

I really never wish any ill will to any player of any team, in any sport (Geno Hayes excepted, perhaps). I recognize these are all kids trying to make the right choices and though I root against them on game day I still wish for all of these highly-disciplined, hard-working student-athletes to go on to long and productive careers.

At the end of the day, Patrick Patterson simply made a bad choice. I’m betting if he could go back and do it all over again he’d be a Gator.

He only chose poorly if he intended on staying in school for 2-3 years. If he’s one and done then he’ll get more attention and playing time at UK. UK may not beat UNC, Indiana, Louisville, etc, but PPat will be matching up against some top big men that scouts will be able to use to evaluate him from.

Pat chose wisely. He now has the chance to build KY back to where Tubby failed and bailed, besides his parents did not like being lied to by flip flop Billy D!

You obviously are intelligent given the way you worked real hard to hide your prejudice against Kentucky. Your half-assed mention that two of the top 3 players are out, is necessary to ubild creedance for your stupid argument. BCG
is trying to create a culture of winning. To do that, a player must practice hard….not unlike most coaches. Look at the Star ratings of Kentucky’s players and those of Florida. It shows that BCG is getting the most out of average players, and Billy D. is the one underperforming.

So, what you’re saying is that Florida has only played one decent opponent and they lost?

You’re kidding, right? Kentucky has tons of experience, including a senior who was a 5-star All American recruit, and they have 5-star player Patrick Patterson who really IS as god as advertised?

Alex Legion would have been good, right? He couldn’t get along with Billy G., I guess.

Sounds like Patterson’s parents aren’t too happy with Billy Gillispie either.

Meanwhile Florida’s team is almost entirely comprised of frosh and sophs. You really think Billy D is underachieving? Here’s one thing I’ll bet on: Florida will make the NCAA tourney yet again this year. I’m not so sure Billy G’s squad will be able to pull that off!

hahaha, billy d underachieving…… that is hilarious

That was a tear-jerking analysis, but the fact still remains that UK owns the SEC and will persevere. Maybe PP considered that.

I must have missed the press conference. UK owns the SEC? I thought they were property of gardner webb.

Uk has been irrelevant in the SEC for years and the gators aren’t going anywhere. the slide down into the abyss is not going to end any time soon for you.

is it really true that your coach billy gillespie doesnt play any zone defense at all? that is insane.

“Owns the SEC”? Um, check the trophies pumpkin. Yep, that’s UF on the 2006 and 2007. Check back when UK actually means something to anyone else but UK fans.

gatordone: I love it when uk fans come to visit, dont you? they dont even know how lame their program is now.

i came here from a link and had no intention of posting, but reading some of these comments has me all fired up…i will concede that currently, based on one incredible recruiting class, you gaytors have bragging rights…but if you honestly think that florida as a program is comparable to kentucky you are severely mistaken…those of you that seriously believe in the supremacy of florida basketball over kentucky basketball, as a program, must be smoking pot somewhere with andrew de clerq

Let’s begin with correcting a factual misrepresentation. Gillispie was 30-32 at UTEP. The Miners went from 6 wins his first year to 24 his second. The biggest won-loss turnaround in NCAA history. At Texas A&M, a program with a record of 101-182 the previous 10 seasons, he produced 21 wins his first year. The same number of wins the previous two years combined. Before his arrival in ‘04 A&M had not had a winning season since ‘93-’94. All he did was go 70-26 in three years, and left behind a Top 20 team for current coach Mark Turgeon.

Questioning his coaching acumen is simply ridiculous, and quite frankly if you cover college basketball for fanhouse, perhaps fanhouse needs to look at providing some continuing education for their contributors.

Did Patrick Patterson make a mistake by coming to UK? Hmmm. Eight games into his career, yeah, thats a good time to make a sweeping indictment on the kids decision.

Let’s see, did McCants, Felton and May make a mistake by attending North Carlolina? Afterall, Carolina went 8-20 the year before they arrived, and lost 27 games their first two years. They even lost 18 ACC contests in that same timespan. They also lost to… Iona. My Gawd, what were they thinking? Oh, that’s right they won a National Championship their junior year.

Patterson is the cornerstone of the future for UK. Coming in next year is Darius Miller and Deandre Liggins. They are at worst top 30 prospects. Even if Gillispie doesn’t sign another player for next year, he still has a Top 15 recruiting class, which is quite impressive considering the class contains only two players. My point is it won’t be long before Kentucky is Kentucky again. Patience and calm endurance, not knee jerk reactionism, are what’s needed when offering an evaluation of Gillispie and Pattersons futures at UK.

I like Billy Donovan. I think he is a class act, and a good college coach. But I’m not ready to ordain him all-knowing and almighty just yet.

He signed a very unique class of players when he inked Brewer, Horford, and Noah. The previous five years before winning the Championship he had consistently underachieved. He was loaded with great talent, but fizzled in the big games, and in the Big Dance. Enter Larry Shyatt.

Donovan is to be commended for hiring Shyatt. He is to be commended for recognizing his teams were undisciplined and defensively challenged. Bringing in Shyatt brought toughness and a defensive presence to the Gator program. Couple that with a group of unselfish, think-team-first players and one has the recipe for championships.

Well, that group of players is now gone. Of course Shyatt remains, so we’ll see if he can instill the same sense of selflessness into this group. They are certainly talented, but lots of teams are talented. It’s that extra bit of team first attitude that enables a group of very talented players to perform as one.

Of course it is also important to keep the players around for more than a year or two. Florida and North Carolina both benefited from players eschewing the NBA for college glory. That is very rare. Will it continue? Only time will tell.

Crowning Donovan as the “right” Billy? We’ll see. Two years of exceptional play does not a great coach make.

I may be in the minority on this issue, but the majority is often full of fans similar to yourself. Quick to judge, too quick to condemn, and often in the end, wrong.

Gillispie is to be admired for sticking to his philosophical guns. He is attempting to instill his way of play into this team. An effective leader doesn’t abandon his philosophy when hard times arrive. He perseveres and continues to teach. Which is what Gillispie is doing in the face of mounting criticism. “Poll taking” is not the way to govern, nor is it the best way to lead a sports program. If it were, Rich Brooks would have been gone 2 years ago.

Chide if you must. The opportunity to pile on will be over soon.

Congratulations on Tebow winning the Heisman. He was certainly deserving.

It sounds like all you Florida fans have come out of the woodwork for basketball this season. Where were you guys before Florida won 2 national championships? Florida will never be what UK is in basketball. We already had our Donovan 50 years ago and he was twice the program starter that Donovan is. You guys just started being relevant. Don’t get to COCKY. Keep cheering on the football team because you’ve got more that along way to go before you get into the elite status that we’re in and have been for 50 years. 7 national championships and more sec titles that you all + the rest of the conference.

I linked to read what I thought would be a revealing article about the SEC play….funny how it turns out to be just “we are good haha and you are bad” without any saving grace as to analysis of current teams. PP2 chose what he thought was a fit for him in coach, team and school. How can that be wrong for him? “had he chose to ascend into the light”….give me a break. After all it is only Fla basketball…newly on the stage makes for some enhanced egos. GP…you can do better even when touting your team.

Somehow I think Gator Nation has heard all of the following arguments enough times that we don’t even bother responding anymore:

- UK’s “tradition”
- Our program will never be what UK’s is
- Bunch of championships won before most fans were born
- Get UK now because pretty soon they will be OMG unbeatable!

Bottom line, kiss our crystal balls, Kentucky. You haven’t beaten us in nearly four years. Those of you who have an entitlement mentality ought to take a lesson from Nebraska and Alabama’s football fans. They’ve learned humility again and eventually, you will too.

My point with this article is simple: a subjective evaluation of both teams should show Kentucky being a markedly better squad than Florida this year, who lost their starting five plus their 6th man, Chris Richard. Despite the fact that Florida has a bunch of brand new scrubs on the floor, most of whom were playing high school hoops less than 6 months ago, they play better team ball than your vaunted Kentucky squad, which fields far more experience on the floor and of course that killer Kentucky “tradition”.

All Billy G really needed to do to allow me to cut you guys a break was show that he could make some in-game adjustments and maximize the talent he has to win some games. He hasn’t done that yet. I see a team that’s worse than last year’s and a coach who hasn’t come within sniffing distance of what Tubby Smith did for the program, yet you love him more anyway.

Ken, Wikipedia disagrees with you about Billy G’s record. Take it up with them if you think the numbers are wrong.

Anyway, I keep the argument in the here and now, and it’s pretty clear that Florida’s ahead despite losing almost everything. That says a lot about the “right” Billy.

You know you wanted our coach badly, and you’d trade G for D in a heartbeat.

I guess this is what I get for having all that fun at Billy Donovan’s expense last year.

I can live with it. But keep in mind, GP, that very often, one or two players can be the difference. I don’t need to tell you how the addition of Jamal Mashburn changed the 1990 Cats. But Jamal would not have been nearly as successful without role players Pelphrey and Feldhaus.

Chortle and poke fun now, if you want — I certainly have a little schadenfreude coming my way. But since we are quoting Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I’ll give you a paraphrase of one:

“The search for [Great Basketball] is the search for the divine in all of us. But if you want facts, [GatorPilot], I’ve none to give you. At my age, I’m prepared to take a few things on faith.”

I think my faith in not just the coach, but our program, will be rewarded. But we won’t know for a while yet.

Since Pilot did not dispute anything I wrote I will work to correct his mistakes.

1. UK beat Florida on Feb. 8, 2005. Now I wasn’t a math major but that is not even 3 years, much less “nearly 4″ as GP writes. To illustrate what that statistic means–Between January of ‘90 and March of ‘05 Florida beat UK exactly 5 times. That’s 5 wins in 35 games. Since that time the Gators have had their way with UK. Cycles baby. Plus, Florida’s dominence was due to Brewer and Co.. 3 guys. Those guys are gone. Debating who will come out on top going forward is silly. We will know soon enough.

2. It is heartening to know a professional writer relies on Wikipedia for information. Clyde was 6-24 followed by 24-8 at UTEP. That equals, you guessed it, 30-32. See, that was easy.

If you are referring to me when you write about entitlement, perhaps you should reference your wikipedia to learn what that word means. Nowhere in my words do I offer up anything resembling an entitlement attitude. I simply offered an argument to counter your claims.

I also did not, in any way, demean Florida, Donovan, or any of the players in the Gator program. I did not resort to juvenile rantings like the one above. I kept my thoughts as professional as possible, unlike yourself, the purported professional among us.

By the way, Calipari and Gillispie were my 1 and 1a choices to replace Tubby. Donovan was third. That sentiment hasn’t changed.

Any objective observer of both teams this year has to see that UF plays better team ball. UF is young, the kids are still learning, but you can see the Donovan coaching starting to take hold. UK, on the other hand, looks worse than last year. Still no offensive identity, still the uneven play, still the long scoring droughts. I will give BG his props for getting Crawford and Bradley to drive and dish occasionally (but they are not very good at the dish part).

Don’t give me the crap about past history. That means nothing. Just ask Alabama, Nebraska, FSU, and other football powers that have fallen and can’t get up. Past history is the last few seasons. or the tenure of the current coach. Period. UK fans need to get a grip and face facts - the coach that just won two NCCA championships, has been to the Final Four three times, an NCAA tourney entrant 8 straight years and consistently signs top ten classes is still at Florida. Billy G is an unknown. Maybe he will make it, maybe he won’t. The early indications are not so hot. Sure, he could still right the ship, but his reputation as a hard ass precedes him, his inflexibility (”I never play zone defense”), his DUI’s as well as his dating habits all raise flags to normal people. Clearly the UK administration is at least a little worried or they would have signed him to his contract.

So, did PP choose unwisely? I think so, he could have filled a real need on a young up and coming team and gotten just as much notoriety as at UK, where the future of the team is still in doubt. Maybe he wanted to be the star of the team, and if so, then he choose wisely and I’m glad he went that way. But his Dad, at least, doesn’t seem real happy about that choice now, does he?

Weird. That last reply isn’t me. I agree with it, but it isn’t me. Was that you, KG?

UPDATE: That was my dad. My login must have been cached on his home computer.

Patrick Patterson is going to explore his options at the end of the season. I’m not saying he definitely will jump but his parents were never interested in him sticking around college for very long, they never were. They are riding their son to glory and green. His parents have been described as being visibly upset and have spoken in derogatory fashion towards the Kentucky coaching staff in recent games.

That being said Patterson is a great talent and probably the best player on the team even as a freshman. I’d love to have him if even for just one season. But he’s not there to “rebuild” UK to glory. He’s there to position himself for a cash grab. There better be some more big men coming in next year to take his place. Since UF has three bigs coming in next year I’d be more than willing to having him as a one and done this year similar to Donnell Harvey in 2000.

Billy Donovan has three national championship game appearances in 8 years. Gillespie has NOTHING on his resume that even comes CLOSE to that. Nada, zip, nothing.

And for the record, Larry Shyatt DID NOT change the way UF plays defense. Shyatt was brought in to improve the Gators REBOUNDING which he did! Larry Shyatt was never some great defensive teachers, Donovan learned the defensive schemes that the Gators play long before he hired Shyatt. I figured a basketball knowledgeable fan base would recognize the consistency in our half court defensive rotations and schemes since Florida has been using them the LAST 12 YEARS. But apparently Kentucky fans buy into the same mumbo jumbo analysis the the rest of the country does . . . per the internet basketball commentators and media pundits. I expected more from the supposedly “basketball savvy” Wildcat fans.

OVERALL WIN %

Kentucky 76%
Florida 52%

I think that about covers it.

Keltic Gator, nothing is more abhorrent than rumormongering, either on a blog or the MSM. If the Pattersons have been so disaffected, as you seem to think, where are the stories supporting your assertions? I hate to be rude, but please, that just isn’t quite cricket. Either supply links to this or lose credibility.

Second, you have no idea what Patterson will do and neither do I. He isn’t ready to “explore his options,” and won’t be by the time the season is over. He is not nearly skilled enough offensively or defensively to go high in the draft, and could easily slip into the middle second round. There are literally tens of college power forwards with as much game as he has right now. He is younger and may have more potential, but compare him to, say, Michael Beasley who is dominating games everywhere. He will be at UK at least one more year. 18 and 8 in college as the best and only post threat on your team won’t impress many pro scouts, and he isn’t even averaging that. He has a lot going for him and will most likely be in the association one day, but not next year.

Furthermore, his parents have stated that it is their intention that he stay in school. Now, nobody knows more than me the politics of such statements, but at least that statement has the virtue of being demonstrable, where as your suggestion of parental unhappiness does not.

Your last paragraph is a joke, not because it’s wrong about Shayatt — I really don’t believe there is a significant difference in the defensive schemes since he got here, merely the execution — it has been better, but that is likely less due to Shyatt’s efforts and more due to the great chemistry of the 04’s. Shyatt is more well-known as a disciplinarian and a good teacher of fundamentals. But Florida’s defense has only been good since the ’04’s have been sophomores, and that is essentially all.

Compare that to UK’s DE, which has been in the top 50 every year for the past 4, and in the top 10 many more times than Florida during Donovan’s tenure, even including the last two years. And this so-called “consistency in our half court defensive rotations and schemes” that you are trying to tell us hasn’t changed in 12 years is just nonsense. Claiming to have an understanding of college basketball isn’t the same thing as actually having it, friend, and that statement is … revealing.

Not only that, Donovan has consistently underachieved despite having more paper talent than almost any team in the SEC during his tenure as coach, and that is another demonstrable fact. So don’t be rolling all up in our grille telling Kentucky fans we don’t know what we’re talking about. It isn’t friendly, and it isn’t polite, and more to the point, it isn’t true.

Oh,and to GP’s dad — Gillispie has never been convicted of a DUI. He has been pulled over on suspicion once and charged once, but both were dropped due to insufficient evidence to support a conviction. So let’s make sure we understand it — Gillispie has never been convicted of DUI. Ever. Period.

And as far as his dating habits go, I challenge anyone to produce any evidence having even a shred of credibility as to what they are. A picture snapped in a bar, perhaps, or a restaurant? How about a Bruce Pearl photo of Gillilspie with a robust young babe? No?

Then I suggest y’all get some facts and stop spreading rumors.

Tru,

If you have something to say just come out and say it. Open up a little once in a while. Don’t keep it all inside.

First of all, this isn’t the Washington Post so we don’t have to share our “sources”. Just because it took years before anyone would come out and publicly declare Bonds and Clemmens were juicing doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening. Just because YOU want to know where the info is coming from doesn’t mean its wrong. Go ask your UK friends close to the situation, I’m sure anyone sitting in the stands near the Pattersons can give you good “second hand” information.

Irregardless, Florida’s defensive intensity did not BEGIN in 2004. What you had was a droppoff after the 2001-2002 season and no one can seem to remember how great the Florida defense was back then at contesting shots, forcing turnovers and switching defensively. There were a few years where UF stopped playing effective defense but that was as much personnel as anything else. It was hard to get guys like Walsh, Peep, White, et al to dedicate themselves on the defensive end the way teams before and after them did. They were the HS “scorer” type player who wouldn’t commit themselves defensively.

Shyatt is a great fundamentals coach but his biggest contribution was teaching Florida how to rebound the basketball aggressively and effectively. Prior to that Florida’s defensive rebounding was sporadic at best. And giving up a lot of second and third shots will make a defense look much worse than it is. Tubby Smith on the other hand is a great teacher of “defense”.

Thanks for the conribution Tru.

Tru, thank you for your thoughts. Although this is an issue we obviously don’t agree upon, we consider you a great friend around here.

I, too, am tired of the misconceptions about Shyatt. EVERYONE thinks he was brought in to bring defensive toughness. Even though Shyatt and Donovan have both repeated stated he has had little to do with that, the myth perpetuates. It’s a small error, but annoying. The Gators have used the same defensive methodologies for years. Shyatt’s arrival coincided with the departure of some players who just never had the ability to play hard-nosed defense.

Tru, you and I both know that Patterson’s parents were standing up at Rupp during the loss to UAB, not too far from the bench, and shouting “We’re not staying for this!” at Gillispie and staff. It was posted by multiple people on the message boards and they all corroborated what was said. Rumor? I suppose, but we know it’s “tru”, at the end of the day.

I for one can’t speak to Patterson’s future plans and the whole one-and-done story. He certainly doesn’t play like a freshman right now and was able to compete strongly against Tyler Hansbrough, who’s a likely early pick in the NBA Draft. Seems to me that if can play at a high level the rest of the year, he might be a candidate to go, but I tend to agree that he’s likely to return for at least one more year. Just a gut feeling.

Now, one last point — consistently underachieved?! Are you sure you’re talking about the “right” Billy? Donovan has taken his team to 3 national championship appearances since 2000. He’s won 2 of those 3 games. If that’s underachieving, I’ll take it all day long.

Donovan is a proven commodity and, perhaps most importantly for recruiting, SENDS PLAYERS TO THE NBA. He has done that since his arrival in Gainesville. Gators are well-liked by the NBA because they arrive well-conditioned and ready to play early.

I do think Patterson chose poorly for all of the above reasons. We have no idea yet how well Gillispie can develop his talent. Patterson is arriving at a team who’s so weak that they’re instantly looking at him as the go-to guy despite the fact that he is just a freshman. At Florida, Donovan could have paced his development and he still would have been a star player, playing for the defending two-time national champions.

The one thing I will say in Patterson’s defense is that Billy’s waffling on taking other college and pro jobs during his recruitment probably cost us his LOI. I can’t totally blame him for not wanting to get involved during that period, but things ended up working out pretty well for the other recruits. Nick Calathes is going to be a star player in the NCAA. Be prepared to hear his name a LOT in the coming years. Mo Speights has the chance to be a star if he can play with intensity every minute on the floor. It’s a top recruiting class playing great team ball from the get-go, and that means they’re gonna be damn good sooner rather than later.

GatorPilot and Keltic Gator:

I consider you guys great friends too. I probably flew off the handle a bit there, but you have to appreciate that I hate, hate, hate unsubstantiated rumors, regardless of the source. You won’t ever find them on my blog without a disclaimer, and then only with respect to professional things — never, ever personal things.

It’s a pet peeve of mine, but I shouldn’t try to hold you guys to the standards I set — this is your damn blog, and you can post what you please. I demand recognition of that at ASoB, and it is wrong of me to insist that others apply that standard.

So I do apologize if I was in any way offensive in my comments.

Regarding Patterson’s parents.

1. That game was not at Rupp Arena. It was at Freedom Hall in Louisvill.
2. I was there, maybe 25 feet from the floor. If people are telling you that’s what happened, they are most likely lying to you. Many Wildcat fans have an agenda, and that agenda isn’t what you would expect. There are a fair number of Kentucky fans that don’t want Gillispie as coach, and will happily stoop to passing around the flimsiest rumor, exaggeration or outright lie if they feel it will server their “purpose.” If you have seen it posted, point me to it and I’ll give you my honest opinion of the likely factuality of it. Needless to say, I am intimately familiar with the Wildcat fan community online.

Please don’t take me wrong on this, but Kentucky fans are just like Florida fans — you can’t believe everything they say. Even if it was so, it could have been a “heat of the moment” thing, said in anger but not meant. I know I have often said things like that about the Cats, but no way did I mean it.

So I urge you to be circumspect about such things — this is just the kind of thing that provides guys like Steven A. Smith credibility when he goes off on bloggers. You don’t see guys like me and Matt Jones repeating this stuff, although I get at least 5 emails a week full of rumors, and read many more on line. Repeating them is hurtful not just to the Wildcats, but it can impact people’s lives who are just trying to make an honest living. Please try to keep that in mind. For what it’s worth, I always try to apply the Golden Rule about such things, but as I said and will try hard to remember in the future, it’s your blog.

Regarding Florida’s defense — Florida unquestionably presses less now than they did early in Billy D’s years, most markedly the 1-3-1 zone press which Pitino and later Donovan employed for a substantial percentage of games. Florida also traps less than they used to, although they still do it. Many things have changed about Donovan’s defensive schemes, as they should — college basketball has learned to adjust to zone full court and man pressure. Pitino’s defense is unrecognizably different from what he employed at Kentucky.

Shyatt’s influence, as I said and defy anyone to disprove, has been in execution. Sharp defensive execution shows up in many stats, and GP recognizes it as rebounding. That isn’t something you teach in isolation. Defensive rebounding is driven largely by effort, but positioning is critical and proper execution of block-out responsibilities will always improve this statistic. Shyatt is a “perfect practice makes perfect” kind of coach, so his emphasis is always on proper technique and positioning.

With respect to Patterson’s choice, I can only say this — we are playing with two of our best players hurt, and neither Ramel or Joe are good at getting the ball into the post and never have been. Everyone is frustrated right now, but nobody, not Patterson and not his parents, are regretting their decision except possibly in the heat of the moment when things are going badly. That’s to be expected, and when we are back to some semblance of full strength, you will see what I mean.

Yeah, we like rumors and rumormongering around here.

That’s what makes blogging fun!

Wow, a real live Kat fight!!!

GP:

Wanna know what I really think about them?

Go here.

What you Gator guys forget is that Kentuckians favor a good story over the truth. And they favor more being tied to the story — “my brother’s roommate at the game said,” “my cousin who works at Merrick Inn saw,” “my lawyer who knows Mitch had dinner,” etc. This has been going on for ages; its part of our culture. The Internet makes it public outside of the Bluegrass State.

So whenever I hear things like “Billy Donovan’s wife was horse-farm hunting in Lexington in March”, I laugh about it. Actually, it was several Billy Donovan rumors that completely convinced me that any rumor involving UK Basketball is no less than 75% full of shit.

You Florida fans are going to pimp your little perfect storm for all it’s worth apparently.

You are taking shots at UK in order to hide your apparent displeasure that after all his accomplishments, Donovan still couldn’t close the deal with Patterson… and this is what you are left with:

Bitter posts that act like what’s happened during an 8-game streak is all Patterson’s chosen team is ever going to accomplish.

oh and btw, IU would DESTROY Florida.

[…] As Truzenzuzex pointed out at A Sea of Blue, even Florida basketball fans are getting in on the act. Discussing UK freshman Patrick Patterson–who picked UK over Florida and Duke–”GatorPilot” offers these sour grapes: The problem is that Patterson plays for a team which isn’t even close to his level. Kentucky is a train wreck under Billy Gillispie in his first year as head coach. Since I cover SEC hoops for FanHouse I’m required to give Kentucky objective consideration, and generally I feel I’ve done a pretty good job of that. […]

Keltic Gator—You have got to be kidding me. Shyatt was brought in to teach his defensive scheme. Man everyone knows this. That isn’t my opinion, it is fact. The more you write the more you reveal your lack of, uhhhm, shall we say, knowledge of Gator basketball, or perhaps basketball in general.

Er, Ken… my friend… methinks you ought to rethink your indictment of KG’s basketball knowledge. From the New York Times:

Donovan bristles at the assumption that Shyatt, 54, has revamped Florida’s defense. He relentlessly praises Shyatt as a coach and as a person but does not like people making the leap that Shyatt has orchestrated a defensive renaissance.

“One of the things I thought our staff needed to have was maybe just some new ideas, fresh ideas, all those types of things,” Donovan said. “I never hired Larry for defense at all. As a matter of fact, our defensive philosophy here is probably a lot different than what Larry’s was.”

So there you go. Maybe, just maybe, we Gators know a thing or two about our team and even basketball in general.

[…] Meanwhile, ever anxious to stick it to the Wildcat Basketball fans, my good buddy GatorPilot stated Patrick Patterson made the wrong choice in coming to Kentucky. I think overall GatorPilot got what he wanted — a riled up Tru and Kentucky Fanbase, and a clever reference to the Indiana Jones movie. I appreciate the comedy combo he unleashed. But in the comments, I wanted to remind him of something: What you Gator guys forget is that Kentuckians favor a good story over the truth. And they favor more being tied to the story — “my brother’s roommate at the game said,” “my cousin who works at Merrick Inn saw,” “my lawyer who knows Mitch had dinner,” etc. This has been going on for ages; its part of our culture. The Internet makes it public outside of the Bluegrass State. […]

I guess Billy Don just didn’t offer enough money up to Patterson like he does most of his recruits. You’re talking about a coach so dirty other coaches wouldn’t shake his hand, need I get into the Teddy Dupay days? Anyways, Billy Don has had more than ample talent to win 5 plus championships but he choked year after year until he was blessed with four juniors who could have won with me coaching. Florida has played and beaten nobody this year. NOBODY. I know they are all giddy their anti-Christ won the heisman, but they can’t touch our tradition, ever…eva…eva…we sell more tickets for midnight madness than the gators do against top notch teams..that’s why Patterson came to UK and when we get healthy, we’ll see then. Oh by the way, that comment about Don getting his players ready to start as rookies, did he teach Horford that cheap shot on TJ Ford, or Brewer how to get dunked on by Mello? Enjoy your two years in the sun Gator fans, then it’s back to the Lon Krueger and meat hook days.

BTW, Indiana would have laughed you guys off the court to. They’re a little bit better than Georgia Southern

Indiana may well have beaten Florida, but I think it would have been competitive. Our boys play team ball.

Tim Tebow the antichrist? You do know he spends his summers in the Phillipines doing missionary work and does tons of appearances for kids with disabilities and illnesses? You’re a sicko.

Daniel, by the way, you do know that Georgia Southern beat UAB who beat… ?

Oh yeah, you probably remember.

I honestly don’t know which team I like you guys to flame more, Notre Dame football or Kentucky basketball. Commentators from both teams appear to be perfectly split in the middle: half of the fan base appears to be knowledgeable, loyal, respectful and generally excellent guests to banter with on a boar (see: TRU), while the other half are just so remarkably idiotic that it’s cringe-worthy (see: Daniel). One thing is for sure, guys, is that no matter what you say about either school, your website hits has to jump into the stratosphere.

Unfortunately, Kentucky getting completely embarrassed last night probably prevented all but the most delusional Cat fans from posting here today…

Gatorpilot-how many games would you guys win without your starting backcourt? Oh yeah, you probably you know, about as many titles as Billy D and his cronies won before he lucked up with Brewer and company.
By the way, Florida fans, we can lose 15 games for the next ten years straight and we will still have more all-time wins than Florida and we will still be considered an all-time dynasty. You guys will still be considered a football school who still wishes they had Steve Spurrier. You guys have had a good run in football and basketball the past two years but don’t ever forget who the first school with both football and basketball championships in the same year was…that’s right…us baby. And RJSPlows Matt Walsh…in Kentucky, we know because of our greatness, the inferior schools we’ve slaughtered in the past will always find happiness in our struggles, but that just goes with the territory…kind of like when Georgia beats you guys in football.

::Cue Music::
Announcer: Bud Light Presents… Real Men of Genius.

Singer: Real Men of Genius!!!!

Announcer: Today we salute you, Mr. Kentucky Basketball Super-Fan

Singer: Mr. Kentucky Basketball Super Fan!!!!

Announcer: Men from “lesser” programs might learn some humility after a 4-5 start to this season, but you? You’d rather ignore it and shove your abstract overall records in everyone’s faces.

Singer: We beat you twice in 1982!!

Announcer: You display your pride and the program’s achievements with reckless abandon, conveniently forgetting that most of your championships came before schools integrated their sports programs.

Singer: Adolph Rupp was a racist!!!

Announcer: Sure, you haven’t beaten Florida in almost three years or the SEC title in almost four, but why let “facts” and “recent events” get in the way of your delusional fervor?

Singer: Billy G….is a great recruiter!!!!!

Announcer: So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, oh lover of the bluegrass kittens, because hey…at least Ashley Judd will be sort of hot for at least another three years.

Singer: Mr. Kentucky Basketball Super Faaaaaannnnnnn…..

I laughed for 10 minutes after reading that, RJS. I can totally hear it as a “song”. It’s beautiful, sir, just beautiful.

Wow. That…

…was funny.

RJS…classic.

I tell you what’s really funny, when your boy Walsh came to Rupp and got heckled so bad your pansy AD had to write our AD a letter asking for an apology…aww…ain’t he sweet. Poor little mama’s boy got his feelings hurt. Okay, let’s talk today, your basketball team is like ours, rebuilding. Only difference, our fans show up all the time, most of yours didn’t even know what basketball was till one of our former assistants took over your program. And if working in Florida is so great, why did Billy D almost come to UK and then sign with Orlando only to jump ship? That’s why Patterson didn’t want to go to Florida, Billy D is a creep and two-faced, just like his mentor, Ricky P.
Bottom line, this blog entry is written by a complete idiot. Saying Patterson made a bad choice after 9 games of his freshman season is idiotic. Tebow could be playing for Ohio State or LSU right now, playing for the national title, does that mean he made a bad choice? Basically, Florida fans will always be jealous of the fact we are the SEC in basketball, we have been and we will always be. I doubt you guys will win another national title in the next decade, especially not with the players you have right now. Hell, you can’t even beat FSU and they suck and now you’re trying to say you guys are so much better than us. Play somebody and beat somebody ranked in the top 100 then talk. Second, before writing a blog under the assumption of being a journalist, you should look at the facts. Our two best players have been out most of the year in Jasper and Meeks. How many games would Florida have won last year without their starting backcourt? Gatorpilot, to even say you have been objective is a farce. Just be thankful, because even your success in many ways comes from us “racist” and “stuck in the past” Kentuckians. Even Gatorpilot’s dad is pretty slow, saying Patterson would have gotten as much attention at Florida? Most people in the country can’t name three of your players. ESPN cheers for us to lose, so even in defeat we get more attention than you do when you lose. And RJSPLOWSMATTWALSH”S butt, you want to talk about racism and all that crap from the past, where are your black coaches?
Donovan is and has been a creep. Outside of the past two seasons, his teams get dropped more in the first two rounds of the NCAA’s than Rider.

But honestly, the great man of genius song was pretty funny.

Great work RJS. Your lyrical talent abounds!

Daniel: Yep, we’ve heard all of those arguments for about 3 years now.

Everyone EXPECTED Florida to be rebuilding this year. People thought highly enough of Kentucky to rank them in the Top 25 considering their experience and fancy new coach. The downward slide continues.

As long as you keep talking about the past and we keep talking about the present and future, things will keep looking up for the Gators in the SEC. Thanks.

But you are rebuilding, that’s the point. Just like we are. Preseason rankings are for the birds and on a side note, those rankings were based on a healthy UK roster, which still has not happened. Most sensible UK fans expected us to struggle this year, probably be a 7-10 seed in the tourney, which we still can be, but the loss to Gardner Webb and all the injuries have been real setbacks. If we’re talking about the future, the way I see it, we are just as good as Florida when we are healthy. Had you guys played anybody in the preseason, it would show. You have some good shooters but your post game is severely lacking and will be exposed once conference play begins. I see Vandy 1, UT 2, Florida 3 and UK 4 in the east at the end of the year. To be honest with you, I have no real problem with Florida. Covering basketball in the past, I found Florida’s players from last season some of the easiest to interview and talk with. What I have a problem with is Florida fans thinking two years of winning cancels out decades of sub par play. Thinking that a 4-5 start for UK cancels out 100 years of tradition, championships and wins is silly. Saying Patterson should have come to Florida because you guys beat a few cupcakes and we got beat on national tv by North Carolina, Indiana, UAB and Houston without our entire lineup doesn’t make sense either. He has gotten a lot of exposure despite the winning and that’s what NBA prospects want.

Well, I’ll skip all the hostilities because I don’t really reciprocate them. I actually enjoy the heck out of Kentucky fans. You guys are colorful, some are flat out insane (some earlier ramblings on this thread prove that) and others know far more about basketball than should be healthy. So I have sort of a love/hate relationship with you guys. I also find Kentucky an intriguing team to follow.

That being said, we don’t care too much for the Kentucky entitlement-based-on-past-accomplishments mentality around here and we’ll continue to expose it.

I would agree with your SEC East ranking although I think Tennessee will probably wake up sooner than later and start playing better. Losing Crews was a huge loss for them and while Vandy does seem surprisingly good right now I don’t expect them to maintain that momentum.

I actually think a healthy UK roster ought to be more or less equivalent to UF at full strength. We have the same shooters and good length and depth on the wing, in the backcourt, and also sitting on the bench. Right now I’d say Pat Patterson is showing more promise than our own Mo Speights but we’re hoping our big guy has the light come on because he’s capable of an extremely high level of play, just doesn’t maintain it.

What boggles my mind is that Kentucky looks tired halfway through their games and that Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley still can’t put a complete game together. Sure, Joe got hot against Houston but only when the Cats found themselves down 20 and started to relax a bit on defense. And Joe’s mental lapses resulted in a lot of turnovers in addition to defensive breakdowns leading to easy Houston buckets.

Ramel Bradley is a basketcase and is simply not that good in my view.

Jodie Meeks is a stud. I’d take him on our roster any day.

Derrick Jasper is a pretty good player with good length and a nice looking shot. From what I saw of him last year, he needs to get more aggressive. I think he looks equivalent to Chandler Parsons.

I think our young guys play better team ball and on average are more talented individually than the majority of Kentucky’s guards and forwards. You have an advantage with Patterson and Meeks, but we have the advantage everywhere else. It’d be a competitive game.

I agree with you on every player evaluation except the part about Jasper having a shot. I don’t think he can throw the ball in the ocean. Plus, you missed a good opportunity to diss Porter who is playing the wrong sport. You are dead on with Bradley, when he’s hot he is the more dangerous because then he takes a shot as soon as he gets over halfcourt. Next year, when more of these Tubby recruits are gone, you’ll see a different team. I think Crawford has been out of shape since day one. Honestly, my only complaint about this season was losing Legion. The kid can shoot with anybody and we could have used him when Meeks was out. Florida should try and get him, he would fit right in with Billy D as he’s a pure shooter. You know how it is though, you got to defend your team.

Yea KG and GP you should never listen to another UK fan’s rumor. You remember what they were saying over summer, theyre crazy…But they do have a good points, we havent played anybody.

P.S. those UK fans really love blog stories about UK too. 55 messages and counting???

Why do you think I write them? ;)

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