Kentucky’s Season is Now Over, Let the Drama Begin

The Kentucky Wildcats’ season ended in a loss to Notre Dame in the 2009 NIT Quarterfinals yesterday.  Now, the drama will start unfolding as to whether Billy Gillispie will remain the Kentucky Wildcats’ basketball coach and which, if any, players will transfer or enter the NBA draft.  Below is a rundown of all the possibilities that you, as a Kentucky basketball fan, can expect in the near future.

Will coach Billy Gillispie be fired?
And the answer is, probably, maybe not, we just don’t know yet.  There are many deciding factors that the UK Athletics Director will have to take into account (if he hasn’t already) on what to do in this situation.

Billy Gillispie Pros 

• He has been talked about as being one of the best recruiting coaches
• He is said to be dedicated to the game of basketball
• He has a good track record of turning basketball teams around

Billy Gillispie Cons

• Even though he is said to be dedicated to basketball, many speculate that he just doesn’t fit the mold of a Kentucky coach, more-so off the court than on the court
• Whether this is the players fault or not, under Gillispie, the team just can’t seem to figure out other team’s defenses and offenses
• It is speculated that he works the players too hard in practice
• Many questionable decisions about playing time and substitutions during certain games have given him a “not so good” reputation in many fans’ eyes

If Coach Gillispie were to be fired, the program will be able to bring in a coach that better fits the mold of what everyone expects from the UK head basketball coach.  However, UK would have to pay Gillispie 6 million dollars due to his contract.  Not only that, but UK might not be able to reel in any big fish due to the fact that Gillispie only lasted 2 years at Kentucky and many coaches might see that as discouragement or too big of a burden to take on.  This shouldn’t be too big of a factor, because when it comes down to it, coaches want to get paid and coach at a legendary school and Kentucky can pay them, so there shouldn’t be too big of an issue in getting a big name or up and coming coach.

Some other things to point out…usually when the coach goes, so do some players.  DeAndre Liggins has let it be publicly known that he is going to sit down with his family and discuss his future.  He may transfer and it may or may not have anything to do with the coaching situation.  Also, Daniel Orton’s dad has been publicly quoted in saying that Daniel Orton wants to play for Coach Gillispie at Kentucky and if Kentucky does make a coaching change, Daniel may choose to play for another school next year.  Daniel Orton is the 5-Star recruit coming in next year from Oklahoma.

Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson should come back next year as they both don’t seem physically ready for the NBA, but they may test the waters and enter the draft.  Jodie Meeks was quoted a couple weeks back in saying that he plans to return for his Senior season, but that was a couple of weeks ago and things can change.  Patrick Patterson should come back at least for his Junior year to get some more experience before heading to the NBA draft, but if he decides to declare for the draft this year, he will probably be a late first round/early second round pick.

Darius Miller is from Kentucky and will probably stay with the UK program.  Kevin Galloway and Josh Harrellson are probably not going anywhere since they just transferred to UK, but you never know.  Ramon Harris/Michael Porter will, more than likely, finish their college career at Kentucky.  There hasn’t been any report on the two 4-Star recruits coming in next year about their feelings and thoughts if there were to be a coaching change at the University of Kentucky and if that would affect their decisions to play at UK.

Just remember, this is all speculation, hearsay, rumors, and such.  There is nothing guaranteed and everything seems to be up in the air when referring to UK and it’s future decisions and that of it’s players.  The only thing that I can guarantee is that when something happens that affects UK and the basketball program, this website will be updated with the news as soon as possible.

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