Sometimes for fun, sometimes because it's easy and sometimes because it's been warranted, GN and I have taken a few cracks at Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie.
The latest foray into Billy G. tweaking brought a swift rebuke from a UK blogger we very much respect. And that has nothing to do with the fact it's an SBN blog. Here it is from A Sea of Blue.
It baffles me why Gopher bloggers seem to have the need to continually find fault with Gillispie. It is an ongoing issue that has frankly begun to get on the wrong side of my normally even disposition. It's as though they feel they have to tear Gillispie down in order to validate Tubby Smith, which is utterly preposterous.
So I ask the rest of you who don't try and find things to write about on a daily basis. ... What is your perception of Billy Gillispie? Good? Bad? Just another college coach? Are you more interested in him because of Tubby Smith's UK connection? Does Billy G's success or failure at UK have anything to do with the reputation or legacy of Tubby Smith?
In short, what say you of Billy Gillispie?
- Harsh, harsh criticism for Iowa head man Todd Lickliter (and this was before Michigan State throttled his Hawkeyes Thursday night). The first line from a Daily Iowan column: "Only two seasons into his contract, Todd Lickliter is in jeopardy of having a Big Ten career as bad as former Minnesota basketball coach Dan Monson's."
- Proving that everything is so obviously relative, this Long Beach Press-Telegram columnist leads his column with "The esteemed Long Beach State coach, Dan Monson"
- Joe Krabbenhoft is being ragged on for a dirty forearm to the head of a Purdue guard on Tuesday. I think the play was flagrant. Read Bucky's Fifth Quarter for more, including video.
- Jay Bilas has a nice piece on what it means to be hard-nosed college basketball player.
- Penn State blogger Zombie Nation is already looking ahead to 2009 football (come on, man, Talor Battle and company deserve some love!). Anyway, the Gophers battle with California in the first tilt in TCF Bank Stadium makes the list of top non-conference games of the upcoming season.