Micks Philosophy needs to change.

[Gotcha23]

It's impossible to fire a coach after going to the ncaa tourney like mick has. If you don't like him go somewhere else. As long as he is winning, he stays.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

This was going to be a bubble team coming into the season. It has been that way since before the season started. As I have said numerous times, the class of 2011 hasn't panned out as we'd hope. When you are relying so heavily on young talent, there will be a lot of ups and downs. As Mick was saying in his post game presser, there is really only one player who is playing the same role as last year. Everyone else is still figuring out where they fit in. UC knows, for the most part, what they'll get out of Jackson, Rubles and Kilpatrick but everyone else is still a question mark. As the season wears on I promise you guys this team will get better. As long as the team is player its best by late February, that is all we can ask for...

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I am satisfied with the overall progress that Coach Cronin has made with the program. He has cleared many a hurdle to get the program back on good footing. Same as Coach Huggins did when he arrived. Coach Huggins didn't show up here with the reputation he enjoyed when he left. It took time to build his resume and it will take Mick time as well. He is making progress. Comparing the length of time and the difficulties each inherited is pointless. Different Day, Time and Circumstances. Both have done well. Mick knows the X's and O's or we would not have gotten this far. His teams play hard and are competitive. Does he possess the clout of a Huggins, Pitino or others to walk into a living room and sign all the 5 stars. No! As his teams and the individual players continue to improve so will his reputation as a big time Coach. I have littlte doubt that if given equal talent to some of the more established Coaches out there MC can compete. He has already beaten some of them.
We witnessed it again last night. He took the air out of the ball and relied on his teams strengths to beat a more talented team with a very good Coach Jamie Dixion. Might Mention this isn't the first time he has beat him.

My belief is that we have lived through the hard part of the rebuilding. Things are trending up. Need to finish the job by getting in a good conference and upgrading the facilities. We have a good young coach who wants to be here and is climbing the ladder. He also is affordable. He has a growing reputation in the NY metropolitan area. We are lucky to have him. We could be Depaul.

 

[Bcatfollower]

It's impossible to fire a coach after going to the ncaa tourney like mick has. If you don't like him go somewhere else. As long as he is winning, he stays.

By the attendance numbers i think most fans have taken your advice.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

By the attendance numbers i think most fans have taken your advice.

attendance is down across college basketball. Including Kentucky. They have dropped every year since 2008. Attendance being down is not necessarily reflective of a dislike for the coach. Is Kentucky unhappy with Calipari?

 

[L-T]

It's impossible to fire a coach after going to the ncaa tourney like mick has. If you don't like him go somewhere else. As long as he is winning, he stays.

I bet Dusty Baker wishes he was coaching at UC.

 

[JumpinJack5]

I bet Dusty Baker wishes he was coaching at UC.

Mick made it to the 3rd round of the NCAA tourney (if you want to get technical, 4th round with the play-in games), Dusty never made it past the first round of the MLB playoffs with the Reds. If you want an NCAA model of mediocrity with lots of talented players, Josh Pastner is the epitome of overrated coaches. I guarantee that if you gave Mick what Pastner has had, he would've made it pretty far in the tourney almost every year.

 

[UCBearcats]

I bet Dusty Baker wishes he was coaching at UC.

AMEN BROTHER!!!! That's exactly why people who bad mouth the Reds really get me fired up. Here you've got a team that in a sport that is not exactly set up to give them a fair shot a competing yet this ownership group is doing everything they can to bring fans a championship. Was Dusty good, yes....was he good enough, no. The Reds get it and unfortunately they're the only team in the city that does.

Mick Cronin is like Marvin Lewis and UC BBall fans are like Bengals fans. Dusty Baker was like Mick and Marvin but the difference is the Reds ownership group had the balls to pull the trigger on making a move. Was it a risk?? Sure, but the Reds are committed to winning a championship and won't settle for anything less.

 

[UCBearcats]

Mick made it to the 3rd round of the NCAA tourney (if you want to get technical, 4th round with the play-in games), Dusty never made it past the first round of the MLB playoffs with the Reds. If you want an NCAA model of mediocrity with lots of talented players, Josh Pastner is the epitome of overrated coaches. I guarantee that if you gave Mick what Pastner has had, he would've made it pretty far in the tourney almost every year.

That's the problem, nobody gave Pastner or Mick what they have, they went out and got it themselves. Mick could be the best X's and O's guy in the country (which he obviously isn't) and it wouldn't matter with the level of talent he has in this program.

coulda, woulda, shoulda.........DIDN"T

 

[L-T]

attendance is down across college basketball. Including Kentucky. They have dropped every year since 2008. Attendance being down is not necessarily reflective of a dislike for the coach. Is Kentucky unhappy with Calipari?

Come on Waite, give us facts, not beliefs.

UK Annual Avg. Attendance

2013 23,099
2012 23,721
2011 23,603
2010 24,111
2009 22,239
2008 22,554
2007 23,421
2006 22,763

Since 2008, I would "accurately" call this.....down, then way up, down a little bit, then back up a little, then back down a little. Last year the average attendance was higher than in 2008, so your statement that attendance has dropped every year since 2008 is very misleading.

All Div. 1 Home Attendance

2013 25,416,956
2012 25,313,440
2011 25,147,122
2010 25,164,431
2009 25,378,235
2008 25,793,112

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Come on Waite, give us facts, not beliefs.

UK Annual Avg. Attendance

2013 23,099
2012 23,721
2011 23,603
2010 24,111
2009 22,239
2008 22,554
2007 23,421
2006 22,763

Since 2008, I would "accurately" call this.....down, then way up, down a little bit, then back up a little, then back down a little. Last year the average attendance was higher than in 2008, so your statement that attendance has dropped every year since 2008 is very misleading.

All Div. 1 Home Attendance

2013 25,416,956
2012 25,313,440
2011 25,147,122
2010 25,164,431
2009 25,378,o
2008 25,793,112

go read the article I posted from espn earlier in the thread. It still may be up on their site. There attendance has declined.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

It's still up. Go to men's basketball nations blog and scroll down.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Men's College Basketball Nation Blog
Blogs HomeMen's College Basketball NationNorth Carolina
Why is Kentucky's attendance declining?
December, 17, 2013
DEC 17
1:00
PM ET
By Eamonn Brennan | ESPN.com
RECOMMEND88TWEET10COMMENTS18EMAILPRINT
In 2008-09, Kentucky men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie led the Wildcats to a 22-14 record and an appearance in the NIT. Kentucky fans were furious. In March of 2009, Gillispie was fired; that afternoon, local media chased him around as he pretended to talk on the phone. It was hilarious and sad, a proud program reduced to a bad impression of TMZ.

John Calipari stepped into that breach a few weeks later, and no one has laughed at Kentucky much since. In 2009-10, with John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and DeMarcus Cousins, Calipari won 35 games and went to the Elite Eight. In 2010-11, a slow UK start eventually turned into a 29-9 record and a Brandon Knight-led Final Four trip. In 2011-12, Calipari's 38-2 team was one of the most dominant in college hoops history.

[+] Enlarge
Mark Zerof/USA TODAY Sports
Attendance at Rupp Arena, which can fit 23,000 fans, is declining.
Last season's NIT disaster was a … setback, let's call it. But so what? In four years Calipari has a) been to two Final Fours, b) won a national title, c) recruited an absurd percentage of the nation's best talent, d) sent most of that talent to the NBA draft lottery and e) made Kentucky men's basketball a household name in every conceivable way.

And yet, despite all that, Kentucky's early-season attendance is declining.

That's what Lexington Herald-Leader writer John Clay discovered last week, when he compared attendance numbers for the first seven games of the 2013-14 season to their equivalents in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. Clay's charts (at the link) offer up the numbers, and they point to a clear trend: Fewer people are showing up for UK basketball games this season than in Gillispie's final season. Huh?

Of course, a significant caveat applies: This is still Kentucky. Rupp Arena is one of the largest college hoops arenas in the country, and the Wildcats have led the nation in total attendance pretty much every season for the decade and a half [PDF]. (Before 1997, Kentucky frequently ranked No. 2 behind Syracuse; those two have been trading the belt since 1979. Syracuse was No. 1 in 2005 -- the only time since the mid-90s Kentucky hasn't finished first.) A decline in attendance at Rupp Arena is like a decline in "Call of Duty" sales: True or not, there are still a ton of people playing Call of Duty.

But, still, the numbers are there, and they are undeniable. The most interesting question is: Why? Clay's theories -- "television, or the lack of an enticing home schedule, or a lack of connection with the ever-changing roster, or the students" -- seem to represent the general consensus among Kentucky fans, at least those who responded to John on Facebook. There is also a fair amount of understandable frustration regarding this season's disappointing team -- frustration Calipari attempted to assuage in a blog post Tuesday morning:
I know we have to be more organized, our mission has to be clearer to the players, and I have to be less emotional during the game because we’ve got a bunch of young kids. I can’t put winning before their growth. … This is about getting these players to think a different way, to think about serving each other. My job is to serve them. Their job is to serve each other. …. I just have to stay patient and continue loving them as I challenge them and raise the bar -- no easy task when you’re dealing with 18-year-olds. These are good kids. They want to learn. We are going to be fine. Just remember it’s a process. Enjoy the ride, Big Blue Nation, because we need you.

Is this the hidden dynamic in Kentucky's attendance blips? It must be difficult to grow attached to a new team every season, and then turn that roster over entirely the following fall; a good number of people wrote some version of this theory to Clay in their responses. Is that the risk of Calipari's high-stakes talent experiment: That fans grow more distant and clinical, too?

I doubt it. If anything, the most likely culprits are the economic factors/ticket prices, TV availability and Kentucky's soft home nonconference schedule, if not necessarily in that order. The simplest explanations are usually the best, right? What am I missing?
RECOMMEND88TWEET10COMMENTS18EMAILPRINT

here you go L-t

 

[JumpinJack5]

That's the problem, nobody gave Pastner or Mick what they have, they went out and got it themselves. Mick could be the best X's and O's guy in the country (which he obviously isn't) and it wouldn't matter with the level of talent he has in this program.

coulda, woulda, shoulda.........DIDN"T

Baloney! Pastner was handed the keys to a great team that had made it to a sweet sixteen, 2 elite eights, and a championship game in the four years before he got there. They did lose some players after Calipari left, but it was nothing compared to the train wreck that Mick was stuck with. Memphis also has nothing else to compete with, as their football team almost always sucks in recent years, they have one of the nicest arenas in the country, and they just have great facilities in general. Mick had a great tradition to work off of, and that was about it. Mick has plenty of flaws and he drives me insane sometimes, but he isn't a bad coach. You are delusional if you think he is mediocre and that we would be much better with someone else.

 

[L-T]

here you go L-t

My numbers come from NCAA.org., not some blog.

 

[JumpinJack5]

My numbers come from NCAA.org., not some blog.

Oh yes, the always effective NCAA. I bet they update their stats as fast they update their decisions on player eligibility.......

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

AMEN BROTHER!!!! That's exactly why people who bad mouth the Reds really get me fired up. Here you've got a team that in a sport that is not exactly set up to give them a fair shot a competing yet this ownership group is doing everything they can to bring fans a championship. Was Dusty good, yes....was he good enough, no. The Reds get it and unfortunately they're the only team in the city that does.

Mick Cronin is like Marvin Lewis and UC BBall fans are like Bengals fans. Dusty Baker was like Mick and Marvin but the difference is the Reds ownership group had the balls to pull the trigger on making a move. Was it a risk?? Sure, but the Reds are committed to winning a championship and won't settle for anything less.

we certainly don't want to get you fired up. LOL! Here is something you may want to consider. We as UC fans want the very best BB program. You think the way to get that is make a coaching change. I think just the opposite and apparently the people who are paid to make that decision agree. If your not enjoying the experience I can understand your frustration but me being happy with the coaching situation does not mean I am settling for a inferior product.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

My numbers come from NCAA.org., not some blog.

those numbers came from KY

 

[Patrick Bateman]

AMEN BROTHER!!!! That's exactly why people who bad mouth the Reds really get me fired up. Here you've got a team that in a sport that is not exactly set up to give them a fair shot a competing yet this ownership group is doing everything they can to bring fans a championship. Was Dusty good, yes....was he good enough, no. The Reds get it and unfortunately they're the only team in the city that does.

Mick Cronin is like Marvin Lewis and UC BBall fans are like Bengals fans. Dusty Baker was like Mick and Marvin but the difference is the Reds ownership group had the balls to pull the trigger on making a move. Was it a risk?? Sure, but the Reds are committed to winning a championship and won't settle for anything less.

This post is 100% false. What did the Reds do at the trading deadline for 2 years in a row? Certainly was not picking anyone up to get them over the hump. Does Chapman closing give them a better shot at winning a championship? Have they done anything this offseason to date to make the team better? If anything to date the Reds are weaker w/o Arroyo and Choo. Oh wait their big move for the playoff run was activating Zack Duke, what a blockbuster move.

Dusty was manager of the year twice that was given some of the best young players, fielders and pitchers and Mick won as many NCAA games as Dusty won playoff games. The Reds were never close to sniffing the NLCS let alone the WS. Marvin still has not won a playoff game to date, MC is definitely better than that.

This comparison is completely horrible, let alone shows you know nothing about baseball.

 

[L-T]

Baloney! Pastner was handed the keys to a great team that had made it to a sweet sixteen, 2 elite eights, and a championship game in the four years before he got there. They did lose some players after Calipari left, but it was nothing compared to the train wreck that Mick was stuck with. Memphis also has nothing else to compete with, as their football team almost always sucks in recent years, they have one of the nicest arenas in the country, and they just have great facilities in general. Mick had a great tradition to work off of, and that was about it. Mick has plenty of flaws and he drives me insane sometimes, but he isn't a bad coach. You are delusional if you think he is mediocre and that we would be much better with someone else.

Nobody said he was a bad coach. The question is, can he take us to the next level? It's the same question we asked about Rick Minter. Back then, we knew how to answer that question. We had a forward thinking AD and administration. By the way, how did that work out?

It's the same question with Mick. Are we happy rarely being ranked, not winning championships (league, conf. tourney, national, etc), not getting any top recruits, having a half full arena, not having passionate fans (other than the few on these Cronin fan club sites), having zero shooters, embarrassing inside game, an offense that the national announcers joke about for two hours on telecasts....probably driving away the few recruits who have a little game who are considering us,......
and then biting our finger nails on selection Sunday hoping we get selected in the tourney, and anxiously awaiting what "higher" ranked team we get to play in round 1 (because our seeds are so low).

My opinion is that he cannot take us to the next level with the type of players he keeps running out there in front of us. And, he definitely can't do it with a fanbase that despises him and won't attend games.