Kentucky Wildcat Basketball: A tribute to a fallen villain
By Paul Jordan
Remember how we felt at the end of “Batman” when the Joker fell to his (supposed) death? It was with a touch of sadness because despite being a really bad guy and totally despicable in every way, we kind of got a kick out his antics from afar. Yes the Joker was bad, but maybe we would kind of like him if he were playing his silly games with the folks of Gainesville or Nashville … just not good old Gotham City.
Well, I went through those same emotions today when the Big Blue Nation lost one of our biggest villains. Granted, Bruce Pearl had a lot in common with the Joker from his eye searingly bright clothing choice and his wacky antics.
Bruce Pearl is being fired by the University of Tennessee. And for good reason. However, it’s a sad story because as much as I dislike the guy, I honestly feel he had no malice in his heart. I think that his ego told him that he was above punishment by the NCAA since he ironically spent time as a NCAA informant. But in my humble opinion. Bruce’s biggest fault was his sheer arrogance which led him to believe he was above punishment from the NCAA. How else could you tell a bald faced lie when showed a picture of a recruit in your living room and deny even recognizing the locale?
In the end, it not my job to castigate Bruce Pearl. He did that pretty damn well himself. But with Pearl out of the picture, as with the end, of any Batman movie, it’s time to find a new villain. But first, let’s pay a final respect to Bruce Pearl his “career” tormenting Kentucky fans.
BRUCE PEARL
6 YEARS AT TENNESSEE
RECORD 4-9
Give Pearl credit however. He did respect the tradition and the legacy of the University of Kentucky and it let it be know that Kentucky was perhaps the biggest game on his schedule every year as evidenced by the horrid orange blazer he broke out for Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Bruce was always worth a sound bite as well and loved to take shots at UK. All in all, he was the perfect villain.
So what about it UK fans? Which coach is best suited to take over Pearl’s role as the top UK villain now?
RICK PITINO
10 YEARS AT LOUISVILLE
4-6
Perhaps Rick Pitino is still the quintessential villain, but it does not appear like Pitino relishes the rivalry or the chance to take shots at UK that Pearl did. And since Calipari has arrived in Lexington, Pitino has turned into the Charlie Brown to Calipari’s Lucy who always falls for the old football trick. Calipari enjoys tweaking Pitino much more than Pitino enjoys the rivalry and the last couple of years, Pitino seems kind of well, worn out.
BILLY DONOVAN
15 YEARS AT FLORIDA
13-20
Donovan really does not play up his role as a UK villain although the last couple of year, he and Rick Pitino have become even more so connected a the hip, so much for Pitino to recently say he had “two sons’ coaching at Florida now. Add in the rumors that Pitinos kid is the one that leaked the Eric Bledsoe transcript and Billy Donovans perceived turning down the Kentucky job twice and you have the recipe for a brilliant villain. Unfortunately, Donovan seems above the tomfoolery of being a villain. He plays the gentlemen coach role in his games versus UK, but you get the feeling he would secretly like to bust out as a villain.
TOM CREAN
3 YEARS AT INDIANA (0-3)
9 YEARS AT MARQUETTE (2-0)
If only Tom Crean’s Hoosiers were better, he would be the perfect candidate. he has a great personality and he owns a couple of heart breaking wins over Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament. Plus he is no afraid to talk smack about John Calipari and to rally his masses against UK. He and Cal are great friends and this could be a really great rivalry … if only the Hooseiers were at least competitive.
KEVIN STALLINGS
12 SEASONS AT VANDERBILT
9-16
Stallings like a good elder statesman does not buy into a villain role even though he has the perfect villain
s den in that antiquated gym. It’s certainly been a den of horrors for UK, but Stallings seems too low key to cast himself as a villain. Plus his teams always seem like players that you would root for if they were not playing Kentucky. Plus even though Vandy is going to get the occasional win, you know they aren’t going to do anything like win national titles like Florida did. Part of being a good villain is the threat to take away your dominance.
RICK STANSBURY
12 YEARS AT MISSISSIPPI STATE
4-12
I have to say that Rick Stansbury has done a pretty good job growing into a Kentucky villain the past few years. The last few games have been flat out wars and the teams have split the last six games. He and John Calipari have had public wars of words the last couple of years and last year’s two Kentucky wins were maybe the most intense games of last season. Stansbury needs to keep winning his share of games to keep the rivalry up, but if he can do that, he has a good chance of becoming public enemy numero uno.
What do you think, BBN? For the sake of brevity, I only included the coaches that Kentucky plays every year. Vote in the box to the right and you can see that I added some more names to vote for.
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