New feasibility report touts the renovation of Rupp Arena

The continuing debate of whether to replace or renovate Rupp Arena continues and the latest feasibility report seems to show that renovating Rupp may be the way to go.  The renovation of Rupp would cost far less than rebuilding the iconic building ($130M as compared to $325M) and would accomplish the following goals:

■ No loss of seating capacity. Renovation would allow a modest increase in the number of seats, more seats in the lower arena and upper-arena seats with backs, according to the study.
■ Uninterrupted play while renovation is under way.
■ Upgraded, and in some cases new, support spaces such as a media room, interview room, training room and kitchen. Plus, the option to move the women’s basketball team to Rupp, which would entail a new locker room.
■ Some premium seating, including space for the UK president to entertain before and after games. Currently, President Eli Capilouto uses the Bluegrass Ballroom in the Lexington Center.
■ New technology including a center-hung scoreboard —perhaps eight-sided — that would display the score, player stats, show instant replays of the game and have close-up shots of coaches and players.
■ Retain the collegiate atmosphere of Rupp, as opposed to an arena that would be more appropriate for a professional team.

Having just visited Lexington and taking in the Portland/Kentucky game, I tend to agree.  I think that you lose a lot of history and aura by replacing Rupp.  Sure, the Yum! Center is nice, but there is nothing that really separates it from the current style of NBA arenas that are popping up.

Seems that North Carolina coach Roy Williams is lashing out at the UNC fanbase yet again.  If we recall, Williams once had a fan kicked out of a game for yelling “Miss it” when a UNC player was shooting free throws.  This time, he is upset at UNC fans for selling their tickets to UNLV fans, who were seated behind the UNC bench during their 90-80 loss to the Running Rebs:

"“For some of our fans to … get tickets through the Rams Club, and sell their tickets to UNLV boosters that are sitting right behind our families, I don’t like that,’’ he said. “And if the shoe fits, wear it. I don’t care who it is, and I’ll tell the sucker face-to-face: I do not like that, will not like that, don’t ever forget it. I’m trying to find out who it was.”According to Williams, there was a UNLV fan sitting next to one of the Tar Heel coaches’ wives who was being so negative toward the team that his usually-non-confrontational high school coach turned around and said something to that fan. … Williams has long been sensitive to who’s sitting behind his bench; a couple years back, he was accused of having a Presbyterian College fan thrown out of the Smith Center after that fan was screaming for a UNC player at the free throw line to miss it; Williams insists he never asked for that fan to be escorted out, only to find out if the man had tickets for that section.But to the people who sold those tickets: “If you sell our tickets, your tickets that you get to the Rams Club to somebody else, and they come in cheering for UNLV, I’ve got no use for you,’’ Williams said. “And that’s as blunt as I can put it.”He later added: “People have a right — but not our people. You’re either with me, or you’re not. There’s no middle ground.”"

It’s interesting that Matt Norlander of CBS seems to love the fact that Williams goes after his fanbase, you know that if John Calipari issued the same statement, he would be getting roasted by the national media.

It has been a couple of fun nights following the basketball programs of teams we do not like very much.  On Monday, Tennessee lost to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies for the second year in a row.  It’s kind of embarrassing for a SEC team to be “pwned” by a Summit League Team, yet they are.  And last night, Duke was blasted by Ohio State 85-63.

Apparently Kentucky’s win over Tennessee has raised the perception of Phillips amongst SEC coaches, at least in the eyes of John Clay.  Clay ranked the SEC coaches and Phillips was ranked as the 9th best coach in the SEC, ahead of Dan Mullen, Derek Dooley, and Houston Nutt and apparently the win over Tennessee had a lot to do with it:

9. Joker Phillips, Kentucky — How on Earth could you put a coach who lost four games by four touchdowns or more in the top 10, even if it is a 12-team league? Simple. Phillips snapped a 26-year losing streak to Tennessee by playing a wide receiver at quarterback. A wide receiver!

Are you are high school athlete looking to get “noticed” by college recruiters?  An avid reader of this site, Joshua, has started a new website www.recruitcombine.com for that purpose.  Joshua is also stationed in Afghanistan, so anything I can do for him, I will.  Check out the site and if you know a high school athlete, tell them about Joshua’s site.  It’s free to register.