Jay Bilas chat: Q on Tubby and his time at UK/Minn

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Moonlight

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'nuff said.
Andrew (Highland Park, New Jersey): Jay, why do analysts frequently comment on UK needing to get back to an elite 'level', and in the same sentence mention what a good job Tubby Smith did here? Sounds like a contradiction to me.

Jay Bilas: UK is one of the greatest programs of all-time, and has been great for so many years that it has become an expectation that UK will be in the Top 20 annually and in the Final Four every so often. Tubby Smith is credited with doing a great job because he did a great job. He won a National Championship in 1998 (and save the Pitino's players routine) and he had his team in the Elite 8 a few times. In 2003, Tubby would have been in the Final Four if not for the injury to Keith Bogans, in my judgment. In my humble opinion, Tubby did not recruit some kids because he grew tired of off court issues that had been troubling him, and during his last few years there he proved how great of a coach he is. I am not surprised at how well he is doing at Minnesota. Tubby Smith is one of the finest coaches and finest people I know. It is not a contradiction. Thanks for the question.
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I agree.

Jay Bilas is alway informed. Always fair in his comments. Never over-the-top predictions to get attention. I wish he would do a Gopher game.
 




Confident, prepared, and articulate, Bias is still in bed with the ACC too often for me.
 

MadisonRaisedGopherCrazed said:
He may be a great commentator, but he doesnt think the gophers belong in the top 25 even after the illinois crushing.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/powerranking?season=2009&week=12&pollId=1&show=first
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Sometimes there are oversights. For instance, Fran Fraschilla didn't even rank Marquette in his top 25. That is absolutely ridiculous. I highly doubt he actually believes that, he may have just forgotten them. Same may be said for Bilas with the Gophers.
 

I was going to say the same thing Sour. Don't these guys have some sort of reference guide??
 

Bilas may be in bed with the ACC but it certainly isn't obvious this season and I certainly don't think that's the case. He has constantly stated that the Big East is the best conference this year. Also, you'll notice that he often (more than most analysts) picks against Duke to win, his alma mater. It's somewhat known in the Duke circles that he does it on purpose. Two theories on it...he doesn't want to be viewed as a homer (unlike Digger or Hubert Davis) and the other is that Coach K has actually asked him to be critical of the team. The latter is claimed by many that known both of the men. It's been that way for as long as I've seen him as an analyst. He even picked against Duke in the '01 championship game. Can't imagine many analysts do so when their alma mater is playing in the championship. He's still very close to the Duke program (seen him around Durham during the offseason) and talks to Coach K on a weekly basis.

I think he takes his job very seriously (more than most anyone out there) and he doesn't want there to appear to be any conflict of interest in his opinion. That alone should get the respect of most people. Personally, I think he's the best in the biz and any bias one might see in him is more perceived than reality.
 



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