Will UT ever be a basketball school?

#1
PhoenixAZVol

PhoenixAZVol

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#1
Our football team has been down for more than 10 years. Our basketball team is ranked #1. We are all excited. However, the number of basketball posts are still only 10 % if the football posts. If for some reason football continues to spiral downward will the gap between football and basketball narrow? Or will basketball always be a casual pastime while we wait for football regardless of how bad we are at football?
 
#9
#9
Went to UT in the early 70's. Always thought that UT was second only to Kentucky in basketball in the SEC until the 1992 merger. Stokley was a magical place and a place that visitors dreaded back in the day. Mears was a regional headliner throughout the south and held his own against Rupp.

When Dickey took over as AD in 1985 it seemed that basketball went on the back burner. Devoe had decent teams, Pearl brought a resurrection, and Barnes is finally the real deal.

UT basketball is great but in the South football is a religion and has been for over a century.
 
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#12
#12
onevol74 said:
Went to UT in the early 70's. Always thought that UT was second only to Kentucky in basketball in the SEC until the 1992 merger. Stokley was a magical place and a place that visitors dreaded back in the day. Mears was a regional headliner throughout the south and held his own against Rupp.

When Dickey took over as AD in 1985 it seemed that basketball went on the back burner. Devoe had decent teams, Pearl brought a resurrection, and Barnes is finally the real deal.

UT basketball is great but in the South football is a religion and has been for over a century.
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Good point. Mears had some really good teams in the 70s with the Ernie and Bernie show, etc. football was also in a bad place those years.
 
#13
#13
GetEmVols said:
No we will never be a baskeball school. Football is king in the south. Even Kentucky would prefer to be better at football than basketball if they could.
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I live here in Kentucky.....between the Cats and Cards, Basketball definitely rules up here. I have many friends who are Cats or Cards fans.....bball is what they care about. They have fun during their good football seasons, but they get hardcore come bball time.
 
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#14
#14
I’m trying to think if there was a dominant football program that turned into a dominant basketball program over the years or visa Versa. While some sec schools outside of Kentucky have had good basketball programs. Football has never been close to being threatened.
 
#15
#15
Let me put it this way. What if you looked into the future 10 years and saw that we had a few basketball nattys and a few final fours and also saw that our football team was barely .500. Would you be ok with that and would the basketball programs success be enough to make you happy and offset the dead football program?
 
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#16
#16
To prove that this is not an anomaly, the basketball team will have to sustain success for a few more years
 
#18
#18
I think it’s a legit question. Not because I favor either sport, but because I seriously wonder about the long term health of the game of football.

That said, I would be absolutely thrilled if UT became consistently good in men’s basketball regardless of the football program
 
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#19
#19
Baseball made it to College World Series with Todd Helton but for us to be a baseball school, we need sustained success
 
#20
#20
The CTE epidemic will erode footballs popularity over time, portentialy signicantly within 10 years based on sharply dropping participation rates in youth football. Basketball seems like the natural sport to take footballs place unless the growth in soccer accelerates further. So yes, UT will be a basketball school or, worse, Neyland will be a soccer/ touch football stadium
 
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#21
#21
PhoenixAZVol said:
I’m trying to think if there was a dominant football program that turned into a dominant basketball program over the years or visa Versa. While some sec schools outside of Kentucky have had good basketball programs. Football has never been close to being threatened.
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Florida was back to back NCCAA champs in 2006 and 2007. They have not been able to sustain that success though.
 
#22
#22
We should focus on basketball and try to become a men’s soccer dynasty. Get ahead of the curve before tackle football is outlawed.

Atlanta United is a great example of how fast it can take hold. Let’s embrace our futbol matches guys.

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#23
#23
It legitimately COULD. The longer FB keeps being a thorn in the side of it's fans, then it would continue it's slide. If hoops stayed near where it is now, then more and more fans will flow in and claim it. Dume, UCLA, KU, UK, MSU, and UNC have tons of followers nationwide. Not school fans either. Just BB fans and nothing else totally unrelated to the school outside the sport.

I'm truly not expecting it. And if the above scenario were to occur, I believe it would be measured in decades not seasons.

GBO stay on Top!
 
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#25
#25
GetEmVols said:
If you asked 20 Kentucky fans if they would rather win 5 National Championships in football or basketball then I think most of them would say football. Would be an interesting survey nonetheless.
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You'd be hard pressed to get 5% to vote football there...and many that do like football root for universities other than Kentucky (usually Bama or Ohio State)
Source: I've lived in Lexington for 8 years
 
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