Fluid roster disheartens some UK basketball fans, but will it lead to disinterest?
Mark Kleckner grew up in Erlanger. When he arrived at the University of Kentucky as a freshman in the fall of 1972, he was indifferent, at best, about UK basketball.
“I was in my hippie protester phase,” he said recently. “Good hippies back then, you weren’t really supposed to be into sports. We were sort of down on all that establishment stuff.”
Kleckner lived near Memorial Coliseum in a house on Maxwell Street. One night a roommate suggested going to UK’s game.
“It was sort of a spur of the moment thing,” Kleckner said. “About 15 minutes into the game, all of a sudden I’m standing up and yelling and screaming. I sort of became a rabid UK fan like many other people.”
Rick Music grew up in Paintsville. How long has he been a Kentucky basketball fan? “Jeez, since I was old enough to know what it was,” he said.
The hold UK basketball has on Kleckner and Music has waned. In separate interviews, they cited the fluidity of Kentucky’s roster as a reason.
“I couldn’t tell you who was on the team two years ago,” Kleckner said. “Truthfully, I don’t think I can come up with one name.”
Said Music: “I’m not a fan anymore, and it’s not fun anymore. I value seeing championship banners hanging from the rafters, not pictures of NBA players flashing up on the screen. That doesn’t mean anything to me.
“The loyalty to the jersey and the commitment to the tradition has gone out the door.”
Kleckner and Music spoke of heading to the metaphorical exit. Kleckner saw himself turning to a newfound basketball interest: UK’s women’s team. “So exciting to watch and go to the whole experience of Memorial Coliseum,” he said.
Music’s truer sporting love is now football with the UK team first and foremost. “I wish college football played year round,” he said.
John Calipari has made Kentucky synonymous with one-and-done players. But Music does not hold the UK coach responsible for the loss of interest. He sees Calipari adjusting to — rather than dictating — a new reality. “I don’t blame Cal,” he said. “He’s doing what he’s doing because that’s the deck of cards you’re dealt.”
The revolving door at basketball programs figured to spin ever faster after the NCAA relaxed its rule requiring transfers to sit out a season. More than 1,600 players have entered the transfer portal since the end of the 2020-21 season.
And sometime during the SEC’s “virtual” spring meetings in the next three weeks, the league is reportedly going to consider dropping its requirement that transfers within the conference sit out a season. As of Friday, that would affect seven men’s basketball players, including Sahvir Wheeler (Georgia to Kentucky) and Kentuckian Justin Powell (Auburn to Tennessee).
Dissatisfaction with reliance on here today-gone tomorrow players is not unique to Kleckner and Music. Fans longing for a return of the days of four-year players is heard on a regular basis.
Dan Wann, a Murray State psychology professor who specializes in fan psychology, all but dismissed the possibility of a mass exodus. Yes, he said, the growing presence of one-and-done players can strain the bond with fans.
But …
“They’re disgruntled,” Wann said of fans like Kleckner and Music. “But they’re not going anywhere because being a fan is the right to be disgruntled. It’s like your duty to point out all the wrongs that are occurring. It’s central to (fans’) identity that they can gripe and they can moan.”
Winning soothes the soul of an unhappy fan, said Wann, who suggested there were few, if any, grumbles when Kentucky won the 2012 NCAA Tournament with a team led by one-and-done players like Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
Of course, Kentucky had a 9-16 record last season.
The waning interest could be generational. Kleckner is 69. Music is 67. For younger fans, fluid rosters are the new normal, Wann said.
Larry Olmsted, who wrote a new book titled “Fans: How Watching Sports Makes Us Happier, Healthier and More Understanding,” used something comedian Jerry Seinfeld said to explain the new fan relationship with players and teams. Fans are “rooting for laundry,” meaning the uniform, Seinfeld said.
But Olmsted could not see the Big Blue Nation seceding from Kentucky basketball.
Disgruntled, yes, he said before adding, “but can you really imagine the Kentucky basketball fan feeling like, ‘You know what? I think I’ll pick up UNC?’”
Audibles
Sahvir Wheeler’s high school coach, Ron Crandall, said the point guard was not afraid to improvise. UK Coach John Calipari should not be surprised if Wheeler calls an audible, he said.
“He’s going to sometimes look off Cal and go, ‘No, coach, we’re not running that. We’re running this,’” Crandall said. “And Cal’s going to have to go, ‘OK, run that. I’m fine with that.’
“That’s just the way Sahvir is.”
Wheeler, who has transferred from Georgia to Kentucky, confirmed this willingness to adjust on the fly.
“I’ve done that in college as well,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is having that trust with the coaching staff. Not only for you to trust them, but they have to trust you as a point guard, ultimately. When you’re playing at Kansas, Phog Allen (Fieldhouse) with 16,000 people yelling and cheering …, you’re not going to be able to hear Coach Cal on the other side.
“So as the point guard and the leader and floor general, you’re going to have to be able to make some of those calls.”
Wheeler, who led the SEC in assists last season, said there has to be a “healthy balance” between coach and player. “At the end of the day, it all comes down to trusting each other,” he said.
Crandall added that Wheeler was not rebellious as a player. It sounded paradoxical, but the coach also said that Wheeler could be counted upon to execute a play.
“If that means finishing over a 7-footer, which he’s unbelievable at doing, he’s going to do it,” the high school coach said. But if a better option comes to mind …
$23 million supplement
The Southeastern Conference announced Wednesday that it will give $23 million to each school to help mitigate any financial shortcomings in 2020-21 caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The payment is meant to ease “an unprecedented disruption” caused by COVID-19, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement.
UK has received the supplement and will use it to support its teams and athletes, the school said.
SEC schools reportedly sustained as much as $70 million in financial shortfalls. Losses averaged about $45 million.
The shortfalls included at least $2 million per school for the testing of athletes for COVID-19 multiple times per week.
The total of $322 million in supplementary income will come from borrowing from expected future increases in media rights revenue, the SEC said. In December, the league announced a new 10-year contract with ESPN and ABC that will begin with the 2024 football season.
Transfer trade?
Murray State and South Carolina made an eye-catching contribution to the current blizzard of comings and goings involving college basketball players.
Chico Carter Jr., a 6-2 point guard, transferred from Murray State to South Carolina. And Trae Hannibal, a 6-2 point guard, transferred from South Carolina to Murray State.
Murray State psychology professor Dan Wann said that some Racers fans saw the two transfers as basically a trade. “Did they throw in a draft pick?” Wann quipped.
Both players involved in the “trade” were sophomores this past season. Carter averaged 24.1 minutes and 12.7 points, and had 50 assists and 52 turnovers for Murray State. Hannibal averaged 16.7 minutes and 6.0 points, and had 40 assists and 42 turnovers for South Carolina.
Homecoming
CJ Fredrick, who grew up in Cincinnati and attended Covington Catholic High School, spoke of his transfer from Iowa to Kentucky as something of a homecoming.
“It’s going to be great for my family to be able to be close to games,” he said. “My grandma can come to games.” He added that his mother, father, aunts and uncles all lived within an easy drive of Lexington.
Of course, it seems UK fans have a special affection for homegrown players. Fredrick’s father vouched for that in the wake of his son’s transfer.
“All my Kentucky friends have come out of the woodwork,” Chuck Fredrick said. “I don’t think Rupp Arena has enough tickets.”
Happy birthday
To Enes Kanter. He turned 29 on Thursday. … To Jamaal Magloire. He turned 43 on Friday. … To Rob Lock. He turned 55 on Saturday. … To Florida forward Keyontae Johnson, whose collapse during a game at Florida State on Dec. 12 shook college basketball. He turns 22 on Monday.
This story was originally published May 23, 2021 at 6:30 AM.
