So Derrick Caracter is doing his makeup again, returning to center stage. This season more and more resembles a soap opera, with characters once presumed gone returning in starring roles. Back stage are Juan Palacios and David Padgett, hopefully rehearsing for similar miraculous comebacks.
The plot has had plenty of twists and turns, deviating dramatically from the pre-season previews. Three players said to be NBA bound next year are suddenly looking like typical sophomores. A point guard who looked All America in the final game last season struggles in both shooting and dishing. A team that hits a record number of three-pointers in the first game thereafter resembles a post-1986 Denny Crum outfit behind the arc.
But the biggest twist has been Rick Pitino’s dalliance on the status of Derrick Caracter. Oh yeah, it’s a team decision, with the players assuming the role of who plays and doesn’t play. This approach to writing a script could either be tragedy or a comedy, depending on whether or not Caracter decides to steal the show again. As Tom Heiser suggests in his blog, the director may just have a flair for the dramatic.
This entire episode has been grossly inflated — and while the fans have ran with the story and embellished the underlying causes and consequences, the primary culprit is Pitino. He should have never called such a pregnant news conference if just to announce that Caracter was serving in-house punishment.
Regardless, you have to give the director credit for being flexible in how the plot plays out. He knows there are good actors in the cast, some capable of stardom. But they have to play their roles, remember their lines, and have good stage presence when the lights come on.
No more drama, please. This story could still have a happy ending.
When Caracter produces like last night you can see why Pitino is working him so hard and,at this point,is committed to the kid. However,coach would benefit himself if he didn’t talk so much.
Aw, come on guys! Give the kid a break, and the coach, too. Haven’t you ever been 19 years old?
It COULD be that DC is learning some life lessons that no one else was able to get him to listen to.
And it COULD be the coach is genuinely hopeful that the kid matures soon.
This is a program that is going to post-season play, and one that will return to excellence.
Translation: This ain’t football, Charlie!
He could have a second career during the writer’s strike, providing whoppers for late night shows.
I was slightly insulted that Pitino basically said Caracter’s punishment was seeing the team lose without him. I think Pitino is turning himself into a joke through all this. I respect and appreciate what he did at UK, but now I just laugh every time he opens his mouth.