ed. note: this is a column I wrote today about the Cats’ current situation. Feedback is welcome and sorry for the lack of posts.

It all started with one bad question (that really wasn’t that bad at all) asked by one ESPN sideline reporter during a game in which UK shouldn’t have been struggling like they were.

Then it moved into boos, another loss and a cry for toughness.

And now, the UK men’s basketball team stands just seconds away from total implosion with a coach the fan base is leery of, a team that struggles to maintain any consistency and a wicked cocktail of everything that can destroy a team.

This is way past 2002’s Team Turmoil.

After a honeymoon season in which UK head coach Billy Gillispie managed to sneak into the NCAA tournament, the expectations skyrocketed for the Cats this season. It was win, and win now. Star recruits like DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller would partner with Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson to perch the Cats at the top of the Southeastern Conference.

It even looked that way for a while, with the Tennessee trashing and a five-game winning streak. That was three losses ago.

Now, you have popular CatsPause.com quoting Patterson that the UK locker room erupted with a verbal no-holds-barred brawl after losing to Mississippi State on Tuesday. UK spokesman John Hayden denied the claim, but whether the story is true or false isn’t the real issue.

It’s the fact that there’s a chance for the story to even exist.

Point the finger at whomever you want. Maybe it’s Gillispie’s fault because of the bipolar way he jerks a player out for one missed shot, or the hot-and-cold treatment he seems to give everyone — fans, players and the media. Gillispie is a demanding coach and often times, he rubs people the wrong way.

Or the blame could be placed right at the feet of anyone who steps foot in those Rupp Arena seats — the fans that boo Michael Porter or even the entire team, like what happened at halftime on Tuesday. Those fans that have turned Rupp Arena into a folklore shell of the one-time home court advantage it once held.

There is intense pressure on UK basketball that very few other teams ever experience. If at least an SEC crown isn’t won, the fan base considers the team in a rebuilding year, which should only take half a season, at best, if you listen to those same fans.

Quite frankly, it’s a system that has been inherently wrong for a number of years and won’t be fixed until a lot of people who wear blue and white start getting real with themselves. You can’t win a championship, not even at the conference level, every year. Deal with it.

Sure, Gillispie could handle things a little better. More transparency would be nice, because the more someone faces the music and explains things; the chances of stories of a team meltdown significantly decline.

The story Patterson gave sounds like an over-hyped players’ meeting. This happens in every sport, usually during the start of a losing streak or bad time. Those types of meetings are necessary. In other circles and with other teams, this is accepted. In the world of UK, this is evidence that everything has gone to hell.

Maybe UK loses to Florida next Tuesday. That might be time to panic. Until then, step away from the keyboard or talk radio show. Breathe a little. Gillispie isn’t going to radically make the changes you want.

Nor is he going to change his style.

And he shouldn’t.