{"id":222611,"date":"2025-10-13T23:08:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/222611\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T23:08:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:08:13","slug":"tubby-smiths-version-of-tyran-stokes-was-pound-for-pound-the-best-athlete-he-coached-at-kentucky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/222611\/","title":{"rendered":"Tubby Smith’s version of Tyran Stokes was ‘pound for pound’ the best athlete he coached at Kentucky"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rajon Rondo<\/a> grew up in Louisville and became a five-star recruit and eventual McDonald\u2019s All-American finishing up his high school career outside the state. When it came time for a college decision, he turned down the hometown Cardinals in favor of Tubby Smith <\/a>and the Kentucky Wildcats.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark Pope<\/a> is currently working on his own Rondo in No. 1 overall recruit Tyran Stokes<\/a>, who is set to decide between Kentucky<\/a>,\u00a0Louisville<\/a>,\u00a0Oregon<\/a>,\u00a0Kansas<\/a> and\u00a0USC<\/a>. Just how important would that be for the second-year coach in Lexington, still looking for his first big fish in the high school ranks?<\/p>\n

It could help decide the best player to ever play for Pope, just as it did for Smith back in the day. That\u2019s how the latter views Rondo, describing the two-time world champion and four-time NBA All-Star as the most talented athlete he\u2019d ever coached in a sit-down interview with KSR.<\/p>\n

Smith coached plenty of talent at Kentucky, but Rondo belongs in a category of his own. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a better athlete than Rajon Rondo,\u201d he told KSR. <\/a>\u201cI just thought that, pound for pound \u2014 it\u2019s kind of like being a boxer.\u00a0He could move up the weight class, move down in the weight class, and still be the best athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for that other talent, guys ranging from national champions to Olympic gold medalists to the program\u2019s single-game scoring record-holder, the UK Hall of Famer did his best to name as many as possible \u2014 he\u2019d have to go on for days to hit everyone.<\/p>\n

Smith is grateful for every single one of them and the opportunity to coach so many \u2018special\u2019 athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some great players here. You know, the Tayshaun Princes \u2014 who just went into the (Basketball) Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame a couple of weeks ago.\u00a0We were here to honor him, and I couldn\u2019t be happier for him,\u201d Smith told KSR. \u201cThe Jodie Meeks \u2014 who went into the (UK) Hall of Fame \u2014 the Chuck Hayeses,\u00a0Jeff Sheppards, just on and on and on. Just some great athletes, and I just named a few. I don\u2019t want to leave anybody out, but I know I have. But every one of them, Allen Edwards, they were all special.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLike I tell them, I love everyone that I ever coached, every player I\u2019ve ever coached. I want them to know that\u00a0and tell them I appreciate everything they meant to me\u00a0and my career and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re able to single out Rondo from that elite group, it means something. So what did his commitment to Kentucky mean in real time, especially knowing the Wildcats were able to steal him from his hometown of Louisville and the program\u2019s arch-rival? <\/p>\n

It was less about the rivalry and more about Smith\u2019s need for a lead guard at the time. He wanted to pull off that win because he knew Rondo would help him win a ton of games in Lexington, whether or not he was beating his mentor, Rick Pitino, or his school\u2019s in-state rival in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just that we had a need, and we had a greater need for him\u00a0than probably anyone else because we needed a point guard,\u201d Smith told KSR. \u201cCertainly Rajon had been great at Oak Hill Academy\u00a0and at Eastern (High School) and in AAU basketball\u00a0and had a great reputation being a very intelligent player,\u00a0a very smart player, and he proved that while he was here. And he proved it in the NBA. \u2026 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great recruit. It was very gratifying and very satisfying. He helped us get to the Elite Eight again with that team. What more can I say?\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s only regret with Rondo \u2014 and many of his other great players at Kentucky? They couldn\u2019t win more national championships together as Wildcats. He\u2019s glad many of them went on to win titles in the NBA, but all greats deserve NCAA titles, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like guys like Nazr Mohammed have national championships in basketball.\u00a0The one thing I regret is that Rajon didn\u2019t get an NCAA championship\u00a0and Tayshaun didn\u2019t get an NCAA championship,\u201d he said. \u201cThose great players that deserve \u2014 if they had a better coach, maybe they could have been [laughs]. They might have had a chance to win one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we were very fortunate to coach some good players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could Pope be on the cusp of his own Rondo? That\u2019s certainly the hope as the nation\u2019s No. 1 recruit enters decision mode with the Wildcats among the top contenders to land his commitment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And coming from experience, Tubby Smith says the juice is worth the squeeze. <\/p>\n

Rondo feels the same way, just as he told the current Wildcats on campus ahead of the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m from Louisville, Kentucky \u2014 so, right up the street. I was born and raised here. For me to wear this jersey, it was everything for me,\u201d Rondo said. <\/a>\u201cI had a decision to make between Louisville and Kentucky, but for me, playing for Tubby, it was an undeniable decision that I had to make. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI love being here and I guarantee you guys will appreciate the older you get in life, my age, what this university means to you and your family. Embrace it, understand what it means to wear this jersey every night.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rajon Rondo grew up in Louisville and became a five-star recruit and eventual McDonald\u2019s All-American finishing up his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,49593,24233,398,400,401,125043,99,125044,125045],"class_list":["post-222611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-kentucky-basketball","tag-mark-pope-91-newport-senior","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-rajon-rondo-04-louisville-collegiate-school","tag-sports","tag-tubby-smith","tag-tyran-stokes-26-notre-dame"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}