0.500, Any Shot? Future??

I

IndyHorn

250+ Posts
Well, we are two games under 0.500 with three games remaining in the regular season. The toughest test is the next game at Stillwater. I assume we'd then have a pretty winnable first round game in the conference tournament.
So 0.500 will take a win at Hunter Orange U, or a mini run in the conference tournament. I enjoyed the OU win immensely as did y'all I presume. Here's hoping UT can somehow make the NIT.
As for next season, are we certain Kabongo leaves? I'd guess if he was sizing it up last season, with a weaker draft crop this year, and the Barnes pattern of losing anyone who could possibly be drafted and an even a few who couldn't possibly be picked- Kabongo is saying good-bye to the 40 Acres. So where do we stand? Is there any hope the remaining players can improve, coalesce into a tough defense and rebounding team and get back into the top 3 of the conference, make the NCAA tournament next year? I haven't seen the PG from Houston we inked, and have some hope for Felix. But I look like it as this: Kabongo needs to stay, or we can only improve to NIT level. So I think this as conclusion: Rick Barnes needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat next year similar to his work in 1997/1998 where we won a ton of games scoring only 54 points. Otherwise, we will be talking about a new coach. And having seen that crowd on TV for the OU game, with the demands of the LHN, and a crappy conference affiliation- Texas is no longer that great of a job as currently configured. A return to the days of Bob Weltlich, I truly see it. And folks in Waco, Lubbock, Fort Worth, Norman, Stillwater, LINCOLN, BOULDER, COLUMBIA,Manhattan, Lawrence, Ames, Morgantown, and in the last segregated town in Texas- they all just smile. Man, I am surely glad I enjoyed the decade of 2000. Can someone please convince me that I'm being overly cynical?
 
If I am not mistaken, the NIT no longer requires a winning record so they might look long and hard at Texas if the Horns can win 2-3 more games even if they are 1 game under.500. The argument would be that Texas with Kabongo is better than its record plus the NIT is about money and Texas would bring in money.
 
fewer slots in the NIT now b/c the auto bids that are given to regular season champs that dont win their tourney and dont get in the NCAA
 
Won't improve as long as we keep playing "grown men" -- meaning upper classmen -- while we play post-high school graduates -- meaning Fresh and Sophs for the most part.

We need to stop bringing in players with one eye on the NBA and the other on... the NBA. Kabonga had his eye on the NBA last year, which caused him to push the rules last summer, which cost him nearly all of this year, and ... if he can finally take his eye off the NBA and set a lead for the rest of Longhorn players to stop looking toward the NBA...

Then there is a future. Today against OSU the team lost to players who made them at times look like fools. OSU brought big boy basketball to the rim, and on defense. Junior-Senior vs. Fresh-Soph does matter.

I wish we had 2 seniors 2 juniors one Fresh or Soph, always the starting lineup. Thereabouts. We need 4-year players here. As a tradition.

Duke has it. NC has it. Do they not? Bradly has it. I think they do. And I think Kansas often has a lot of upper class leadership.
 
I guess Kabongo could be a 2nd round pick this year, but as it stands now, I don't see anyone else that isn't a 4 year player on this team - unless they transfer first.

That's not to say that they couldn't improve to the point of being NBA prospects, but how often has Barnes developed a player that didn't have NBA talent when they got here?
 
I do see some resemblance of good and raw talent on this team. Too many are projects but a polished point guard is helping. IF, these young players develop their talent and raw skills then this team could be nasty. They will still need a true point guard. Can Barnes do it?
 
I'm thinking about the group of seniors we had in the Final Four, and I think the group we have now is probably in the same conversation with that group when they were young. They need a couple of years and a go-to guy to rally around, but there's no reason this group can't become a really good tournament team if it stays together.
 
15-16 going into Big XII tourny. Two wins probably means an NIT berth. Even at 16-17 if Horns just get one win and I think the NIT thinks long and hard about Texas and a match up with A&M in the first round, you know they are thinking of the money/interest in that match up.
 
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