A huge factor in the game..

C

Crusher X

250+ Posts
was experience. This was Memphis 3rd straight Elite 8 game. This was most of our guys (except for AJ and Connor) first trip past the first weekend of the tournament. It was their time. I would have liked to see Texas play better, but credit should go to UM.

UM looked completely relaxed, in control and calm. We looked a bit tight, and Memphis played beautifully.

If this Texas team stays intact, their performance in next year's NCAA should be dramatically improved in the later rounds. Experience was a big factor.

UM is physically as perfect a basketball team as you can get. All but one guard is taller than 6'2" (with their best being 6'7" and 6'3"). Their big guys go 6'10", 6'10" and 6'9"). Then throw in their athletic ability and basketball skill, and you have the makeup of a damn fine basketball team.

We lost to a tall, skilled, experienced basketball team.

I'm damn proud of our guys. But, sometimes you just have to say we lost to a better team.
 
It's actually pretty simple. Memphis was making shots and we were missing them. That's basically what the game comes down to and we couldn't put the ball in the bucket when it counted.
 
I think their size and talent level were just too much for UT to handle. I think they could have had 5 freshmen and with that size and talent I would take Memphis.
 
The game was decided by a lot more than Memphis hitting shots while Texas missed them. From what I saw, I thought Memphis played a great defense that gave few options to Texas on the offensive end, particularly since Texas generally didn't have a strong scoring threat inside.

Packer was partly correct when he kept saying that he thought Texas needed to drive (but not too deep!) and dish to open shooters. The problem with that theory was that Memphis's perimeter defenders didn't for the most part leave their assigned men to try to cut off penetration. They were letting Augustin go all the way to the basket and letting the guy in the middle stop Augustin if he could. Since light body bumps weren't being called, that defense could stop Augustin from scoring. Since perimeter defenders weren't leaving the shooters, Augustin didn't have many passing options. Since Texas didn't have a big inside scoring threat, you can say "ballgame."

Things might have turned out a little differently if the refs had called a tighter game, but the fact is that they didn't. It wasn't like Augustin was being obviously hammered every time he was going into the lane, so no one can blame the loss on the refs. Texas needed to adust somehow, but didn't have the weapons to do so.

I really wish the team had made a much stronger effort to create a predominant 2 guard lineup instead of a predominant 3 guard lineup. I felt strongly that the team would eventually come up against team with a bunch of tall, athletic perimeter players along the way and have a very rough game.

That said, I give big kudos to Coach Barnes and the team for getting as far as they did. I don't agree that no one could have predicted this level of success for the team before the season started, because the team is populated with great players up and down the ranks. As a team, it had some limitations, but if you add together a great penetrator at the point, an unconscionable three point shooter of great accuracy and quick release, a fearless third guard who can shut down many scorers, block the shots of 7 footers, take rebounds over them, and handle the ball, a post who can block shots and shoot three pointers with great accuracy, and a forward who can shoot the three and rebound like a beast, then you have a lot of ingredients for a very, very good team.

Unfortunately, as a team goes, it just wasn't very big, and that will cause problems. Friday's game against Stanford was a matchup of the smallest team left against the slowest team left, and Texas's speed won out. Against a fast team with size, Texas was just outmatched.

I really hope that next year comes with a transformation to a predominantly 2 guard set, with James sticking around for one more year to play as the wing with length, and all the big guys and Johnson rotating in various roles. Another year of playing 3 guards who average 6' tall will be another year of being proud to see the team get as far as it does but won't likely be a year bringing a Final Four berth.

Great season for the team and the coach. I hope they all come back with Atchley another year stronger in the legs so he can hold position, with Pittman in even better shape and ready to go full speed up and down the floor for 20 minutes a game, with Hill and Johnson healthy all year, with Mason doing damn near everything, with Abrams continuing to hit his runners as well as nailing open threes, with Augustin faking people out of their socks, with James playing a lot more 3 than 4 without losing a thing from his game, and so on.

Next year ought to be great.
 
I think there were lots of factors, but experience was definately one of them. I though DJ came out nervous in all of the NCAA tourney games, which kind of suprised me because he was here last year. But remember last year he was expected to hold down the point and feed Durant. This year he was expected to live up to the hype of being an All American and leader of a team, that is a whole different thing. I think this made him start out a little tight every game, but he still performed really well for a soph. I think AJs experience was the reason he was the leading scorer this tourney, he has been there more times and is the experience vet for this team.
 
Memphis has been very good all year, but they are now fantastic given that Rose has come into his own this last month. He was up-and-down in CUSA play with CDR being the most consistent threat. But now Rose has taken his game to a new level (good timing, too, considering the NBA looms). Memphis may have made the FF anyway, but they wouldn't be killing all these teams without Rose's performances.

Experience played a bit of a role, but it's not the biggest reason for Memphis's play. They're a better team because they're more talented with Rose at the point. Imagine Kevin Durant joining Texas this year instead of last year. It's not exactly the same thing, but I don't think it's a terrible comparison.

It's also why I don't think Augustin's possible return is all UT needs for a Final Four run next year. Much like Memphis needed an added facet to their game with Rose, UT would need additional inside presence to have a shot at the FF in '09, with or without Augustin and/or James. Good news is it's very probable Texas will be a much better interior team next year if they stay healthy.
 
Agree with kosher horn - we need more contributions from the front line. Another year from DJ and Damion is great but doesnt neccessarily take us further. If every player on our team was a senior we werent beating memphis that day.
 
The one thing I would have done more this against Memphis is feed Pittman. I would have found a way to get him the ball on the blocks every single time down the court. After a few minutes of seeing us play, I though that was the only way we win. I honestly think that Pittman, if he gets in better shape, he works on his defense and we use him properly, is going to be an all-American. There isn't a person, that I have seen this year, that could guard him once he gets the ball close to the basket.
 
This thread has drifted a bit from the original, but I'll also chime in on the development of Dex.

I think the big fella needs to watch alot of tape of Atchley playing defense down low. Atchley improved his post defense tremendously. What Connor doesn't have, is what Dex has. Size and strength. If Dex improves that part of his game, he'll see ALOT more minutes. It wouldn't hurt if he could develop a couple of different moves in the post to go along with his "get out of my way, I'm headed for the rim" move.

His conditioning may always be his weakness, but seeing the way he improved over the course of this season, there is plenty of hope he can put in 25 minutes a game (maybe more).
 
I guess if we played Tenn. 10 times they would be lucky to beat us more than once, since we crushed them on a night when we shot great and they didn't.

If DJ makes half of his lay-ups and they shoot their usual 60% from the FT line, we win. Those things didn't happen and I can live with that, but you guys are killing me. They had a great game, just like we did against Tenn. That doesn't mean that we have no chance of beating them.

By the way...Tenn. beat them. UAB played with them. Are we worse than UAB? Come on people. It was a terrible game. End of story.
 
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