A lot wrong part 2

[bevaux]

My, my. Where to start.

As many of you pointed out: FREE THROWS. Just an average free throw performance and this game would have been over in regulation. Sadly, I believe we need to add coaching to our laundry list of complaints. Exactly what is this teams offensive identity? Do we play from the inside out? Out-in? Are we guard oriented, inside? We were clueless about the 1-3-1 zone the first half and as a result, lost this game in half number 1 (along with free throws).

Love to hear your comments. This is a very frustrating team right now and I wish I had confidence they would get a lot better down the stretch.

 

[Horns11]

Same thing as the last couple years: we don't have a PG. We have a couple guards who can't handle the ball well. The one who handles it best is a non-threat on offense. The others are streaky at best.

And for all the good that James has done for this team, he's about as controlled on offense as Reggie Freeman. One possession he could seem like a god, the next he lets an easy pass go through his hands. And he can't handle worth ****.

I feel bad that Brown misses his most important free throw of the season, but free throws wouldn't be such a damn issue if we stopped turning the ball over so much.

 

[SectionThree]

Totally agree. Lots of talent on this team but until the
coaching staff remembers that foul shooting is an integral
part of the game we will stall out in the Big Dance. There
are not many high school teams that shoot this bad.

 

[BevoJoe]

Poor percentage from the field today, too. This is beginning to look alot like the 81-82 season; went from #4 to out in first round of the SWC Tourney and did not make the NCAA tourney.

This needs to get turned around and quick. But baseball starts up in a few days and I'm going to watch the Horns over there.

Good luck to Coach Barns and the hoops team, they're gonna need it from here on out.

 

[bevaux]

I think we are consistent though. I believe we hit 61% and that is our average for the year!

 

[Chest Rockwell]

Free Throw shooting in our 3 losses:
KSt . . . . . . . 9/22 - 41%
UConn. . . . . 26/37 - 70%
Baylor. . . . . 19/31 - 61%

Bottom line is this is just a different team than the one that was on the court in November & December. Since the start of the new year, we are 6-3 but of those 6 wins we were losing (ISU, aTm, Tech) or tied (Arky) at halftime in 4 of them. Today it finally caught up to us and Baylor - a solid team - just wanted it more. I would love to see what kind of team Texas could be if we had 1 player like Tweety Carter (good ball-handler, drives to the hole, hits FTs).

We now hit the road for 4/6 games (one of those home games is KU) and could very well be unranked when we take on OKSt in Austin on 2/24. I getting that Mike Wacker/Heart of Texas Coliseum feeling all over again.

 

[IndyHorn]

Free throws are not Texas' strength. That is obvious. HOWEVER, I saw two reasons we lost this game. First, was our defense. We let the Bears get to the rim on every possesion but one inside of 6 minutes. And the other large factor was the extended time out when the officials checked the monitor after Brown was elbowed in the face. Baylor was gassed, at that point Texas was on a run, and the game stopped for 4 minutes. If Kansas wins tonight, they win the Big 12 regular season. That and NCAA seeding is all this game meant. At least Muschamp got two huge recruits yesterday!

 

[orangecat]

to me it's far more than free throws. We were very passive on offense in the first half. Example the three TO's in a row by Lucas. We were standing still passing the ball to each other, no movement offensively whatsoever, no dribbling, nothing, just two guys standing there. We need to run without the ball, set some screens, in the first half. Don't wait until the game is nearly over.

If there is such a thing, Rick needs an offensive coordinator. Then he could concentrate on helping the guys on their D. Seemed to be a lack of intensity on D in the first half.

Also, if you count it up in the first half. James' two fast breaks - 0 passes, if he passes both times, that is four points. Then if you play with intensity on D in first half, you lower their FG % from 51 to maybe 45. Have a decent offensive gameplan, you probably raise your FG % from 38 to 45. Worst case scenario, game is tied at halftime, we win going away.


Also, I don't know if it was intentional, but Baylor kind of fell into a 'hack a horn' type of D, fouling was an advantage for them the entire 2nd half. They don't have the depth to that the entire game, but it kind of looked like that they can keep it up for a half.

 

[earl77]

The Mike Wacker injury season was the beginning of the end for Abe, and this could be the beginning of the end for Barnes.

Based on what you have seen this month, if you were the father of some McDonald's All American kid, would you want him to go to Texas and play for a team like this?

 

[Third Coast]

Down goes Wacker! Down goes Wacker!

 

[roquentin]

its all between the ears. our beloved horns have not seen the ball go through the hoop wiht ease for sometime now. its been well chronicled that they regularly miss shots under the basket and from teh charity stripe; consequently, they have become frustrated and begin to press.

to be sure, i would like to know what percentage of the shots have come from under the basket and what percentage ccome from the perimeter? it seems like our beloved horns have recentlly pounded the middle at the expense of the perimeter.

i thought htat was particularly evident today when barnes failled to play hamilton because he missed 3 open jumpers midway through the first half and the outrageously talented shooter avery bradley had only attempted 3 shots deep into hte game. does bradley's field goal percentage still exceed his free thorw percentage?

i love bball becasue you can right this ship provided our beloved horns take the open j which will open teh inside game for pittman and james to dominate. everyone needs space where they can operate. in teh vernacular, a quarterback needs a pocket and a running back needs day light.

 

[bystander]

Ok, let’s look at this rationally. Maybe our expectations are/were the problem. I'm sitting here watching Kansas "struggle" with K-State and yet they will probably come out of this game with confidence. Why can't we keep our head up?

Clearly, having Dex and James gave us high levels of confidence, but in reality we are missing the one piece that has been the key to Barnes’ greatest success as a coach: a point guard. TJ and DJ could create in way’s our current guards cannot. They were gifted. Barnes is not an offensive guru and we will flounder without a floor leader. You could say that about any team.

Look at what we have in the backcourt:

Lucas – transfer who is scrapping off the rust and is apparently not in TJ/DJ’s league
Brown – sat out a year (1st year player)
Balbay – came in as a poor shooter and apparently we are stuck with this
Bradly – not a true point guard but at least has tremendous upside (1st year player)
Ward – out for the year

Our front line guys need someone to break the defense down. In the absence of that, we will always struggle.

I don’t know what to say about the free throw situation.

Regardless, we remain highly competitive. We lost to K-State in a very tough environment. Baylor almost beat Kansas in Lawrence! It’s not like we are getting blown out. The team just needs to identify its strengths and play hard. It seems to me that hustle is the reason we lost to K-State. We need to get those loose balls and get those defensive rebounds. I think the turnovers are because we are pressing due to our poor half-court offense. We are forced to play at breakneck speed and just hope to defeat the other team like this instead of utilizing screens and cuts (or whatever great offensive gurus utilize).

I don’t know what to say about the free throw situation.

 

[VinceFord]

I think our biggest problem is defensive. We overplay on defense and give up easy shots. We have three lock-down defenders in our back court, but they play overly aggressive and give up easy drives to the hoop. I think we would be more successful playing teams more straight up.

Currently, we rank #8th in the conference in fg% defense. This could be Barnes' best defensive team ever. We have the weapons, I just think we are utilization them wrong.

 

[The Horn Identity]

The problems are fairly obvious - lack of dual threat PG, poor free-throw shooting, no offensive, flow (relying on people to beat their man one-on-one or simple high screens, ....)

My solutions to the problems:

1. Reduce to an 8-man rotation - unless we are in control of the game. That's DJ, Dex, Balbay, Bradley, Johnson, Brown, Hamilton, and Mason. Roughly in that order.

2. Dex is a man now - he should be getting 30 minutes unless he's in foul trouble. Don't sit him with just 2 in the first half.

3. Johnson should be the first post off the bench and the only one getting meaningful playing time. Wangmene and Chapman only if we have foul trouble in the post.

4. Lucas ain't the answer at back-up PG. Sorry, but he just doesn't have the size to get it done. So, we'll have to rely on Mason and/or Brown. When these guys are in, we need to run set plays b/c they can't break down an offense like Doge.

5. Start Hamilton. I know I'll get flamed for this one, but I really think it will help. He's pressing on offense when he comes off the bench. Let him start in the flow of the game. Give him confidence. We need his shot-creation ability. Let Mason come of the bench as a hustle/glue guy - much like Johnson.

 

[bevaux]

Horn Identity,
actually, i like your points, including Hamilton. The kid is a tremendous athlete and can create a lot of offense if given the chance. Barnes is sitting him the second he screws up and his confidence has waned big time.