Barnes getting outcoached

Great year for the Horns. Memphis has an unbelievably athletic team, played great, even made their free throws...

There is a reason they are 37-1. They are damn good.

That said, we have nothing to be sorry about. Elite 8, talent continues to roll in, and Barnes is a fantastic coach. Hook 'Em!
hookem.gif
 
Much like the 400 lb. fatass Memphis fan behind me today yelling "I thought ya'll were faaaans" when some burnt orange bandwagoners left with 5 minutes to go and "That's haw ya play defayense" when the Tigers would make a stop, I think posters like jerwilliamz are best left ignored.

This Texas team needs some sort of balance. Being the 5th- or 6th-best team in the country this season is pretty incredible considering the team's deficiencies. Squads like Mississippi State gave Memphis fits because of their interior attack, and Texas needs some sort of consistent inside game to have a shot at the Final Four next year. Good news is that throwing Pittman, Johnson, Chapman, Hill, and Wangmene at them should produce some results. Even if Augustin comes back, the inside game is still a must. If UT can employ some simple inside-outside ball next year, they'll be awfully good, and they can do this without Augustin. In fact, I think losing James would be just as harsh as losing Augustin because of all the mismatches he presents. If only one comes back, they're an Elite 8 contender next year. Even if both go, a backcourt of Abrams/Mason/Balbay/Brown is nothing to be scared of. Good times lie ahead as long as the offense can show some more balance.
 
I don't get all the hate for Barnes from some of you people. Do you have any idea where this program was at prior to Barnes and Penders? Hell, before Barnes came on board, we were as delighted as the aggy fans are now every time we just made the Sweet Sixteen. Now with Barnes, it's a routine occurrence for us. I bet Duke, Arizona, Kentucky, Indiana, or any number of other traditionally strong basketball programs would gladly trade places with us right now this season.

Unfortunately, we just ran into a buzzsaw today. Memphis was far and away the better team. It happens. They had height, athleticism, and possibly even a slight talent advantage over our guys. No shame at all in losing to them, just wish it would have been closer. This one hurts, but blaming Barnes for this loss is about as a dumb as blaming Barnes for the Kennedy assassination. I think Barnes did a great job this season...sometimes you just come up short. (Pun intended.)

I'm damn proud of Barnes and our guys for all they have managed to accomplish this year. At the beginning of the season, we were only expected to finish something like fourth (?) in the Big 12. (Feel free to correct me if my memory is wrong about this.) The fact that we finished for a share of the regular season Big 12 conference title, and finished up as the runner-up in the Big 12 tourney, AND made it all the way to the Elite Eight -- ALL of these things indicate that Barnes and the team far and away overachieved this season. And all this without the services of Kevin Durant, while we're at it.

If you want to wallow in misery, there is a whole board over at Texags where you would fit right in. I'm going to be happy for what we managed to accomplish this year, and look forward to even bigger and better things next year.

hookem.gif
 
Pentaconta,

I don't see where one post from a handle not seen on this board until yesterday constitutes "all the hate for Barnes from some of you people."

If you'll actually read the thread, you'll see where the vast majority actually feel a great deal of support for Barnes and what he's done.

It's not going to be unanimous. Not when people can register and post anonymously for a minimum investment of time. Shoot, it was a disappointing loss for any fan, even the ones like me who are absolutely thrilled with the outcome of the season within the bigger context. I haven't seen the normal amount of irrational venting I usually see after a loss.
 
SLExpress -- point taken, though I have seen a few other similar posts in some other threads. Sorry, they just rubbed me the wrong way. Felt like a little perspective was in order.

I'm done venting now.
 
If the same criteria some Horns fans use for Barnes would have been applied to Self and Calipari, both would probably have been fired last year, Tom Landry would have been fired after losing early title games to Lombardi's Packers, John Wooden would have been fired before he got his program rolling big time, etc. etc.

Barnes has improved a program at a non-basketball school, and is almost --- almost, at a level with the remaining Final Four schools, all basketball schools, UNC, KU, Memphis, and UCLA.

He's not quite there yet, but, Jeez Louise, even if the program just plateaued where it is now, a perennial Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight program, he'll retire a near legend in the basketball world.

At least outside of Austin.

Hook 'em
 
Again, how many Horn fans are we talking about, blonthang?

People are getting all worked up over nothing. One guy makes the original post --- a handle I never saw until a couple of days ago, when he makes some outrageous claims, then let's go with this jewel of a thread. There's some VERY mild agreement within the thread from a couple of folks, and then people like blongthang act as if there's some outspoken movement going on, when there's nothing like it.

Virtually unanimously, people on this message board seem really pleased with the results of this season, yet some of you appear bound and determined to conjure the worst images of the basketball fan base. The evidence for it simply does not exist on this thread, unless we're seriously stretching things.

The only people who should be feeling outraged right now, are the fans who feel betrayed by the general sense of satisfaction for how the season went, because that's the message the VAST majority of fans on this board are conveying.
 
/ I'm gonna agree w/ express. The nearly consensus on Rick Barnes is that he's an excellent coach and underrated on a national scope. He's also got good interpersonal communication skills and handles himself well; OU fans have a lot of respect for Barnes (he was a guest on a local sports talk show last month).
 
Don't think so at all... It's just a case where our midget back court finally caught up with us....
 
It wasn't just our lack of size. We went on a 12-0 run that spanned halftime to cut it to 5. After that, we missed our next 4 shots as Memphis widened the lead again, and 3 of those shots were ones I expect us to make more than half of the time. Meanwhile Memphis hit two crazy ones (the 3 that banked in, and the floating fadeaway that arced about 500 feet up before coming down). Damion James and Connor Atchley combined to shoot 10% from behind the arc.
 
To compare our game yesterday to a regular season game against a Conference USA opponent is retarded. This is the NCAA tournament. A lot of people were saying Texas, a 2 seed, would beat the team with the best record in the country. Memphis had gobs of motivation to come out swinging. Playing UAB...not so much. It's incredible that they havent had a single letdown in conference play in the past what, 2.5 years?

And i'm not saying we weren't motivated, because I know that's coming, and that would be Barnes' fault, too.

We lost maybe the best college player in the past decade, and our players and coaching staff stepped up this year and produced a school record in wins, despite an absolutely brutal schedule. NONE of us expected this kind of a ride through the whole season.

Memphis was probably the WORST matchup we could have hoped for. They had an incredible height advantiage, and a quickness advantage pretty much across the board. They also had an incredible amount of focusness, as shown by their excellent day at the free throw stripe.

Jerwilliamz posts every once in a while on the female hoops board. We're always going to lose recruiting battles to Baylor, and every decision Goestenkors makes in a loss is the wrong one.

Typical Barnes when he goes up against a better coach? So who was coaching Memphis when we beat them in the 2 previous matchups?
 
Don't get angry with the OP for his lack of basketball knowledge. Just be content that you'll never have to take his opinion seriously in the future.
 
This season surpassed any reasonable expectation to me.

There wasnt one position where we had a talent advantage. Memphis is finally playing like a well-coached team, which they are.

Great talent, great defense, excellent offensive execution. They keep playing like that and you are looking at your national champions.

Three regional finals in 6 years. A PJ Tucker FT away from being in the FF two times in a four year period.

I would say Texas basketball as a national power is here to stay.
 
I'm not going to criticize any coaching due to a 31-7 season within the 4th toughest schedule (not including schedule in the tourney). The thing I would have liked to have seen was our inexperienced, big-men getting more PT during the season so that they could be more utilized in the Big 12 Tourney (v KU) and in the NCAA Tourney. These guys (esp Dex and Chap) showed big-time potential and I think more PT during the season would have been huge for them. Once again, how can you dispute anything when you win that many games with that schedule? Also, having the bigs playing more still would not have helped vs. Memphis. Their starting guards still would have been too much (size, athleticism and etc). Still, great season nonetheless.
 
SL Express,

Good post, I agree with your assessment of the game and also on future strategy.

I am guessing Matt Hill may be behind Chapman and Pittman and Wangmene and Atchley and Johnson in the depth chart.

You may be a little optimistic re: recruiting. I checked out scout.com to see how interested Evans/Hopson/Ebanks are in Texas. Hopson had a "low" interest in UT. Ebanks had "no interest" in UT. Tyreke Evans had a "medium" interest in UT. Jeff Taylor is a 3 star recruit. Brown has not actually signed with the horns (though he says he will). I have no inside knowledge but maybe Brown is just keeping his options open in case the horns sign another monster player at guard (either way the horns end up with an outstanding guard).

My guess is that Augustin will go pro. The last time I checked an NBA project draft, Augustin was in the first 10 players. Maybe we get lucky and get Damion for another year.
 
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