Barnes?

caryhorn

caryhorn

5,000+ Posts
Is there no answer to this teams meltdown? Losing 3 out of four against teams that we should beat. For the basketball savy posters, what can Barnes do to turn this team around?

He seems to have no answers. Is that because there are no answers? Was I dreaming a few games ago; what has happened?

I really don't understand it.
 
I don't have a solution, but one thing is for sure... I have never seen a coach go from sure-fire "COTY" honors to the hot seat in a shorter amount of time.

Can we get back to midseason form within two weeks? Maybe. But our guard play is the key. Barnes seems to have lost control over all of them, including Balbay.
 
just to pile on, Holly Rowe reported that Kstate had travel problems, and didn't even arrive in Austin until 1:30 a.m.

that team outcoached and outplayed our team beyond a shadow of a doubt.

just watching the final 10 minutes, it was so easy to see which team was ahead, one team looked like they were so in-sync offensively, could open up space on the floor, and the other team looked old and tired, hardly making any open space at all.
 
It's never the players' fault, is it? And it's never the other teams playing well, or your team simply not being able to hit open shots?

Maybe the players will regain their form and start playing better on both ends of the court. Maybe not. Either way, please judge Barnes on the season, not on a four-game stretch.

And remember--virtually none of us expected the team to be as good as it has been when the season started. The only reason you're upset right now is because they elevated your expectations to greatness and haven't delivered.
 
Hey Pike, I am not saying anything about a hotseat. My post is asking for answers to this horrific 3 of 4 loss string.

What does Barnes need to do to right the ship? This is a forum after all. Your thoughts?
 
Some observations:

Team defense is faltering. K State had a bunch of open looks.

Offense seems so dependent on individual players performance and not on scheme. Hamilton is seriously struggling.

Team has struggled in the second half going back more than several games.

Did team peaked too early?
 
Forget fault.

What needs to happen to get this team back on track? Maybe its as simple as hitting a few more shots. OK. Fine. It seems our guys did not get good looks tonight. Maybe the ksu defense is that good.

It just seemed ksu was in synch and always had an answer. Maybe Pullen's guard play was the difference. He played smart, in control, and hit the clutch shots, for the most part.
 
Hamilton has lost his shot entirely. He is clearly gassed. End the year on a 5 of 6 skid, and what was once a lock number one with job done as everyone here professed to what a 5 or 6 seed. Can you say "two and out for certain in the Big Dance". Good thing we are a football school. Rick Barnes has done less with more than most for sure- but his seat will never be warm until Scott Drew and Frank Martin show us how they are the second comings of john Wooden, yeeesh- I thought getting punked by John Brady was bad.
 
First half we pound the ball inside and TT has a monster half. Second half Brown and Hamilton feel they must get some shots so start all the 1-1 play, there is no inside/out and no ball movement. We jack up a bunch of runners in the lane or guys get their shot blocked driving and of course you are going to give up easy shots at the other end.

We lost because our guards and Hamilton played selfish ball and forgot that inside out always is the way to go when you have a post player advantage. It's not that complicated, but you have to have guys willing to sacrifice for the team. We don't. That play where Hamilton left his guy completely uncovered on the inbounds 3 just showed how out of the game he was. In a 4 point loss, you can't give up open 3s because you can't remember who you are supposed to be guarding. Sad thing is we made enough free throws to win.
 
Went to the game last night; first game I made this year. Looked like most teams Barnes has put on the floor for UT. Hard-nosed defense, tons of talent, and the offensive strategy/execution of a high school JV team.

Barnes is the Fred Akers of UT Basketball.
 
We shot 34% from the floor - 26% if you take away all of Thompson's shots from the paint. You can't blame that on Barnes.

The only problem I've had with Barnes is that this is the 2nd game in a row he has held on to his TO's and watched the other team make a run in the first 5-10 minutes of the 2nd half. Just like a baseball team bringing in the closer in the 8th inning, you have to use these things when the game is on the line. Who gives a sh*t that you have 4 TO's left for the final 3 minutes when you're down by 7??
 
I think I can blame it on Barnes. He coaches the team. And this team's offensive approach/execution is exactly on par with all prior year's results. Unless he has an NBA-caliber point guard to create something from nothing, the offense consists of nothing. The reason we shot so poorly last night is that there is no offensive strategy/execution that creates good shots. Bad shot selection = bad shot %. Barnes offense = bad shot selection.
 
Part of Barnes' problems, IMO, is that he is a victim of his own success in recruiting. He has too many stars and, I suspect, too many kids who are here as a stepping stone to the NBA. Once things start to go downhill, it's easy to mail it in and start looking ahead to the pros. I think that's what happened last year, and it could be happening again.

Getting some McDonald's AA's is a good thing but it certanly doesn't hurt to get a few more gutsy, hard nosed players (ie. Gary Johnson, Brad Buckman, Connor Atchley, James Thomas) who are here to play 4 years and develop some leadership, and whose goal is to win championships for UT rather than pad their stats for the NBA.

Heart is very underrated, and we need more players whose heart is focused on their accomplishments at Texas, not on the draft lottery.
 
I think Barnes is a good coach, but he is not a great coach. Great coaches win championships. Coach K, Williams, Self, Izzo; those guys are great coaches, and they manage to handle the star players in general while winning championships.

Again, Barnes is a good coach, but he is not nearly top-tier. And I think UT is quite happy with that.
 
Well this will mark two straight years in a row where we've peaked WAY too early, don't have enough firepower to finish the season and take an early exit from the tourney
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I REALLY hope I'm wrong and this team gets it back on the right path.

The team last night looked like last years team late in the season, no movement, no defense, poor free throw shooting, and no chance to win.
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"Hard nosed defense, tons of talent, and the offensive strategy/execution of a high school JV team." Hornin, that sums it up perfectly. And it's been that way for years. Barnes is a great recruiter, and an awful coach. But talent, even one and done, gets you good but not great teams. I'm used to it now.
 
We will just disagree, and one of us will be proven correct. Honestly I hope it's you, but I don't see it. The selection committee does not give a lot of credit for a losing streak to end the year. I saw the same thing happen with a 25-7 Indiana team falling to an 8 seed. In my opinion Texas is firmly no better than a 4 seed at present, sliding to a 5 with an anticiapted loss at Baylor. If we somehow win in Waco and gain a share of the Big 12 crown, then we can move to 3 line. But 2 seed is out of the question at this juncture. If we share regular season crown and win the conference tourney, then we are back on 2 seed line. But look at what has happened to our RPI with the losses outside the top 50, yeesh.....
 
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