Bill Simmons

[Horn69]

Absolutely the funniest writer around.
The Link

5:18/5:19 - LMAO

5:45's link

6:20 - tinge of truth hurts.

7:00 - mavs humor

Enjoy...

Hook'em!!!

 

[Horns11]

Simmons admittedly doesn't understand the college game. He's said so many times. His digs on Barnes were ridiculous three years ago, but that "tinge of truth" seems more spot on now.

 

[RockyBalboa]

After the offensive abortion this year, it's hard to argue.

 

[bierce]

Yeah, not getting the youngest and smallest team in the tournament past the second round showed he was a real **** up, didn't it?

 

[Dirty Martin]

That Calipari guy sure can coach though. With only 5 first rounders he almost got to the Final Four.

 

[bierce]

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[yourlordarileus]

Bill Simmons is great. His articles are informative and always funny. His "Book of Basketball" while 700 pages is a great read.

As far as I am concerned the only thing Rick Barnes doesn't deserve criticism for is his recruiting. I don't follow recruiting very closely so it is possible he has screwed that up also.

 

[bierce]

Rex, I'm probably more guilty than any of being a Barnes apologist here, and wow, am I seriously disppointed in the last two years. Another year like last year, and I'm ready to join the call for a new coach. While I think hindsight shows there were some personnel problems, there was more than enough talent and experience to do better.
Every coach is going to have a bad year. Barnes took Texas to unparalleled heights in basketball and kept it there 1999-2008. The last two years have been a comedown, and he needs to correct the problems this year. The team is going to be thin in quality big men, but there is sufficient talent to improve on the mess of last season.

That said, I'm going to try one more time to convice you that the 2007 team really shouldn't be considered more than a mild disappointment. That team started 4 freshmen and a sophmore. It started three guards, two under 6 feet, and one an athletic but poor shooting 6'2".

The only time a team that young made it to the Final Four was in 1992, when the Fab Five made it for Michigan. That team had the #1, 3, 6, 9, and 84th ranked prospects in Webber, Howard, Rose, King and Jackson. Texas had one top ten recruit and two guys who ranged from 17 to 49, depending on who you asked. The Michigan guys wound up combining for 2398 starts in the NBA. There's no way Durant, Augustin, and James are going to match that, even if you add Pittman and project him to have a pretty decent career.

The youngest team to win it was probably 2003 Syracuse, starting two freshmen (Anthony and McNamara), two sophmores (Warrick and Forth) and one senior (Duany). That team went 7', 6'9", 6'8" across the front line, with a 6'6' player starting at guard and had only one player on the floor at any time who was under 6'4". Syracuse 2003's starting lineup was 4" taller per man than Texas's 2007 starting lineup.

There just aren't any other teams with that kind of youth to make the final four. A lot of people think 2007 tOSU was young, but it actually started a junior and two seniors.

Now add the fact that Texas was such a small team, generally giving up a couple of inches a man across the board. The result is a team weak in rebounding, interior defense, and susceptible to problems against teams with taller shooters.

My biggest criticism of Barnes over the last few years has been his inability to get much production out of his interior players and his consequent reliance on small lineups. This last year, I thought Texas was going to finally get out of that scenario, but as the conference season came on, Pittman became ineffective, and Texas wound up with short front lines once again.

So, am I happy with Coach Barnes? Not at present. Do I think he failed with the 2007 team? Not at all. Another couple of wins would have been nice and not impossible, but not getting them doesn't make the team a failure. 1992 Michigan and 2003 Syracuse are by far the exception, not the rule, for teams that young, and both had more going for it (size plus either more talent or more experience) than a superstar freshman, a three years away tweener forward, and smallish point guard who may wind up as THE starter somewhere, but who is probably going to be a back-up or part-time starter most years.

 

[Bob in Houston]

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[mars]

Look, some/many of the criticisms of Barnes are fair, no question. But to use Calipari as your example of a coach that is better than Barnes is just flat out ridiculous. He just gets the best talent he possibly can (using questionable methods) and throws it on the floor. In many years the talent he has far exceeds what we have at UT.