Damion To The Bench ?

B

Barton Hills

1,000+ Posts
I pray this is a sick joke ...

Rick thinks we're good enough to beat Baylor without the services of James ? Tomorrow is not the time to try and prove a point ...

Could be sarcasm, but ESPN radio in Austin is running with it, and now the AAS.

In reply to:
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My thoughts exactly ...

Hopefully it was a joke. Even still, calling James out like that on a radio show is pretty ******.

Rick has me confused right now.
 
I think he knows what he's doing. Damion wasn't really ever into the game against aggies and I'm thinking Barnes is trying to motivate him. Hopefully he uses him more at the 3 and he goes back to his play a few weeks ago. Lately, I feel like he has been getting kind of lost in the middle of games or foul trouble. His rebounding (offensive in particular) has been great all year.
 
has to be more to this than his performance against a&m. he went up against two 7 footers and didn't get ANY help from the rest of the team.
 
I am not the least bit confident in Barnes motivation tactics. James has been one of best players all season...everyone has an off game. It seems like he has everyone so terrified of making a mistake on the court that it keeps people from playing their games.
 
Some guys play better when they get pissed off and have a point to prove. Maybe Barnes isn't going to start him but plans on playing him a whole lot and this is just a strategy to light a fire under him?
 
Count me as one that thinks Rick knows exactly what he is doing.

He will have us clicking on all cylinders in March.

Hook em
 
For instance Durant in the loss to Villanova last season:

FG 4-15
3pt 1-8

everyone has off nights

hookem.gif
 
I also trust in Barnes. I think he knows his players a lot better than we do and he would not call out James if he didn't think it was prudent. In his 10 or so years here, I have heard Barnes talk a number of times about the importance of using the right motivation tactic for each player. It is something that I think he is pretty good at, although I do think it takes him a while to figure out each player. But going into his second year, I think Barnes must believe he knows James well enough to think this will motivate him.

As for 1 bad game, I don't think that is it at all. Rick has been displeased with James' defense for several games now. I suspect Rick could care less if he just had a bad shooting night, but lack of focusness, especially on defense, just isn't going to get it done with RB.

All that said, I think James will still play and will probably get close to the same minutes.
 
Based on the ATM game, I wouldn't protest about letting Chapman, Pittman and Wangmene have more minutes even if they foul out. At least they aren't backing down and are showing some aggression. Texas needs some bangers down low and they are the only candidates. As for Baylor, I don't think it matters what RB does because this Texas team showed a distinct lack of chemistry, discipline and motivation against ATM and unless they have had an epiphany since then, they will not fare much better against the Bears.

This group of Longhorns is a puzzle.
 
I also think that alot of this isn't just based on what has happened in the game. There is a lot us fans don't see (film sessions, practice, locker room) that has to be factored in this.

Coach Barnes got after DJ when he went through a bad stretch, and it got him kickstarted (til the A&M game). I think he's trying to do the same with Damion.

We only have three legit scoring threats. DJ, AJ and Damion (you could make a case for Connor being a fourth). If any of those guys is off, we struggle. We need all three. Damion will be fine. He's worked too damn hard to let his performance against aggy affect his confidence.
 
I trust what RB does for now. He clearly stated in interviews that everyone misses shots and he accepts that as long as they keep taking good shots.

His issue is the complete lack of defensive effort which is completely unacceptable. If he benches Damion then it is for defensive failures and not poor offensive performance.
 
Props to Rick for benching Damion to start the Baylor game. It seemed to light a fire under James. I wonder if you will continue to see him being the game on the bench?
 
Probably not next game ^^^^^^^^^^. But if he slacks off again like against aggie he may find is *** on the cold pine at another tip-off
 
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