Grades for the team this year.

T

TexasPelea

100+ Posts
This year was by far the most frustrating to watch in the Barnes era. Mid-season I was suspended for calling this team out for not putting their best foot forward and for calling Barnes out for doing a bad job of coaching the talent he had.

Well, I feel much more vindicated after the two tourney games. Once the team reached this tournament, something was flipped on. It is like the leaders on the team realized this was it and there was no tomorrow. We saw them play hard, we saw them fight for loose balls and get 2nd chance points like we haven't seen all year. The "We're not that good" excuse was disproven. Teams that "are not that good" don't end up a couple shots from the sweet sixteen. We saw Balbay, Varez Ward play like they hadn't all year.

So the question is why didn't this team show the urgency all year long? To me, that comes back to Barnes. I don't think he knew how to figure this team out, and as a coach.... that is your job. He is still a good coach, but another mismanaged year like this one and he could feel his seat get ever so slightly warmer. His grade for the year is a D.

AJ Abrams is a great Longhorn and will go down in history as such. The perimeter defense Duke played on him is something I hope Texas learns from. He had been streaky all year, but he is really the only player that has the guts to buck up and take a shot. His grade for the year is a B, but an A for his career.

Dexter Pittman is now a star on this team. Probably the only player on the team that brought it night in and night out. Can't wait to see what he does next year. Grade for the year is an A.

Damion James. Okay, here comes the disappointment. This was his chance to shine, and take control of this team. Instead, he now is the poster child for why kids should go pro. He played his way out of being drafted. Ironically, like the rest of the team, he seemed to get it together for the tournament, but it doesn't make up for his atrocious play all year. His grade is a D.

Justin Mason. Just all around bad. He did not answer the call this year. New role or not, if you are going to play at Texas, you have to bring it harder. Grade is a D.

Gary Johnson. One of the few guys who can hit and outside shot, but he needs to get more consistant. Grade is a B.

Balbay. Made great strides all year. Still needs to polish up on some things, but I think he can be a good player for us in the future. Grade is a B-minus.

Conner Atcheley. He did nothing to help us win this year. Grade for this year is an F. Grade for his career is a B-minus.

Varez Ward. Didn't see anything exciting about him until this last game. Now I'm intrigued to see if he can bring that every night next year. Grade for the year is C, but grade against Duke is an A.
 
To give Balbay anything other than an F is stupid. Kellogg was going insane tonight because Balbay wouldn't shoot. That one play where he drove and was IN THE LANE and still passed up a shot was as asinine as anything that's ever happened with this team.

Pittman gets an A+
 
Very excited about Pittman, Chapman, Balbay, and Ward next season. Pittman and Ward especially have shown what they can do when they get playing time. They both play defense well as well and I think that will be a considerable upgrade.

I am hoping that the new guys coming in can provide that outside shooting and dribble penetration that was often absent this season. Then James can play closer to the basket where he is better suited.

Balbay should only be used off the bench. He has great energy and can handle the ball as a backup PG. He is too much a liability since he doesn't shoot from the outside and this will hurt our offense next year that needs to be an inside outside offense.

It is going to be a very deep bench next season and Barnes is going to have his hands full working on a lineup. Pittman, James, Ward need to be starters. Just not sure which other 2 Barnes will put in there. We've got some good young kids coming in.
 
I have complained to friends all year about this team, but at the end of the day I am glad these are the kids representing The University on and off the court. I don't doubt they gave 100% every night. Unfortunately some of their 100%s aren't good enough. To get this far and have a shot roll around the rim with under a minute on the clock to advance is amazing. I think the big wins this year were won with effort and heart because the talent isn't there with some. A couple (Dex, Ward, Gary, an improved Balbay, and hopefully James) of returning guys with the kids coming in should have us back at the level we have come to expect out of the Horns.

Good year guys.
 
Atchley, Mason, and James fell far short of expectations. Not good when 60% of your projected starters fall into that category.

AJ gets an A and my respect. Putting him into the role of #1 scoring threat on offense is a heavy load to carry for someone who has difficulty creating his own shots. I don't get the bitching about him being selfish; AJ was the only one willing/able to shoot on way too many occasions this year.

Big Dex was the best part of the season. I look forward to seeing him next year after another offseason of hard work.
 
This was an average team this year so if you are going to give them a grade I would say a C. Against Duke they played a pretty good game. Dexter keeps improving and works hard in the offseason he could have a great senior year? Great talent coming in next year which should move some of these guys to more bench time?
 
As long as your passing out grades, you got to give one to Barnes and the coaching staff . . . . C-.

23 wins and taking Duke to the wire in the 2nd round would normally be good enough for a B+, so it is a good thing Barnes has raised the bar with his work in the past. But the regression in play of Atchley, James and Mason has to have something to do with coaching (and/or instilling confidence). And if there is one year Barnes should have gone the JUCO route to bring in a bona fide PG, this was it.

I'm not 2nd guessing Barnes and I hope he retires at Texas in another 10-15 years, but he looked lost at times this year. He would pull players just as they start to get the hot-hand, or yank them and berate them over a mistake they made. But the most frustrating thing about this team was its deficiency at the charity stripe. If there is one part of your game that should be solid, it should be FT shooting.
 
This team gets a D. You cannot award consistency in inconsistency. For a team that was a pre-season top 10 and started out like it, only to plummet out of the top 25 and all but out of receiving votes is not worthy of a passing grade.

Sad part is, is this team played crappy yesterday and still showed they could've beat a much superior Duke team. Turnovers, lack of rebounds, more turnovers, missed free throws, silly fouls, awful pull-up shooting took our team out of it.

As much as I want to blame that awful rebounding foul at the end of the game, I cannot. It wasn't even a 'good' no-call, because there should've been no call plain and simple.

There is doubt that the team could've been top 10 all season if they played to their potential, because we had a team with some great elements. Unfortunately, they were mixing bleach with ammonia all season.

Thank you AJ for your amazing four years. I'm sorry this team couldn't help take you all the way. Best of luck in the NBA. I'm a fan.

Better luck next season, boys.
 
I thought you said team.. Not individual grades..

Ball handling - C minus, lack of a true PG hurt us.

Post Play - B+ , Didnt get the post play going till way late.

Chemistry - A+ , Although we struggled at times, Rick has always mentioned their chemistry as being one of the top attributes of this group. And you could always see that our guys had fun on the court. They were all close friends.

Leadership- C minus , Although AJ and Damion would try and step up, I never saw a true leadership role out there on the court. DJ was our leader last year, this year we fell short of one this year.

Shot Selection - B minus, Some questionable shots this year by AJ and Gary. But the same thing could be said for any one of the players. The lack of that "go-to-guy" that we have had the past 3 years really hurt our FG% on the year.

Defense - C+, I really loved our D last year with DJ, and early on this year. Somewhere along the season we started falling flat and it seemed like we forgot how to really lock down on D.

My grades may be critical, but I still loved every second of this team. I watched every single game, and havent missed one since I was about 12. I love Texas basketball, and I wont miss a game as long as I can help it. No matter what this team is ranked during the season, or how they play, they are my team.



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absurd 'this'. the way we started the season and against the opponents they did it against was proof enough that the team had what it took. but they lost that touch along the way.. ever since the arkansas game this team fell apart.

OOC schedule - this team gets a 'B'
conference schedule - big FAT 'F'
post tourney - 'C-'
 
"He's the worst college basketball player I've seen at any level."

You must be young and thus weren't exposed to the players we had at UT during the 80s as well as a number of our teams from the '90s.
 
As for the OP's grades, I'd say it is way too harsh on Damion James. My grade for him would be something like a B-, maybe C+ at the worst. He averaged 15 pts and 9 rbs per game, so whatever problems he had (and there were certainly problems), he was a virtual double-double every game. Giving him a D is ridiculous. Did he meet all of our expectations? No. Did his deficiencies become more glaring as the team needed him to be more? Definitely. But, when the game is on the line and we need a man's rebound (like down the stretch on Saturday against Duke), Damion is the one that's gonna go get it for us.

Now, flip flop the grade you gave James and give it to Balbay and I'd have less of a problem. How you can give Dogus a B- is beyond me. Thinking he can become a good player in the coming years shouldn't have any impact on what kind of grade the guy gets this year. I do not note any significant "strides" that Balbay made this year. He started the year as a guy who brought some athleticism, energy, and a nonexistent shot to PG position. That's pretty much how he's ending the year. In between, he was atrocious from the line, couldn't convert at the hoop, and turned it over as a PG because defenses showed no regard whatsoever for his offensive game. I don't know how, as a competitor, he can't be insulted by the lack of respect he was shown...and to know that it was justified because he couldn't make defenses pay should motivate the guy like never before to prove everyone wrong next year. But he gets nothing, not a fraction, over a D from me.

I just have to add a comment on Justin Mason. He's gone from an important crunch time performer as a freshman to complete, total, absolute irrelevance as a junior. I don't actually know how that happens...but it has and it's a sad thing to see. The guy was a total non-factor and his seat on the bench down the stretch, as he watched a freshman like Varez Ward be and do what he (Mason) was supposed to be doing for this team all year long, must have been ironic. As for his supposed defensive strengths, yeah, I think he's just a bit above average there. Doesn't justify keeping the dude on the floor considering how much of a liability he is on offense. I don't expect Justin to get all that much more than the Harrison Smith treatment as finishes out his career next year. For a program like Texas, there shouldn't be prominent roles in the rotation for guys who can't shoot and are afraid to take it to the hole because they can't maker their FT's. Hopefully, next year's squad with Bradley, Lucas, Hamilton, and Williams (maybe even Brown?) will allow this to be true. Again, sad to see what's happened to him and how much he's regressed in 3 years.
 
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