Horns in China

2-16 3 pt shooting. One made by Lammert and one by Taylor. Most shots not hitting the rim!
 
The outside shooting is unbelievably bad. Total air balls. Bricks. I remember guys in intramurals who could shoot better than this and these players entire being is basketball.
 
Wow, looks like we hired the wrong football coach AND the wrong basketball coach. Gonna be not so fun when Texas fans get to watch a football and basketball postseason without any Longhorn representation
 
I was a little surprise to see Texas lose.
We never did get our Post player's involved in the game.
We also looked scared and played scared.
 
The freshmen were never comfortable - at least ours weren't. Some of you guys really do need to step back from the ledge. First game in a new system and it's already clear we're going to lose by 30 to A&M and we hired the wrong coach.

We have a lot of work to do - which makes sense because this was a bad basketball team last year.
 
Well, there's no where to go but up... I hope. Just like last year, Taylor driving for every shot. Don't fault him, since those are the only shots we could get to go in. No patience, no ball movement, no clear offensive scheme that I could see.
 
JoeDallas said:
Well, there's no where to go but up... I hope. Just like last year, Taylor driving for every shot. Don't fault him, since those are the only shots we could get to go in. No patience, no ball movement, no clear offensive scheme that I could see.
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Since it's close to being the Christmas season, I'd say this game reminded me of "Players of Coaches Past."-----can't score in the 1st half, can't make 3's, can't make free throws at strategic times.
From a new coach's perspective, I was a bit shocked that Smart let the freshman take shot after shot after shot when those freshmen were making, collectively, less than 15% of their shorts. I thought coach would make sure the ball got into the hands and was kept in the hands of the seasoned players down the stretch (the last 5 minutes).
Oh well. It can't look any uglier....so that's a plus for watching future games.
 
We have a lot of work to do - which makes sense because this was a bad basketball team last year.
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Dear God, let's please not start the whole "they were bad" "there is no talent" BS, propaganda lie. This group of seniors and juniors (10 of our 15 players) have made the NCAA tournament 2 years in a row winning 20 or more games a year both seasons in a better than normal Big 12 conference. They were not and are not "bad".

No one said we were going to lose to a&m by 30. In fact, I still think we should beat them as we have the better players and the better coach. I just said hopefully we improve in time to beat them, because we played poorly tonight. It could be new system. It could just be being in china (the stadium did not even sell out, thanks for wasting a bunch of money on a loss the chinese did not even care about Steve P. Steve P. obviously just wanted to take a vacation there or something). It could just be a bad game.

This first month, our former athletic director has us flying around from China to the Bahamas close to final exams while our team is trying to adjust to a new coach. I do not have high expectations for November. That said, I do want to see us beat A&M no matter what and improve however much it takes to make than happen.

As far as Smart goes, I think he is equal to Barnes in coaching. He is a great coach, and we probably end up doing about the same. This year we probably have a rough start but end up making the tournament in the first or second round. Since we lose so many players after this year, year 3 is probably the realistic year to expect to do better than the first two rounds. Smart should be fine in the long run and I have not met anyone that believes otherwise. For reasons stated above, I do not think this China boondoggle means anything in the long run.

However, I do not want to hear a whole line of BS about how we have a bad team. There is at least a 20 win team sitting there. Maybe not better than that, but there is not a bad team. I think things will click this year, hopefully sooner than later. I also hope they click enough to knock off a&m.

Edit: just saw the 30 thing on another thread. We are not going to lose to a&m by 30. Prodigal, I think we are on the same page on the get off the ledge issue, but I do not buy the "bad team" narrative.
 
There's absolutely no doubt that Smart wants the freshmen guards getting the quick looks for shots. There's also absolutely no doubt that they combined to go 4-27 from the field.

I think the jitters and refs really got to everyone tonight. No one could move an inch on D or a foul was called. No one could try to move around a box because an offensive foul was called. I can't remember the last time I saw 5 guys foul out and another 5 stuck with four fouls each.

But that doesn't explain just massively missed opportunities with open shots. Mack and Davis in particular... you can't throw the ball wantonly at the basket like Taylor. Hell, we hate when Taylor does it, so a freshman doing it 17 feet away from the rim just reeks of Smart constantly yelling "YA!" in practice and they jack it up from wherever they stand. They did a great job forcing #8 to turn it over, but what matter does it make if you can't score? He could have made 15 turnovers by himself and if you can't do anything once you get the ball, you might as well leave the gym.

The bigs were completely taken out of the game, much like what Butler did to us in our last game. Ridley, Lammert, Ibeh, and Cleare couldn't sneeze without hearing a whistle, so UW took advantage of it. Their bigs combined for 31. Ours? 13. Ridley had some nice blocks, but blocks don't add up to transition points when your guards are jackalackin around.

My biggest disappointment is with Yancy and Felix. I said on another offseason thread that one of those guys would be leaned on for more playing time (Yancy) and another would not work well in Smart's plans (Felix). Guess I was only half correct so far. Guards shouldn't be shooting 42 percent on FTs. Or, you know, missing every shot. If Yancy gets it together and the freshmen work on smart possessions, we'll be a dangerous team. I highly doubt they'll play as poorly as they did tonight for most of the rest of the season.
 
Honestly one of the worst performances I have ever seen from a Longhorn team, and that is really saying something with some of the disappointing games from Barnes' squads over the last several years. I was even there (on the front row with season tickets, thank you) back in the "Hoop Head" (fans wearing cut-open basketballs over their heads instead of bags) days of Bob Weltlich, and never, not once, ever, did I glean less fun or enjoyment or even appreciation of SOMETHING watching a basketball game.

Just an absolutely atrocious performance, and I felt the pain of Jordan Barnett, honestly, who I know could have helped us some if he had only gotten a chance. Really feel bad for the kid--really do, and I hope that he isn't this year's whipping boy, because I really feel that he has something to offer. Kid got 50 points and 25 rebounds or something to lead his St. Louis high school team to a state championship. We aren't talking about a kid without something to offer.
 
What are the odds of a major university replacing/firing their athletics director, mens basketball coach ,and football coach in a little over a year span and hire three guys who are worse ??
Only at Texas....What starts here changes the world !!
 
Seems like there are so many factors in this game--could have dead legs from hard practice, plus jet lag, plus probably strange food/surroundings. Let's just wait for more data.
 
VYFan said:
Seems like there are so many factors in this game--could have dead legs from hard practice, plus jet lag, plus probably strange food/surroundings. Let's just wait for more data.
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13% shooting the 3's
26% field goal percentage
64% Free-throw percentage
Uggh!
Shocking that we only lost by 6, given those percentages.
 
The good news is that it was about as poor as our Butler game, and if everyone is all "we have nowhere to go but up," then that means we're basically a better version of the team that went to the NCAA tournament last year. Assuming we go "up," which we will.

I highly doubt our shooting percentage stays that low, especially if Ridley gets more looks.
 
VYFan said:
Seems like there are so many factors in this game--could have dead legs from hard practice, plus jet lag, plus probably strange food/surroundings. Let's just wait for more data.
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Yeah, but you know Washington had the same working conditions....
 
VYFan said:
Seems like there are so many factors in this game--could have dead legs from hard practice, plus jet lag, plus probably strange food/surroundings. Let's just wait for more data.
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Same for Washington, but let's give Texas a few games to sort themselves out. This isn't football so the only game you have to win is the last one.
 
One game, in which we lost by 6 despite what is most likely a huge outlier in terms of shots not falling, and we're already 100% certain that we've downgraded our coach - after an offseason in which most of us wanted Rick Barnes out and liked the Shaka hire. Accusing people of being aggy is such a lame argument technique that I made up my mind a long time ago to never stoop that low. But, screw it, the shoe fits - this thread is officially Texags.com Austin chapter.
 
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