I'm calling my shot- that's a 1 seed

Except for the last 10 minutes of the 2nd half. It almost seemed like they fell asleep out there. The D was great, they played hard. They need to clean up the sloppy play at the end of the game though. 19 turnovers was not a 1 seed.
 
Please...........Horns are good this year but let's not get ahead of ourselves...........

Can't wait for our little rematch in Madison in 35 days or so.....
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Dominating defense.

Only big question, can the guard play rise to a level that allows UT to cut down the nets? I don't think we'll have an good answer until January. It's going to take a while to see how Dogus develops. He was a bit rough tonight, but that's to be expected.
 
if they can beat the tar heels in maui, i will be complete.
i still hold it over my fiancee that we beat her school the last time we met.
i don't want to lose that.

besides, her family hates barns (and texas by proxie) b/c of some alleged spat he had with dean smith back when there were still dinosaurs.
 
There wasn't anything "alleged" about it. In fact, John Feinstein documented it in a book he wrote.

If Texas wins Maui, the possibility of a #1 seed certainly is raised, even if it will still be early. They could get blown out by Notre Dame in the second round, for all we know right now.

Defense is suffocating, but the offense has problems, and free throw shooting is absolutely abysmal. Still, they're very deep, they can rebound, and it's probably the best defensive team Barnes has had at Texas, and that's saying something.
 
St. Joes should pose no problem for us. They lost to someone like Holy Cross the other night in overtime 73-69. From what I understand they have no offense with Iowa State ex Tasheed Carr running the point.

I don't think they have any 3 point shooters to hang with us

Notre Dame has as many bigs as we do, YIKES
 
As said...We'll know more after Maui but I'm not willing to make seeding predictions until we finish the OOC portion of our schedule.

I'd like to see more consistent results from our bigs at the 4 and 5 then what we've seen so far in two games. The effort is there but the production isnt in my opinion. I'd like to see Chapman, Dex, Connor and anyone else we toss in there do more damage.

That being said I'm very excited about the team right now and looking forward to seeing how the team plays against big time competition in Maui.
 
Deep for sure. Very promising. I was thinking the same thing as the OP. Not that I would want the tournament to start right now by any means.
 
Defense appears to be tournament good right now, although it'll be interesting to see it go against a team like ND or UNC.

Offensively, I think those teams will double the post and make Pittman and Johnson pass the ball... we haven't seen how that might work.

I also think we have seen the rotation, plus Ward. I thought he did some good things last night, but Hill appears to be a spare part by comparison... same for Wangmene. For those wondering why Harrison Smith doesn't play, I think we saw last night that he doesn't show the defensive awareness and ability to close out that other guards have.

But it's hard not to be excited about the potential of this team.
 
Bob...Speaking of your mention of Smith. I watched him closely and I think the most telling part of the night for him was on one possession by Tulane. He was slow to get out and defend a three...Then fast-breaked and allowed the 3 point shooter to get the rebound...Then allowed the guy to go right around him on the sideline to the basket. When we came back up the court I could see Barnes yelling at him like "Want to play some defense tonight?".
 
I was so impressed with Balbay, he is far more progressed and polished than I expected. He looks like he's not even trying, and he has such a "I've been there and done that" swagger to his game. His passing is sick and his defense is so evolved, especially for a European player. It's like he's playing in a pick-up game with high school kids...he will be a good one.
 
One thing I'll keep repeating ad nauseum throughout this season. Whatever seed they end up with, I do not see this as a Final Four type team. There aren't enough playmakers --- guys who can take their defender off the dribble to either create their own shot or draw the defense and then kick it to a teammate. With Barnes' unstructured offense, that's virtually a necessity late in the tournament. Next year Bradley and Hamilton's presence will ameliorate that deficiency considerably.
 
I agree SLX... it was clear that Balbay couldn't take people off the dribble. He's a decent ball-handler... that's not a problem. But he can't just decide, like TJ and DJ could, that I'm going to get past my guy and make something happen.

At least, he didn't do it last night.
 
Well, we didn't have that with the Gibson and Paulino led team either, even less so in fact with Kenton at PG. Balbay, AJ, and Mase are all capable of doing it when necessary. Unlike last year, though, we have so many legit presences down low with Gary, Damion, Connor, Chap, and especially Sexy Dexy to throw the ball into at the end of a possession...whole new world baby.
 
I didn't think the Gibson/Paulino team was a Final Four team either, although they did come very close.

That team did have PJ Tucker, who could often break down his defender off the dribble. However, that team wasn't as deep or as versatile as this one is. Because of that, I think this team has a chance to be better.

I just don't like it when a team doesn't have someone they can count on as a shot clock is winding down --- either because the team is trying to burn clock or because they're struggling to find an open man --- to get a decent shot off. Combine that with a horrid free throw shooting team, and the last two minutes are going to be a personal Spanish Incuisition (my "cue" key isn't working). I think it's the kind of weakness that will cause them to bow out in the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight.
 
I really like what I've seen from James this year. For the first time he looks like a true SF and not just a big guy with a face up game. I think he can be at least as good as PJ was at taking the ball to the rim at the end of the possession.

AJ on the other hand is such a good shot maker that he is going to bail us out with miracle threes in those situations sometime, so I don't think it will be that big of a deal. The most important thing to advance in the tourney is simply getting a right group of teams to go through. All we can do now is get a high seed and hope for the best.
 
I see what you're saying SLX, I just hope you're wrong for once. I think freethrow shooting will be a much larger problem, along with, as usual, missed layups and easy baskets inside. We had 7 or 8 of those last night and it really hurts. Dex is getting better though and Gary finished well early and often. Balbay missed a couple of jokes and, per always, Hill couldn't finish if there were nobody on the court with him.

All in all, I loved what I saw...and the defense was just sick. I'm interested to see if Damion steps up to be that CRUCIAL third three-point shooter behind always reliable Connor and AJ. If so, we will be able to bust the zone with ease as Connor and AJ were born to run zone breaking schemes, plus Doge and Mason penetrating and Dex getting easy dunks on slow/over rotation.
 
I am also going to subscribe to the "we are probably not a final 4 team this year due to lack of a playmaker," but I think its possible that by the end of the regular season we will be looking like one. Even though the guys know each other really well at this point, Augustin isn't back there and there is still some manner of figuring out an offensive identity that is going to happen IMO. I think if we can get good offensive production from Mason and Gary Johnson against elite competition we have a good shot at the FF. Also Abrams looked great on D, but as far as I'm concerned the jury is going to be out until he has to line up against someone who can ball and who he's also giving up 4-5 inches to.
 
To early in the game, this is still warm ups before game time.

Balbay is the key for us !
James and Mason, Abrams, Conner are proven players. The question of Dex is a big one no pun intended but if he gives us 15-20 minutes and 10points and 7-8 rebounds per game we go to the F4 games.

If Dog improves 10% over the course of 20-25 games we have a legit bet on the F-4 games. This team can win on defense alone but I still think that we will be around 72-75 points per game if everyone contributes.
The rotation that Barnes used appeared decent for the second game.
WhY didn't Alexi W. play? Injury?
 
Way to early to be talking tourney, but since you brought it up, I will say that this team has tourney depth. If we run into a big man (e.g. Hansbrough), we have 20 fouls to give up between Dex, Atchley, Hill, and Chapman.
 
I'm not going to say that this team is going to the final four b/c the tourney is all about guard play and we don't have a good lead guard but we are going gto skull **** the big 12 I think now to the tune of 15-1. And the 1 will be a hiccup and a head scratcher.

Great depth, solid bigs that can score with back to the basket or step out on the perimeter. Suffocating defense, good to great 3 point shootingg at times.

2 concerns (and they will be what will do us in in a 1 game scenario in the tourney imo) 1) Piss poor FT shooting and 2) lack of elite level (TJ or DJ) 1 guard.

With these 2 weaknesses you can lose a game in the tourney.

But a texas team, with that rep and 15-1 in the big 12 is going to get serious consideration for a 1 seed.

Maybe this years team will be a year ahead of schedule the way the FB team is.
 
Well, at OU and Baylor will be tough. All the other games this year (other than those two at home) should be jokes and us favored by double digits...
 
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