Is it too early to talk about this season?

Horns11

Horns11

10,000+ Posts
With football having a bye week and needing to lick its wounds, maybe we should start talking up the question mark that is the upcoming BBall season.

Guards: With all of the hope we had for Lucas to come in and play last year, it looks like that will still just be a "hope" this year. We basically know what we're getting, but at the same time, will Brown and Hamilton be consistent? Will Balbay improve enough on defense to get significant minutes (because lord knows he's not going to get it done on offense)? Will Joseph be this year's Lucas, with huge expectations to come in and play, but not living up to huge potential? Lots of questions abound.

Forwards: I think we all know that Johnson is going to play his *** off this year, because he's finally earned the leadership role. But what about everyone else? Will Williams make a difference, especially from beyond the arc? Is Thompson ready to bang bodies down low, something that was horrible awry last year? Are Chapman/Hill/Wangmene even in the conversation for meaningful play and minutes? I haven't really seen anything about them all offseason.

My guess: we're going to have about the same record and result as last year, but we'll actually see strides of improvement from the guards. We'll play a bunch of 3-guard lineups with Johnson up front, which will hurt us against good defending teams, but will make us look pretty good against zone defenses.

Hamilton will have a 30-point game, followed by a 7-point game.

Brown will be counted on to be a leader on the floor, only to lose his temper in a couple of bad situations and throw the team off its game.

Lucas, although improved, will probably still only get garbage time as Joseph picks up what would have been Jai's minutes last year.

Thompson will be good but not great. Serviceable.
 
I don't know how many three guard lineups we're going to use now that Ward has left. The team has Joseph, Brown, Lucas and Balbay to go with walk-ons Dick and Melchionni. If Balbay doesn't have full lateral mobility, the result is three scholarship players backed up by walk ons and a player who can't shoot, who relies on lateral defensive mobility and change of direction with the dribble, and whose mobility is limited by injuries.

While Wangmene, Chapman, and Hill have not yet proven themselves to be able to deliver effective minutes in large numbers, I still see the available candidates to fill forward spots outnumbering the candidates for guard positions.

If you want to call Williams or Hamilton a "guard," then I think you're cheating.
 
"Will Balbay improve enough on defense to get significant minutes (because lord knows he's not going to get it done on offense)?"

Balbay was terrific on defense and that is magnified when you compare him to the remainder of the team.

Bierce is right that we won't be trotting 3 guard lineups out there, but we shouldn't have to with Hamilton, Williams and Johnson filling all the minutes for sf or 3 position.

Guard will be a strength this year. Joseph is 6-3. If Lucas was 6-3 then he'd be a much better weapon. Joseph has played pg in high school unlike Bradley. I think Joseph will be fine. The question ultimately rides on Brown as he is a powder keg imo. If he remains under control throughout the season, we will play at a much higher level.

The three headed underdeveloped monster will have to play major minutes in the post. Is it possible to be less effective than last year's center?

Thompson will play a lot and if he is close to double digits in points and rebounds, then I'll take it.

Johnson should be the leader, but we need a leader who unites the team. Johnson always plays hard, but I would like to see him play much smarter.
 
This team will not be very good. There is some potential if everything goes right, but there is more potential for everything to blow up.

Brown and Joseph will be our guards, and I'm not sure we have a back-up if Balbay is still hurt. Lucas is terrible!

Hamilton will have to play the whole game, whether he can defend or not. Williams is terrible.

Johnson and Thompson will have to play the whole game and be REALLY good on both ends. The problem is that Johnson is 6'6 and limited defensively because of that. Chapman, Wangmene, and Hill will all play 5-10 minutes per game, but all 3 are terrible.

For us to be good we have to play really good Defense (unlikely b/c of Brown and Hamilton), rebound well, and have good point guard production. IF the 3 headed stiffs have improved enough to contribute more than fouls, that would help. I think Joseph, Brown, and Balbay will give us productive minutes at PG.

The problem is that we have 11 guys on scholarship and only 6 of them are major D-1 guys. Lucas, Williams, Hill, Chapman, and Wangmene are not Big 12 championship caliber guys. If we had 1 or 2 of these guys I'd feel better, but 5.......no way we are going to be very good. Even the guys that are really good have major flaws.

Joseph- young and not a true PG
Brown- not a true SG, short for SG, not a good defender
Hamilton- NO DEFENSE
Johnson- 6'6
Balbay- NO OFFENSE
Thompson- young, and not fully develpoed skill wise.
 
I'm not that pessimistic. Hamilton was making a visible effort to play defense in the last third of the season. He still needs to improve his first step on defense, but he was definitely making the effort to stay in front of his man and use his hands to block passing angles. I have some hope for him in that aspect of the game.

Yes, Texas lost its best rebounder. It also lost composite 60% ft shooters (55.7% in conference). Returning players hit 67.4% (70.5% in conference). Texas gains a player that can be a point guard that can actually dribble, pass, shoot, and play defense. Bradley do the first two, but not at a collegiate pg level, and everyone else was seriously flawed in one respect or another.

I don't see this year's team as a top four team in the conference, and I see them getting mashed by Baylor and struggling to compete with KSU and KU, but I'm not writing the team off as horrible. Let's see what they do for a few weeks before labeling them as such.
 
I never said we'd be horrible. I said we won't be very good. Horrible is A&M before BCG. Not very good is......us last year.

We still have 3 guys with NBA potential, so we won't be horrible. If all 3 have great years we could actually be decent and cause people problems. With that said we have too many players with no skill, and too many good players with obvious problems to be GOOD.

Can we beat some top ranked teams on a good night? Yes! Could we lose to someone like TT or ISU? Yes!
Tournament team? Yes!
Sweet Sixteen? No!
 
Not very good to me means not even making the NIT. A&M before gillipsie didn't win a game in conference.

I think this team will surprise and should contest for the 4 spot in the conference. Can they lose to Tech or Colorado on the road, yes--especially since those two teams should be NIT types. Defense and rebounding will be an issue for this team, but they have some potential gifted players and scorers.
 
Yeah I'm not sure where the "Williams is terrible" comment came from. If anything, I think he'll provide some much-needed depth at a swing position, regardless of how many points he's not scoring or rebounds he hasn't picked up yet.

I can see us going with a small lineup at times to throw a big zone team off its game. Joseph, Brown, Hamilton, Williams, and Johnson could be a nightmare for 2 minutes of anti-zone scoring opportunities.
 
To you not very good is making the NIT. To me, not very good is barely making the tournament and making an early exit. I have high standards for UT athletics. I also know that A&M didn't win a conference game before BCG, that's why I called them horrible. That's also why I said we won't be horrible.

Just because you've only seen Williams play a few times doesn't mean that I have. He's not a Big 12 championship contributor. He is a decent shooter and that's about it. He's not a good ballhandler, defender, or athlete.

As for the top 100 ranking.....so were Wangmene, Hill, Chapman, and Lucas. All of them are terrible. They are not guys that are going to get us a National Championship. Heck, they aren't guys that are going to get us a Big 12 Championship. The ranking services always rank our recruits higher than they need to be. Harrison Smith and Justin Mason were top 100 recruits. Neither needed to be. Mason was a very solid role player, but not a top 100 guy. Smith is in the same category as Williams, Lucas, Hill, and Wangmene. Atchley was a top 100 guy and he had no business being ranked that high. Even Jonathon Holmes has seen his ranking go up since UT started recruiting him. He's not a top 100 guy either. He's a 6'6-6'7 PF that doesn't rebound, doesn't post up, and isn't a great athlete. What about that says top 100 player?

Kabongo, McClellan, Lewis, and Daniels are top 100 guys. Williams, Lucas, Hill, Wangmene, Chapman, and Holmes are not.

If you think finishing 4th or 5th in conference is a good season, then you should have attended A&M. We have all the resources to finish 1st or 2nd in the Big 12 every year. We have taken too many projects and fringe B12 players and now they make up half our roster.

I would like nothing more than to be wrong about this season, but I don't see how we can finish higher than 4th or 5th with the roster that we have. Too many questions and weaknesses.
 
So, does it mean because you have higher expectations for this team that your **** don't stink or that your insignificant opinion means more than my insignificant opinion.

Jeezus christo. It's a freakin joke that you think just because a player has an affiliation with Texas they are ranked higher.

Lucas was a mickee d who went to florida. You **** on past players who were pretty good for at least a season in Atchley and Mason and now you **** on Holmes who hasn't even made it to campus.

Big 12 coaches made their preseason picks and have Texas third, but I'm sure that is just because coaches have a hard-on for Texas and they don't know the composition of the teams.

Whatever the causes for last two years, Barnes has failed to gel the talent into a team and, guess what, there was talent. It may have been an ill-fitting puzzle, but he got less than the sum of the parts. And so it is all on Barnes. After last year's blow-up, he knows he's got **** to do and my expectations are that he optimizes this team. Do they finish third or better, I don't give a f*ck as long as he gets it going. So save you aggie arrows for your inflatable dartboard.
 
Lol, this is funny. I never said your opinion didn't matter or that mine was more relevant. I think we both feel the team will finish around 4th in the B12. You call that a good season, I don't. Doesn't really matter either way.

I don't care if you believe our guys get ranked higher. I won't debate it with you. The guys that we are bringing in are either top 30 guys or they are guys that were WAY over ranked coming out of HS. That is a fact.

Lucas was a McD AA because of his dad. Everyone knows that except for you I guess. Look at him. He's a 5'9 SG that can't guard anyone. What part of his game says McD AA? We needed a PG like nobody's business last year, and this McD AA couldn't get off the bench. Some of you need to stop looking at rankings and get out and watch guys play.

Have you seen Holmes play? If so, what made you think he was a top 100 player? Hell, even the video of him on youtube shows that he's not that good. Post moves? Height? Athleticism? Rebounding? You didn't see those things on the video, and I haven't seen them period. But, if you want to get excited about a 6'7 PF that isn't as good as GJ, go ahead.

As for the Mel Kiper bit....wow! I guess I'm wrong about Hill, Chapman, Wangmene, Lucas, and Williams? Is there proof that I'm wrong? They combined to average 8.9 pts and 6.7 rebounds between the 5 of them. In a COMBINED 33 minutes per game!!! That's 5 Top 100 recruits and 1 McD AA. Seriously, please prove me wrong about them.

And, I didn't **** on Mason and Atchley. All I said was that they weren't top 100 guys. Top 100 guys have more than one good season. I loved Mason.

You can get mad, cuss, and say whatever you want, it doesn't matter to me. When you take the orange tinted glasses off and look at our roster you will see the same holes that I see. Our starting 5 is as talented as any in the B12, but even they have questions. And our bench...........
 
He may sound like he's 3 (I disagree), but he's right with basically everything he said.

Somebody above said "everybody" had high hopes for Lucas. Maybe 5% of UT fans had high hopes for him, and certainly nobody that had seen him play or even his highlight film. Comparing him to CoJo is laughable.

Also stated was that guard would be a strength for this team—it will be a decided weakness. Balbay can't play offense. Lucas isn't UT caliber and is far too small. Brown needs to improve exponentially with his mental game, consistent defense, and regain his shooting ability and swagger. Joseph is a true freshman and I hate having to rely on that after last season's clusterfuck.

I'm not giving up on Shawn Williams this early, but I don't think he'll contribute a whole lot this year. If Hamilton isn't our leading scorer, I think we're in trouble.

GJ needs to improve like Damion did from his Jr. to Sr. season, as well as being a strong leader.

TT better start, and soon.
 
NOT too early. I am so freaking ready for Texas BBall it isn't even funny.
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I think the role players will contribute exactly the same as last year. I'm really hoping Thompson and Joseph can step up and make an impact. Though I'm not counting on it yet based on their maturity. I really hope that Brown and Hamilton have matured a bit since last year. I think Dog regaining full mobility, and remaining healthy is going to be the X factor for us this season. I don't see Lucas being an impact player, though I think he's better than what is expressed on this thread; he's just too damn small. This is a make or break year for Barnes and co. I think. If this program takes another giant leap back, someone is going to HAVE to address the coaching situation.
 
Preview of Big 12 atThe Link

There is a good and bad situation for Texas and this...

The Question Mark: What will the Longhorns do for rebounding and post defense? It is doubtful at this point that Chapman or Hill will bring much to the table, so the Longhorns will most likely go with smaller lineups featuring Johnson and Alexis Wangmene being tasked with defending the post and the lane. Barnes’ team will need to play at a very fast pace to try and disguise this lack of size.

What Will March Bring?: Texas will still find itself hanging around the top of the Big 12, but with the lack of size and experience, they will certainly hit some rough patches. Most likely 10 wins in the Big 12 and a decent, but not great, seed in the NCAA Tournament.

A fair assessment.
 
I'd say anything better than a 7 in the NCAA's is icing on the cake.

But I also wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with an 11 as one of the last major conference teams selected.

We're going to have some serious rebounding issues this year. We outrebounded a lot of people by the merits of James and Pittman last year, and still lost some of those games. Unless Thompson grows in a hurry, Wangmene is back to his pre-injury days, or Joseph turns out to be Rajon Rondo Part Deux, I don't think we're going to be nabbing the boards as well.
 
OTOH, I am optimistic that this season will at the least be enjoyable to watch, unlike last year. I expect something similar to the 2006 season, when we played ****** defense, were extremely undersized, and just tried to outscore everybody. One of the most exciting seasons I've ever witnessed. Yes, I know, KD is gone, but there's more scoring pieces on this team than he had around him.

Rick tried to perfect last year's team and ended up completely screwing it up. You can have your various opinions about the guy, but he's undeniably one of the most lackluster offensive coaches in the nation and it showed last year.

Hopefully he'll let these guys run and gun and let the fans have some fun. It even rhymes.

Brown, Joseph, Hamilton, Johnson, and Thompson in the starting lineup and lets get up and down the court like we ALWAYS have been best at, something Dex prevented us from doing at all last season. It's freaking basketball. It's the most fun sport to play and there's nothing remotely like it, so let's enjoy it for once.
 
Who is going to be doing the scoring if we're going to outscore everyone? Hamilton? I don't think we have the stars or the role players to make that kind of offense happen.
 
Atchley had a bad ankle for most of his senior year. It showed visibly in his lessened elevation, tenative cuts, etc.
 
I don't dispute that. When he was signed Barnes said he was a project, and then somehow he went from being unknown to a top 100 guy. People that saw him play alot knew that he was no where near that ranking. I think people saw potential and upside, so it wasn't a surprise when UT took him in that class, but I don't think people that saw him ofter ever thought of him as a top 100 talent. Hell, our coaching staff didn't see him as that type of player coming out of HS. Didn't he redshirt?
 
Maybe, maybe not. It probably shouldn't have affected his shooting THAT much, but it would affect it some, then confidence comes into play, and Atchley never struck me as being very confident in his game.

Was he a top 100 prospect? Borderline, but top 100 wasn't unreasonable. Guys with his length and combination of shot blocking and outside shooting aren't that plentiful.
 
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