Longhorn Basketball 2016-17

6’7 5-star wing Brian “Tugs” Bowen has quietly become one of the top high school scorers in the nation. Hailing from Michigan, but attending La Lumiere Prep in LaPorte, IN, Bowen averaged 20.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game as a junior while playing a competitive national high school schedule.
Not skipping a beat, Bowen has become one of the most prolific and most versatile scorers in the Nike EYBL this spring. Through 2 sessions, Bowen is averaging 19.6 points (10th in EYBL) and 8.3 rebounds (17th),
leading his Meanstreets team in both categories.
Bowen plays aggressively at both ends. He’s constantly in attack mode and his athleticism and skills might surprise you
A Consensus top-20 player in the 2017 class
http://ballislife.com/brian-bowen/

 
With all these great players putting the horns in the top 10, I feel strongly that Shaka is going to get his share. I love the trajectory the Horns bb program is on.
 
Why would he get a raise? He had the exact same record that got Barnes fired and lost in the first round to a lower seeded team? He was already making more than Barnes ever made, making Shaka the highest paid basketball coach in Texas history, and has 6 years guaranteed. I am not attacking Shaka, that was fine for a first year, I am attacking our administration. Is Steve Patterson still running the show? Or was he just doing what he was told? If Strong goes 7-6 or 8-5 does he get a raise?

Are we giving all coaches raises to justify elevated ticket prices? Do we have the worst negotiators ever? I do not understand this management.
 
Fenves on reason for raise "He’s made such fantastic progress in his first season here."

2014-2015 Texas 20-14
*Lost in Big 12 Quarterfinals to Iowa State
*Lost as 11 seed in NCAA first round to 6 seed Butler

2015-2016 Texas 20-13
*Lost in Big 12 Quarterfinals to Baylor
*Lost as 6 seed in NCAA first round to 11 seed Northern Iowa.

I guess we progressed from an 11 seed to a 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament? That was due to other teams nationally having worse records.

Again, I think Shaka will be successful in the long term after a rebuilding year next year, I just want to know how Fenves defines "progress" to add a guaranteed year and $100K raise. It is a total Steve Patterson Move.
 
Can't give you any good reason for him to get a raise. But as Joe Fan posts show, he is getting the Horns in the top five of a whole lot of great players. Ok, I know; don't count your chickens.......

But man, he seems to be creating a ton of excitement among lots of top players out there.
 
He is creating excitement, but the proper response is to wait three years and see if we have made the Sweet 16 or not. 6 years guaranteed was crazy to give any coach, much less adding a 7th. The problem here is not so much Shaka, but an attitude that could get us bogged down with other coaches that are not so great. I think Shaka will do just fine, but he has not a proven anything yet either. If we go four years without getting to the sweet 16 (doubt that will happen, but Shaka has not made the sweet 16 since 2011), we will look really silly giving him a raise and extension year one. It is even worse if we keep raising ticket prices to overpay people for no reason.

Best way to sum it up: By handing out top salaries and giving raises/extensions before new hires prove anything, we have been putting the cart before the horse when it comes to new coaches.
 
Last edited:
LHN tweeted a video of Shaka's new scheme for the upcoming season, but quickly deleted it after calls from Perrin and Fenves.

EDIT: I found a copy on another site.

 
I think it's just that Shaka has value to other programs. It doesn't mean they are wise; it just means they are establishing the market. Salaries will always go up. Even for unproven coaches. It's just how it is. The buzz is on the recruiting side and making the final cut with 5-star players is the bleeding edge. Barnes recruited quite well but it appears that Shaka is taking it to another level. We'll see what happens.
 
Joe Fan said:
There is definitely another level to go to in terms of tourney-results
A level not seen before in these parts
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not saying Shaka is going to land someone as good or better than Durant. I'm saying the depth of the number of top players around the country who now list Texas on their final cut has grown. It's just the feeling I get.
 
There is definitely another level to go to in terms of tourney-results
Click to expand...

I agree and think Shaka will make his first Sweet 16 appearance since 2010-11 and second ever as a head coach in the 2017-2018 season after a rebuilding year this year. Shaka winning a tournament game for the first time since 2012-2013 this year would exceed this season's expectations.

The key will be signing and retaining these recruits. Barnes signed a lot of 4 and 5 star players (I checked the rivals class rankings going back to 2005). The problem was most would only stay 1 or 2 seasons. If Shaka can get these recruits to stay 2 or 3, he will get to the final four again
 
FIFY:

Htown77 said:
There is a level above Ford, Aldridge, Durant, Augustin, and Turner?
Click to expand...

Agreed, Barnes' problem was dealing with 1-2 and dones, these guys were thought of pretty highly by the NBA:

TJ Ford, 8th overall pick
Lamarcus Aldridge, 2nd overall pick
Kevin Durant, 2nd overall pick
DJ Augustin, 9th overall pick
Tristan Thompson, 4th overall pick
Myles Turner, 11th overall pick

I'm optimistic Smart will continue to do very well in recruiting, but do any of his recruits at UT yet reach the level of the above list (note, Augustin IIRC wasn't that highly regarded coming out of high school, but I think the other 5 were all considered top-10 national prep players, Durant #1 ?, Ford, Aldridge top 5?).
 
Pretty sure Augustin was very highly rated in HS; not like Durant, though.
Remember he had moved from NO to Hou after Katrina so he was a little out of the limelight.
 
Yeah, my phrase regarding Augustin "was not that highly regarded" on second looks sounds like I mean in general --- I meant "was not that highly regarded (as compared to the other 5 players on this list)."

Certainly DJ was a highly rated prep recruit; not sure he was top-10.

I think the other 5 were legitimate top-10 national high school players by a number of ranking services.

Shaka is not there yet, but he actually may be in a better spot, getting players that may not be potential NBA lottery picks in a couple of years, but are likely to turn out to be really, really good/great college players, and stick around 3-4 years.
 
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