Not excited about this team at all...

T

TexasPelea

100+ Posts
Yes, I know it is early and we haven't even reached conference play. But after watching these last three games, my enthusiasm has dropped quiet a bit after being pretty high after beating UCLA.

Teams like Texas Southern and Texas State should be run out of the gym and yet the outcome of both were in doubt in the 2nd half. Then the guys played better against MSU, but reverted back to ugly form in the final six minutes with the game on the line.

I love Rick Barnes, and he has made Texas an elite team year in and out, but I wonder if he is a good enough X's and O's coach to make us a national champion. Rick, what do you plan on doing with those two timeouts? You going take them to a trade show and see if you can get something of more value? Just make sure you get more than "a basketball game" because that's what it cost us.

And for the team to turn the ball over 3 teams with under five minutes left on cruicial possessions just isn't acceptable. Now we understand why Augustin was called a "closer." Right now, I see no leader. No one to step up and be accountable.

James and Johnson both played better and the FTs were much better, but this team just doesn't seem to have that edge. Barnes always reloads no matter how much he loses, but it may have caught up to him.
 
Over reaction. Barnes' teams always have games like this in December. Lets see where they are in February before we write off a season and start questioning the X's and O's of the best basketball coach ever to set foot on the 40 acres.
 
I was at the game yesterday and, other then the final outcome, saw it as a great game. Both those teams were really going at it defensively. There were very few shots that were uncontested. Our D is excellent, the offense isn't quite there particularly when we're playing teams with the right matchups to take AJ out of the game.

Count me in the "not too concerned" camp as I would still see us making a serious run.
 
I don't think we have all for the correct pieces on offense this year in order to be a great team.

Missing a true PG really hurts along with only having one standout 3 point shooter.
 
Not excited about this team at all? It's been ranked as high as five in the polls, has one of the best shooters in the country, great forwards that will play in the pros and Rick Barnes is the head coach. The Villanova game in New York was loads of fun. I'm going to enjoy this season.
 
Maybe they will work on how to pass the ball.

When to pass it. Where to pass it. How to pass it.

I mean, so (a) their team mate does not have to be Elastic Man to get the ball, and (b) the opposing players are not in the path of the ball.

Wonder if Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper could start hanging out in Austin and sit near the team at games?

Years ago Texas had a high school coach name of M.N. "Cotton" Robinson at Buna. He lost a high-scoring game in the state championship. After that game he swore he'd never be scored on like that again. And he wasn't. That was before shot-clock rules, so his team would dribble and pass the ball for maybe 3 minutes before taking a high-percentage shot.

Every pass was precision. That was one of his hallmarks.
He won a handful of state championships.
I haven't the data in front of me, but I've heard his Class B Cougars were able to win some city tournaments at Beaumont and Houston, against higher class Texas schools.

It was all about fundamentals. Just like "Hoosiers."

Before DJ got his top game going, the Longhorns were doing what they are doing this year. Gritty play. But sloppy play.

It's gutsy basketball, but the poor fundamentals offsets the gutsy play.
 
I'm with Gecko.

Not perfect. Not the best team in the country. Not top five when they can't get offense out of all five positions. Until that happens, they'll lose to teams that can play that kind of defense on Abrams -- but most teams can't do that.

I don't think they need a leader as much as they need a go-to guy, but based on the way they played yesterday, the guy is James and he obviously didn't get a chance to do it.
 
Connor and Mason. That is my biggest concern. Unless Connor returns to the Connor of last year then we are seriously flawed. Bigger though is Mason. In the chat room during Oregon a group of us were talking about how great Mason is when he attacks on offense...I mean he really has all the talent you need to be a great college basketball player. However, on offense most of the time it looks like he has absolute no interest in generating offense....even though it would help the team in a huge way.

If Mason and Connor show the improvement....heck...show the same as last year...We will be much better off. Until then I'm concerned.
 
I think for all but the elite top 2 or so teams every year, each team is going to have it's ups and downs, and take sometime to figure things out. I thought we'd be more advanced offensively, but I'm not ready to say this team is doomed. I'd rather them learn from their mistakes early or be out of synch this time of season than in late Feb. Give it time, that's my take. Definitely capable of another great 8 appearance despite the troubles thus far.
 
I was encouraged by the play of Balbay in the first half. he seemed to be playing like the PG that many on this board figured he was going to be.

unfortunately, it seems that Barnes's offenses have struggled w/out a bona fide PG since he's been at Texas. I guess we didn't really have one on the elite 8 team with aldridge/tucker/gibson. although paulino certainly had his moments.

at any rate, that was certainly the case yesterday. we had to work really hard on the offensive end. a lot of this was good D by MSU. but, it didn't help that we didn't have somebody creating.

on a side note, given the foul situation, I thought it was a good idea to put the ball in AJ's hands coming down the stretch. unfortunately, it didn't really work out.

anyways, I think this team will continue to struggle occasionally. I don't think MSU is a great team. they played some solid D and did a great job getting some easy baskets. we might see much of the same against Wisc.

in games where Mason is ineffective, I'd like to see us go to Balbay a little bit quicker. it was nice to see Gary Johnson play so well. he's single handedly kept us in the game. that certainly was a bright spot.

finally, while Dexter certainly had some defensive lapses, it's good to see him playing with such confidence. it will be interesting to see if we mix in some zone with Dex in the middle at any point in the near future.

someone made a comment above talking about the lack of elite teams this year...I think that's spot on. while our squad has some deficiencies, I think we'll be playing solid ball by the end of conf season. I'm still excited about this team.
 
this team will go as far as the point guard play takes them. as a former pg i may be biased, but i don't think any team can win it all without great pg play.
 
No, starchild, you are absolutely right. What was the last time a team won without solid or better PG play? KU had it with three guys, Florida had it with Taurean Green. Go back to UNC with Felton and UConn with Taliek Brown, they had it. Before that Edilin and McNamara for 'Cuse, Steve Blake for Maryland, and, of course, the great Jay Williams from Duke.
 
This team might be the second least fun to watch since TJ ford got to campus (behind only the La Marcus injury and PJ Tucker suspension team that struggled to an 8 seed and a first round loss).

That being said- I still believe we are going to win the conference and contend for a top seed (maybe a 2, maybe a 3 seed but I'm still hoping for a 1 seed). It just isn't a team with any trancendent player or anyone you look at as likely to carry the team like we've had in years past.

We've been spoiled imo not only success wise but stylistically with some great players on campus that are a lot of fun to watch.

I think the talent level is at an ebb this year as I don't see a single guy that's a lock to make an NBA rotation right now.

That being said, I'd be willing to bet that 8 or 9 guys on this team make a living playing hoops at some level or another and they aren't untalented, just not lottery pick guys like we've been used to having on campus since Barnes got here (mihm, ford, Aldridge, Durant, Augustine etc).

If put in the right situation I could definately see AJ, Mason, James and Pittman all playing in the league. Maybe Gary Johnson and Chapman and Wagmene with the right progression. Last year I'd have bet my life Atchley was going to be able to make a living playing hoops in Europe or some other league should he want to, but his regression has been puzzling and frustrating (but props to him on his 2nd half).

If that's not good enough for Texas fans to watch then so be it. But 300+ schools would kill to have this team to follow, warts and all.
 
Yes, I would have to agree that this year's team is not going to win the conference the way it is playing right now. It was tough to watch UT literally throw the game away against Michigan State.
 
Santa fe and some of the others who were harder on the horns earlier up in this thread...

What makes you think that this is how the Horns are going to play all year. Historically Rick Barnes teams have gotten a lot better throughout the course of the year, and the team you see in February would usually smoke the team you see in December.

Maybe this year is an anomaly but I somehow doubt that. Many young players in terms of age or experience (Dex, Chapman, Balby, Ward, Johnson, Wagmene) that are going to get a fair bit better with more minutes and experience.

Abrams, Atchley, James and Mason are really the only guys with experience carrying the load. That doesn't leave us particularly inexperienced, but it does give us an opportunity to grow and gel.
 
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