Texas ranked 8th in preseason coaches poll

[ChemHORN]

Preseason Coaches poll came out this morning. Texas is ranked 8th. Have a look.


The Link

 

[dangdirtysooner]

OU #14
KU #23
Baylor #29
A&M #32
OSU #42


Big XII South should be a bear this year. Can't wait to see year 3 of the Capel regime for my Sooners.

 

[Bob in Houston]

OU's schedule is pretty weak, not only by comparison. USC at home, (probably) Davidson in the preseason NIT (Purdue and BC/St. John's on the other side). At Arkansas appears to be less than we think.

Got my Blue Ribbon yesterday, and I was surprised to see OU's bench/depth considered a notch better than UT's. Very surprised.

 

[dangdirtysooner]

Hard to say how tough anyone's schedule is until we start playing games.

For OU, it all comes down to perimeter play, particularly the PG Willie Warren. If OU can have consistent outside shooting, then it'll open things up for Blake Griffen & Ryan Wright down low to go off.

If Willie Warren struggles as a PG & OU has to rely on Austin Johnson again for PG duties, OU's distributing will be sub-par yet again & maybe we're a borderline Top 25 team. Then if we can't hit outside shots, much worse that that.

Thwe wildcard for OU is at the 3, where if reports are to believed (as far as how much improvement Taylor Griffen has made on his perimeter game) Griffen & Juan Patillo could be matchup nightmares for most opponents.

Too many variables for me to have a strong aopinion on how OU will do this year.

Is UT going to have to rely on Abrams as the PG this year?

 

[GoHornsGo90]

No, Mason and Balbay will be the primary handlers most likely. There won't be a PG like Augustin was last year, it's just who brings the ball up. You better hope Warren is not the PG, he is a SG through and through and that's where he needs to be playing. I know that Austin Johnson is horrible, but Warren there takes a way any semblance of a wing threat that OU has (don't even get me started on Tony Crocker...).

 

[dangdirtysooner]

Willie Warren doesn't need to be a traditional pass-first PG for OU to have a great year. Penetrating & slashing to the basket will be just fine as long as he can recognize when he doesn't have the shot & kick out.

That style of PG play worked pretty well for Memphis last year.

 

[Salt City Sooner]

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[dangdirtysooner]

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[Salt City Sooner]

Sorry, I was just talking about the starting lineup, my bad for not clarifying. I could very much see him sliding out to the 3 in certain lineups though, especially if his perimeter game has improved as much as I've heard.