The next step

A

AFhorn82

100+ Posts
Texas has obviously hahd a lot of success in the past several years and had several NBA caliber players grace us with their skills. That being said, how does UT go about making the step up from elite (I don't think you can say we aren't because of the tournament success we've had under Barnes) to idol status (kids deam from birth about playing basktball for your school). Is that even possible with UT not being a true basketball school? Do you see a day when UT is the preferred destination to Kansas in the Big 12? (Yes I know some on this site will say we already are)
 
Despite Kansas revered status they only have 2 national titles in B-ball, at least I am pretty sure. Their elite status is due to the fact that they have been 'close' to winning it all, like use the last decade, for MANY decades. The list of all time winningest programs: #1 Kentucky; #2 UNC; #3 Kansas; #4 Duke, that is what makes programs the apple of people's eyes. We can be more like a Florida I think where we put several great recruiting years in a row and win a national title or two, but it will be a LOOOONG time before we can achieve long term prominent status like Kansas.
 
You guys are ridiculously close to passing KU, as crazy as it sounds.

Think about it, if Texas beats KU in KC, Texas gets that #1 seed...doesn't have to play freak of nature Memphis, and skates to the final four.

KU on the other hand may have been put into the memphis region, where they lose in the elite 8.

Since 05-06 season:
Big 12 records:
Kansas: 40-8
Texas: 38-10

NCAA Records:
Texas: 7-3
Kansas: 7-2

Record in Austin: 2-0
Record in Lawrence: 0-1
Record on "neutral" floor: 0-3

Yes, and I think you all know why I put quotations around "neutral"

That is probably the only thing holding Texas back. Seriously.
 
Given the recruiting targets still out there that like Texas, and the possible class for next year, there at least could be a discussion about whether KU or UT is the top destination in the league.

KU will be in somewhat of a makeover mode next year, with Jackson a senior, Rush almost certainly leaving and Arthur a strong candidate to go. They have a six-man recruiting class and had to go JC in a couple of spots.
 
As mentioned above by ptown, Texas wont reach that truly elite status for quite awhile. I think its important to seperate great coaches having success from great programs. Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, UNC have had coaches come and go yet the programs survive and generally sit atop the college basketball ranks. Compare that to Tarkanian at UNLV. While he was there, they won like crazy (4 final fours, 1 champiosnhip), attracted great talent, and were as good as any program in the country. Once he left, the program reverted to its pre-shark status as an also ran.

While Texas has lots of money, great facilities, and sits in a recruiting hotbed, its important to realize that right now just about all of our success/momentum is attributable to Rick Barnes. If he were to leave and the subsequent hires are not successful, Texas would revert to the norm much quicker than a program like Indiana (Mike Davis, Kelvin Sampson etc.) But for right now, Rick is doing as well as he possibly could to get Texas on track.

The other thing to consider is that the basketball program has a huge hurdle to overcome at Texas, because it will always likely fall in the shadows of the football program. While this has its advantages and disadvantages for the coaching staff, when it comes to highschool players perceptions of the program, I doubt they will ever see the rabid support that UK, UNC, and KU's hoops teams get. The top recruits probably are willing to overlook that if they think UT is the best chance of making the league, but it will have some effect on guys are good players, but realize that 4 years on campus with no NBA career is the likely scenario.
 
Vic,

I certainly appreciate your zeal for Davidson... But we matchup with them differently than KU. Who knows how that would have gone.

Sure, to say we would skate by is presumptuous. But to say they win is just as presumptuous. I think it is fair to say that we'd have an overall easier road as the #1 seed. Look at who KU played... The #16 seed, the # 8/9 seed, the #12 seed, & the #10 seed.
Much easier than the #10, #7, #3, & #1.
 
We matched up way better against Davidson than KU. We could have sat in that zone all day and picked up easy boards, saving energy for the offensive end. That's not Self's style of play.

Hell, Sasha Kaun was rim rocking it on some drives. I shudder to think what James would have done underneath against some 6'4" white guys.

I think we're kind of in the same place basketball-wise as Florida. Great football is a stepping stone, and all we need is one dominant class of guys who have no chance of being NBA-bound after one season, like our 2000 class who were all juniors in our final four run, or UF's recent coup that took them to the final twice. Everyone thought we pulled that in the 2004 class, but two of them didn't pan out and two left early. No championships.

We're going to need some guys who are serious about defense, team play, and winning.
 
we'll take the next step when we our roster is filled with players like d. arthur and dugat and features fewer 3 year project players.


if anything, sunday's game vs. memphis emphasized just how good of a coach Rick Barnes is....
 
I think Barnes has it right. Make the core of your team the Masons, Atchleys, Matt Hills, etc. and surround them with a few Durants, Augustins, and Aldridges.

He's had some bad luck timing-wise. How nice it would have been for Durant and Aldridge to play just one year together.
 
This is a great discussion. I don't have much to add other than almost all of us were hoping for a #2 seed in Houston over a 1 seed elsewhere. How wrong we were. We already now that we could play with UCLA and Kansas. I will say this though, If the DJ's stay, we will make a huge stride towards that next step.
 
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