That’s the frustrating part of it for me. James excels at the 3. One way or another I hope we see him there most of the time with two other bigs.

The horns are particularly short at both guard positions and at small forward (with Mason at small forward). Connor is quite light for a big time program. Even Damion James is not real big at power forward. There is no reason for the horns to be this small.

There are lots of tall fast guys in Houston and the rest of Texas. The question is why isn’t UT recruiting more of them. UT is now a fine basketball program in a great city which should be picking and choosing when it comes to recruits.

My point is to place greater stress on athleticism (as opposed to current skills level) when recruiting.

No shit. Who doesn’t? They don’t exactly grow on fucking trees you know.

The horns were overmatched and did pretty well, all things considered. Memphis was a lot bigger and more athletic (and maybe more talented, too).

You can recruit guys who are athletic and try to teach them basketball or you can can recruit guys who are excellent basketball players and try to make them more athletic. The horns need more tall fast guys. Dex, Connor, and Chapman were/are all projects from an athletic perspective. Abrams and Augustin are tiny guys. Gary Johnson is really small for a power forward.

The only horns who are really athletic and have decent size for their position are Damion and Mason (if Mason is playing guard and Damion is playing small forward).

Barnes has done a good job of developing his players (physically and skills), coaching D, and getting the most out of his guys.

The next step is to hire an offensive coordinator who can create an offense that is more balanced and generates easy shots. Barnes also needs to recruit bigger, more athletic guys. The state of Texas has a bunch of these guys, Barnes just needs to persuade some of them to go to UT.

The horns rarely full court pressed this year and didn’t fast break that much (probably because of a lack of depth, size and athleticism). Next year I hope Barnes plays more guys and plays a faster paced game.

We made a run in the second half going to some box and 1 with Mason on CDR, who was their zone killer in the lane and high post. The junk D led to several empty possessions but we couldn’t hit shots on the other end to get closer. A missed 3 by AJ in transition to cut the game to four was our 1 last chance.

The better team won today, and I think the game is a pretty good benchmark of what and who you need to be to win it all. It really is tough to win games when you’re so perimeter dominated, have a hard time finishing at the rim, and no post game to speak of. That’s not say this team didn’t accomplish elite goals. It did. It’s just not a team that’s built to win a championship. I think if you added the junior version of Dex or the junior versions of Alexis Wangmane, Clint Chapman, and Gary Johnson to it, it might be.

We ran in to a buzzsaw today, and that buzzsaw has better players at virtually every position.