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You shit on my house, and other ramblings

Posted by The General on January 7th, 2009 under Basketball

pelphry.jpg

Separated at birth?

Gains

You decide.

Don’t miss Trips Rights excellent game breakdown here . . .

John Pelphrey just out Rick Barnes’d Rick Barnes.  What the hey does that mean, you ask? He took down a superior opponent with ugly basketball, selectively good defense (on AJ), and timely mistakes by the other team. This is not the type of game we normally lose.  This is the type of game we normally create.

Ramblings on our players and this game:

That Arkansas team is going to be very good in a couple of years.  They will be very good this year if they figure out team defense.  I thought the team ran better with Marcus Britt at the point in the first half.  Fortson is a kill or be killed point guard.  He will win alot of games and lose alot of games.

Dogus Balbay was born without the closer gene.  Do you think he is a 21 year old virgin with a bunch of near miss stories?  What happens when he puts letters in the mailbox?  Do you think his trash can is empty and surrounded by wadded up pieces of paper?  Coffee is for closers.  The bad news on Balbay is that his decision making is really bad, he is an ineffective passer, such a horrendous shooter that he won’t attempt a jump shot, the worst foul shooter on a really bad foul shooting team, and he can’t make a layup.

The good news, you ask?  He only has two years of eligibility after this year and he isn’t going to get any worse offensively. Also, he is really good defensively. I wouldn’t worry about last night. When you play pressure defense like Balbay does you are going to get beat.

Playing point guard is eroding Justin Mason’s defense. He has turned into a good defender, instead of a plus asset that creates points from his defense.

Varez Ward is a freshman. He does a shitpile of stupid, and makes some breathtaking plays.

That was some of the worst officiating I have ever seen.

Hubert Davis and Jay (the artist formally known as Jason) Williams wore the same suit. That must be embarassing.

I watched the game at Doc’s because of $2.50 pints on Texas Tuesday (St. Arnold’s Fancy Lawnmower is outstanding and cures heartburn), so I didn’t have the play-by-play. My dad called in the second half sometime and asked why the announcers were only fellating Arkansas or talking about the dimensions of Sexy Dexy’s ass. Brad Nessler, I expected more from you.

In a completely unsurprising turn of events, Damion James is way more effective as 4 than a 3. AJ Abrams already gave up the lead guard position even though it was his key to get in the league (and I still think he is our best point guard) because the team is a whole lot better when he is playing the two guard (or at least it is when he makes shots). Now Damian has that same choice. The problem is that if DJ plays the 4, then two of Atchley, Johnson, and Pittman are on the bench. That gives us a deep big man rotation and largely a three guard lineup, which means alot more Balbay and Ward and a lot less Chapman and Hill.

Do you see the problem Barnes has?  Possible solutions to our offensive quandary:

1) Play AJ at the point guard because that is the only way we can effectively get the ball in his hands.

    Pros:

AJ get more shots. He can actually dribble penetrate better than he is given credit for, but Barnes just has to convince him to do it. He took the guy that was guarding him to the whole several times last night, but he couldn’t hit the tear drop. I still think he is our best ball handler. Mason gets to concentrate on offensive boards, defense, and loose balls.

    Cons:

Everybody else gets fewer shots. Unfortunatley, AJ jacking up threes and DJ, GJ, and D-Pitt hitting the glass may actually be as effective as what we are doing. The only way this works is if we live and die by AJ until he figures it out (if he does).

2) Run forty minutes of hell, or as close as we can get

    Pros:

Like that offensive mastermind Greg Davis, we need to control the tempo. We are not going to beat anybody decent in a half court basketball game. So, we run seven seconds or less, except we won’t be driven by point guard play, but by suffocating full court pressure trapping defense. We smother teams in a huge volume of shots. All our guards have the green light from everywhere. Between turnovers creating possesions and shooting as fast as we can, we create twice the number of shots of our opponent. A lineup of AJ, Mason, Ward, GJ, and DJ can execute this well. It may even turn Balbay into an asset. Connor can pressure the inbounder well, so he still gets minutes, but . . .

    Cons:

This kills a nicely developing half court game with Sexy Dexy. We could slow it way down with half court trap pressure or 2-3 zone when Dex is in and walk it up. Altering tempo between extremes will unnerve poorly coached teams, but will probably unnerve us just as much.

3)  Absolutely every time down the court we enter the ball into the post.  Slow everything down.  Make every possession count.

    Pros:

We get lots of easy buckets with DJ, GJ and D-Pitt. When Connor is in the game, he camps in the corner and waits for the pass out of the post and crashes backside or occasionally cuts backside if the off low block is open. Same with AJ. They get open threes. The three man crashes the boards hard (Mason, Varez, or Damian).

    Cons:

This would require a level of execution I have not seen from a Barnes team. Post entry passes would have to be taught. Passes out of the post would have to be repped (though all our posts have shown flashes of this ability). They may even need to learn the skip pass. None of these things has happened in the Rick Barnes era, so its probably a little much to ask that they get this down before conference.

Thoughts?

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31 Responses

  1. bat said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 7:59 am

    Great post. We are what we are.

    Barnes so far has been doing a little of each. Mostly, we’re concentrating on defense at the expense of the offense. That’s why Balbay is getting the minutes.

    AJ is not going to be able to play point and give us the minutes and defense that this team will need out of him this year.

  2. exuLt said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 8:24 am

    The ghost of Pendersball just passed before my eyes while reading your second point.

    Your third point just ain’t going to happen, so we take a big step backward and live or die with AJ ala your first point. The best solution I’ve read so far was on the other game thread, for Barnes to augment his staff and his skill set with an offensive minded strategist.

  3. The General said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 9:02 am

    “The best solution I’ve read so far was on the other game thread, for Barnes to augment his staff and his skill set with an offensive minded strategist.”

    I agree, but it ain’t gonna happen. This is not a new problem.

  4. Trips Right said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 9:11 am

    Texas doesn’t need an offensive mind or strategy. It needs a catalyst.

  5. Bob in Houston said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 9:20 am

    It would be discouraging to find out that Rick Barnes needs an All-American at point guard to run a decent offense, but I’m beginning to think that way.

  6. The General said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 9:20 am

    “It needs a catalyst.”

    We had alot of the same problems with DJ and TJ running the point.

    I think we need to teach it or run it better to get to the next level

  7. Black Scholes said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 9:28 am

    I kept wondering all game what time Pelphrey’s shift as the weekday night manager at IHOP started. Would he be able to make it if the game went into OT?

    Even for a dude who lives in Arkansas, that was some unfortunate garb.

    This issue entertained me far more than watching Balbay single handedly destroy the advances of modern basketball in what’s left of the Ottoman Empire.

    Hidayet Turkoglu and Mehmet Okur openly wept. At least on the late West Coast run of SportsCenter.

  8. Kafka said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 9:34 am

    Barnes should hire an offensive coordinator.

    Barnes is great at a lot of things as a basketball coach (teaching D, getting his guys to play hard, getting his guys to rebound, recruiting, scheduling, developing his guys physically, on and on) but he is not a great offensive coach. C’est la vie.

    Just hire an offensive coordinator. It is a fulltime position. It takes a lot of time to figure out what the weaknesses are in the next opponent and figure out how to best exploit those weaknesses.

  9. Steve Nebraska said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 9:43 am

    I have about as much confidence in our ability to run a post entry-based offense as I do that we will see pre-snap motion from Greg Davis’ offense. It’s just not something we have done under Barnes.

  10. Black Scholes said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 9:54 am

    I accepted Barnes and his offensive limitations a couple of years ago. I still harbor a faint hope he channels his inner-Phil Jackson and will embrace a Tex Winter, but it probably ain’t gonna happen. I’d settle for him just drawing up an effective inbounds play under pressure.

  11. Kafka said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 10:07 am

    General:

    Great post, as usual.

    Pressuring Fortson did not make sense to me. I thought Balbay should have given Fortson the outside shot and focused on staying front of Fortson. Fortson was only dangerous when he penetrated.

    Otherwise, I agree with what you say about Balbay. He is a nearly total loss on O right now and an excellent defender. If you play Balbay and Mason at the same time, the offense is going to struggle.

    Abrams and Mason have to be able to guard tough assignments. If they have to play less than 40 minutes to make that happen then so be it.

    Run the ball through Dex at the high post some. He has shown that he is both willing and able to pass the ball. Mason, Damion, and Gary could all cut off Dex and go to the rim. If they try to sag off Dex at the high post, Dex should be able to hit the free throw length shot pretty well.

    In any particular game, matchups are going to determine how the horns run their offense. Their is no single horn who is a go to guy for all situations. Abrams is basically a catch and shoot guy. A good D can take him out of the game.

    Damion’s ball handling skills severely limit his ability to be the go to guy.

    Gary has a well rounded game who will be effective most of the time but he will have a tough time against a fast, tall defender.

    Dex murders the little guys but has trouble with a tall mobile defender.

    Connor and Mason are obviously not go to guys.

    My guess is that Ward will find his offensive game before Balbay does. May not happen this year.

    What this all means is that the horns have no one approach that is going to work all or even most of the time. They are going to have to pay attention to matchups and exploit them accordingly.

    Mason needs to play point most of the time. Abrams is just way too selfish to play point guard. Ward needs to be the main sub for Mason. He is a good defender and passer and shows more promise and current flexibility than Balbay.

    Mason is improving. He now drives effectively and I am confident that he will get the passing thing down this season.

    I would not play Damion at 4. He is going to be a 3 in the NBA and needs to practise that position. When Damion plays 4 that means only 1 of Connor, Dex, or Gary is playing. This means that effectively we substitute Balbay for Dex or Gary. Not a good trade.

    A fast break offense would be cool but our small forward can’t handle the ball in the open floor. The number of turnovers the horns would have with a fast breaking offense would give Barnes a coronary. I would try running a bast break offense in practise and if the horns get good enough with their ball handling, then break it out in the real games.

    An inside out offense makes sense to me. It will exploit the offensive capabilities of Dex, Gary, and Damion and should produce some better outside opportunities for Connor and Abrams.

  12. Kafka said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 10:19 am

    Steve Nebraska:
    “I have about as much confidence in our ability to run a post entry-based offense as I do that we will see pre-snap motion from Greg Davis’ offense.”

    I have always wondered how the horns know if the opposition is playing zone or man without putting a guy in motion. Does anybody know?

  13. EggNog said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 11:06 am

    I think the team would be better off with James at the four. He really isn’t a scoring threat at the three other than garbage points, how many scoreless halves has he had this season? He is lost and doesn’t know how to attack. He doesn’t rebound at all from the three. He is reduced to being less productive than Justin Mason. If he can do 14-10 at the four, we are a better team.

    Atchley or Johnson can play the three in James’ place, then switching on defense. It would be no different than when we ran Boddicker at the three depending on who else we had in the lineup.

  14. bighornfan32 said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 11:11 am

    The need of an AA PG reminds me of a certain offensive coordinators need to have an AA at RB to be effective.

  15. spoon fed said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 12:26 pm

    Abrams has never, and will never, be able to hit the floater or tear drop. He penetrates and then lobs up a shot that never drops.

  16. Art Vandelay said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    All the HS coaches in Texas think Barnes is a great offensive coach. :-)

  17. Bob in Houston said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    “Abrams has never, and will never, be able to hit the floater or tear drop.”

    Nah, he’s much better at it than he was two years ago. He’s not shooting it as well this year as he did last, though.

  18. Kafka said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    EggNog:
    “…the team would be better off with James at the four…Atchley or Johnson can play the three in James’ place, then switching on defense.”

    That sounds like a good idea but I’m not sure how it would work on offense. If the horns have either Dex or Gary in the game at the same time as Damion, they are far superior to Damion at posting up so Damion still has to go outside almost all of the time. Once you have a guy posting up on the low post, you don’t want anybody else in the paint because that just clogs it up for everybody. That means the 4 other guys go outside the paint.

    When Damion does post up, he will not be a real productive post player for awhile because he has not yet mastered low post moves.

    Damion’s real problem on offense is that he cannot handle the ball well enough to drive to the hoop consistently, especially if he is guarded by a smaller, quicker defender. That means Damion’s defender can challenge Damion’s outside shot and not worry about Damion blowing right by him.

    Right now, Damion is still a catch and shoot guy on a team without a point guard who can draw the D away from Damion and then kick it out to Damion for the open jumper. The horns’ offense is also not particularly good at generating shots for Damion in his optimal range (say 15 to 20 feet).

    When Barnes signs a 5 star like Damion who clearly has the athletic ability to play in the NBA someday, there is a tacit agreement that Barnes is going to prepare that 5 star player for the NBA. Damion has given the horns 2 years as a power forward even though he is not going to play power forward in the NBA.

    It is time for Damion to learn how to play small forward to get him ready for the NBA. That may not be optimal for the horns in the short run but in the long run it will help with recruiting.

  19. The General said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 2:20 pm

    Actually, I think Damian will play as much 4 as 3 in the NBA. He is a tweener, but there have been some tweeners that have paved the way in recent years (Milsap and Landry are the two most obvious)

  20. Bullhorn said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 2:31 pm

    If AJ is driving and Mason is crashing the boards we take a step back to where we were earlier in transition defense.

  21. The General said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    Anybody else notice Pelfrey yelling at one of his kids, “THAT IS WHY I CAN’T PLAY YOU!” repeatedly going into a first half timeout.
    He was also all over Fortson during the first half. Fortson looked like he wanted to go Sprewell on him.
    I think Pelphrey is a good coach, but he needs to losen up a bit or there will be burnout by him or his players.

  22. exuLt said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    “I think Pelphrey is a good coach, but he needs to losen up a bit or there will be burnout by him or his players.”

    Unlike Barnes’ demeanor which his players love.

  23. EggNog said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 4:01 pm

    I’d have to think that James played the four in high school (or even five?) because his “skills” dribbling the basketball are way too poor for anybody who played three for years. Its unfortunate to see such talent go to waste, especially for Barnes’ rep. At the same time, James is absolutely ineffective at the college level playing the three. In the NBA he will have no shot playing the three.

    I think James is the most frustrating part of this team, because there is so much potential. It seems like Barnes is doing something wrong in the most general sense, but the more I watch James the more I think he just isn’t gonna make it. He reminds me alot of Chris Owens. He has the tools, but I just don’t think we wants to use them.

  24. The General said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 4:25 pm

    EggNog,
    Damian played the three in high school. He had never had his back to the basket before his freshman year.

    We must be watching different games. Damian James is averaging 15 and 9 on 51% shooting. He averaged 13 and 10 on 46% last year. What did you really expect from his play this year?

    I agree that he is probably a more natural 4, his ballhandling skills aren’t good, he is still figuring out how to rebound the position (resulting in one net rebound lost per game to his average from last year), and he is not shooting from long range as well as last year.

    Much of Connor and Damian’s dropoff in three point shooting is due to the lack of DJ Augustine (or any drive and kick point guard). Everyone of our players has a worse fg and 3 point percentage than last year (except for AJ who is where he was this time last year before a swoon, that I think we can expect this year too).But, he was vital with rebounds and buckets down the stretch in our two biggest games. He usually plays his best games against our toughest competition. And he is not a selfish player in any way.

    Damian James is not the problem with this team

    NBA scouts love his attitude, effort, and grittyness. I’m a big fan. The kids done alot for the program. He will be a good pro if he lands with the right team in the back half of the first round (like Boston, SA, Detroit, Miami, or Cleveland)

  25. Kafka said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    I’m a big fan of Damion. A great guy who is super talented and yet still humble.

    He is a bit undersized at 6′7″ to play power forward in the NBA. He could probably make it as a sub but that is not the best use of his talent. The fact that he has still not developed a low post game tells me that he is not real interested in being a low post player. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do a drop step or jump hook.

    He obviously wants to play small forward and is not that far from being able to do it. He just needs to improve his ball handling quite a bit.

    It is curious that he has made it this far into his college career without having developed competent ball handling skills, especially if he played small forward in high school. How do you play 1 on 1 competently without being able to dribble pretty well?

  26. Wulaw Horn said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 7:00 pm

    This team is missing one thing and one thing only from being a legit, asskicking squad and that is Atchley playing at the high level he played last year.

    If he is hitting from a high percentage from distance it makes easier just about EVERYTHING we do.

    Also, you simply cannot play Mason and Dogus at the same time. Varez Ward isn’t a good choice to pair with Mason. Some of those problems go away, however, if Atchley is bombing in shots or at least drawing a big away from the basket to help down low or to clog the lane.

  27. Art Vandelay said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 8:40 pm

    The comments on this site regarding Horns b-ball are much more intelligent on avergage than the Joe Sixpack football poster. My 2 cents.

  28. Trips Right said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 6:31 am

    The General, I saw the Pelphrey comment you’re talking about. Hilarious. I’m going to go back and try to figure out why he was ripping the kid.

    As for Damion, he’s had a good year outside of trying his damndest to show a midrange gmae. His problem is basketball IQ. He has a horrible understanding of situations like time and score. He also struggles recognizing who’s defending him as he’s bouncing from 3 to 4. He needed to take Washington off the dribble down the stretch and instead just disappeared.

  29. caradoc said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 8:03 am

    Phi Slamma Jamma had a point guard named Rob Williams who threw up an awful lot of shots. But Olajuwan, Micheaux, Young, and Drexler would clean up his misses. They used to say their offense started with a miss by Rob. I say give AJ the ball and tell him to shoot.

  30. The General said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 8:04 am

    Kafka,

    Damian displayed a pretty effective turnaround J as a freshman and sophmore in limited touches while playing the 4. He can aslo get to the rim effectively against other 4’s.

    Deep east Texas (Nacogdoches) isn’t the best competition night in and night out.

  31. Kafka said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 6:59 am

    General,

    Sorry for the belated response.

    Damion can hit a turnaround and can rise up and hit the J with the best of them. The problem is that a turnaround is a relatively primitive move for a big man nowadays.

    If you look at the most effective horn low post players (Dex and Gary), they both are able to explode to the middle to shoot the jump hook. They can also both fake that move and drop step to the bucket for the very short finish at the rim. Damion can’t do either of those moves (at least I have not seen it).

    The jump hook is far superior to the turnaround J inside because it permits you to put your body between the defender and your shooting arm. It also permits you to initiate contact and subtly get the defender off balance (important for a strong guy like Damion). The jump hook is great for drawing fouls. The jump hook leaves you in great position for the rebound.

    The turnaround jumper is not a great move inside. People tend to shoot it in fallaway fashion inside to get a little separation between the defender and the ball. This cuts down on drawing fouls and getting rebounds.

    Any player who is considering playing low post in the NBA needs to master the jump hook and drop step.

    As far as Damion dribbling the ball from outside to get to the rim when defended by a 4, I have been watching Damion for the last three years and I haven’t seen too much of that. His ball handling is a weakness (every NBA scouting report that I’ve read says the same thing: Damion needs to improve his ball handling).

    East Texas may not provide the best competition but learning how to dribble well is 95% a solo exercise. You do 1000’s of reps at it (by yourself) before you get good enough to do it in a game. You use the competition as a test of your skills.

    Any player who gets real good has to work at finding competition. When you are in grade school and middle school, you do it by playing with older players. As you get into your young teens, you find out where the best players in town play and play with those guys.

    Once you get big, to work on your ball handling, you play 1 on 1 with smaller, faster players where you agree not to back them down in the lane. If you get really, really good at dribbling, you can play 1 on 2. There is always a way to get competition.

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  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Recapping The South   10 hours, 57 minutes ago

    Udoh was a fargging beast in that game. Very athletic player.

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  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   11 hours, 21 minutes ago

    Jesus. I think I see four horseman on the horizon.

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  • Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: Madness Magic: Northern Iowa Upsets Kansas   11 hours, 25 minutes ago

    Today reminded me why I love this tournament so much. A good friend of mine mentioned to me that college basketball is the great equalizer of all athletic endeavors. At least of the sports we care about. He’s right.

    For instance, you can have a 40 inch vertical, be Iverson quick,

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  • Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   11 hours, 29 minutes ago

    Patrick,

    Unless you’re completely retarded, you know precisely what I meant. The closest any Big 12 team has gotten to winning the infamous Fuller Cup is the 2007 Texas squad. I can’t remember a team being that horribly undisciplined as a whole aside from the insane OU teams of the 80’s. That’s not

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  • Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   11 hours, 29 minutes ago

    Patrick,

    Unless you’re completely retarded, you know precisely what I meant. The closest any Big 12 team has gotten to winning the infamous Fulmer Cup is the 2007 Texas squad. I can’t remember a team being that horribly undisciplined as a whole aside from the insane OU teams of the 80’s. That’s not

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  • Sailor Ripley wrote a new blog post: This Is Sparta!   11 hours, 41 minutes ago

    Please make yourself welcome and Adam will be by shortly to keep you up to date on all Michigan State Spartan happenings.

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  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   11 hours, 46 minutes ago

    I suppose anyone could be your “favorite Longhorn basketball player” but Ford did more than just about anyone…although Durant is clearly better. Ford’s supporting cast was better than Durant’s in his sophomore year. Durant’s had more talent (Augustin, James, Abrams) but Ford’s was more developed (Boddicker, Ivey, Mouton, Thomas) and had worked with him for

  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Bradley or Hamilton?   11 hours, 52 minutes ago

    Crazy Joe, your thoughts intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Bradley or Hamilton?   11 hours, 55 minutes ago

    This notion of Hamilton as being a disaster area on defense is all a bit much. He rebounds extremely well which, if it wasn’t obvious, is extremely important in this game since it secures possession of the basketball. Winning in basketball is achieved through the scoring of baskets and it’s necessary to possess the basketball

  • Ojnab Bob commented on the blog post Best Opening Round I Can Remember   12 hours, 5 minutes ago

    I posted earlier about how Collins’ effort just crippled Kansas today, but what amazed me the most was his complete inability to stay in front of his man on defense. UNI got a LOT of good looks out of penetration/pass after one of UNI’s modestly gifted athletes blew right by Sherron. The best

  • Scipio Tex wrote a new blog post: Best Opening Round I Can Remember   13 hours, 17 minutes ago

    At least it’s shaping up that way if Sunday delivers.

    As disappointed as I was in last year’s opening weekend of March Madness, this one is exceeding all expectations. Putting aside the fact that my bracket now resembles Kabul after the Taliban rolled through in ‘96 – a map of ordered failure –