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Texas Tech Recap…Paradigm Shift

Posted by Trips Right on January 17th, 2009 under Basketball

Before the advent of the Shot Clock and the 3 point arc, conferences like the Big East were flush with 6-10 big men that would carve out space in the key and dominate 56-52 wrestling matches. Terms like pivot, paint, and key were the focal point of five positions that weren’t referenced by numbers. There was no 3 man. There was a shooting forward or small forward. There was no 4. He was called a power forward or big forward. 1′ and 2’s? Nope. Point guards and shooting guards. 5’s? No sir, that’s a center. A pivot man. An aircraft carrier if you were a fan of Al McGuire. The game has changed in the last 30 years and is now a battle of skilled players making back to the basket power basketball more of a novelty than a style. And for the Longhorn hoops squad, the flirtation with Big East basketball circa 1982 is over. Perhaps for good. And that’s a good thing considering the skillset of the talent that will be on the 40 acres in the next couple years. But for now, I think it’s a philosophy step in the right direction for this year’s squad.

This afternoon in Lubbock, Texas’ interior space eater played less than a minute while Barnes elected to go with a starting lineup that emphasized floor spacing with 4 perimeter oriented players plus Gary Johnson inside. And Gary’s hardly a plodding low block to low block back to the basket guy. The resulting space led to dribble drive lanes for guys like Balbay, Mason, and James, room to operate for Gary Johnson fifteen feet in, and opportunities for AJ Abrams to weave and cut his way to open looks. In a nutshell, it looked like Texas’ offense was freed from the shackles of traditional pass and pick away ball reversal basketball. Gone are the days of ball reversal to the entry pass to the drop step and dunk.

Instead Texas found abundant opportunities for dribble penetration that led to foul shots, kick outs for open looks, and easy layups. In other games against decent competition, Texas seemed to be fighting its identity, but in this game, offensive motion looked natural and sometimes effortless. Was it all a function of a shift in Texas’ offensive philosophy? Doubtful, since Tech’s defense is about as stifiling as that of its coed’s. But the shift was/is definitely a step in the right direction. On to the players…

AJ Abrams
Anytime AJ takes a supporting role in the offense I’ll call it a good game. Even if he shoots just 30% from the field. AJ is not a scorer by any stretch of the imagination. He’s a jumpshooter pure and simple and when he’s relegated to that role, Texas is at its best. Kudos for only taking 10 shots AJ.

Damion James
One of the main beneficiaries of Texas’ emphasis spreading the floor was DJ’s dribble drive game. Going to the smaller personnel also ensured Damion was going against a slow-footed 4 instead of a 3. Credit to James for being aggressive in trying to get to the rack. His jumpshooting was terrific as well hitting a couple timely 3’s.

Connor Atchley
If you can have a good game without scoring a point, Connor had it. He played great help defense blocking a couple shots, and had 3 nice assists from his 4 spot. His rumored ability to shoot it from deep is still paying dividends by opening the floor up which is key if Texas continues its spread the floor philosophy. Eventually, he’s going to need to knock some of them down, however. I highly recommend a hog hunting slump buster to cure what ails Connor. May I recommend Dallas Night Club or the bar formerly known as Dance Across Texas.

Justin Mason
When you get Justin Mason off the ball playing his jack-of-all trades role, he’s a different basketball player. When was the last time he had six offensive boards? A double double from your hybrid two guard is huge against any opponent. Welcome back Mase.

Gary Johnson
I think Barnes finally became wise to the fact that GJ is our most dynamic offensive player. When I mentioned toughness in my Hamilton/Jordan post, GJ is precisely what I’m talking about. It’s the difference between Damion James being a lottery pick or a first round reach.

Dogus Balbay
There should be no bigger fan of the paradigm shift than Doge. Any 4 out 1 in or 3-2 motion game that focusses on post play is an absolute deal breaker for Balbay. With his lack of shooting ability, he can’t be in the game as a source of rotation help and 1 man zones. If you spread the floor and your only interior player can play 15 feet away from the bucket, you’re in business and it showed tonight with Balbay. He has an elite ability to blow by and get to the rim even when defenders give him two foot cushions. He has unquestioned on-ball defensive skills and he really locked down the tip of the spear for Tech’s offense John Roberson. Great game for Dogus.

Varez Ward
Dog house time for Varez. When you can’t dribble from here to there without losing your handle, you’re not going to play for Barnes. His 1 turnover was the death knell today.

Matt Hill
Active, active, active, is what Matt gives you. Whether it’s helpside defense or screening on offense, Hill’s a high energy guy that comes to play. His 6 points are gravy. There are more talented bigs on Texas’ squad, but noone plays harder.

Coaching
It takes a pretty strong person to switch offensive philosophies two games into conference play. You have to give credit to Rick for realizing things were getting bogged down after trying to lead his horse to drink entry passes and involve the post to no avail. Barnes realizes he has 3 dynamic perimeter players coming into the fold this time next year, so why bang your head against the wall with a system that will be out of vogue in a few short months. With multi-skilled perimeter players like Bradley, Hamilton, and Lucas coming to hoop on the 40, it just makes sense to switch gears. The game’s easier when you have players that can shoot, penetrate, and create. It’s the main reason I’m absolutely mystified by fans that don’t think Jai Lucas would be a huge asset to this club right now and in the future. I don’t care if you’re 5-2, either you can play or you can’t. If you can play, come on with it.

Thoughts?

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17 Responses

  1. Black Scholes said:

    January 17th, 2009 at 7:37 pm

    Given the above, what would be the best way to use Pittman?

  2. Trips Right said:

    January 17th, 2009 at 7:49 pm

    Games dictated by matchups or possession to possession game situations. Look, Pittman could have destroyed Tech tonight. They would have had no answer. This was a longterm strategic move.

  3. Texoz said:

    January 17th, 2009 at 8:11 pm

    At first I was pissed that Dex was getting demoted. The kid has played some great games, is getting better each week, and hustles his ass off.

    However, after further review I see the long term advantage for the team, and possibly for Dex. I’m not sure he would have lasted an entire season playing the minutes he has been playing so now he gets to rest his legs a bit. Plus, hopefully he will mature as a player (Read – stay out of foul trouble) as he watches the game unfold before him.

    I’m still having doubts about Atchley though. His defense has been there for most of the year, but his offense is AWOL. Where’s his hook shot?? That’s $$$ in the bank for him usually, but I’ve rarely seen him take it over the last month. And his 3-point attempts were not only ugly last night, but they gave Tech two fast break ops that they converted. I’m really pulling for him, but he’s a real liability on offense.

    At least Mase seem to come out of his funk last night. That was a positive sign, as was a few drives by Dogus.

  4. Hippie said:

    January 17th, 2009 at 9:20 pm

    That’s just the thing Trips, Dex has had some big games. That doesn’t mean that it is good for the team. And i don’t just mean next year’s team. Think back to the UCLA win…our O looked a LOT like today’s.

    Good to see Doge making some shots at the rim.

    Could you see Chappy make a comeback? Seems like this style of O fits him better.

  5. Hippie said:

    January 17th, 2009 at 9:21 pm

    Good post btw. I read what you write before and after each game. keep up the good work.

  6. Hippie said:

    January 17th, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    One other question…is there anyway Barnes digresses?

  7. bighornfan32 said:

    January 17th, 2009 at 10:03 pm

    I agree and hope this the identity we have been struggling to find. This smaller, faster look maximizes everyone’s skill set except Dex, which sucks for him and his progress, but at this point had to happen. Hopefully Dogus will continue to gain confidence and work his game from the rim out, as well as Mason. Both are good slashers and pretty good distributors in the lane, which really benefits DJ and GJ.

  8. uthookem said:

    January 17th, 2009 at 10:26 pm

    When Dex goes 2 for 7 in the biggest game of the year, he invites the doghouse. We can win with him playing, but he has to close out the duck farts. Maybe this will wake him up…maybe it won’t matter.

    Regardless, we’re still no better than the Sweet Sixteen.

    Hook ‘em!

  9. Kafka said:

    January 17th, 2009 at 11:38 pm

    The horns big men played a total of 107 minutes vs Tech, i.e. the horns were playing with 3 big men on the floor 2/3 of the time. Presumably Damion was guarded by a small forward about 2/3 of the time.

    30 years ago was pre-steroids and not much weight lifting (in basketball) so all the players were skinnier and tended to be better shots. They were more offensive oriented and less defensive oriented. There were guys playing like Julius Erving, Bill Walton, George Gervin, and David Thompson. The players were not wrestlers but were really skilled guys (and Irving and Thompson could fly).

    The NBA got more wrestling oriented and scoring dropped as the years progressed. Between 1984 and 2004, the NBA team scoring average dropped by 15 points/game! 30 years ago the NBA was running and gunning. The game has changed in the last 30 years but not in the way you imagined.

    What is the difference between a 5 and a center, 4 and a power forward, etc? Different names for the same thing, right? In writing about basketball (on espn or sports illustrated, for example), it is still more common to call a guy a center rather than a 5, a point guard rather than a 1, etc. Seems like a trivial way to illustrate that the game has changed in the last 30 years.

    This may be a strategic change for the remainder of the season or maybe Dex was in Barnes’ doghouse (which is what the announcers said). Matt Hill played 27 minutes tonight while Dex played 1 minute. Maybe Matt just took Dex’s playing time. Playing Matt rather than Dex is not necessarily a paradigm shift.

    You might be right about the paradigm shift thing but do you have any proof? For example, has Barnes said anything indicating that he is shifting paradigms?

    The personnel that UT is playing next season has little to do with the offense that the horns are playing this season. A coach optimizes his scheme for the talent that he has on hand. We don’t even know who will actually enroll at UT next year (eg: J’Covan Brown didn’t show up this year).

    You were obviously impressed with the horns’ offense today, but in the final analysis they put up 71 points against Tech, a poor defensive team. Maybe they looked a little better offensively primarily because they were facing a weak defense.

    “Gone are the days of ball reversal to the entry pass to the drop step and dunk.”

    Yeah, who wants to drop step and dunk the ball?

    I was happy to see Mason and Damion have good games.

  10. Bow Shumbuckler said:

    January 18th, 2009 at 12:45 am

    Give me more than one game to call it a paradigm shift.

  11. Texoz said:

    January 18th, 2009 at 7:44 am

    “When Dex goes 2 for 7 in the biggest game of the year, he invites the doghouse.”

    I think the announcers (and your summation) are incorrect. If a shooting perctange of 2 of 7 was a prerequisite for doghouse, the UT team would need a kennel. I agree with Trips that it was more a shift in offensive style.

    Some of the shots Dex took were difficult, behind the backboard layups from left of the basket. The announcers for that game (OU vs UT) had a good point, Dex needs to use his left hand more often for those.

    UT has another long break between games to work on the offense. A&M comes in next Sat, then UT will play a game every 3 or 4 days until end of regular season. It’ll be interesting to see what we do against A&M giving the long prep.

  12. Bartoncreek said:

    January 18th, 2009 at 7:44 am

    While our true 5s did log about 30 mins. of pt, their role changed considerably. They were not posting in the low block anymore. They were out picking and cutting. That is a huge change in philosophy from what we have been doing. It is not necassarily who is playing, it is what they are doing and what their roles are.

    That is why this is such a big change. AJ’s role became that of a spot up shooter. That is what he is good at. Damion and GJ became the focal points with Mason back to doing his thing. This team can only be as good as James. He is our one matchup problem. You can like it or not, but it is what it is. We have to live or die with James, GJ and Mase.

  13. blacklab said:

    January 18th, 2009 at 8:33 am

    Kafka sez:
    >> For example, has Barnes said anything
    >> indicating that he is shifting paradigms?

    I’m no basketball expert, but perhaps this article titled “UT’s Barnes may shake things up today” may be what you are looking for.

  14. The General said:

    January 18th, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    I was in West Texas for the past few days, and I missed the game, but I feel like this has been coming for a while.

    We actually went to this in early season games often, and it was effective. There is no room to penetrate with 3 big men in the game(for this team). We were more effective in a three guard lineup.

    Guessing by watching Barnes team’s over the years, we won’t completely shift to this style, because personnel will dictate when we run it. Barnes will give Dexter a chance to get out of the dog house.

  15. Bob in Houston said:

    January 18th, 2009 at 1:46 pm

    Dexter definitely will see time against OU.

  16. DBH said:

    January 18th, 2009 at 4:16 pm

    Oh, the irony. Bob Knight did a film piece on ESPN last week stressing the importance of spacing in the half court offense.

  17. Nordberg said:

    February 6th, 2009 at 10:41 am

    Too bad this didn’t take.

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