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1. Orangeblood79 said:

   November 25th, 2009 at 9:47 am

   This is my only thought:

   My biggest fear is that the person we may have to worry the most about is Barnes.

   This year will tell me all I need to know.

2. Orangeblood79 said:

   November 25th, 2009 at 10:00 am

   Ok actually my biggest fears are losing to Aggie and Oklahoma, the loss of family members, the inability to get it up, balding, Obama as a war-time president, kidney stones, old people driving in rush hour traffic and cottage cheese…

   But you catch my drift.

3. Jeffrey said:

   November 25th, 2009 at 10:10 am

   Agree about the lineup at the end of the half. Hurt my eyes.

   i thought our D got a little lack in the 2nd half. We weren’t staying in front of guys very well, and were letting them spot up for quite a few uncontested shots. Luckily they were shooting poorly.

   Gary must have taken Jordan under his wing, because they are both black holes once they get the ball on offense. But Hamilton will learn hopefully, as long as Rick starts letting him play through the bad shot selection. He really needs more minutes.

   Doj was all over the court last night. How many passes did he tip or steal? I lost count. Once he learns to control himself as he penetrates and dishes, he will be the perfect compliment to Bradley or Brown in the backcourt.

4. Eskimohorn said:

   November 25th, 2009 at 10:31 am

   “…Obama as a war-time president”

   There are plenty of other sites available to discuss your politics.

5. springbranchhorn said:

   November 25th, 2009 at 10:39 am

   A little sensitive aren’t you……those are his worries not yours…..

6. ballrific said:

   November 25th, 2009 at 10:43 am

   Barnes has hurt this team before with his “coaching”. Great recruiter, great defensive coach..just awful when it comes to offensive sets/motion, set plays, etc…The above poster said it best, this season will tell alot because he’ll never have this much talent/depth again. Granted, if Barnes ceiling is the elite 8/final 4, can we complain? I say yes with this talent.

7. travis said:

   November 25th, 2009 at 10:49 am

   Did anybody else see flashbacks of memphis completely blowing the championship game against KU because they were retarded from the free throw line, I feel the only thing that could keep us from the final four is the fact that we might be the worst free throw shooting team in the big 12, we have got to get that fixed. 11 misses?

   Jordan has shown signs of brilliance, he lead all scorers with 14 points on monday night, however he did struggle last night but barnes never let him get the opportunity to get in a rythm sitting for those long stretches… when you’ve got an NBA type talent that is just retarded. Agree with you on him needing more minutes, its the only way he can shoot out of a slump if he gets into one.

   That was the best game I have ever seen balbay play , I was very happy with his level of intensity and the way he got penatration was beautiful..

   I came away impressed with the fact that they can play any type of game that teams will throw at them, Pitt makes you play an ugly, physical style of basketball and we beat them at their own game.

8. EggNog said:

   November 25th, 2009 at 11:04 am

   Hamilton has all the ability he needs, but he needs to put it in the right places. He stands around on offense with his hands up calling for the ball 90% of the time. It is almost comical when you watch him. He moves well with the ball and he can get a shot up over shorter players with ease. He needs to move just as well without the ball. It wasn’t a shooting slump that got him pulled, it was making a shot that he shouldn’t have taken.

   On defense he gets lost watching the ball. Quite a few times last night he was staring at the ball as his man released to the basket to get into position for the rebound. He needs to close out quicker on his man. It isn’t a matter of quickness though, it is awareness. He has been out of basketball for a year, and it is expected to have some rust. Watching him it seems to be a loss of focus though.

   I understand the mindset of needing Hamilton to get big minutes to run with the big dogs. We do need him in the game, especially without Ward; this was compounded by Pittman being in foul trouble, which is likely to happen down the road again. The stated concern is a scoreless five minute stretch on offense. I think Barnes’ concern is a five minute stretch of not being able to stop the other team from scoring and defensive breakdowns.

   We blew out a pretty good squad on a night where Pittman had foul trouble. We had to resort to giving Wangmene more minutes because of the size of Pitt’s frontline. To win big with Hamilton riding pine, is a vindication of Barnes’ decisions last night more than a cause for alarm.

   We need Hamilton. But we need him to play with the team on both ends of the floor.

9. EggNog said:

   November 25th, 2009 at 11:07 am

   Someone mentioned yesterday before the game that we would know if Texas’ offense was legit if we could put up 75 points on Pitt. We scored 78.

10. Blake Borron said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 11:07 am

    Doge played by far his best game as a Longhorn last night, and the best game we’ve seen anybody play as a PG in a while.

    Jordan obviously needs to play more, and I personally don’t mind some of the wacky shots he puts up because frankly they are higher percentage plays than Damion trying to pass to Wangmene in the block (essentially an auto-turnover somewhere along the possession). But he should know Barnes isn’t going to tolerate those kind of plays early in the year when he’s trying to build chemistry in the team. Still, it’s certainly not worth risking the game…or playing Mason at all…just to teach him a lesson. Chew him out, spit him up, and put him back in four minutes later to show you still have confidence in him. He’s not going to get it any better sitting on the bench, only resentful.

    Why Shawn Williams doesn’t play more minutes is beyond me. Barnes calls him the most cerebral of the freshman (which is looking less and less like a compliment right now), and he adds a hell of a lot more to the team with his pick and pop game than Wang does fumbling the basketball like Jamaal Charles on the goal line and slapping people’s wrists on layups for an ‘and 1.’ He’s not that shorter, if any, and his body is much bigger than people like to give him credit for. Not trying to go all ipowers here, just think he’s a much bigger asset than Wangmene and possibly even Johnson.

11. BEHorn said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 11:13 am

    “Barnes. His blue print is to wear down teams and coast by them at the finish line. Sooner or later we’re going to face a team with similar talent and depth. He better be prepared to use all the bullets in his gun. Or better yet, he better make sure they’re prepared to be used.”

    We are not going to face any teams with similar depth. I’m just not seeing a 1-through-10 group (or even 1-through-11 group) like we can run out there.

    Now, on the talent front, there will surely be some top 6, top 7 groups that are equal to or possibly better than ours (John Wall at KU by himself is ridiculous, Xavier Cugat at KU, and so on). And we may face better coaches if we get far enough (Izzo, along with the Rat, are the only two guys in the country I’d rather have than Barnes — it’s a tie with Williams). We will have trouble if we end up in a 10- or 12-point hole with our initial group and the 2nd wave has to try to play catchup, instead of building a lead against the opponents’ second-teamers.

12. Blake Borron said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 11:17 am

    And putting 78 on that Pitt team was not impressive in the slightest. We could have easily dropped 90 on them if we make some easy shots and don’t go psycho on the bench in regards to teaching people a lesson. If we shoot decently, Pittman doesn’t get into foul trouble, and Hamilton, Bradley, and Brown get more of Mason’s minutes (I’m not going to include free throw shooting, because I don’t ever expect that to be even decent), we drop a hundred on a good day on Pitt. They aren’t the same team they were with guys like Brandon Knight, Chris Taft, Carl Krauser, Sam Young, and Dejaun Blair. A Benjamin was only 10 more made shots–8 two-pointers and 2 three-pointers. We could have easily had that last night.

    And don’t give me that crap about how Mason plays better defense and we would have given up 20 more points if he weren’t in there, he was terrible on defense. He couldn’t guard anybody on the perimeter and routinely let his man run by him on the press, causing the rest of our team to have to play help defense and leaving a guy wide open for a layup or three in transition. He simply DOES NOT add anything to this team.

13. EggNog said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 11:28 am

    Mason struggled tremendously, he seems to have lost a step. I don’t know if 22 is the new 35, but I haven’t seen a player just lose a step without injury in college.

14. Tex said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 11:29 am

    What’s the word on V. Ward? (if any)

15. Vic Scott said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    Trips spot on Balbay combined with Mason makes Doj look like an intramural guard. If we have potential shooters with him that can spread the floor and threaten the opponent the sky is the limit for this team. Hamilton needs more wiggle room on the offensive end. If you only play him 10 minutes a game he will always think he needs to shoot the ball to stay on the court.

16. CurrentLonghornStudent said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 1:07 pm

    Thoughts on how Jai Lucas will fit into the mix?

17. huge said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    All I know is that Lucas looks really small compared to everyone else on the team. He better be able to shoot lights out and be as quick as Balbay

18. Scipio Tex said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    You nailed it on Damion. Absolutely right. The kid just has no handle and he never will. That’s no slight – it just is. He’s still a stud and he can average 17-10 this year.

    Love what Doge gives us.

    I think Avery Bradley can fill the Varez Ward void.

19. Hank Dudek said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 2:54 pm

    Trips,
    I agree. I was watching the second half and could not figure out why Hamilton was riding the pine. Barnes put him in with a little over 10 minutes left and he hit 2 shots off the dribble, a 15 footer and a 3. He then grabbed a rebound and decided he was going to go coast to coast like he did in high school. Barnes yanked him after that shot at 6:30 something.

    What should be noted is that the game was tied when he entered and when he left they had a double digit lead. Also, the intensity level went up when he was in the game. I would like to to get his plus minus stats when he is on the court.

    Balbay played great. His defense and his distribution are impressive especially since he is not a threat to shoot from any range. He would have had 2 more assistsif they had not called those weak charge fouls. Like you mentioned earlier, his on ball defense is smothering and the guards from Pitt could not get their shots off thanks to him and Bradley.

    I like the chemistry at the end of the game. The guys on the bench were up and cheering for each other and you could see they were having fun and realizing something big is going to happen this year.

20. magnusbleuveigner said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 3:03 pm

    Doesn’t UT play Rice Sunday in Houston? Tough to miss NFL, but screw it.

21. SkyMonkeyHorn said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    Several issues that I saw yesterday were Jordan trying to do to much. He does have a great BB IQ and he hunts his shot but he needs to slash to the rim when he can. He needs to play at RB speed or he sits. He is much better when he is playing in up tempo speed and his talents just come alive.
    Dog has always had the talent to duplicate what he did yesterday but as you noticed he also plays better in up tempo with talented players. If anyone has tapes of when Dog was playing for his U18 team you will see him play great BB. He would play almost out of control and do amazing things with the ball and everyone had energy and were better then they had any right to be. Dog made them better.
    Lexi is coming off a Red shirt year but he looked lost out there on the defensive side as well as offensive side. Did make a couple of nice moves but was late for supper many times.
    Brown is really doing well with the rock, but looked tired or in pain in the second half but he can score and is starting to get others involved . His passing it starting to show.

    Patron nearly threw his drink at the screen when Barnes went into his coaching bag the last 4-5 minutes of the half but stopped when he realized that his plasma was not the stripper pole.
    I would like to see Bradley, Dog, Jordan and Shawn (Iam Pee bait),James run for 5-8 minutes and see what happens.
    I think that RB was pissed when Jordan went coast to coast and took that 15 footer on the sideline, Did Dex pick up his fourth foul on the rebound?
    Jordan can turn around a game in a couple of minutes if he is taking his shots in the flow of the game.
    Overall a good game for the team and I hope that RB learned something about his all defense game.

22. SkyMonkeyHorn said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 3:55 pm

    Something else Pitt is not an above average team in the East, they are right in the middle of their conference, Dog and Bradley did a number on their guards, Dog just dominated Gibbs and the other guard.
    Mason should be our 12-13th player , I hope Barnes starts looking at the squad as the first 7-8 players in the game, 9-12th to spell them for 3-5 minutes per half or so..
    We won by 16 points and if we had made 4-5 more free throws it would have been 20 points, hope we start making them sooner then later.

23. SL Xpress said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 5:30 pm

    Yeah, Hamilton wasn’t just pulled for his shot selection, although that was certainly the main part of it.

    He didn’t care about anyone but him. If he’d waited just a split second, Pittman is either open for the post entry, or in position for the rebound. Instead he let it fly, and Pittman ends up with the fall on the carom. It was dumb.

    When I’m watching Jordan Hamilton, I feel like I’m watching an uber talented Craig Winder, with some attitude problems thrown in. He’s the key to this being a national championship team, so it’s disconcerting.

    I don’t mind Wangmene’s defense — which lacks focus — because he’s a space and time filler. The problem is he’s subbing in for Pittman, who also isn’t a great post defender unless he’s going against someone about his relative size, like the Lopez twins or Aldrich. Pittman is always going to pick up tacky fouls he doesn’t necessarily deserve because he’s just so much damn bigger than everyone else. Those are frustrating, but not completely his fault. Then he compounds it by being out of position, and trying to make up for it with his size and height. That just gets him on the bench.

    He sure is a heck of a weapon, though. He needs to do a better job of rebounding, but did everyone see the clip of his turnaround jumper from the baseline? It occurred when the ESPN2 feed was still on the football game, but they showed the clip of it several times going into and coming out of breaks. He had a double team between him and the basket, and he just did a little fade from the left side of court, about 10′ out. Swish! It was sweet!

    I love Balbay. Always have. On this team I do like him as a change of pace guy to J’Covan. I’d like to see J’Covan start and finish halves, and have Balbay play most of the rest of the game, with J’Covan grabbing additional minutes alongside him.

    I am not really looking forward to Jai Lucas gaining eligibility. Maybe I’m proven wrong. I don’t think he’s going to be able to do what everyone else is doing with the perimeter defense, There are problems with continuity (which, though unfortunate, Ward’s injury will actually help). Lucas isn’t going to help that. I like him as a perimeter shooter, and as a stabilizing force, but I’d prefer that J’Covan Brown get those minutes for that role than Lucas. Oh well. He has to play. It would not be good for Lucas to get no chance at all. It might be best for this team (and that’s only my opinion) but it would be bad for the program.

    The less minutes Mason gets the better. The one thing I’ll say in opposition to my own position, is that there were several times Mason seemed liked the only player other than Balbay to equal Pitt’s hustle. He had a nice dive to the court to force a tie up before the game came on ESPN2, and he took to the floor a couple more times as well, sometimes with a good result, sometimes for naught. It was frustrating to see Pitt so often get the 50-50 balls, which made Mason’s efforts more appreciated than they otherwise would have been.

    Still, the guy is a liability out there. He’s helped more than anyone by Ward’s injury, because frankly, Ward was basically a better version of Mason in every aspect of the game. Still, he’s behind Balbay, Bradley, Brown (I don’t think I realized how prone to alliteration our backcourt was until now), I’m mixed on what he’ll bring compared to Lucas, but he certainly shouldn’t be out there as a 3rd guard over Hamilton. Not for a team that wants to win a national championship.

    Bradley needs to keep showing his offensive game. It’s like someone gave him the Rick Barnes’ Manual for how to earn more and more playing time. Play steady, don’t force things, otherwise you’ll be subject to Mixed Message Rick, which is something you don’t want to do until marriage if you can help it.

    Gary Johnson is a black hole. I overlook it because I like the guy. He has problems pulling down rebounds at times in a way that’s frustrating for me, because that’s the reason he’s out there. I love his spastic defense, although I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I do think he has offensive skills. He’s certainly a more reliable post scoring threat than anyone not named Pittman, and he has better range than Pittman. It would be a lot easier to swallow if a shot didn’t go up EVERY TIME he touches the ball.

    It’s interesting to me that neither Matt Hill nor Clint Chapman are sniffing the floor. Sure, Chapman has had the flu. I get that. I question how much better he’s going to get from the flu this year. I guess we’ll see. I get so sick and tired of hearing how good he and Matt Hill look in practice, I could throw up. I made fun of summer and fall reports on Hill, and feel completely validated about it at this point.

    Finally, James.

    Look, this isn’t a national championship caliber team if James is the best player. He’s not. He’s not the 2nd, 3rd or 4th best either. He may be the fifth best. Pittman is more important. Hamilton is more important. Bradley will be more important as he continues to show more of his game. And I think Brown is more important. Put in Balbay here if you think he’s the long term answer at PG instead (and then let me know how you feel about him shooting free throws with the game on the line).

    I loved Gottlieb at the break, openly in wonderment that Barnes is running iso’s for James. He’s exactly right. As Trips states, the dude should knock down open threes, and maybe hit a jump shot from around the free throw line or two. All other scoring should be on alley oops or offensive rebounds. I cringe when he brings the ball up the court. And puhlease, let’s STOP having him try to take his man one on one with the ball!

    Someone up above was critical of his post entry passing, in this case to Wangmene, but I actually like James as a post entry passer. It’s not the main set I want to see, but I’ve seen him fire half a dozen meaningful high low passes into the post from the top of the key, and he does a good job of understanding getting the ball into the low post from the wing.

    What I’d really like to see is Hamilton blossom into that sort of role, because he’s very talented at it, but the kid has to get his head on straight before he can take that over.

    Anyway, I’m glad to be 4-0. I don’t like the way they’ve done it, but that’s okay. The standard for the team should be a national championship caliber club. They’re not there in a myriad of ways. There are 5 creampuffs coming up (and yes, USC is a creampuff, worse than Iowa) and then UNC, Michigan State, and Arkansas in a 3 and a half week period. It will be interesting to see what kind of development occurs between now and then. It needs to be a lot, both on and off the court.

24. HenryJames said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    Now that was a comment.

25. Nordberg said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 5:53 pm

    Kafka feels threatened, and is preparing his rebuttal.

26. ipowers said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    Jordan played the amount of minutes he deserved last night. I get called a hater for what I have been saying but Egg Nog and SL Xpress see what I have seen for years watching him play. He is about Jordan and Jordan only. He forced that 17 foot jumper that he made and he got lucky and it went in for him. After that I knew every time he got it he was going up with it. The next time down instead of pulling it back out he drives baseline against 3 defenders basically and misses a floater. Coach chewed his ass out, sat him the rest of the game and rightfully so. It really pisses me off with Trips when he says shit like Jordan is the only true 3 on the roster. What the fuck does he think Shawn is ? He was recruited as a 3 he’s always been a 3. The coaching staff is saying that Barnes doesn’t think he is up to par defending the perimeter which is probably true because he has some lateral movement issues, but so does Jordan. He gets beat more than anybody else on the team. This notion that Barnes is supposed to give him a longer leash than anybody else on the team is the most absurd shit I have ever heard. He has some skill but he is not good enough to overlook his deficiencies and they are substantial. He is not on the same level offensively as Durant is and Trips needs to stop trying to make him out to be the second coming because he simply isn’t. He was 0 for 5 until he made two jumpers, one of them a forced shot. He is not going to learn to use his head more if he keeps getting rewarded with minutes, that’s the majority of his problem now. Until he plays the way Barnes wants him to, he will continue to get the minutes he’s getting.

27. Trips Right said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 7:07 pm

    Oh boy.

28. SkyMonkeyHorn said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 7:07 pm

    Mr. Ipowers,
    Your not a hater at all. You actually make some sense when you communicate. We can not change your mind set so how do you change my mindset or anybody else? Every one has a IMO and I do enjoy a good basketball discussion and everyone has a favorite player. I do believe that you have something to offer. Hook em Horns has a way to make all of us crazy in some sort of way…
    Patron says to have one on him and chill.

29. The General said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 9:24 pm

    Sky,

    I pray you don’t have a dog named Patron.

30. kafka said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 9:29 pm

    Nordberg:
    I’m a big fan of SLX, my only problem with him is that he does not post often enough.

    Balbay really was impressive, a real warrior. I have not been on the Balbay bandwagon so much (previously) but, wow, he looked great vs Pitt.

    Jordan is an enormous offensive talent but needs to improve his D (a bunch).

    This year is a huge challenge for Barnes. Can he construct an offense that effectively harnesses all this talent?

    If Dex is in the game, the ball needs to go into Dex before there is a shot from the outside.

    Not much point in playing Dex and Gary at the same time.

31. kafka said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

    The horns would benefit from a more structured offense.

32. Texoz said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 10:14 pm

    “The horns would benefit from a more structured offense.”

    And a balanced budget might help the Federal deficit. Odds on which one will happen first?

33. kafka said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 11:13 pm

    Barnes doesn’t really have any choice. He does not have a Durant or Augustin or TJ Ford to run the offense. He has 3 awesome frosh talents who need structure. Dex cannot score if the offense does not get the ball into him. Damion is awesome but does not have a high basketball IQ. Without more offensive structure, this team will not realize its potential.

    I’m optimistic that Barnes will eventually figure out how to group his players and the basic offense that each group should play. It will probably take a while.

34. Blake Borron said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 11:22 pm

    Very good post, SLX. Though I guess I’m biased because you essentially echoed everything I feel about this team. I especially liked the comment about James not being our most (or close) important player. All the perimeter standouts, as well as Dex, can have a bigger impact as long as they work out their various problems (Hamilton’s defense and play selection, Brown’s TOs, Bradley’s aggression, and Balbay’s shot). James is best for this team as a guy who dunks the ball, rebounds over everyone, and hits that great retaliatory three that he has when the other team is making a run.

35. gingerballs said:

    November 25th, 2009 at 11:47 pm

    “But alas a win is a win right? Wrong. I’ll take it, but we’re playing against a standard that involves beating elite teams like KU, Kentucky, and Michigan State. And five minute, beat your head against the wall lack of scoring stretches won’t get that done.”

    Thank you for not watching KU vs. Memphis version 2.0

36. EggNog said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 12:25 am

    Kentucky needed a last second shot to beat a 1-4 Miami of Ohio team, and just pulled out an OT win against a 3-3 Stanford team.

    This Texas team has 5 new guys, 4 of them Freshmen. We will have let downs and inconsistency. We want to beat elite teams, and I’m pretty sure we will. The real goal is to be as prepared and solid as we can be once the tournament rolls around.

37. Nordberg said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 9:36 am

    ““The horns would benefit from a more structured offense.”

    Sounds like me every Saturday in the stands saying “You know, we really need a running game.”

38. tree said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 10:12 am

    Huge problem no one has talked about: Free throw shooting? 54% last game ugly. Plus missing the front ends of one and ones aren’t included. Phi Slama Jama esk…

39. Bob in Houston said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 10:38 am

    When I’m watching Jordan Hamilton, I feel like I’m watching an uber talented Craig Winder, with some attitude problems thrown in. He’s the key to this being a national championship team, so it’s disconcerting.

    Speaking of disconcerting, I brought up Craig Winder on another board yesterday. The idea that we are on the same wavelength in this regard is, well… disconcerting.

    Pittman… I just have this feeling that no matter what happens in a game, he’s never going to play even 25 minutes consistently.

    I love Balbay. Always have. On this team I do like him as a change of pace guy to J’Covan. I’d like to see J’Covan start and finish halves, and have Balbay play most of the rest of the game, with J’Covan grabbing additional minutes alongside him.

    He looks so much more confident this year than last. It was brought up last year what SMH was talking about, that he’s most comfortable playing really fast, and now it looks like he has the college pace in his head.

    I am not really looking forward to Jai Lucas gaining eligibility. Maybe I’m proven wrong. I don’t think he’s going to be able to do what everyone else is doing with the perimeter defense,

    I agree here. Not that quick. He played SG at Florida because Nick Calathes was a better PG. But if his dad taught him what PGs are supposed to do (other than taking three-pointers on the break), he’ll be an asset.

    The less minutes Mason gets the better.

    Mason was the best option at the position he played when he got to Texas. I’m not sure he’s even the fourth-best player now, and that was before Barnes took him apart and didn’t put him back together.

    Bradley needs to keep showing his offensive game. It’s like someone gave him the Rick Barnes’ Manual for how to earn more and more playing time. Play steady, don’t force things, otherwise you’ll be subject to Mixed Message Rick, which is something you don’t want to do until marriage if you can help it.

    Ain’t this the truth.

    Gary Johnson is a black hole. I overlook it because I like the guy. He has problems pulling down rebounds at times in a way that’s frustrating for me, because that’s the reason he’s out there. I love his spastic defense, although I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I do think he has offensive skills. He’s certainly a more reliable post scoring threat than anyone not named Pittman, and he has better range than Pittman. It would be a lot easier to swallow if a shot didn’t go up EVERY TIME he touches the ball.

    It’s more acute than with Hamilton, but the same issue. They both seem to believe that if they don’t shoot when they touch it, they’ll never get to shoot. Hamilton’s just being impatient, but Johnson… I think he’s right.

    It’s interesting to me that neither Matt Hill nor Clint Chapman are sniffing the floor. Sure, Chapman has had the flu. I get that. I question how much better he’s going to get from the flu this year. I guess we’ll see. I get so sick and tired of hearing how good he and Matt Hill look in practice, I could throw up. I made fun of summer and fall reports on Hill, and feel completely validated about it at this point.

    I now think that Chapman may be redshirted. Maybe he’s just not back to full strength. But I find it hard to believe that they’re going to make it through the entire schedule, much less win a NC, with Pittman, James and Wangmene as the only bigs.

    Put in Balbay here if you think he’s the long term answer at PG instead (and then let me know how you feel about him shooting free throws with the game on the line).

    Actually, he nailed two the other night and his form was flawless. I’m feelin’ better.

    I loved Gottlieb at the break, openly in wonderment that Barnes is running iso’s for James. He’s exactly right. As Trips states, the dude should knock down open threes, and maybe hit a jump shot from around the free throw line or two. All other scoring should be on alley oops or offensive rebounds. I cringe when he brings the ball up the court. And puhlease, let’s STOP having him try to take his man one on one with the ball!

    I think that was a function of who was out there… but that lineup never should have been out there. I already watched last season and I don’t want to go through it again.

    Anyway, I’m glad to be 4-0. I don’t like the way they’ve done it, but that’s okay. The standard for the team should be a national championship caliber club. They’re not there in a myriad of ways. There are 5 creampuffs coming up (and yes, USC is a creampuff, worse than Iowa) and then UNC, Michigan State, and Arkansas in a 3 and a half week period. It will be interesting to see what kind of development occurs between now and then. It needs to be a lot, both on and off the court.

    I’m trying to stick with my plan of not caring basically until they play Kansas. But I’m afraid we will be dealing with mind games from the coach and players who should be contributing not being able or allowed to. In the next six weeks, he’s gotta decide to play his best players and deal with their idiosyncracies, rather than them having to adjust to him.

    As a baseball manager might say to a pitcher, “Trust your stuff.”

40. Bob in Houston said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 10:40 am

    Sorry about that. I hoped it would easier to read.

41. Bob in Houston said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 10:49 am

    “be”… be easier to read. Yecch.

42. kafka said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 11:11 am

    When Mack/GD choose to go mostly 4/5 wide, clearly the running game is going to suffer. Tthere is a known, predictable trade off between optimizing the O for passing vs choosing a more balanced O.

    What is the trade off between running a more structured O and the current not so structured O (in basketball)? I guess practise time, i.e. running a more structured O requires more practise time for O (thus less practise time for D).

    There is a pretty good chance that Barnes is going to need to run some zone to protect Dex and Jordan. In addition to Jordan and Dex, the zone group might include Brown, Shawn Williams, and Jai Lucas. This group would also work well on O because Dex would be surrounded by guys who can shoot outside (i.e. if Dex is doubled or tripled, he can pass outside to an actual shooter).

    The pure man to man group might be Damion, Wangmene, Balbay, Bradley, and (I guess) Mason (now that Ward is gone). This group worked much better on both O and D before Varez got hurt.

    The all star group might be Dex, Damion, Jordan, Bradley, and Balbay.

43. Trips Right said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 11:27 am

    Bob, I agree on Balbay’s form on the line, but he’d be better served to stay on the line. He has the tendency to leave foul line too soon after the release. It’s an indication that he doesn’t entirely “trust his own stuff” if I can steal your aptly used line.

44. EggNog said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 11:38 am

    Aside from taking practice time away from defense, a structured offense limits the ceiling on players. In basketball, the teams that are best served with a structured offense are limited talent wise. A well coached Princeton offense can pull off an upset with a large talent disparity. It can keep games close that shouldn’t be. Talented players can be benefited by utilizing some of the concepts of a structured offense, but as a system it traps them.

    Basketball and football are different in a few key ways in this regard. In basketball you have 5 players in at a time versus 11 in football. Each player’s ability (or lack thereof) and mistakes are magnified. The style of play also gives a larger advantage to a talented player than in football. Lebron James dominated the Pistons in the playoffs a few years back scoring something like the last 30 points for the Cavs in the 4th quarter and OTs. He carried the team on his shoulders and won the game. In football, players can step up and do so to an extent (Vince Young), but if any one player blows an assignment it is all for naught.

    The strength of the way we play offense is that players like TJ Ford, Kevin Durant, and DJ Augustin can maximize their potential. The downside is we are left with a ceiling of AJ Abrams in years where we don’t have NBA talent. As we steadily recruit better players, our offense has a higher ceiling and the players in it can really show what they can do.

45. aabb said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 12:56 pm

    Eggnog …. structured offense

    How many titles do Coach K and Bob Knight have….How many titles do Calipari and Barnes have?

46. Crown & Coke said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 4:04 pm

    Trips & Team,

    This is my first post of the season, but I just wanted to stop by and let you know how I much I appreciate all of the write-ups and game-by-game analysis thus far. I first got hooked on your stuff (no homo) during the Elite 8 run of ‘07-’08 and have basically read every word since then.

    Having never played basketball after middle school, I have very little grasp of the X’s and O’s minutiae so I appreciate the way that you can provide the bulk of your evaluations in more macro terms.

    Given the vast importance of ‘making this year count’, it’s great to have a source to follow the progress and shortcomings of this squad so early in the season while all the rest of the resident experts are still focused on the gridiron.

    Thanks again for all of the hard work. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

47. hobbs said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 10:18 pm

    “There are plenty of other sites available to discuss your politics.”

    whaw!!!

48. hobzzz said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 10:40 pm

    “Finally, James.

    Look, this isn’t a national championship caliber team if James is the best player. He’s not. He’s not the 2nd, 3rd or 4th best either. ”

    i read everything you wrote with interest until i read that. i sat courtside at the game and i can affirm that you’re just wrong. i assume you’ve watched him as long as i have on tv…so you’re probably a repeat james criticizing offender. james will be our 2nd best player, only if dex plays much better than he did last night. otherwise he’s the man most nights.

    james is a man amongst boys…and i can only assume you’re the reciprocal as a fan, if you really feel that way about him. damn!

49. kafka said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 10:57 pm

    “In basketball, the teams that are best served with a structured offense are limited talent wise.”

    The greatest college basketball coach of all time, John Wooden, had tremendous talent (Walton and Jabbar, among many others) but had a structured O. His O was customized to the guys on the floor and generated shots for each player in spots that that particular player could hit.

    When you have one player who is much greater than his teammates, it works to structure the O around that star. When you have 5 guys who are all good scorers (like the current horns), that appoach does not work, you have to have a more team oriented O.

    It also helps tremendously if the O efficiently generates and exploits matchup opportunities. That isn’t going to happen with the current team without heavy input from the coaches. Obviously the optimal offensive scheme varies not just game to game but also varies depending on the varying matchups (and other factors) within the game.

    Can we agree that there is no one player on this year’s team who can currently play the commanding offensive role that Ford, Durant, and Augustin played? Can we also agree that the optimal offensive scheme to play at any particular time in a game is going to vary tremendously depending on the specific matchups on the court at that time? Can we finally agree that figuring this out may or may not be beyond the coaches’ ability but is almost certainly beyond the players’ ability?

50. kafka said:

    November 26th, 2009 at 11:11 pm

    Hobzzz:
    Trips may not have stated precisely what he meant. It might be that he meant that Damion is not the top guy to run your offense through. Dex, Jordan, Brown, and Bradley might be better choices either because of their superior scoring ability (Dex) or superior ball handling and shooting skills (Jordan, Brown, and Bradley).

    When you look at the whole package (i.e. include defense and rebounding) Damion is probably the most valuable horn at this moment. Having said that, I would not give the ball to Damion and tell him to run the O ala Durant or Augustin.

51. hobzzz said:

    November 27th, 2009 at 1:21 am

    well, that’s a horse of a different color. i sat there and watched a pleyer that’s a little bit undisciplined (did I say courtside?), but i don’t put that on Barnes necessarily. No telling how good James will be in the NBA becuse he’ll be blooming for awhile.

    you might have seen me on TV during the game…i got knocked over in my chair by Balbay diving for a ball. funny part is that he asked me if I was okay during the next trip down…while he was guarding his man. [just cool]

52. Trips Right said:

    November 27th, 2009 at 10:05 am

    hobzzzz, that’s great stuff on Balbay.

    As for James, I think he’s a really nice player when surrounded by playmakers. But you can’t run offense through him.

    C&C, great to have you on board. It should be a fun ride.

53. SL Xpress said:

    November 27th, 2009 at 11:50 am

    Look, I realize Barnes doesn’t run a whole lot of set plays, but I watched an unstructured offense for 8 years. There are degrees of everything, and Barnes absolutely installs some structure in his offense. Otherwise, it would look like Penders’.

    Uttering the names Wooden, Knight, and Krzyzewski in whispered awe, as if that ends the argument, is silly. All three of those guys are among the finest to ever be involved in the game, but their winning methodology has to be adapted to win in contemporary times. Recruiting has changed over the years. Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Walton would play one year and then head to the NBA, and that’s only if they didn’t play in Europe instead. And if they were associated with Worldwide Wes in some way, that one year would be spent in Lexington, no matter how good those three coaches are.

    AAU rules recruiting, and only drastic measures will change that. There’s not enough pain out there for drastic measures to be enacted. We’re seeing minimal changes, but it won’t be enough to change the current dynamic.

    Texas wins in this recruiting environment because they spread their net from coast to coast, they recruit to the bare minimum in terms of academic standards, they have among the best facilities in the nation, they win, and they play what recruits see as an uptempo, freewheeling style, that leaves a lot of the on floor decision making to the players. Tom Izzo isn’t going to be winning many recruiting battles against Texas. Neither is UCLA (although they did get Josh Smith, although he was never interested enough in UT to even come in for a visit). Tubby Smith got worked on the recruiting trail on a regular basis.

    Kids see the way players like TJ Ford, Kevin Durant, and DJ Augustin are allowed to play for Texas, and it makes them want to come here, too.

    It helps immensely to have playing time to offer. It helps to produce early entry kids. It would help even more to play the AAU game. It hampers Texas not to pay the Mitch Malones of the world 6 figures like Baylor does, especially in this state. But if Texas suddenly installed the kind of system that Wooden or Knight employed, none of the current class of Bradley, Brown, Hamilton, Williams would have come. Neither would have Ford, Durant, and DJ in the first place.

    That doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to get frustrated, or wistfully wish for more set plays. But it does mean there’s a tradeoff. And of course, it would require a different coach, because that’s never really been Barne’s approach, and it’s going to be even less of his approach now that he’s bringing in top tier talent.

    Tubby Smith was chased out of Lexington because he didn’t want to cater to early entry kids. Krzyzewski is having a tough time because he doesn’t want early entry players, and you can tell he’s having a radical change in thought just by his rabid pursuit of John Wall. Of course, he got crushed in the Harrison Barnes recruitment by cross town rival UNC, but that’s just a microcosm of the problems he’s having with his program right now. Howland makes 3 Final Fours in a row at UCLA, but now he probably won’t make the NIT. Talented wings and guards are simply not going to want to play for that guy.

    Given that Barnes wants to run his “random ball screen” offense, which is basically running a ton of pick and rolls for a primary dribbler until he breaks down the defense, with the rest of the players spreading the floor, alternating with possessions when they spend the entire time demonstrating a below average understanding of entering the post, or else wait for someone else to beat his defender one on one — it’s a good thing he has one of the best collection of one on one players in the country.

    The pickle is that his first love is playing consistent, fundamental defense, keeping your man in front of you, with sound rotations, physical play, superior rebounding, and taking limited chances.

    He gave that up with the Augustin/Abrams/Mason/James/Durant group, because he realized they’d never be a good defensive team. Oh sure, he hammered away at it, but in the end, he understood they’d get killed on that end of the floor, and so he emphasized their offensive firepower, not least by playing a ton of zone with perimeter players at 5′11/5′9/6-2, and no true center/shot blocker.

    I wish he’d give a little of that up this year.

    I still don’t think there’s an appreciation for how good J’Covan Brown, Avery Bradley, and Jordan Hamilton really are. They’re freshmen, and so they’re making freshmen mistakes — especially Brown and Hamilton, who have more aggressive mentalities with the ball, and base more of their identities as people on their skills on offense. However, their upside is unbelievable.

    Look, James is a very good player. I’m glad he’s a Longhorn. He’s absolutely the heart and soul of this team, and that’s a good thing. However, he simply can’t make plays for himself or his teammates the way the 3 freshmen can. I don’t know what it’s going to take for Hamilton to buy in — or if he even will at any point. But if he does, we’ll see a ton of jaw dropping moments, and not just scoring. He’s a terrific playmaker for his teammates, too. The guy may not be Kevin Durant, but he’s as good as we’ll see outside of that.

    If Hamilton doesn’t buy in, Texas won’t sniff a national championship, they’ll likely end up as something other than a #1 seed, and they won’t be able to keep up with KU in the conference race — who, by the way, have Xavier Henry as their leading scorer at this point of the season.

54. SkyMonkeyHorn said:

    November 27th, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    Hey General,
    I think you see through my words that I play with some people. Actually Patron is this mange goat on our ranch that fights with animal,people, horses or anybody bold enough to enter his pasture…..I have thought about shooting him for years but I kind of like his attitude.

    SLX, agree with you about Jordan,who has tools to make others better around him. Jordan has to prove himself in his mind to himself so your statement about how he sees himself as a person is spot on. I would believe that Jordan hates to sit when he does not pass the rock, when he is lazy on defense and for other misdeed that Barnes can think off. He comes back on the court and it becames a nasty cycle to break. I hope that Barnes find the right key and jordan buys into it.

    “I still don’t think there’s an appreciation for how good J’Covan Brown, Avery Bradley, and Jordan Hamilton really are”
    By the fans or coaches ??? I for one have been sold on that thought for a long time age.

55. Blake Borron said:

    November 27th, 2009 at 8:45 pm

    He’s referring to the fans, particularly the ones that think James is our best player. Barnes isn’t an idiot, so I would assume he understands how amazing those three are. Which is why I wish he would stop limiting them so much and essentially breaking their souls. Give them a chance to grow and eventually they will buy in. Crush their confidence now and who knows? They could end up like Mason…

56. kafka said:

    November 28th, 2009 at 9:38 am

    I would take Coach K or Tom Izzo over Barnes, who wouldn’t??

    You can showcase a single superstar but you can’t showcase 5 stars concurrently. A team oriented offense is required. If you do want to run the O around a single guy, who is that guy and how do you avoid POing the other 4 stars?

    The comment that mentioning Wooden was an attempt close the discussion was silly. It was merely to point out that a structured offense works fine with great talent. How about Roy Williams or Bill Self?

    I get the idea of catering to a super star so that more super stars will enroll in the future. But this year the future is now. This year UT has more talent than ever and the challenge is to extract the max efficiency out of this group to optimize the chances of winning a title this season. For a team to be its best, players have to play as a team, not as a collection of stars.

57. kafka said:

    November 28th, 2009 at 9:51 am

    This year it would be incredibly stupid for UT to run an offense that is designed to enhance future recruiting at the cost of current offensive efficiency. UT has to sell out to win the national championship this year. My guess is that winning the championship will help recruiting.

58. SL Xpress said:

    November 28th, 2009 at 10:17 am

    kafka, you’re being ridiculous.

    People don’t employ a philosophy to get to a certain stage, have success with it, then ditch it for a different philosophy. Barnes has predominantly run his random ball screen offense at least since TJ Ford arrived. He’s not going to suddenly start employing a motion offense. It’s like having a conversation with kchorn back in the day, when he’d constantly be touting the efficacy of utilizing a fullback. Whether I agree with you or not, the conversation is entirely too theoretical for me to get into right now. It’s not going to happen, and that reduces my care factor regarding whether it should to an infinitismal number.

    I would not take Krzyzewski or Izzo over Barnes. I like Barnes. He won’t ever be as successful as Krzyzewski has been, and he probably won’t be as successful as Izzo, but neither of those guys are coming to Texas, either. I’ll also point out that Krzyzewski isn’t equalling his previous success since he became bashful about recruiting early entry guys. Personally, I think Texas got “Duked” in the second round last year, or else the Longhorns might very well have beaten Krzyzewski.

    What is going to have to happen is that the point guard, whether it’s Balbay, Brown, or Lucas, will need to be the conductor. The best players will eventually need to be put into a position where they can succeed. It’s questionable at this stage whether Hamilton can get there, but if he can, he’ll be a virtually unstoppable weapon in Barnes’ offense, just like Durant was. And Durant had a teammate in Abrams who was a lot more selfish than anyone on this team, plus he didn’t have anyone as good as Pittman, Bradley, or the senior version of Damion James.

    I get you want to see more structure. It’s not going to happen, no matter how many blog posts you put up. The most you’ll see is an emphasis on getting the ball into the interior at various times, You don’t have to be happy about it, as long as you understand it isn’t going to change.

    BTW, the offense you’re criticizing has been producing at least 4 double figure scorers in every game. I don’t think scoring balance is this team’s issue, regardless of their structure or lack thereof on offense.

    My point on John Wooden is that he would have a tough time recruiting in today’s environment. He’d have to adapt, which I’m sure he’d do wonderfully, especially if the stories about UCLA’s recruiting methods in those days turns out to be accurate.

    I just get this feeling you’re married to your position, kafka. That’s fine, but it does mean that following Texas basketball under Barnes is going to be maddening for you. I hope that the realization the offense has more structure under Barnes than it did under Penders helps you, because I’m afraid that’s about all that will.

59. Blake Borron said:

    November 28th, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    Why would anybody want Coach K right now? He’s regressing as far as coaching because he simply refuses to keep up with the times. Their team is full of unathletic white guys–you can’t, and won’t, win championships like that. Barnes, Self, and Williams are three guys who just get it and bring in top-talent players seemingly every year. Look who won the championship with ease last year and four years ago and look who are the top two teams in the nation.

60. Hank Dudek said:

    November 28th, 2009 at 7:01 pm

    SLX, I agree that James may not be the best BASKETBALL player on this team. There are guys with more Bball talent (Brown, Hamilton, Bradley, and Pittman) but I think you may have mentioned later and was echoed by others that sometimes your best player can be a guy who gets offensive rebounds, blocks shots, plays great defense, and motivates others on the court to play hard. Somehow, James manages to put up big numbers without having to have the ball in his hand and without his rebounding we would see a much different Texas team.

    Hamilton will get with the program. IP has it right. Barnes will keep him on the bench if he is just going to run wild on the court. I am still waiting to see IP’s boy play. I did not see Williams in the Pitt game. You guys will never hear the end of it if he starts putting up big numbers.

    The offense we are running is fine as long as guys are getting and taking good shots. The reason Knight and others run such structured sets is because they have less talented guys who need ways to get open. Also, because they want to control tempo against more talented teams. Coach K did not run that many sets when he had Brand, Williams, Maggette, Hill…They pushed the ball and if they could not get an easy bucket or an open 3 they would pull it out and work a set.

    When you have great players you don’t need all those sets. Last year, we could have benefited from more offensive sets as we were limited offensively and clearly the guys had a hard time getting good shots and open shot. It is not fun to watch the shot clock run down, run a play for Abrams and watch him jack a 23 footer as the shot clock expires. There will not be many shot clock violations this year especially if Hamilton and Brown have anything to say about it.

61. SL Xpress said:

    November 28th, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    I should clarify, Hank Dudek. I’d like to see Damion James be the heart and soul of this team. What I don’t want to see is a bunch of possessions designed to get him the ball and go to work.

62. Travis said:

    November 28th, 2009 at 7:48 pm

    I think that the argument about james being the best player on the team can be looked at and defended by both sides…. James is our unquestioned leader and he hustles and rebounds and make sure everyone around him plays better…. However if there was 10 seconds left in the game and we were down 2 , I want the ball in jordan hamilton’s hands because nobody can stop him, he’s a beast with unlimited potential.

    If the draft were next week I honestly believe that Jordan and Bradley would be drafted before Damion, because GM’s will see their upside and get a semi-chub.

    With the players this team has and as many players as Barnes rotates in and out, I can’t help but feel it would be almost impossible to get them all on the same page about running set plays like a princeton or ucla, our best offense is generated by stout defense that sets up our fast break and lets our superior talent and speed shine.

    SL is right , if we focus our offense to run through Damion, KU will run us off the court. That style will be fine if your content with another sweet 16 of maybe elite 8 if the bracket is right but if you want to cut down the nets and hear ” one shining moment with texas highlights” then Barnes is going to have to bite his lip and let Jordan play through his slumps or slacks on defense because he is the difference between the season that might have been and the season that was.

63. kafka said:

    November 28th, 2009 at 8:25 pm

    You argued that showcasing a talent like Durant helps in recruiting. OK but that argument is not very important this year, correct? The talent has been assembled, generating points is far more important (by orders of magnitude) than enhancing recruiting (this year), right?

    I’m not calling for a motion offense. My problem is not with the random ball screen offense as part of the total offense. Obviously the horns already run a different offense when they are trying to get the ball into Dex. Also they run a different offense vs zones,right? Even now, the random ball screen offense is just part of the UT offensive scheme, right?

    My point is that knowing how to attack a particular defense with a particular set of matchups is a knowledge based decision and that the guys on the floor this season need a lot more input compared to when TJ or Augustin or Durant were running the show. Given the balanced nature of the horns talent, how you attack a defense is going to vary tremendously (the balanced talent situation is more complex than when you have a single superstar dominating the ball). It is going to be a while before Brown or Balbay or Jordan have the knowledge to efficiently attack offenses. They are going to need a lot more direction than Barnes normally provides on offense. Do you agree?

    SLX: “My point on John Wooden is that he would have a tough time recruiting in today’s environment.”

    Again, the players have already been recruited, the question is how best to coach them up this year (this year) so UT can win an NCAA championship. The initial question was whether elite players can prosper in a structured offense. Sure elite players can score on their own but it is more efficient to identify or generate mismatches that make scoring easier.

    Having great athleticism, a wonderful jumper, length, and handles is all great but it doesn’t mean (especially at 19 or 20) that you have the wisdom, judgement, opponent specific knowledge, general basketball knowledge, discipline, and intelligence to identify how to best attack a particular defense with the two teams of guys actually playing at any particular moment.

64. hobzzz said:

    November 28th, 2009 at 10:25 pm

    Travis you’re probably a great guy and all, but i honestly felt like the AFLAC goose walking out of a barbershop after reading your last reply.

65. SL Xpress said:

    November 28th, 2009 at 10:53 pm

    I have no idea what you are trying to say, kafka. Get more specific, please.

    Texas is facing a 2-3 zone. They’re facing Syracuse in the Sweet 16. How would this Texas team attack that right now, what’s the issue with it, and how would you prefer to see them attack it instead?

66. Hank Dudek said:

    November 29th, 2009 at 7:16 am

    SLX. Agreed. Damion James is our Tim Tebow (cringe). He is a great athlete,great leader and a great college player but he is not going to be my first pick in the NBA draft-for the same reason. James still can’t play his natural position, small forward. He is a better 4 than 3 and he can’t create his own shot without it looking painful.

    With 2 seconds left in the game I am going to Brown or Hamilton-guys who want to shoot. I would also run a nice set play for Kafka. Perhaps, a screen the screener or a stack out of bounds play. Either way, Kafka will love the detail.

    Seriously, I think Kafka is just trying to say that guys need to recognize what offense we are in and set something up. Right now, they look a little disorganized when they are out there but that is part of the process. Kafka, they will look like they are running something when the rotation gets whittled down to 8 or 9 guys and get more time on the court with each other. Right now, there is a lot of adrenaline and guys playing on pure talent. The teamwork will come by mid-season when everyone settles into the speed of the game (Freshman).

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