Texas started the game with a personnel group of James, Pittman, Mason, Bradley, and Brown. Aside for the beastly inside presence of Dex, this group gives you 3 solid jump shooters, 3 ball handlers, and solid defensive and rebounding capability. Not optimal considering the talent we have, but solid.
Rice came out in a Bill Raftery styled MAN 2 MAN !!! the first possession of the ball game, only to witness a 4 out Longhorn look, a quick ball reversal, easy post entry, punctuated by a thundering Dexter Pittman dunk 20 seconds into the ballgame. For Texas that’s textbook basketball nowadays. For Rice, the shit had just gotten real. Next possession, Texas starts in the same 4 out look, lifts Dexter off the block to the weakside clearing out an easy driving lane for J’Covan Brown who blows by a national merit scholar and draws a foul. Again, for Texas it’s a garden variety set, for Rice, it’s another reminder that, hey coach, maybe this manning up a bunch of MD’s all Americans and future lottery picks isn’t the way to go.
Well an interesting thing happens on the 3rd and 4th possession. We sub Balbay for Brown and are left with a personnel group light on the jumpshooting component and it shows in the way Rice starts to defend our 4 out look. Instead of jumping out on would-be shooters, Rice goes to a four man shell that invites jumpshots. When the ball is entered to Dex, Balbay’s man, at one point, sprints diagonally to the box to double, and rotates back to Balbay when Dex passes out of the double team.
Preceding possession five, there’s a foul on Dex and Texas subs Hamilton, Brown, and Wangmene for Bradley, Mason, and Pittman. We’ve now got one of our better shooting and penetrating groups and it shows. We come down, spread the floor, and find Hamilton for an open 3 which is in and out. Rice comes down, hurriedly I might add, and jacks a 3. Game is now somewhat up-tempo. Possession 6, we come down, spread the floor with Alexis on the weakside block, and the floor is so spread that Damion James is able to take one power dribble and blow by Rice’s 4 man for an easy lay in.
And that was the ball game in a nut shell. When we had 3 ballhandlers and 3 shooters in the game, we looked pretty damn dynamic on offense. Our spacing looked good. Our tempo was faster. We had more motion and movement without the ball. And we were productive. When we had 3 or more non-shooters on the floor, we looked like 2008′s squad. And Rice’s soft man and zone defenses suddenly became effective.
All and all, a hard fought win against a scrappy Rice club that came to play on what everyone else considered a lazy Sunday afternoon. A good win for the kids.
On to the players.
Jordan Hamilton. Look, his talent is unquestioned, well for the most part, but I’ve got to admit the kid’s a black hole on par with AJ Abrams. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing since Jordan is much more talented. The heartening thing is that Barnes indicated in this ballgame that he’s going to give Jordan some freedom to operate and get his shots. And you know what? That’s the absolute right move. A player like Hamilton needs to know he has a long leash in the shot selection and frequency department, because as he sees his number of attempts don’t correlate with being pulled, he’ll actually start being more selective with his shooting knowing he’s going to get minutes. If Hamilton thinks he’s going to play in 3 or 4 minute spurts, you’re going to see a ton of one pass and shoot possessions. It’s part and parcel to recruiting at this talent level. Give them freedom, and then coach then coach the player situationally.
All of that typed, 9 shots in 19 minutes isn’t bad for Jordan. He just needs to start taking better shots. He did have two in-and-out heartbreak 3′s that would have improved on his 11 point total. Not a great showing from him, but an encouraging showing in how he’s being coached.
Avery Bradley. Avery as a player is diametrically opposed to Jordan Hamilton. You almost have to threaten to punish Bradley for being too unselfish. With the loss of Ward and 26 minutes of playing time, 7 shot attempts for the McDonald’s All American is ridiculous. Bradley needs double digit shot attempts for Texas to be most efficient. The 4 dimes and suffocating defense is a nice bonus, but Avery is way too good a scorer to be held to 8 points against Rice.
J’Covan Brown. J’Covan had a rough shooting night, especially from deep (1-5), but the kid has the uncanny knack for knowing when to create offense by drawing fouls when the offense is stagnant. Sometimes when the other team is making a run you just have to manufacture points by getting to the foul line. All the great guards have this knack and it’s something you have to feel as a player. I was also very impressed with Brown putting the hard intentional foul behind him and not retaliating over the course of the game. Brown is showing a lot of leadership and maturity. He’s certainly exorcised some demons here and that’s good news long term for not only the player, but the team. I love that he’s now wearing number 50 to honor Varez Ward. That says a bunch about the young man. Tip your cap to Brown.
Dexter Pittman. What a monster game for Big Dex netting 21 points in 26 minutes. The kid could shoot 80% from the field this year if things fall right. It’s unreal how easy he’s making it look. Credit his teammates for doing a great job entering the basketball. Other than the scoring, I loved to see Pitt passing out of double teams and hurting the Rice zone as presence in the middle. He also led the Horns with 9 boards which is a nice bounce back from the Iowa game.
Doge Balbay. The kid is such a weapon up and down the stat sheet. His 9 boards are evidence that Texas has one of the best rebounding backcourts in the nation to go along with Pittman and James on the glass. The assist category was down, but a lot of that has to do with the zone Rice played. It was also good to see the Doge get frisky and fire up a couple of jumpers. They didn’t fall, but better to find out now than in conference. As always, as long as Balbay is flanked by shooters and scorers he’s at his best.
Damion James. The trend for Damion is a bit troublesome considering this is the second game in a row in which the senior has hunted his own offense off the dribble. I’m fine with a power dribble move to the rim, but I don’t like seeing him back down forwards for midrange jumpers. There are so many more appealing scoring options early in our shot clock. Make no mistake about it, his 2-9 shooting night is a function of his shot selection. Damion needs to dunk and shoot 3′s on his way to 50% plus field goal percentages. 2-9 nights out of him are a recipe for disaster against the big boys who will be delighted to have Damion shoot it from 15 instead of defending Dex in the paint, Brown off the dribble, or Hamilton from deep.
Alexis Wangmene. Despite a couple of hard luck whistles I thought the kid filled his role on the team in this game which is to bring energy, defense, and physicality inside. Four boards in 8 minutes is exactly what we need out of this cat.
Justin Mason. His 4 assists in 16 minutes attests to the fact that he can be a productive creator when surrounded with the correct personnel. No Balbay and Mason out there at the same time anymore please.
Gary Johnson. I love his spastic energy on both ends. He was also able to manufacture some offense on the line going 5-8. He can do that when he’s playing players that have comparable size. Good game from Gary.
Overall, I thought it was a solid effort on both ends considering the opponent and the fact it was a holiday weekend. It wasn’t always pretty, but Texas went out there and overcame some whistles, overcame the lack of energy, and overcame tryptophan. I thought it was one of the best post entry games I’ve seen the Horns have in quite some time. We also got some solid work against the zone which is something we’ll see a bunch of in conference play. Boiling it down, it was Rice. And we covered the spread.
Thoughts?
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hippie said:
November 29th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
trips, a couple of thoughts:
dog’s defense has been the most enjoyable part of the season for me at this point. sometimes i miss game action focusing on him. I don’t remember the focus player’s name from Rice, but the kid rarely even saw the ball, primarily b/c of dogus. he is lethal. agreed that he doesn’t need to be paired with mase. he’s great with brown and probably will be with jai.
i thought jcovan had some nice d out there tonight.
our O vs a zone is still (and probably always will be) lacking.
you seem to have more faith that barnes can be patient with jordan. we need him out there, just for the reasons we saw today.
bradley alley dunk and block were nice. the kid is a sick athlete.
UT wildcatter said:
November 29th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Just wanted to get this quote in somewhere over here on BC
When asked during the post-game press conference if Texas Tech WR Detron Lewis, who did not start on Saturday against Baylor, was in the dog house, Mike Leach responded with probably his funniest quip of the season:
“First of all, no.
“The likelihood of me ever sharing that or anything like that. I mean, do you know how many steps there are to the lowest vault in Texas Tech? You have to camp along the way. It’s like something out of The Lord of the Rings. And unless you know the elves that have the key, and unless you can kill a whole bunch of dwarves to get there. I mean, you’ll never get to it. And you have to have the invisible ring anyways to get through the circle of fire where you’re going to have it. Even Harry Potter can’t get it.
“So the chances of that ever being revealed to anyone in this room is highly unlikely.
“Yeah, I should have just said, ‘No.’”
EggNog said:
November 29th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Timewarner in Austin didn’t carry the game unless you have the upgraded sports package so I got to watch the box score instead. Aside from being puzzled by the quick healing of Varez Ward, the rebounding seemed odd. For most of the game we were running pretty even on the boards, until later in the game when it started to pull away. Any reason for this?
hippie said:
November 29th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
eggnog, Rice gave max effort today, particularly on the boards, but also out in transition. other than that, it seemed we didn’t box out their zone very well, but i wasn’t studying it hard.
UT wildcatter said:
November 29th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Egg-
They zoned us after the early man to man
UT wildcatter said:
November 29th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Lots of wild shots, mainly from them but we had some crazy ones too
SL Xpress said:
November 29th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
I like reading this. Much better than my own thoughts after the game.
I feel like many of Barnes’ lineup choices are flat out idiotic. Justin Mason is getting too many minutes. They may go down as the season goes down, but until they do, it’s making me break out in cold sweats.
J’Covan Brown is a witch. It’s so fulfilling for me to see him have success. I realize he’s making dumb mistakes with turnovers. J’Covan, a spin move in the lane into a double team, PROLLY isn’t the greatest of ideas. Still, his on the ball defense has been better than I anticipated. He’s completely fearless out there. He’s so relaxed at the free throw line. Almost too relaxed for me. He’s just casually swishing them almost as soon as the ref gives him the ball.
I don”t think Brown is nearly as effective off the ball with Balbay running the offense as he is with the ball in his hands. Part of that is adjusting to the role. He’s simply not as apt to attack the basket on the wing as he is up top when he’s the lead guard. I think many of us have come to loathe Barnes’ “10 second offense” where he lets someone dribble the shot clock down to 10 and then make a one on one move, but Brown has the ability to make that work the same way TJ and DJ did. Balbay, on the other hand, is not going to be so good, for the elementary reasons that he can’t shoot from the field and he can’t shoot free throws.
That last possession of the half where the winning duo of Balbay/Brown combined for a basketball abortion was disheartening. They should have just left it in Brown’s hands the whole time.
That was kind of a microcosm of the game for me when they were both on the floor together. It could improve. It needs to.
I love him wearing #50. I love seeing how his teammates respond to him. Man, given how much he’s overcome to get to Texas, it fills my heart with joy to see him having so much success.
Dexter is a terrible defensive player when he’s not going against someone similar in size who plays a similar role. I am so sick and tired of seeing Pittman hedge and switch on screens. I don’t remember Texas doing this crap when Mihm was the center. Why is Barnes doing this now? Pittman is constantly losing his guy. As much of a weapon as he is on offense when he gets the ball down low, he’s constantly letting passes hit off his hands, he’s not as consistent as I’d like about securing a rebound, and defensively, he allows a BUNCH of points.
Does anyone think there’s any chance we roll out a 2-3 zone look at some point this season? I hate the lack of aggressiveness in the half court it would show, but with all this length, and Pittman’s problems in man to man, there’s certainly a part of me that would like to see it at some point.
Jordan Hamilton averaged 2 looks to the bench every minute he was on the floor. The mindfucking is well under way. The kid has absolutely no idea what he’s supposed to be doing to please the coaches. As fans who have followed the program, we know without a shadow of a doubt when he’s done something that’s going to piss Barnes off as soon as he does it, but the kid doesn’t know.
I sure hope this works out, because I don’t have a good feeling right now.
They did put my favorite lineup on the floor for a bit towards the end of the first half. It wasn’t the explosive juggernaut on offense that I wanted it to be, but I’m still sticking to it.
Barnes needs guys who can create their own shot. He has 3 terrific ones right now in Brown, Bradley, and Hamilton. Plus he has Balbay, who can beat his defender off the dribble with regularity. I have no idea how Barnes eventually manages to get them all heading in the same direction, but I do know what he’s doing right now doesn’t appear to be going the right way.
hornshornshorns said:
November 30th, 2009 at 12:32 am
Not enough has been made of Brown’s defense today. He was simply stifling. #3 (Tamir something or other) is currently having nightmares about Brown, Balbay and for good measure, Bradley in the last few minutes of the game. That kid looked like he wanted to kill something after having those three guys eat his lunch all day.
The Guru said:
November 30th, 2009 at 1:47 am
SL Xpress I normally agree with everything you say, but including Hamilton in the category of guys who can create their own shot is ridiculous when you consider the fact that he hasn’t created his own shot yet. I hate to admit this and I know everybody will probably blast my ass but I kind of see what ipowers has been saying. All of his scores have come off of catch and shoots or in transition. All he has shown in the half court is that he can catch it and shoot it, which according to the so called experts was all that Shawn Williams could do, so really what’s the difference between the two ? And if Barnes really meant what he said about him being the most cerebral of the freshmen then I would suspect that he won’t take as many bad shots and make as many boneheaded decisions as Hamilton makes. I think it’s sad that he isn’t playing more and given the opportunity to show what he can do. There’s a little mind fucking, as you so eloquently put it going on with that kid too.
CrazyJoeDavola said:
November 30th, 2009 at 1:51 am
I agree with SL’s points, though maybe not to such a dark degree. But I also think that it’s going to be impossible to see where RB takes this team until we get out of the early part of the schedule. And we may not even know until we get into the meat of the Big 12 schedule.
I mean, our 2007 team had a great start, had a terrible stretch in the middle with some ugly wins over bad teams, and then ended up probably one of the top 3-4 teams in the country at the end of the year.
Last year we had a great start and sprung a leak about halfway through, and it never got patched.
We’re only four games in, and we’re already having to reset a bunch of stuff due to losing a guy Barnes was going to count on a lot. And of course we get Lucas in a couple of weeks, so that will change up the dynamic as well. If Mase is still getting a lot of minutes after Lucas has joined the team, then I think we can start to wonder WTF.
That said, if we play like we did today against MSU and/or UNC, we’d probably lose by 10.
ransomstoddard said:
November 30th, 2009 at 5:15 am
I think we all knew there would be game like this early. Barnes is still trying to figure out what works and I suspect he is seeing things in practice that make him think having Mason and the Whirling Dervish on the floor at the same time is a good idea. I’m more concerned about January thru March than I am November and December.
I agree with SLX about Hamilton. So far I see zero basketball IQ from the kid. I would much rather Williams get those kinds of minutes. He plays better defense and seems like he has actually listened to a coach in his life.
SL Xpress said:
November 30th, 2009 at 5:57 am
You’re right, The Guru. Jordan Hamilton is being relegated to a role player.
I will say that the early part of the season isn’t exactly meaningless. Texas should be the #1 seed in the South regional, which goes through Houston. If they’re not, they’ve blown a big opportunity.
There’s a series of creampuffs before they play UNC and MSU. We’ll see what happens between now and then. What I saw against Rice doesn’t bode well to me.
Texoz said:
November 30th, 2009 at 6:58 am
With the way we struggled, I’m surprised to hear we covered the points.
Was curious why we didn’t put Williams out there with this 3-pt shooting vs the Rice zone?
I would imagine that future opponents will have a lot of zone waiting for us and it would be nice to find out if Williams is a zone buster.
Has this lineup been out on the floor yet?
- James
- Hamilton
- Williams
- Brown
- Balbay
Providing the other team doesn’t have a monster center, I wonder how that bunch might work with a zone.
SL Xpress said:
November 30th, 2009 at 7:14 am
One of the things that both Williams and Hamilton will give this team if used properly, is better rebounding.
The two things that are misleading about the stats in this game, are final margin of victory, which was helped by Ben Braun’s stupid decision to extend the game while his team missed shots (including free throws) down the stretch, and rebounding, in which Rice was even for most of the game.
Bob in Houston said:
November 30th, 2009 at 7:15 am
I’m hoping it’s because they’ve been practicing hard between Wednesday and yesterday, because everything looked a step slow. Nonetheless, they did hold Rice scoreless for the last 4:17. The fouls and exhaustion caused by the depth and the D finally did take a toll.
USC confirmed its stinkyness in a come-from-ahead loss at home to Nebraska yesterday, so no tests left until North Carolina. UNC, based on what I’ve seen against Ohio State, Syracuse and Nevada, appears to be willing to give away games if the other team has enough talent to take them. Unfortunately, right now this pretty much describes Texas as well.
Michigan State, we’ll have to see. My guess is that Izzo will try to take away Pittman, as he took away Abrams last year (and gave everyone else the blueprint to beating Texas). This may not be that difficult, since Rice was able to force turnovers from him. Izzo will take his chances with the outside shooters.
batate said:
November 30th, 2009 at 7:29 am
A couple of observations.
1) Barnes is starting to settle on his rotation. Hill, Chapman, and Williams are not getting any prime minutes. I think this is good. A 10-man rotation is manageable; 13 man: not so much. I think we’re likely to see one more odd man out. Could be Mason, but I think there’s a real possibility that it could be Jai Lucas, too. I do think the 20 minute game from Hamilton is big in this regard. He needs a few games without being on such a short leash.
2) We’ll play good defense against pretty much everyone. We’ll be in every game. It’s always frustrating for the fans, but Barnes will always build a team with defense first. We’ll come at people in waves. Right now, our biggest weakness defensively is that we can’t really zone very well, but with our depth and intensity, I don’t think many teams are just going to run away and hide against this team. It’s maddening to watch, but I think it’s the right call. Defense first. Offense will improve some as the season progresses.
kevwun said:
November 30th, 2009 at 7:33 am
I laughed when Damion made a bee line for J’Covan and wrapped him up after the intentional foul. I was wondering if J’Covan was going to retaliate at some point and was very impressed that he didn’t. He’s fun to watch.
There was a stretch in the 2nd half when we had Balbay, Mason, Bradley and Johnson out on the perimeter for our 4 out and 1 in. I swear Barnes is drawing names out of a hat to determine substitutions.
Bob in Houston said:
November 30th, 2009 at 7:59 am
I laughed when Damion made a bee line for J’Covan and wrapped him up after the intentional foul.
And for good reason, considering the look J’Covan gave the guy.
Travis said:
November 30th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Have you all not watched UNC play this year? They have no idea what they are doing, their offense consists of taking bad shots and cleaning up the glass and getting putbacks with their length.. When we play them Larry Drew will get his lunch taken everytime down the court against our D.
I watched them play Syracuse and last night watched them against Nevada, I would be shocked if we didn’t win by at least 10 against UNC.
Michigan St is a different story, but obviously they can be beat , hell florida beat em’
Travis said:
November 30th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Bob in houston – I agree with what you said, it seems like UNC expects the team to backdown because their jerseys say North Carolina and when they don’t , it’s going to come down to the wire.
SL Xpress said:
November 30th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Florida’s pressure really affected Michigan State. I’d like to see Texas have the same impact on them.
Mysterious Package said:
November 30th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Every year we hear of juggling the lineup. Is it that hard? Do not play Balbay and Mason on the floor together. We have answered ZERO questions about this team six games in. I could have told you not to let those two play together last year, i dont need to attend practice to know this
Manuel Acho said:
November 30th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Donde esta mi pinche A&M post mortem? Andale putos!
ballrific said:
November 30th, 2009 at 9:07 am
I think I read somewhere that Barnes said the “offense” stalling against Rice was on him because they haven’t worked on handling any zones in practice. wtf???!!!! That’s the main thing that will beat this team this year and solid teams will zone the fuck out of us and we “haven’t really worked” on that?
Not surprised though, pretty sure Barnes spends about 75% practice on defense. Have a feeling this team will have me pulling my hair out once again like the aldridge/gibson/tucker team; oozing with talent but no offensive continuity.
EggNog said:
November 30th, 2009 at 10:38 am
I see no reason to believe that this team will be anything other than 11-0 heading into the UNC game. Kansas has struggled some, Mich St has already lost and looked awful in doing so, UNC has problems, Kentucky has squeezed out a game or two. OU is terrible right now. This team isn’t perfect, but we have a ton of new guys and it takes a while for things to settle in. In comparison to what other top teams have going on, we aren’t doing too bad.
Brown is still struggling with turnovers but we are watching him grow. Balbay is doing much better than he did last year. Bradley is who we thought he would be, and is starting to find his offensive game. Hamilton is doing pretty well, by conference time he will be our leading scorer on nights where Pittman has foul trouble.
We have played an easy stretch, but we have taken care of business. We are shooting over 50% from the field and holding teams to under 35% shooting. Rebounding, FTs, and turnovers leave more to be desired. It is a long season and hopefully these things will improve.
bentwookie said:
November 30th, 2009 at 11:20 am
“I laughed when Damion made a bee line for J’Covan and wrapped him up after the intentional foul. ”
Wasn’t it Hamilton that wrapped him up?
SkyMonkeyHorn said:
November 30th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Thank You SLX for the statment “mind fucking” that is a Barnes mind set.
In some interview this preseason I heard Barnes talking about poor shooting in 08 that the guys where looking over their shoulders too much.
When you have such a potentially great offense with scorers in every position do you allow players to play. Do you make them look over at the bench every 20-30 seconds for instructions.
Hamilton transformed to a bigger AJ is a terrible coaching job, IF Barnes has decided to have JH as a catch and shoot role player. Jordan is a great dribble drive midrange shooter and he is a very good rebounder . Barnes is giving away baskets and rebounds for a AJ look alike.
Avery Bradley is not the same dynamic player that he was. Great IQ and a player but the edge,swagger ,attitude that make players like J’coven,Hamilton, Bradley,Dog really great talents is sorely blunted to fit into a defensive style of play.
Dont get me wrong I like defense and Barnes has been and is great for UT but the game is changing. A balance of a strong defense and great offense is hard to get to. This year Barnes has the type of players that can be a great offense and greater defense .
Just having “random picks” is a poor substitute when you have a group of players that can burn up the hoop. Even if we ran the Pick and Pop and used all the options by letting the players play we could have a dynamic improvement to our offense.
How many ways to the hoop from Pick and Pop.
Dribble drive to the hoop, dish to the bigs, dish to the wing for a 3 pointer, stop and shot a midrange shot. The pick man gets the ball back from the ball handler puts up a 3 ,drives to the basket, passes the rock to Dex in the low post. So many options to get all the players involved in the offense and then rebounding misses. At times I think that the players are on different pages when we run our offense.
Alex is getting better and his energy is great but he is not the only answer, what happens when Dex is in foul trouble and Damion has that 1000 yard look in his eyes and takes a game off. Having Hill and Chapman ready to play is also an issue to look at.
A ton of talent to work with , to coach their strengths to new highs. This may be the the time for UT Basketball .
MerHorn said:
November 30th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Its a Barnes team so I never expect offense to be fluid.
Hamilton needs 25 minutes a game IMO. Williams needs court time, he has done nothing but impress when on the court doing all the little things….he can rebound, guard and shoot but gets no minutes. It should not be a Williams or Hamilton question, there is room for both.
Mason is a senior and Barnes will continue to try him, kind of like Mack and Vondrell…its just not the best thing to do for this team to reach its goals.
Scipio Tex said:
November 30th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Williams can’t guard an athletic perimeter player.
BEHorn said:
November 30th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
On a non-Hamilton note:
Dexter must learn to secure the ball. He has big hands, to be sure, but at some point he needs to clap those bad boys onto the ball when receiving a post pass or trying to secure a rebound. That first, put-back second. It may result in more lay-ins and fouls than thunderous dunks, but it will also mean 4-6 less lost possessions per game.
Big fella’s otherwise playing very well offensively, and can do so defensively provided he’s not giving up too much in the quicks department, but I can’t yell “Grab the ball FIRST Dex!” the entire season. I just can’t …
ChrisApplewhite said:
November 30th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
This team needs the meat of it’s schedule. There is a lot of “because I can” going on and not enough “because I need to.” A good 20 point loss to MSU will get rid of some bad habits.
There is a ton of talent and no roles. What are Bradley and Brown? Do we need Johnson to force as much offense as he does? What does Mason give us at this point? Can we rely on Pittman?
I think Barnes should just tell Balbay, Bradley and James that they are playing 30 minutes every night, that this is their team, and anyone else that wants to play has to fit around them.
It would also help if the ball ever found it’s way out of the post back to a shooter.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Do you really think we will lose by 20 at home to a Michigan State team who lost to Florida? They have no inside presence whatsoever and Kalin Lucas hasn’t been the player they expected him to be so far this year (I.e. the best player in the nation). I see us struggling with their style like usual, but I really don’t see how we aren’t in the game at the end. I struggle enough with the notion of losing to anybody other than KU at home…
Bartoncreek said:
November 30th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Frustrating. In a good way I guess. This team is so much more talented than anybody in the country save maybe Kansas.
I agree with the mindfucking call. If you are going to recruit these types of talents, you have to let them play. You have to let them make mistakes, point them out and throw them back out there. There were a lot of people that thought Carmelo was a prima donna, me first scorer. We all know how that turned out.
I love Barnes and everything he has done. But, if this team doesn’t make the final 4 it will be one of the all-time Texas coaching blunders. If he gets into Hamilton, Bradley or Brown’s head, it will be the biggest mistake he’s ever made and it will piss me off forever. Hamilton is one and done. He is too talented not to take the 1st round money. Play him, teach him, rely on him. He is the difference between a Final 4 hopeful and a Final 4 lock and the 1st or 2nd favorite to win it all. Please let him play his way through bad decisions.
The Guru said:
November 30th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
SL, I wasn’t saying that Barnes has made Hamilton a role player. I am saying that Hamilton has not displayed any skills other than being a good catch and shoot guy and being able to score in transition. He has yet to put the ball on the floor and beat anybody off the dribble and I don’t think he can at this level. Barton Creek, the kid is not a one and done type of player. I have coached this game and have seen a lot of kids on the AAU circuit throughout my career. I have seen Durant, O.J. Mayo, Eric Gordon, and Derrick Rose when they were in high school and I had no doubt that they were one and done. Hamilton is not in that class. I have a few friends who scout for NBA teams and none of then that I know are as enamored with this kid the way some of you guys are, and it’s not because of his role on this team because they look at these kids in high school as well, so let’s not blame it on Barnes. He has never held a kid back and he has put guys in the league repeatedly over the years. Durant showed his entire set of skills and Barnes allowed him to, so let’s get off this conspiracy theory to hold Hamilton down. He is showing what he is capable of stop making excuses for this kid. I live in the Dallas area and I have seen the Williams kid since grade school and I have seen Hamilton on the circuit. I also know some of the coaching staff at Texas and all I heard from them when practice started was how much they were impressed with Williams and how much Hamilton was struggling but when the season started Hamilton is getting more minutes, it’s a mystery to me. I’m not trying to get my head beat in like the ipowers guy but he has some valid points. Barnes doesn’t have time to let him play his way through bad decisions. The kid has always been that way and giving him a long leash is what his problem has been his whole career.
Bartoncreek said:
November 30th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Well, it will be interesting to see how this develops. Let’s keep in contact throughout the year. I don’t see the selfishness that others do. Sometimes the best shooter on the floor has to shoot it when he’s open. It’s not like he’s taking fade away 3s with someone draped all over him. He can get his shot off with his body square whenever he wants. I have no problem with his shot selection thus far.
He can handle, I’ve seen it. He can create and draw and dish. We haven’t seen much of it yet, but if he gets comfortable with the minutes he gets, we will.
He has more upside than Mayo. We will see how he develops or doesn’t. Kid hasn’t played in over a year and a half. Let’s keep that in mind and keep in touch on this. Hopefully, I’m right and all the experts are wrong. If not, I will humbly admit it.
sa said:
November 30th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I have no doubt that there is a significant amount of “tinkering” going on with the lineup right now.
for those of y’all hoping that Mason is going to start riding pine, get ready to be dissapointed. Eddie Oran won’t stop raving about how much Mason brings to the table offensively. not saying that EO is an open channel to the coaching staff, but I’m thinking the staff might be on a similar page. he can play some D. I agree that he can’t be on the floor with Balbay.
I don’t think Jordan Hamilton will be relegated to the role of jumpshooter. frankly, he’s shown better in previous games this year. don’t forget…we’re only a few games into the season. outside of allstar games and glorified scrimmages, he hasn’t hooped a whole bunch over the past year.
of course…you could say the same thing about Brown. credit where credit is due — SLX had this one right. he seems so comfortable and in control running the point. it’s troublesome that he seems to be struggling playing next to to Balbay, but I think that will come.
Brown has been great with the ball in his hands. bottom line, the best teams Barnes has had at Texas have had stud PG’s — 2 squads with TJ, 2 squads with DJ. I guess you can make the case for the Aldridge elite 8 team…albeit with a highly effective Kenton Paulino. early play suggests Brown will fill the role of stud PG.
right now, we’ve got two guys that appear to have quite a bit of natural ability playing PG. guys like Hamilton and Lucas are going to take and make shots. Dex is obviously going to get his looks.
there’s a lot of “no brainer” offense present on our squad. I think things will work themselves out. we’ll still be envious of teams that run actual sets and wonder why all of our offense can’t look like our out of bounds plays, but we’ll be ok.
oh…and Dex has got to start making the FT’s. he’s going to be fouled as assload. him shooting around 70% made him a pretty special bigman. 50%? not so much.
kafka said:
November 30th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Great thread.
The horns sould not be setting picks for Balbay and he shouldn’t be running the offense most of the time. Its great to see Balbay penetrate and dish/finish but the rest of the time it would be better for the other guard (i.e. Brown or Bradley) to be the dribbler on the pick and roll because that guy has to be able to reliably hit a 16 foot jump shot off the pick (in the extremely unlikely event that the screen is not aggressively hedged).
Balbay should pick one place on the 3 point line and shoot a couple of hundred set shots from that one spot every day. If he could hit that one shot 30% of the time in a real game, it would make spacing so much better. Balbay hit a 3 point set shot at the end of last season so he must be working on it some.
I would like to echo SMH in desiring to see the possibilities of the pick and roll more fully exploited (with a different variant). It would be great to see some passes to the roller. It would also be nice to anticipate a systemic response by the D (i.e. help defense) and be capable of making the extra pass to the open man.
I’m OK with getting Jordan lots of catch and shoot opportunities (instead of being the center of the offense on those possessions). Also, when Dex is not in the game, it would be cool to see Jordan post up some when he is guarded by a smaller, faster defender.
If the horns had a zone D group conssting of Dex, Jordan, Shawn, Brown, and Lucas (when Lucas is eligible), it would be a way to compensate for the defensive challenges those guys face in man on man D. In man D, Shawn and Jordan will have a difficut time defending smaller, faster 3′s, Dex will be pulled outside where his man will be setting screens, Lucas is small. I put Brown on the zone team because I need a 5th guy. In a zone, Dex, Shawn, and Jordan become assets. A zone also protects Lucas.
On offense this group would surround Dex with 4 excellent outside shooters. I don’t know how many minutes this group would get but every minute they play provides rest for the other horns (not in this group) and also gives Barnes more opportunity to exploit the offensive capabilities of these guys. Obviously guys like Dex, Jordan, and Brown would not be limited to just playing with tis group.
kafka said:
December 1st, 2009 at 6:57 am
One reason that catch and shoot opportunities are so great for Jordan is that Jordan’s defender is under a lot of pressure to contest the shot after the catch. Since Jordan has not yet started to dribble, when Jordan fakes instead of shooting, it is probable that his defender will be in the air and Jordan has the options of either taking one or two dribbles and shooting a mid range shot or taking it to the hoop and either finishing or dishing.
When you have a real tall guy who is a great outside shooter, catch and shoot is a great way to set him up.
The catch and shoot approach also reduces psychological stress on Jordan since he does not have the responsibility of running the offense (at least not yet).
kafka said:
December 1st, 2009 at 7:13 am
When Balbay’s man leaves him to double somebody else, Balbay could immediately set a screen for a teammate who is a shooter.
A shot Balbay should develop is the short (5′ to 10′) shot off the backboard. This is a good shot when you are in a close diagonal position WRT the basket. When shot high off the board with lots of back spin, this shot is easy to hit and makes Balbay more dangerous off a screen or as a finisher.
captainsubtext said:
December 1st, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Guru, it appears that Seth Davis disagrees with you.
I don’t think it’s any secret that Jordan Hamilton is Texas’s best NBA prospect.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/seth_davis/11/30/hoop.thoughts/1.html#ixzz0YTE8B6tJ
The Guru said:
December 1st, 2009 at 2:28 pm
When Seth Davis starts drafting guys let me know.
Huckleberry said:
December 1st, 2009 at 2:37 pm
The team clearly isn’t close to their potential. And yet already they are ranked in the top 2 in:
Ken Pomeroy’s Ratings (#1)
My EWP Ratings (#2)
My Old-Style Ratings (#1)
My Power Ratings (sort the previous link by power – #1)
Sagarin’s Ratings (#2)
Sagarin’s Predictor (#1 – see previous link)
These aren’t human polls, of course, they are based on actual outcomes of actual games and are not based at all on perceived talent and potential. And this team is still already ranked as an elite team. With miles of improvement ahead.
Bob in Houston said:
December 1st, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Huck, I was about to post that according to kenpom’s rankings, back to 2004, Texas has had these rankings in offensive efficiency (essentially points per possession):
15
25
4
5
3
39
5
with 39 being last year’s number (and hardly a terrible ranking) and five being this year’s. None of us are thrilled by Barnes’s offense. But if the players are good enough, it’s still really good, even with flaws, compared to what other teams are doing (even other good teams).
If anything, we perceive RB to be a defensive coach, and the rankings are decidedly mixed. 22, 44, 10 (’06 with Aldridge cleaning up at the rim), 62 (Durant and the other freshmen), 36, 28, and, this year…. 1.
Now, they’ve been overmatching the competition, but it’s not like Kansas and Duke and Villanova have been facing tournament teams consistently either.
Huckleberry said:
December 1st, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I haven’t looked in a while, but I think you’ll find that those efficient offenses are due to very high rankings in offensive rebounding and turnovers. Essentially Barnes’ offensive strategy is to crash the boards, which works if you can do it. The “ugly” offense we see when we can’t buy a bucket is probably related to games where we can’t out-athlete the opposition as well so offensive rebounding is more difficult.
The kind of efficient offenses that fans find more aesthetically pleasing are those that will end up with high ratings in the shooting percentages and assists per field goal made. While I’m here, I’ll look. Here are our offensive rankings going back in time:
2010 (so far): #5 overall – #144 TO, #152 OR, #11 EFGP, #110 A/FGM
2009: #39 overall – #59 TO, #19 OR, #194 EFGP, #282 A/FGM
2008: #3 overall – #1 TO, #40 OR, #108 EFGP, #298 A/FGM
2007: #5 overall – #12 TO, #57 OR, #105 EFGP, #270 A/FGM
2006: #4 overall – #94 TO, #5 OR, #52 EFGP, #166 A/FGM
2005: #25 overall – #96 TO, #26 OR, #45 EFGP, #284 A/FGM
2004: #15 overall – #9 TO, #2 OR, #129 EFGP, #284 A/FGM
The A/FGM numbers clearly bear out two things. The first is that we don’t get a lot of assists and the second is that we don’t have the Reed Arena official scorer working our games too often. Keep the turnovers down and crash the boards.
Bartoncreek said:
December 1st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Interesting stats. Thanks for posting those, Bob and Huck. It isn’t pretty, but maybe it’s more effective than we realize.
It’s funny, I have thought that our defense was pretty average the last 3 years and the numbers bear that out. To me that is a result of no length on the wings. Not nearly as big a deficiency this year. Not playing with two guys under 6’0 and a third at 6’2 for the majority of games makes defending much easier.
The Guru said:
December 1st, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I just spoke with a friend of mine who scouts for an NBA team. He told me that the consensus on Hamilton is that he’s just a shooter, short arms, and limited athletically. He also said that Bradley is the top prospect on that team. So like I said when Seth Davis starts scouting or drafting guys for a living then we can talk.
December 1st, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Look, if Bradley is drafted over Hamilton, I’m sure everybody here will shut up. I’d put it at less than a 10% chance. I think J’Covan is more draftable than Bradley, especially once he gets that fucking screw out of his foot. Bradley is the consummate college player–6-2, athletic, not filled out, good shooter. Only one of those translates to being drafted next year. I don’t think he has the primacy to succeed in the NBA anytime soon either, but that obviously has nothing to do with draft status (hello Demar DeRozan and Jrue Holiday). I look forward to his being here for a while. If you need proof that Hamilton is more than just a jump shooter, watch whenever he leads the break. He has sick vision. That pass he made behind him to Gary Johnson (that of course Gary had no idea was coming, as our big men have been prone to over the years) was one of the grossest passes I’ve seen and he made it look effortless. Personally I’d love to see him around for another year, and I agree he’s not a 1 and done guy (for different reasons than you, Guru), but I think he’s definitely the most talented player on the team, has a wicked skillset, and is the key to our winning the NC this year. Great thread!
The Guru said:
December 1st, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Well Blake you obviously know more than NBA scouts do. So there we have it folks, Blake has spoken.
dick said:
December 1st, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Jordan is pretty good on fast breaks with the ball. We have been spoiled by Durant (and DJ) as far as what to expect from true freshman. I was expecting a whole lot more from Bradley. I do like having him and Balbay on the floor applying pressure on the perimeter.
I agree with ChrisApplewhite that some losses could do this team some good. Watching MSU and UNC tonight, they both played at a much higher level than we have yet this season. Maybe we just need a big game under our belt as well. We should probably compare ourselves to Kentucky more than Kansas.
The Guru said:
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:48 am
Yes he is good in the open floor. How many times will he have the ball in his hands in those types of situations ? 2 maybe 3 times a game. The other 95% of the time he will be playing in the halfcourt and he simply hasn’t shown any ability to put the ball on the floor in those situations.
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:09 am
Yeah, love the crass attitude. Everybody here basically says the same thing in regard to Hamilton. But your inside connections are all that matters, right? I mean, God forbid different teams rate him differently. Or that, ya know, scouts are wrong. Pretty sure that happened a few years back when anybody who had watched Melo play in college knew he was light years ahead of Darko. Or Durant being better than Oden, for that matter. But no, scouts almost unilaterally had both of those completely wrong, yet I’m sure everybody here could have told you which player was better in both situations. It happens every year, in fact, but not always to the degree of those two instances. You pretentiously underestimate the knowledge of the informed fan. Again, not saying that your are wrong about Hamilton’s not being ready (or that your “friends” are wrong), but to already say he doesn’t have NBA potential is ludicrous. If Austin Daye can get drafted in the first round as a SF, Hamilton easily can.
And regarding the open floor comment, are you serious? The NBA is a thousand times faster paced than college basketball. Imagine how many breakaway/open floor opportunities he would have in a system like the Suns have. 10 a game? 15? More?
I usually very much enjoy your posts, Guru, but your arrogance is really showing through here in my opinion.
kafka said:
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:45 am
Guru:
How do you think Jordan will do this season for the horns? Right now he is doing a lot of catch and shoot on offense. Ev erybody agrees that he is an excellent shot, right? Given that he is such a threat to shoot immediately after he catches the ball, his shot fakes will be very effective, right? It is dead simple to dribble past a defender who has left his feet in response to a shot fake. If Jordan continues to be used as a guy who mostly does catch and shoot and handles the ball mostly after catch and shoot fakes, Isn’t he almost guaranteed to be successful offensively this season?
kafka said:
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 am
I saw the UNC-MSU game, too. UNC is ranked 11 but looked very good. I was less impressed with MSU but somehow they hung in there vs UNC. It will be really interesting to see how Dex does vs the UNC big men. It will be interesting to see how many points UT scores on the UNC D.
Trips Right said:
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:16 pm
UNC doesn’t have an identity yet, but when they get one, look out. They may be deeper than we are.
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I am worried about our interior defense against UNC. Both Thompson and Davis are good athletes and have great post moves. They also are extremely smart players with high basketball IQ’s. I would put James and Pittman especially far from the high hoops IQ department. I also think Pittman is a terrible post defender, at times. “At times” will hurt against the UNC bigs. A lot. I could see us getting absolutely worked in the post. I also have nightmares about our high post switching, especially with Dex trying to guard Davis. Ugh.
Their guard play went from a decided weakness to, at the very least, good, and seems to be evolving into a strength. Drew has been playing well the last few games. I was counting on his being a liability against our pressure. That may no longer be the case. Ginyard’s range has extended, but he’s still not a guy who’s going to take over the game. Neither is Graves. Strickland could be that guy eventually, but I don’t think he will be by Dec. 19. If UNC has a definite weakness, it’s their ball handling. Our pressure defense should be able to force quite a few TOs, but we need to make sure we convert these into easy buckets instead of just re-turning the ball over (I.e. don’t let Damion lead the break). We MUST capitalize on our breakaway opportunities. I could see Jordan’s defense being a huge detriment to our team here because UNC has crafty guys on the perimeter who know how to play together and get easy buckets. He has to stay with his guy off the ball or he’s going to get made a fool of and Barnes is going to pull him.
One way that UNC dominates games that few people know about is their lethal secondary break set. Everybody knows how they love to push the ball (less so this year, but still), but where they really shine is the secondary break. Watch for it the next time you see the Heels play, it’s a thing of beauty. They get the ball up the court and don’t give the defense enough time to get set/find the man they are supposed to be guarding. The PG get the ball to the wing on the break. If this is shut down, UNC goes into secondary break mode. This is an automatic play they run almost automatically every time down the court if they are stopped in a transition-like sequence. The wing guard swings the ball back up to the post, who is at the top of the key (the guy that usually gets the rebound on the other end). The other post is already down low. The post at the top of the key then continues to swing the ball, before receiving a screen. Eventually, Carolina has both big men on the blocks and the near-side big man sets a cross screen for the far side post. The wing enters the ball and the big man usually has time to drop step and score before his man recovers from being picked. Also, because the defender is often late, he is prone to fouling for an “and 1.” They abused MSU with this play, especially with Ed Davis, and it’s also what netted Hansbrough so many of his points over his career.
The Guru said:
December 2nd, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I never said the kid did not have NBA potential. Anybody with eyes can see that. All that I am saying is that this pedestal we have put him on is a little much. FYI in ’03 Detroit already had Tayshaun Prince as their starting small forward and you can make an argument that he is one better small forwards in the league. He has been an Olympian let’s not forget. He was and is a better defender than Carmelo and Larry Brown was the head coach in Detroit at the time and we all know that he is a defense first head coach. Detroit needed size and Darko had a world of upside. Nobody got anything wrong it was about what Detroit needed at the time. As far as Oden and Durant are concerned. Portland also made the right pick based on what they needed. You almost always choose a talented big over a talented small. Great big guys are hard to find. Their will be more Carmelo’s and Durant’s that come along but potentially great 7 footers can be franchise difference makers. Oden is improving and Darko’s confidence was broken by Brown and he has never lived up to his potential. Jordan is not in the same class as Durant or Melo. That’s what I mean by putting him on a pedestal.
kafka said:
December 2nd, 2009 at 6:51 pm
The UNC fast break was awesome. They were fast breaking on baskets made by MSU. MSU was smaller and faster than UNC but UNC could fast break on them anyway.
Syracuse beat UNC by playing a zone. Barnes might want to play some zone vs UNC.
Guru: Even if one assumes (for the sake of argument) that Shawn and Jordan are similar in ability, there is a perfectly logical explanation for why the small forward job is Jordan’s to lose. Jordan is an elite recruit (IIRC, in the top 10). One of the ways that Barnes is able to lure these elite recruits is that he showcases them. Future possible UT elite recruits see this and commit to UT. If one of Barnes’ elite recruits fails, this will hurt future recruiting so Barnes will do everything he can possibly do to make sure that elite recruits succeed (including Jordan).
The Guru said:
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Hey I haven’t mentioned the Williams kid in my last 3 0r 4 posts. It has nothing to do with that. Hamilton just has a ways to go before he is worthy of all this hype that he has gotten.
The Guru said:
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Kafka I agree with everything u said. Coaches feel pressure to play the big name recruits for future recruiting and also because of media pressure, alumni pressure, fan pressure. That is exactly why he is getting the minutes that he is getting because like I said in one of my earlier posts all I heard from the coaching staff was how much he was struggling in practice. So like I said u r 100% right.
kafka said:
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:28 am
Guru:
Many thanks.
How probable is it (in your opinion) that Barnes starts playing more zone this season? I think we start seeing more zone because it converts Dex and Jordan into assets on D and facilitates playing Dex, Jordan, Lucas and Shawn more minutes. Barnes is exceptionally able at teaching his kids how to rebound in a zone D so that minimizes one of the biggest problems with playing zone.
I’d like to see the horns switch between man D and a matchup zone D a few times per game because it would cause a bit of confusion for the opponent in knowing how to attack the horns’ D.
The Guru said:
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I think it would be beneficial for him to play some zone to better utilize his length and to also help keep Dex out of foul trouble. He has done a pretty good job of staying on the floor but when he plays against some quality bigs i.e. North Carolina bigs or Kansas bigs, he almost undoubtedly will be in foul trouble. From what the coaching staff tells me they’re concerned with Shawn’s perimeter defense and his minutes are indicative of that. Playing more zone will allow him to get some more minutes theoretically. Barnes has been and always will be a man guy but I believe in adjusting to your personnel and I believe he has a team capable of causing some problems in a zone situation.