Connect with your Facebook Account

• Contact

Basketball Articles

17

The View from The Drum and Sundries . . .

Posted by The General on December 23rd, 2009 under Basketball

If you have not already read the excellent posts from srr50 and Trips Right, then do so now, or I will give HenryJames your IP address which could lead to you being the subject of an ongoing federal investigation.

I’ll try not to rehash the above posters excellence and get straight to the meat.

Damion James
I’m not uncomfortable running the offense through Damion James right now. I can’t believe I just typed that sentence. His decision making has been excellent. His ball handling has improved (though it still makes me Scipio around minors level uncomfortable). There are new jumbotron profile shots of the team where they all try to look mean. Dexter looks like he is trying not to laugh at Trips’ jump shot. Avery Bradley looks constipated. Doge Balbay looks like he is trying to translate Miley Cyrus lyrics into Turkish. Damion looks like he is going to kill me and eat my previously undiscovered young.

Doge Balbay
Doge just straight up outplayed Kalin Lucas and Larry Drew. Read that sentence again.

I have a confession to make and owe Balbay an apology.

After one of the September football night games where I spent the day drinking then got to experience the greatness that is booze in the club seats, I topped the night off doing ridiculously immature things on Sixth Street. Some say thirty one is too old to grope sorority girls while romping on the dance floor at 311 to the greatness that is Joe Valentine. I say judge not, lest you too would be judged you glass McMansion owning hypocrite. What is unforgivable is running into Balbay at about 2:30 in the lounge area of a parking garage with his Turkoman posse and challenging him to a game of H-O-R-S-E using a trash can and a beach ball sized wad of bar receipts that I conveniently had in my pocket. The lesson, as always, is that I am an asshole.

Luckily, for all involved, Doge decided that he couldn’t understand my particular brand of drunken verbiage, instead of choking me out with his hookah, which would have been perfectly reasonable.

Jai Lucas
I think Jai is the near perfect balance between Doge and J’Covan. He can handle well enough to limit turnovers. He can hit open threes. And, he reverses the ball at the top of the key so we get a little perimeter ball movement in our offense. On defense, he moves his feet and stays in front of people. He can’t bring the ball pressure that our other guys can, but who does? He came in in the first half and settled us down at a key point.

Avery Bradley
I am in the Trips Right camp in that AB should be taking 15 shots per game. I don’t know why he quit penetrating in the second half, because he seemed to be the only guy that could do it in the first half.

Gary Johnson
I think Gary is like a tailback that needs 25 touches to really punish a defense. When he gets extended minutes he seems to get stronger as the game goes. The only person that I wish had two more inches more than Gary, is of course myself. Sometimes I wonder what GJ’s rebounding numbers would look like without the Human Carom Vacuum on the other block.

Jordan Hamilton
Everybody looks great when they hit their shots, eh? The difference in this game and UNC for Jordan was he made a few. He still hasn’t figured out why it is so hard to drive baseline in Barnes’ offense, and his decision making has not improved. Turning this kid into Matt Bullard is a problem. Hopefully, he will start driving to the elbow where he can dish or pull up. Overpenetrating so you can shoot runners at 6′8″ is a bad strategy. Hopefully, Jordan pulls some confidence from this game so he can settle down to be the all around assassin that he has the skills to be.

J’Covan Brown
I think we can put the head case business to rest with J’Covan. One of the great things about live basketball is that you get to see how the players interact with each other during the game. J’Covan is a true team leader at this point. Seeing him do things like grab Damion and talk him down after a galactically stupid foul call, work the referees during time outs, and slap Barnes’ ass after getting a butt chewing show you a portrait of a dynamic and passionate leader. I think Ed Hightower would let J’Covan date his daughter.

Officiating
I knew the game was fucked when I took my seat and saw Ed Hightower’s fat, lazy, ass in stripes on the court schmoozing with boosters before the game. He was probably a decent referee before his ego outgrew first class airline seats and his waistline. The other two zebra’s on his crew take their lead from him, and genuinely suck. In all fairness, this crew doesn’t have any Dick Bavetta in them though. They suck gigantic, saran wrapped, donkey cock for both teams. Hightower has been buttfucking Horns games since I moved back to Austin in 2006. May he be infested with the fleas of a thousand camels in the general vicinity of his gunt.

Bellmont has evidently won a hotly contested bidding war for The Landing Strip’s DJ and installed him as the PA announcer at the Super Drum. If I hear the phrase, “LOVELY LADIES OF THE FORTY ACRES WORKING HARD FOR TIPS AND TIPS ALONE,” again I am going to choke a ballboy. Okay, so half that sentence was a fabrication, but can you guess which half?

The Drum was The Morgue in the first half. It was really embarrassing when the eighty seven State fans in the upper deck were louder than the entire Texas crowd during our free throws. Texas pressure in the second half got us off our asses though.

My usual last minute ticket mooching avenues came up empty when I left my tickets in my desk drawer at the office. I am a moron. Luckily, the Erwin Center has the worst scalpers in the Western Hemisphere. When you start at the asking price of $150.00 for a single mezzanine ticket, and I talk you down to thirty bones with three words and a fake walk off, I am afraid the Darwinian processes of your trade spell doom.

The last laugh was with the scalper though. I ended up second row mezzanine in one of the odd number section seats that are singles next to the handicap row. The width of the seat is roughly half of the already too small for my girth seat found everywhere else. But, it is a great view to watch the refs blow calls from.

Even though I liked Jai Lucas’ play in the first half, I agreed with Barnes going with the rotation he did in half number two. We feed emotionally off our defense so much, that we need to have that ball pressure group of guards in the game when it is time to assert our dominance.

Looking into the future, I am interested to see Texas in true road games at Fayetteville, Storrs, and Manhattan. K State is rounding out to be one helluva good basketball team. If they continue on the current projection, they may be in the top ten by tourney time. I wish they had more on the non conference schedule than Ole Miss and Alabama, but they get Texas and the Agriculturals at home and I would gladly accept whatever amount of points they are getting from Kansas in Manhattan.

I watched some Oklahoma v UTEP on Monday, and if there has ever been a basketball team that was less than the some of its parts more than the Sooners, I can’t remember the team. TMG looks like a guy I wish we could have taken and Willie Warren is still an assassin, but they had no answer for UTEP and Randy Culpepper whose jump shot is either a perfect swish or comes off the side of his tiny carnie hands and injures a bystanding cheerleader.

Watching Tiny Gallon take low post position like Derek Caracter had H1N1 was comedy. He would start with deep position, then Caracter would touch him with his finger tips as if fondling a recalcitrant butterfly and he would take a step out until the touching had him posting up 18 feet away and wondering why they weren’t entering the ball to him. I think we could invert the defense and let Jai Lucas guard him.

Thoughts?

Article Tags:

, , , , , ,

More from this Barker


Share This

  • StumbleUpon

17 Responses

  1. blackscholes said:

    December 23rd, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    Found your stride with the Tiny Gallon comments. Excellent.

  2. mpayne said:

    December 23rd, 2009 at 10:06 pm

    Our crowds are never stellar and the 2nd half was definitely louder than the 1st. But…exactly how loud do you expect our crowd to be when we’re the ones shooting free throws? Is the crowd supposed to make a bunch of noise, waves flags in the air, and beat on kettle drums? Maybe our crowd should try to distract our foul shooters, in hopes of distracting them towards actually making free throws.

  3. EggNog said:

    December 23rd, 2009 at 10:13 pm

    That air horn worked for making a free throw, you just might be onto something.

  4. Trips Right said:

    December 23rd, 2009 at 10:40 pm

    Thoughts?

    I think you should write more. Your stuff is fantastic. I’d love to catch a ballgame with you sometime but you won’t talk me into clubbing at Abrato’s. Not unless you know bouncers that work the door from Southwest Texas State. Because then we could bribe them with Ambien.

    As for the basketball stuff, I just rewatched the game for a third time. You’re spot on pretty much everything.. One thing I would add on Hamilton is that I was encouraged by his defense, especially his helpside rotations. He was on time and decisive for the most part, and his length really makes a difference when he arrives, unlike our third guard. This will be huge against the bigger frontcourts on our schedule.

    So the good news is that he’s starting to get the little things on that end of the floor, and this will earn him more playing time. If he can ever figure out the shot selection and floor game on the other end, we’re in business.

  5. raoulduke said:

    December 24th, 2009 at 12:29 am

    You and Trips own this shit. Great column. Can we get Hank Dudek’s take more often too?

    J’Covan Brown
    I think we can put the head case business to rest with J’Covan. One of the great things about live basketball is that you get to see how the players interact with each other during the game. J’Covan is a true team leader at this point. Seeing him do things like grab Damion and talk him down after a galactically stupid foul call, work the referees during time outs, and slap Barnes’ ass after getting a butt chewing show you a portrait of a dynamic and passionate leader. I think Ed Hightower would let J’Covan date his daughter.

    Amen. He is of vital importance.

  6. The General said:

    December 24th, 2009 at 5:45 am

    Our crowds are never stellar and the 2nd half was definitely louder than the 1st. But…exactly how loud do you expect our crowd to be when we’re the ones shooting free throws? Is the crowd supposed to make a bunch of noise, waves flags in the air, and beat on kettle drums? Maybe our crowd should try to distract our foul shooters, in hopes of distracting them towards actually making free throws.

    I meant that they were louder when we were shooting free throws than Texas crowd was at any point during the first half, including when State was shooting free throws.

  7. The General said:

    December 24th, 2009 at 5:48 am

    Trips,

    I didn’t watch Hamilton much on defense. I was mesmerized by our ball pressure. I think we can assume he played better because Barnes left him in for sizable stretches.

  8. Art Vandelay said:

    December 24th, 2009 at 8:26 am

    “I think we can assume he played better because Barnes left him in for sizable stretches.”

    Another “Good” from the game. “Old Rick” would have pulled him after a poor decision, and we may not have seen 4-6 from downtown.

    2009-2010 Rick Barnes = 2005 Mack Brown? Is Barnes listening to rap now?

  9. BEHorn said:

    December 24th, 2009 at 9:20 am

    So long as the sorority girls are providing return grope, you’re never too old.

  10. Diego said:

    December 24th, 2009 at 10:39 am

    I noticed Hamilton talking to his defender quite a few times, particularly after he made a 3. I’m sure this happens quite a bit with all players, but I did wonder if sometimes Hamilton’s poor shot selection is related to his individual competitive nature with his defender.

    Another highlight for me was when Dexter made a big block in the 2nd half he accidently spit his mouthpiece out onto the floor. He couldn’t find it and Dogus was only willing to point it out for him, not pick it up.

  11. dasmithjones said:

    December 24th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    “if there has ever been a basketball team that was less than the some of its parts more than the Sooners” – I see what you did there.

  12. The General said:

    December 24th, 2009 at 8:49 pm

    Another highlight for me was when Dexter made a big block in the 2nd half he accidently spit his mouthpiece out onto the floor. He couldn’t find it and Dogus was only willing to point it out for him, not pick it up.

    I caught that too. I felt like I was waiting for the Smails kid to eat it, and sure enough Dexter looked at it for a second and popped it right back in.

  13. Texoz said:

    December 25th, 2009 at 10:09 am

    Here are some more views from the game.

    UT vs Mich State Defense

    Pom Boy

    Johnson Steal & Slam

    Halfcourt shot by fan at UT vs Mich Stage

  14. Hank Dudek said:

    December 25th, 2009 at 11:46 am

    First thing I would do is make Dex play position and stop trying to block shots. Let’s leave the shot blocking to the high risers like James, Bradley and Hamilton. God gave you that massive body so you could wear down smaller opponents with it. When you have an 8 and half foot wing span you can do enough shot altering by staying in front of your man as you can by attempting to get 285 pounds launched perfectly to avoid unnecessary fouls.

    On the same topic, do you really need to feed your elbow to defenders like a corn cob Dex? Any abnormal post up set only brings attention to the fact that you are HUGE and that the other guy clearly is being manhandled in a way that the refs feel like you are trying to get your salad tossed… So be a little more discreet for crying out loud. We need your big ass in the game against high-level competition.

    Funny story about Doge and good write up General. I am looking forward to the Connecticut game in a few weeks but not overlooking any games with a young team.

  15. raoulduke said:

    December 25th, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    That’s what I’m talking about. Dudek, Trips and the General. Great hoops talk. Thanks guys and merry x-mas!

  16. Art Vandelay said:

    December 26th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    Texoz,

    Great stuff. Thanks for sharing!

  17. Texoz said:

    December 26th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    Art V, thanks. I’ve been to a lot of basketball games (pro & college), and that was in my Top 10, maybe Top 5. Just a lot of great basketball and entertainment all around.

    And lots of good points from The General to go with Trips and Srr50. For those of us who have been watching basketball for a long time, we could tell that this team had the makings of something special. It’s no longer an issue of “lots of potential.” They’re there.

    Now it’s a matter of how high is their ceiling? If they want to make sure they’re good enough to beat Kansas or Kentuckly or anyone else, they need to two more key pieces of the puzzle:
    - better FT shooting
    - Jordan Hamilton needs to “get it”

    I think Jordan’s very close to getting it. Thankfully, Coach Barnes is giving him the space to find himself.

Leave a Reply

Follow Us

Related Articles

Hot Forum Topics

Activity

  • NorthDallasSooner commented on the blog post The week in news- Pariahs, Malcontents and Power Hour   16 minutes ago

    “Coincidentally I maintain a subscription to Texas Monthly magazine in an effort to keep up with my roots in some way, shape or form. The April issue showed up at my house this afternoon and features a fairly in depth article about the ongoing drama between Texas Tech and the Dread Pirate Leach. The more

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: Recapping the East   20 minutes ago

    Again, no news is good news when you’re one of the top seeds in the region. That motto holds true in the East as the top four seeds advanced.

    Kentucky vs. East Tennessee State

    This was a blood bath from the tip. Anyone that thinks this young Wildcat club may have one eye on the

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • NorthDallasSooner wrote a new blog post: Rumor Alert–TMG   28 minutes ago

    It’s certainly unconfirmed, but I got this email this morning from a friend who follows the hoops program very closely. Stay tuned……

    “A very reliable source close to the OU BB program told me yesterday TMG is gone. He packed his bags and unless Capel can talk him out of it our PG for the future has left

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post The week in news- Pariahs, Malcontents and Power Hour   46 minutes ago

    Great survey, whiskey. I miss football a lot.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: Recapping The South   52 minutes ago

    There were lots of surprises in this region and a near miss or two that could have really turned this bracket upside down. But after the dust settled, seeds 1 through 4 remain alive…for now anyway.

    Duke vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff

    Let’s start at the top where Duke methodically disposed of an Arkansas -Pinebluff cub that gave

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   1 hour, 7 minutes ago

    Funny, an OU blog talking about a Texas’ team when referencing the state of unrest and embarrassment. I mean, you have such a rich history to draw from. I’ll miss Tiny. Like Sailor, I love his nickname…..

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   1 hour, 14 minutes ago

    Why do bad things happen to bad people?

    I will always love the name Tiny Gallon. I see him being a fan favorite in Turkey and he’s going to love the souvlaki.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • whiskey commented on the blog post The week in news- Pariahs, Malcontents and Power Hour   1 hour, 42 minutes ago

    This all might actually work out for Tebow in the end. If nothing else he is both a winner and a fierce competitor. I will be surprised if he goes the way of Eric Crouch. I am also liking Quinn’s chances in Denver. He knows that offense and he will

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Ag_in_TX wrote a new blog post: Utah State Post-Mortem   2 hours ago

    Have You Read the Gospel According To Mark? – Sign hanging in Spokane last night.

    At some point, you have to ask if A&M is the best coached team in the Big XII. All due respect to Mr. Self in Kansas – but to use a poker analogy – Self is trying for a flush

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Trips Right wrote a new blog post: Second Round Bets   2 hours, 15 minutes ago

    Since my leans are hitting at a better rate than my wagers I’m going to go back to basics and post every thing I like but down to half a unit. We’ll see if that works.

    Here goes:

    Villanova -4.5: After a scare against Bob Morris, time for the ‘Cats to wake up. Too

  • Patrick Bateman wrote a new blog post: Texas Turns the Page   3 hours, 30 minutes ago

    Well, WTF was that?  A train wreck is what.  That’s how the entire Texas basketball season can be described.  A screaming, screeching, ugly train wreck.  After ascending to #1 in the nation for the first time in school history, the wheels just fell off during conference play.  You can read all about the final and

  • Ibas water bottle commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   5 hours, 34 minutes ago

    At what point do A.Ds stop hiring Duke people? At a certain point former coach K players stop being successful college players and start being coaches with shady recruiting results right?

    Oh and God bless the crime rate in Stillwater. The simple odds keep the shit from hitting the fan regularly for us.

    Who

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Oklahoma Sooners – Recruiting So Far   9 hours, 17 minutes ago

    BOC: Neither has visited, yet we hold ’ships open for both.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nate Heupel wrote a new blog post: Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout   9 hours, 25 minutes ago

    TMZ reports that Tiny Gallon took a $3000 payout from an agent.

    My God, Capel has no control over this team whatsoever. This is 2007 offseason Texas football levels of embarrassing. You can’t let a half dozen bad apples spoil a bushel of 10 apples…that analogy sucked balls, but you get my

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Previewing Jimmer and the Cougars   10 hours, 37 minutes ago

    Great stuff, bear. really looking forward to this game.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   10 hours, 37 minutes ago

    06_UT: you are probably right. I thought about changing the post description to “least favorite Barnes team” because that’s more accurate but I didn’t feel like it.
    That said, I’m not sure this team would beat those other two. They would lose Abrams and let him go 7-15 on 3s and the Abrams team played better

  • admin commented on the blog post Nike U in Turmoil   10 hours, 42 minutes ago

    Aren’t they building some sort of super duper hoops arena? Most expensive ever bilt or something?

    Who will the get? Mark Few?

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Nike U in Turmoil   10 hours, 42 minutes ago

    Aren’t the building some sort of super duper hoops arena? Most expensive ever bilt or something?

    Who will the get? Mark Few?

  • srr50 wrote a new blog post: Nike U in Turmoil   10 hours, 59 minutes ago

    10 weeks ago, Oregon played in the Rose Bowl as Pac 10 champions. Since their loss to Ohio State, the program has been in some kind of bizzaro parallel universe where every headline concerns a player arrest, a firing, or now a resignation.

    Mike Bellotti, the Duck AD and former head coach earlier this week

  • Luke commented on the blog post First Round: Clemson Tigers   13 hours, 10 minutes ago

    Prescient comment, Doc.

    I think we learned today that no team is really a mirror image of Missouri, even if Clemson is about as close as it gets. Unless you have significantly better/more talented athletes, if you try to run with the Tigers, you will lose. This team is so much fun to watch in games

  • srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux   13 hours, 24 minutes ago

    Good to see that Tom Penders still believes in the weave offense. Maryland finally figured out that if you pass quickly, the middle is always open.

    37-29 Maryland late in the first half.

  • Luke wrote a new blog post: Previewing Jimmer and the Cougars   13 hours, 25 minutes ago

    Kansas State is going to be under a lot of pressure tomorrow night in primetime at the Ford Center.

    Not only are the Wildcats the favored #2 seed going against #7 seed BYU, but if the Wildcats lose, they may sentence hundreds of boys to nonstop harassment from all the kids who think that “Jimmer” was

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Ibas water bottle wrote a new blog post: Georgia Tech post mortem   13 hours, 37 minutes ago

    We came up short.

    Credit to Georgia Tech they worked the ball inside where they had the advantage and played great D on the perimeter. Matt Pilgrim is the most athletic big man we’ve had in years around here and he was irrelevant. When we tried to drive they collapsed like Chris Farley on a

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Phenomenal Smith commented on the blog post First Round: Clemson Tigers   14 hours, 13 minutes ago

    Doc, the turnovers seemed to do the trick – there were great big chunks of time when Mizzou didn’t even have to get into a half court offense.

    Great to see Ramsey have such a good game and pretty stifle Booker. As Euclid said during the game, even when Mizzou doesn’t play well

  • dick commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   14 hours, 52 minutes ago

    “Also because those other teams gave great effort almost every game. This team’s effort was questionable. Dumb and lazy, not a good combo…..”

    This is what made this season so bizarre for me. This has never been a problem for Barnes’ teams. But I actually questioned this team’s heart and desire to play together

  • srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux   15 hours, 6 minutes ago

    Travis Ford spent the 2nd half channeling his inner Rick Barnes — lot’s of standing around on offense while one player tries to generate something off a ball screen — then taking a forced shot.

    So the Big 12 goes 5-2 in Round One.

  • skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Barnes worst team   15 hours, 10 minutes ago

    This is the worst coached team ever in Barnes era. Period.
    Worst defense over the whole season,
    Offense sucked big time and the bench coaching was horrible, ransom’s attitude was better then the coach’s overall this season.
    Trips write up pre and post better then the game plan and O schemes.
    Hell we could have

  • srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux   15 hours, 14 minutes ago

    advertisers think they will probably get some deals for the additional 32 games that would be added. The feeling is that an ESPN would disount rates somewhat, since they already have a dual revenue stream — advertising dollars and subscription fees.

    It’s all about content for ESPN — even mediocre content.

  • dick commented on the blog post FLV March Madness First Round Bets   15 hours, 16 minutes ago

    a great first round of the tournament from an excitement standpoint, very mediocre from a gambling standpoint.

  • srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux   15 hours, 32 minutes ago

    Ga. Tech — last in the ACC in free throw shooting at 64% — 13 for 13 tonight.