I really don’t have the inclination to hash the game out for those didn’t watch it.
At this point the team isn’t worth a lot of effort.
Anyway, just open up a boxscore and you’ll get the picture. We shot the ball poorly. From everywhere. Especially the foul line, where we were an embarrassing 10-27. Say that out loud. Ten for fucking 27. Some teams go three or four games before they miss 17 foul shots. Damion James, the poor kid, was a monuMENTALLY horrible 4-13 from the line, and his struggles, I’m growing less hesitant to say, are a symptom of the larger issue.
This team has absolutely zero fun playing basketball. They aren’t having fun when they’re trying to put back an offensive rebound. They’re not having fun in pregame warmups. And they’re certainly not having fun when they go to the foul line. On defense, I think they’re working hard, mostly, but they don’t have that slap the floor get down and dirty defensive energy that top teams have. Hell they don’t have the same energy they displayed in November and December.
You can make your own determination as to the cause of the bigger issue, but the fact remains that we have a collection of headcases on this team. Perhaps the most troubling part about it is that these kids haven’t been headcases historically. The year 2010 unfortunately has been the year of the inner demon. Every kid on the club has one at this point. Name a player that doesn’t. I mean what can we say about this club that hasn’t already been said. Start this player, bench this player, this player needs this, this player needs that, play this guy with that guy, so on and so forth. What difference does it make who’s on the floor if you can’t hit a two foot put back, hit 60% of your foul shots, or move the ball enough to find good shots? What difference does it make if our kids aren’t enjoying basketball?
It makes no difference.
In this game the only bright spot was the press which seemed to get our kids out of their own heads and just back to playing basketball, instinctively and in rhythm. We still looked like hell overall, but at least some of the players seemed to play looser. Dare I say, some even looked like they were having fun.
As far as the game went, I thought Texas totally ignored the obvious scouting report on OU which is stop penetration and stay on shooters. Sure TMG went nuts, but I actually don’t have a problem with that because the shots he was hitting were tough shots. What I do have problem with is leaving Cade Davis and company for open looks off of TMG penetration. It’s inexcusable because you want TMG to try to make plays at the rim. The kids arms are so short that he has to bend down to buckle his belt. Bailing him out with easy kickouts is a recipe for disaster.
On offense, we knew we’d have an advantage in the frontcourt going in, but we failed to establish an interior game early and it cost us because it allowed OU to get out to a large lead. So much so that we totally had to abandon the interior game rendering our advantage on the glass and in the paint worthless. Quite frankly that’s on the coaches for not playing the correct personnel and coaching our kids to establish things in the paint. I’m not talking about Jordan Hamilton either. We can run a pretty devastating post attack against Cade Davis and Ryan Wright, with Balbay, Brown, and Bradley, a pinch of patience and some X and O work. There isn’t one player on OU’s squad that can handle James or Pittman one on one on the block. Not one. That’s a fact that was evidently lost on our staff, or ignored for whatever reason.
Perhaps we need to try the Bull Durham Shower scene. Todd Wright can count to ten like Robert Wuhl.
Now it’s on to face Kansas where it won’t get any easier. Kansas has a club that can turn inner demons into outright psychoses. If Kansas goes into Austin and rolls us by 20, and the boo birds show up, Barnes can lose this young team. Time for a drink. I’ll try to preview the ‘Hawks after fighting off a hangover manana.
The players seemed fine earlier in the season as the game came to them. Opponents adjusted and I’m not so sure our players wanted to step up and work harder. A few guys on this team have fought for us every step of the way, most of the rest of them seem to pout and play half hearted as they run into obstacles.
Say what you want about the coaching, but there are too many guys that we rely on who don’t have that fire or passion to leave it all out on the floor. They want to be the hero, but they don’t actually want to do the things it takes to win.
What a coincident, EggNog, that all these different players on the team all lack confidence and “fire and passion.” Couldn’t be related to the way the team is being handled, could it?
Nah, probably just a coincidence that we have a bunch of regressing, lazy, cowards on our hands.
I disagree 100% Egg. At some point you have to coach to the hand you’re dealt. Look what Calipari’s doing at UK. I wouldn’t call that group a bunch of blue collar Steve Alford types.
magnus, of course that’s not what I said but thanks for playing.
For whatever reason, James’ free throw shooting form looked really awkward today. He usually has fairly decent form but he just looked horribly out of rhythm. The flu?
Thanks to a long week at work and a Friday night, I napped through most of the first half. I assume I didn’t miss much.
Why in the sam hell was Jai Lucas in the game, guarding Cade freakin’ Davis, no less? Whither Brown? Was Barnes allowing Hamilton to play through his (many) mistakes but not affording Brown the same leash? Why not at least go to Doge or Mason, who can provide some semblance of D on TMG or Davis?
It looks like Warren being out was actually a blessing in disguise for OU. Without having to split the rock between Warren and TMG, Griffin was allowed to become lead dog and everyone else followed his lead. We actually could’ve used some Sooner chemistry issues, instead of it festering on our own team.
Even I hit 50% of my FTs in intramurals. And I was apt to airball FTs a time or two. Jeebus.
Why is Musberger/Knight calling our games instead of Coach Fran? Time and time again, I find him to be the absolute best analyst calling Texas basketball games. Dude knows what he’s talking about, and I loved his color on Jordan Hamilton at the end. He totally had the “proud of his son but realizes he’s sort of a headcase” talk with himself.
Thanks for the blog, Trips. The coaching staff is providing no leadership to a group of young men that are desperate for the same. As you stated before, the players’ keep one eye on the bench out of fear.
Rick Barnes needs to observe Augie Garrido’s skill of admonishing a player, but then getting the player to relax and perform his best. Again, as you stated before, a smile and a pat on the butt by Barnes might work wonders.
“Time for a drink. I’ll try to preview the ‘Hawks after fighting off a hangover manana.”
Dude’s always drinking, blogging, watching basketball or football. Four chirrens that the wife is no doubt chasing around. She must be a saint. Dorothy Mantooth, imo.
ransom, I was busting your balls. Thank you for playing.
“As you stated before, the players’ keep one eye on the bench out of fear.”
Before I would certainly agree with you, but in this game Barnes gave guys like Hamilton and Brown a longer leash than he has all season. Probably even longer than they deserved with their piss-poor play today…
I just thought of something.
We are now 19-4 right. Now lets take a look at the 10 or so cupcake teams we played this season.
Take the 10 games out of our equation and we are a 9-4 team !
Fuck with the players we have we should not be this terrible. We look and play like MENTALLy challenged players and coaches. What the fuck.
Where is Ipowers when you need him ???
The thing that gets me is that this team is no better than the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the year I enjoyed watching this team because any mistakes they made I chalked up to inexperience. I also assumed that as the season went on the mistakes would be corrected, the game would slow down, and the freshmen would get a sense of what it takes to win. I don’t think we are any worse, but teams know how to play us now we are stuck in November. I pin this directly on Barnes. This is his most talented team and they’re not that good. That isn’t the players fault. I wish he would quit screaming at the players and start to look at his own mistakes. If not, I will be ready for another coach.
We are coaching so poorly. We dig into the team’s confidence like a sapper, the players can’t digest a basic scouting report (or the staff isn’t preparing one), the offense is as it always is without an elite PG, and we have zero cohesiveness on defense. Every player has at least one poltergeist and Rick Barnes activates them like an Indian burial ground.
I’m embarrassed for Barnes and his assistants and I’ve been his advocate for 10+ years. I used to love our effort, our relentlessness, the way our guys interacted with each other. I liked how Rick balanced tough love with brutal honesty as well as his ability to self-critique and adjust. Guys got better as players and people.
I don’t know where that is right now. We’re rudderless and without any identity.
This team needs to have a long uncomfortable conversation. The passivity of our players with authority figures doesn’t lend itself to that. We have a bunch of pleasers and brooders. Not good.
Barnes is flailing like a drowning man and he’s pulling every player he encounters down under with him. Sometimes a drowning man needs a right cross to the jaw before you can drag him to shore. He needs the counseling equivalent.
I’m pretty happy with the way the season is progressing in conference right now. Can’t wait for our rematch in B/CS with the way you guys are spittin’ the bit.
Scip, I agree with you. Texas basketball under Barnes is so much better than when he got here. But he is not cracking the code on this team and, disappointingly, doesn’t seem willing to try much. It’s puzzling.
“I liked how Rick balanced tough love with brutal honesty as well as his ability to self-critique and adjust. Guys got better as players and people.”
Absolutely perfect analysis. This is how I always felt about Barnes and what made him my favorite UT coach until this season. I was less disappointed with his coaching today than I had been over the past month, when I was getting physically sick watching zero offensive scheme and Barnes spending more time screaming at his players than coaching :/
This is not just this year, this has been around now for the last 2-3 years. Take a look over the last 4-5 years and you can see the birth of this crap. Every year it has been getting worse until we get to Feb.22, 2010.
Sometimes I think that I spend more time than Barnes wondering what the hell is wrong with this team.
I coach prep basketball. I am not comparing it to NCAA D1. But….. I have switched defenses twice. I have changed my starting lineup 5 times. I have altered and re-altered kids responsibilities. We finally lit up the scoreboard and scored more points than anyone all season in our last game. We were the lowest scoring team in the league up to that point. It took me 7 games.
Barnes is on game 21 and he’s rolling out the same crap every game expecting something different? Why? Isn’t that insanity? Same starting lineup. Same defense. Same offense. Same positions. Nobody has any clue what their role is supposed to be. Nothing changes. Why not try something different? I really don’t understand. Can someone enlighten me?
While not as depressed and angry as I was after the Baylor fiasco, today’s loss hurts. A lot. But I’ve seen Barnes’ teams turn it around before after a mid season slump. I’m hoping we can do it this week. Let’s beat Kansas. That would be a nice start.
Baseball starts in 2 weeks. Hook em.
One last thought: Has Barnes gotten complacent? Fat and happy. He has never struck me as the type, but I guess it could happen to anybody.
If he hasn’t, then maybe he just doesn’t think that we have problems. The UNC win was fool’s gold. We beat a bubble team, one of the 5 worst Carolina teams of the last 30 years. Woohoo!
The UCONN loss was a complete debacle. I don’t think Banes realized that. This was not a UCONN team. As of right now, they are not even a tourney team. We got beat by 24 in the 2nd half to a team that will not make the tournament. I just don’t think Barnes gets how bad we have been.
That OU team we just lost to is flat fucking awful. They can’t play D, they can’t rebound, they are a bunch of unathletic pussies. With Warren out, they had exactly one player on the floor worth a shit. We are so bad right now. I am not sure our fans understand how bad we are and I damn sure don’t think Barnes does.
Our fans have no clue how bad we are right now…but they will on Monday night. I’m not with giving barnes a lifetime pass for what he has built because it is possible to take this program to the next level.
And like Scipio, I’ve spent the past 12 years as a fierce Barnes supporter.
He can take 10 Ian Mooney’s and win 24 games, finish 2nd in the conference, and make it to the sweet 16. He can also take an extraordinarily talented team and win 24 games, finish 2nd in the conference, and make it to the Sweet 16. What makes Barnes a good coach just doesn’t transfer very well to a team with great basketball players at every position.
Oh and Trips. The same Jrue Hoilday that u thought was going to be such a great pro. He wasn’t even selected for the Rookie team to play in the Rookie Challenge All-Star weekend. What a great evaluator of talent u are buddy.
I was pretty damn sure the entire second half that my team was going to spit the bit and lose it, but they didn’t Definitely had a lot of help in the form of Horn foul shooting, but nonetheless, it was a good win for an average team against a good team. I was more impressed by how they didn’t fold in the last 10 minutes than I was by how they got to an 18 point lead at half.
It’s still certain that UT enters the tourney as no worse than a 5 seed and Oklahoma enters the NIT, but it doesn’t cover a character building win by a team that hasn’t had much go its way this season.
It was obvious to me before this season started that this would Barnes’ most challenging year from an O coaching perspective. The challenge was/is to meld all these talented O performers into an efficient team O without having that one guy (i.e. a Durant, Ford, or Augustin) running the show. It would be a challenge for any coach but especially for Barnes since O coaching is not his strong suit. It seemed that the O would have to be more structured than usual (for a Barnes O) or the UT O would be chaotic. It seemed that there was a strong possibility of selfishness as 6 scorers (Damion, Dex, Gary, Brown, Bradley, and Jordan) all competed for shots. It seemed too much to expect that the 3 frosh would all know enough and be mature enough to handle a lot of autonomy on O.
The obvious solution (to me) was for Barnes to call the plays himself to efficiently exploit matchup opportunities and to distribute the shots optimally. That proposal was not well received before the season. What do you guys think now, do you think the horns would benefit from a more structured O that features much more play calling from the sideline?
There were some silver linings vs OU. Dex had 13 rebounds and hit 4 of 5 shots. Bradley had a good game. Gary had 10 boards and was 5 of 7 from the field. Barnes stuck with Jordan even though he shot 3 of 15.
Portland GM, that had nothing to do with ur decision. U needed a big, u had all of ur perimeter spots basically covered. Same thing Portland did when they took Sam Bowie. They drafted Clyde Drexler the year before at the two spot and Drexler turned out to be a great player, so Jordan wasn’t needed. It’s easy to second guess something but Portland took what they needed in both cases. So in other words stop trying to defend Trips.
Once I went to the hospital and the doctors thought I might have appendicitis so they gave me a barium enema.
Watching this team over the last month reminds me of that experience. Imagine having gastric spasms so intense and a fever so high you feel like you’re going to pass out, then shove a garden hose up your ass with the spigot running full speed.
Why is it that when I call Trips out for his mistakes in evaluating talent, my posts mysteriously disappears ? Trips u must suck a mean dick, cause these fucks are loyal to u.
My high school bkb coach was a great motivator and good flow director during the game. However, he had his right-hand assistant coach who was the real X&O mastermind.
Looking at was has transpired so far this season and last season, has Texas lost an assistant coach who was the real X&O guy in the recent past? Is Barnes the type of coach that does better with a collection of blue collar players than with super-blue recruits?
Aldridge and Durant were in a league by themselves, very hard to screw up with them. But, as someone posted earlier, there does not seem to be any teaching going on right now. I could understand one player maybe not getting it, but in spite of playing freshman, there should have been signs of improvement by now, by anybody!
I’d slit all of your throats right now if I thought it would give Balbay the ability to shoot. It would instantly turn him into DJ Augustin (Jesus fucking Christ people, there is no “e” at the end of his name. Fuck.), and cure like 75% of our problems.
Rick Barnes doesn’t like this team. Doesn’t like how they practice…doesn’t like how they play…doesn’t like how they put on their game uniforms…doesn’t like how they pull their game warmups off.
He is angry at just about everyone, and their is no governor on his engine. No Royal Ivey, Brandon Mouton, P.J. Tucker, T.J. Ford, or D.J. Augustin — someone who may have spent time in the Barnes doghouse but had enough respect from the coach to be able to tell him to back the fuck off.
I don’t see anyone on his staff with a strong enough personality to do it either.
This is a collection of the most gifted players Barnes has ever coached. Eddie Reese knows all about handling thoroughbreds–and its time for Reese to walk back into Barnes’ office, tell him he is full of shit, and give him some tips on how to handle elite talent through a long intense season.
As things stand right now, this is not going to end. well.
Balbay doesn’t even need to be an outside shooter as long as he keeps moving around setting picks so that his defender cannot double another horn or clog up the middle with a one man zone.
The next time Trips declares that a kid is one and done or is the best small forward in the country as a freshman, I implore u to do ur own research. Jordan Hamilton is a bust plain and simple. All season Trips and his minions have said that Jordan needs more minutes, Jordan needs more minutes and Barnes needs to give him some leeway. Well he got both tonight and the results were horrible. 25 minutes, 3-15 from the floor, 8 points and another loss. Trips before u put that much hype on a kid do more than read his scouting report on rivals.com or watch his youtube highlights. Hamilton has no clue how to play the game. He thinks that the only way he can contribute is by scoring. He makes absolutely no effort on defense. He is just painful to watch. If he isn’t scoring for u he isn’t helping u because that’s all he is concerned with. Fran Fraschilla said during the game that Hamilton keeps both teams in the game. Doug Gottlieb said the same thing that I said after the OSU game and that was that him having that good of a game was the worst thing that could have happened to Texas. Barnes gave the kid enough rope to hang himself today and he did just that and took the rest of the team with him.
In general, I think posters here are way overrating these players. No, Barnes has not done a good job. But Balbay couldn’t shoot before he got here. Hamilton played no D and jacked every shot, in the flow or not, before he got here. Dexter was a great disappearing act the minute he got here. Damion never had a handle and was always a marginal FT shooter. Show me one guy who was a great all-around player, besides Bradley, when he got here.
No, dick, he does not. He will never play PG when he gets here (which I’d assume is essentially inevitable considering he probably has more ties to the program than any recruit in Barnes history) as long as Doge hangs around and Kabongo keeps his commitment.
Kid is definitely more of a scorer than a true point and not at all a great ball handler. In fact that is the absolute weakest facet of his game. He’s only 6-3 (listed, you know what that means), so look forward to another undersized SG/combo guard type that will somehow end up playing the 3 position. He’s a good shooter though…which only lasts so long under Barnes I guess (J’Covan Brown holla!).
It’s tiring to hear that Barnes “doesn’t like this team or that player” or whatever other permutation of that thought process one can imply. And srr50 is an elite analyst on these matters and one of my 2 0r 3 favorites to read.
Barnes just isn’t a very good coach. Great recruiter. Thank you for bringing Texas basketball to a level of relevance. But to take that next step someone else will need to be at the helm.
We have the cachet and every other imaginable asset to bring in a head guy that can get it done. It no longer makes any sense to fear change after Barnes. We need to embrace the thought.
What is interesting is that there are 50 theories on this blog about what is wrong and how to correct it. I suspect Barnes and the staff have the same thing going on in their meetings.
Didn’t Barnes have this same problem at Clemson? He had a LOADED, returning team and was ranked high early in the season coming off a sweet 16 berth. The team fell apart and got bounced in the first round of the tournament. Clemson was about to fire him and Texas came in. Aren’t we supposed to learn from our mistakes?
What happened to Texas rotating in players, playing tough defense, staying fresh, and wearing teams down? I’m not an expert, but why did we get away from what won us 17 straight games?
[...] ScipioTex stumbled out of a 30-day heroin binge in Chinatown to take a look at the recruiting class. The abridged version is Texas signed a bunch of badass defensive players and wide receivers. I get that part. I’m still not sure how they are confident enough in their evaluations to only take 2 OL signees at a position where a 40% retention rate is considered a screaming success no matter how bullet-proof your class looks on paper. They must be high on the 2011 class, I assume. Trips Right is on the brink of unraveling with his basketball team. [...]
This team makes ’08 Memphis look downright clutchy from the charity stripe and fundamentally sound in all facets of the game.
Rick has a one arrow quiver: yell at his fucking players at every opportunity. He needs to take a cue from Boeheim, who could be a prickly SOB when he needed to but was great at pulling his team together in a positive way when they needed it. Just look at what he’s done with the Orangemen this year and it’s hard not to be impressed.
It’s beyond frustrating and almost not worth typing about any further but like Saul Bellow said, it’s hard to stop analyzing the phenomena when your soul is being ripped out.
What ever we are doing, we need to do a 180 and start doing that instead. Like the scene from Tin Cup. Take all of the change out of one pocket and put it in the other, wear the black uniforms home and away, have Barnes wear a black sweatshirt for games like Bob Knight.
they were mentioning that Barnes Providence and Clemson teams shot like shit from the charity stripe as well. Is that just a coincidence? They say they practice all the time. Unless Barnes is too much in their heads, I have no idea but that’s some bad luck at the line that follows him….
Saul Bellow said, it’s hard to stop analyzing the phenomena when your soul is being ripped out.
So right Vash.
I wonder what the players are thinking the day before KU ??? Positive ?
Barnes wants to win so badly that he fucks with 19-20 yr old kids to prove that his way is the only way.
The players can not play any aspect of the game without confidence.
” we can’t put the ball in the hole very well at any distance or circumstance.”
I hope that I am wrong and the kids come out with piss and fire and rip Ku a new ass but I think that its going to be the other way around.
Barnes needs a couple Patrons and a beer chaser,Old School. Then follow that up with a couple of peyote buttons to complete the fuck up trip we are on.
I also think that we have an imposter posting as ipowers,maybe Trips alter ego is doing it.
Eh. It’s a Barnes team. Can’t shoot. Can’t hit free throws. Can’t generate consistent O without a transcendent point guard. Throws lots of big bodies and elbows at you, scores lots of garbage points and grabs rebounds. Has the opposing coach screaming about physical play.
Except unlike previous teams, the D isn’t there and they can’t buy garbage points. And it’s maganified by the fact that he actually has great basketball talent.
With all this doom and gloom, this is when we go out against KU and get a strong game from James, Bradley, and Hamilton in the same game to win by 10+. It’s never as bad as it seems. If we shoot even decent free throws we win two of the games we lost. Here’s to hoping Barnes took the crew to a movie today and then watch the Super Bowl together.
Texantt: Clemson was not about to fire Barnes. What was about to happen was that he was going to lose players. IIRC, at least two returning starters were about to bolt, but then Barnes moved on and they stayed.
This was when Barnes’s method of practice planning was just short of Billy Clyde Gillispie’s — if hard work improved the team, harder work would improve it more. Eddie Reese intervened at the end of RB’s first year in Austin and the rest has been history.
What irritates me is that Barnes has been a head coach for 23 years. He must know that the team is struggling, and he must have dealt with issues like those his team are facing (such as FT shooting) and that the freshmen are facing (fitting in to the team concept and learning big-boy defense). He’s come really close to throwing the players under the bus, when as much as anything it’s his own coaching that has gotten them there.
With Pittman’s disappearance (another problem that likely is within Barnes’ power to alleviate, if not fix), the ground-zero defensive problems of Brown and Hamilton have become magnified. Free-throw shooting has become a plague.
That said, I expect a good effort and a bare-knuckled game tomorrow. If KU blows them out, it could be a free fall from here.
If Billy Clyde Gillispie was your coach you would not be in the situation you are in now…. oh and you’d be short a couple of these prima donnas taking up playing time. They would have quit like those Kentucky kids did.
Hell I think Frank Martin or Turgeon could coach these guys better than Rick has.
still say the biggest problem is our best defense player. while doge is a complete defensive player, he can’t shoot outside of a layup…..and lately his forced layups aren’t going in.
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magnusbleuveigner said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
I’m surprised you took the effort to break it up into paragraphs. Anti ipowers, imo.
I think you missed the point. ransomstoddard said it best. It’s all Avery Bradley’s fault.
Drink up.
EggNog said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
The players seemed fine earlier in the season as the game came to them. Opponents adjusted and I’m not so sure our players wanted to step up and work harder. A few guys on this team have fought for us every step of the way, most of the rest of them seem to pout and play half hearted as they run into obstacles.
Say what you want about the coaching, but there are too many guys that we rely on who don’t have that fire or passion to leave it all out on the floor. They want to be the hero, but they don’t actually want to do the things it takes to win.
anonymous said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
What a coincident, EggNog, that all these different players on the team all lack confidence and “fire and passion.” Couldn’t be related to the way the team is being handled, could it?
Nah, probably just a coincidence that we have a bunch of regressing, lazy, cowards on our hands.
Trips Right said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
I disagree 100% Egg. At some point you have to coach to the hand you’re dealt. Look what Calipari’s doing at UK. I wouldn’t call that group a bunch of blue collar Steve Alford types.
ransomstoddard said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
magnus, of course that’s not what I said but thanks for playing.
For whatever reason, James’ free throw shooting form looked really awkward today. He usually has fairly decent form but he just looked horribly out of rhythm. The flu?
jc25 said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Thanks to a long week at work and a Friday night, I napped through most of the first half. I assume I didn’t miss much.
Why in the sam hell was Jai Lucas in the game, guarding Cade freakin’ Davis, no less? Whither Brown? Was Barnes allowing Hamilton to play through his (many) mistakes but not affording Brown the same leash? Why not at least go to Doge or Mason, who can provide some semblance of D on TMG or Davis?
It looks like Warren being out was actually a blessing in disguise for OU. Without having to split the rock between Warren and TMG, Griffin was allowed to become lead dog and everyone else followed his lead. We actually could’ve used some Sooner chemistry issues, instead of it festering on our own team.
Even I hit 50% of my FTs in intramurals. And I was apt to airball FTs a time or two. Jeebus.
Why is Musberger/Knight calling our games instead of Coach Fran? Time and time again, I find him to be the absolute best analyst calling Texas basketball games. Dude knows what he’s talking about, and I loved his color on Jordan Hamilton at the end. He totally had the “proud of his son but realizes he’s sort of a headcase” talk with himself.
EggNog said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Did you see Wall’s commentary about Calipari? We have a nice collection of guys who will fight on this team, but not enough of them.
Playing Hamilton was Barnes’ version of throwing in the towel.
ransomstoddard said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
My brother sat behind the Texas bench and said Barnes yelled at Hamilton during one timeout and said ” do you even know what the hell you are doing?”
Sailor Ripley said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
For whatever reason? He’s wound tighter than a frog’s ass.
Spectator said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
I’m also not having any fun, for what it’s worth.
NY Horn said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Maybe we should fire Barnes and promote Wright?
Sailor Ripley said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
torre said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Thanks for the blog, Trips. The coaching staff is providing no leadership to a group of young men that are desperate for the same. As you stated before, the players’ keep one eye on the bench out of fear.
Rick Barnes needs to observe Augie Garrido’s skill of admonishing a player, but then getting the player to relax and perform his best. Again, as you stated before, a smile and a pat on the butt by Barnes might work wonders.
magnusbleuveigner said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
“Time for a drink. I’ll try to preview the ‘Hawks after fighting off a hangover manana.”
Dude’s always drinking, blogging, watching basketball or football. Four chirrens that the wife is no doubt chasing around. She must be a saint. Dorothy Mantooth, imo.
ransom, I was busting your balls. Thank you for playing.
Blake Borron said:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
“As you stated before, the players’ keep one eye on the bench out of fear.”
Before I would certainly agree with you, but in this game Barnes gave guys like Hamilton and Brown a longer leash than he has all season. Probably even longer than they deserved with their piss-poor play today…
torre said:
February 6th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
True, Blake. But I felt Damion was “extremely” tight today due to Barnes’ wrath.
SkyMonkeyHorn said:
February 6th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Who was it that said the this year only Barnes would be the biggest problem to overcome?
SkyMonkeyHorn said:
February 6th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
I just thought of something.
We are now 19-4 right. Now lets take a look at the 10 or so cupcake teams we played this season.
Take the 10 games out of our equation and we are a 9-4 team !
Fuck with the players we have we should not be this terrible. We look and play like MENTALLy challenged players and coaches. What the fuck.
Where is Ipowers when you need him ???
Monahorns said:
February 6th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
The thing that gets me is that this team is no better than the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the year I enjoyed watching this team because any mistakes they made I chalked up to inexperience. I also assumed that as the season went on the mistakes would be corrected, the game would slow down, and the freshmen would get a sense of what it takes to win. I don’t think we are any worse, but teams know how to play us now we are stuck in November. I pin this directly on Barnes. This is his most talented team and they’re not that good. That isn’t the players fault. I wish he would quit screaming at the players and start to look at his own mistakes. If not, I will be ready for another coach.
Scipio Tex said:
February 6th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
You nailed it, Trips.
We are coaching so poorly. We dig into the team’s confidence like a sapper, the players can’t digest a basic scouting report (or the staff isn’t preparing one), the offense is as it always is without an elite PG, and we have zero cohesiveness on defense. Every player has at least one poltergeist and Rick Barnes activates them like an Indian burial ground.
I’m embarrassed for Barnes and his assistants and I’ve been his advocate for 10+ years. I used to love our effort, our relentlessness, the way our guys interacted with each other. I liked how Rick balanced tough love with brutal honesty as well as his ability to self-critique and adjust. Guys got better as players and people.
I don’t know where that is right now. We’re rudderless and without any identity.
This team needs to have a long uncomfortable conversation. The passivity of our players with authority figures doesn’t lend itself to that. We have a bunch of pleasers and brooders. Not good.
Barnes is flailing like a drowning man and he’s pulling every player he encounters down under with him. Sometimes a drowning man needs a right cross to the jaw before you can drag him to shore. He needs the counseling equivalent.
Aggie Lurking said:
February 6th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
I’m pretty happy with the way the season is progressing in conference right now. Can’t wait for our rematch in B/CS with the way you guys are spittin’ the bit.
ransomstoddard said:
February 6th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Scip, I agree with you. Texas basketball under Barnes is so much better than when he got here. But he is not cracking the code on this team and, disappointingly, doesn’t seem willing to try much. It’s puzzling.
Blake Borron said:
February 6th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
“I liked how Rick balanced tough love with brutal honesty as well as his ability to self-critique and adjust. Guys got better as players and people.”
Absolutely perfect analysis. This is how I always felt about Barnes and what made him my favorite UT coach until this season. I was less disappointed with his coaching today than I had been over the past month, when I was getting physically sick watching zero offensive scheme and Barnes spending more time screaming at his players than coaching :/
ipowers said:
February 6th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
A man becomes a philosopher or perishes.–Old Scottish Proverb
SkyMonkeyHorn said:
February 6th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
This is not just this year, this has been around now for the last 2-3 years. Take a look over the last 4-5 years and you can see the birth of this crap. Every year it has been getting worse until we get to Feb.22, 2010.
SkyMonkeyHorn said:
February 6th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
OOPs lost a few days there its “until we get to Feb.6th, 2010
Bartoncreek said:
February 6th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Sometimes I think that I spend more time than Barnes wondering what the hell is wrong with this team.
I coach prep basketball. I am not comparing it to NCAA D1. But….. I have switched defenses twice. I have changed my starting lineup 5 times. I have altered and re-altered kids responsibilities. We finally lit up the scoreboard and scored more points than anyone all season in our last game. We were the lowest scoring team in the league up to that point. It took me 7 games.
Barnes is on game 21 and he’s rolling out the same crap every game expecting something different? Why? Isn’t that insanity? Same starting lineup. Same defense. Same offense. Same positions. Nobody has any clue what their role is supposed to be. Nothing changes. Why not try something different? I really don’t understand. Can someone enlighten me?
cazadores said:
February 6th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
While not as depressed and angry as I was after the Baylor fiasco, today’s loss hurts. A lot. But I’ve seen Barnes’ teams turn it around before after a mid season slump. I’m hoping we can do it this week. Let’s beat Kansas. That would be a nice start.
Baseball starts in 2 weeks. Hook em.
Bartoncreek said:
February 6th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
One last thought: Has Barnes gotten complacent? Fat and happy. He has never struck me as the type, but I guess it could happen to anybody.
If he hasn’t, then maybe he just doesn’t think that we have problems. The UNC win was fool’s gold. We beat a bubble team, one of the 5 worst Carolina teams of the last 30 years. Woohoo!
The UCONN loss was a complete debacle. I don’t think Banes realized that. This was not a UCONN team. As of right now, they are not even a tourney team. We got beat by 24 in the 2nd half to a team that will not make the tournament. I just don’t think Barnes gets how bad we have been.
That OU team we just lost to is flat fucking awful. They can’t play D, they can’t rebound, they are a bunch of unathletic pussies. With Warren out, they had exactly one player on the floor worth a shit. We are so bad right now. I am not sure our fans understand how bad we are and I damn sure don’t think Barnes does.
nordberg said:
February 6th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Barnes is an incredibly stubborn son of a bitch.
I wish he would have taken the Kentucky job. Christ, anyone can recruit here now. Throw a boatload at Tom Izzo. Fuck it.*
*I’m drunk and pissed.
Savage Henry said:
February 6th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
Our fans have no clue how bad we are right now…but they will on Monday night. I’m not with giving barnes a lifetime pass for what he has built because it is possible to take this program to the next level.
nordberg said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
And like Scipio, I’ve spent the past 12 years as a fierce Barnes supporter.
He can take 10 Ian Mooney’s and win 24 games, finish 2nd in the conference, and make it to the sweet 16. He can also take an extraordinarily talented team and win 24 games, finish 2nd in the conference, and make it to the Sweet 16. What makes Barnes a good coach just doesn’t transfer very well to a team with great basketball players at every position.
Fuck.
ipowers said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
I checked out Trips on Facebook and I must say, he’s a good looking sonofabitch.
ipowers said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
I’m really sorry about calling you a hoe, Skymonkey. Calling people garden tools is just gay anyway and I’m not ready to take that step just yet.
nordberg said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Don’t worry, I think everyone just skips over your posts.
ipowers said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Nordberg from Naked Gun. I thought u were in the Nevada State Penitentiary.
Gary Coleman said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
What you talking ’bout Wilis?
English Teacher said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Son, there isn’t enough bandwidth on the internets to correct your posts.
ipowers said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
MMMM, cock flavored popsicles. Give me the assorted box, please.
ipowers said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Oh and Trips. The same Jrue Hoilday that u thought was going to be such a great pro. He wasn’t even selected for the Rookie team to play in the Rookie Challenge All-Star weekend. What a great evaluator of talent u are buddy.
NorthDallasSooner said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
I was pretty damn sure the entire second half that my team was going to spit the bit and lose it, but they didn’t Definitely had a lot of help in the form of Horn foul shooting, but nonetheless, it was a good win for an average team against a good team. I was more impressed by how they didn’t fold in the last 10 minutes than I was by how they got to an 18 point lead at half.
It’s still certain that UT enters the tourney as no worse than a 5 seed and Oklahoma enters the NIT, but it doesn’t cover a character building win by a team that hasn’t had much go its way this season.
Portland GM said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
I thought Greg Oden was going to be better than KD.
Trips Right said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Good talk Russ.
kafka said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
It was obvious to me before this season started that this would Barnes’ most challenging year from an O coaching perspective. The challenge was/is to meld all these talented O performers into an efficient team O without having that one guy (i.e. a Durant, Ford, or Augustin) running the show. It would be a challenge for any coach but especially for Barnes since O coaching is not his strong suit. It seemed that the O would have to be more structured than usual (for a Barnes O) or the UT O would be chaotic. It seemed that there was a strong possibility of selfishness as 6 scorers (Damion, Dex, Gary, Brown, Bradley, and Jordan) all competed for shots. It seemed too much to expect that the 3 frosh would all know enough and be mature enough to handle a lot of autonomy on O.
The obvious solution (to me) was for Barnes to call the plays himself to efficiently exploit matchup opportunities and to distribute the shots optimally. That proposal was not well received before the season. What do you guys think now, do you think the horns would benefit from a more structured O that features much more play calling from the sideline?
There were some silver linings vs OU. Dex had 13 rebounds and hit 4 of 5 shots. Bradley had a good game. Gary had 10 boards and was 5 of 7 from the field. Barnes stuck with Jordan even though he shot 3 of 15.
ipowers said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Portland GM, that had nothing to do with ur decision. U needed a big, u had all of ur perimeter spots basically covered. Same thing Portland did when they took Sam Bowie. They drafted Clyde Drexler the year before at the two spot and Drexler turned out to be a great player, so Jordan wasn’t needed. It’s easy to second guess something but Portland took what they needed in both cases. So in other words stop trying to defend Trips.
Portland GM said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
I’m not really the Portland GM, imo.
texoz said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Once I went to the hospital and the doctors thought I might have appendicitis so they gave me a barium enema.
Watching this team over the last month reminds me of that experience. Imagine having gastric spasms so intense and a fever so high you feel like you’re going to pass out, then shove a garden hose up your ass with the spigot running full speed.
That’s the feeling I get watching this team.
ipowers said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
I know ur not the Portland GM genius. I was being facetious, even though I meant what I said. University of San Francisco.
ipowers said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Why is it that when I call Trips out for his mistakes in evaluating talent, my posts mysteriously disappears ? Trips u must suck a mean dick, cause these fucks are loyal to u.
ipowers said:
February 6th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
I meant what I said in terms of why Portland did what they did. I was being facetious by referring to the asshole as Portland’s GM SHIT FACE.
Vasherized said:
February 6th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Good Pharmacy school.
DonGato said:
February 6th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
My high school bkb coach was a great motivator and good flow director during the game. However, he had his right-hand assistant coach who was the real X&O mastermind.
Looking at was has transpired so far this season and last season, has Texas lost an assistant coach who was the real X&O guy in the recent past? Is Barnes the type of coach that does better with a collection of blue collar players than with super-blue recruits?
Aldridge and Durant were in a league by themselves, very hard to screw up with them. But, as someone posted earlier, there does not seem to be any teaching going on right now. I could understand one player maybe not getting it, but in spite of playing freshman, there should have been signs of improvement by now, by anybody!
nordberg said:
February 6th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
I’d slit all of your throats right now if I thought it would give Balbay the ability to shoot. It would instantly turn him into DJ Augustin (Jesus fucking Christ people, there is no “e” at the end of his name. Fuck.), and cure like 75% of our problems.
ipowers said:
February 6th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
U know what Trips, u might be right. I agree with u. See I can admit when I’m wrong. Maybe u can too one of these days.
dick said:
February 6th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Does Corey Joseph solve our PG problem? Kabongo isn’t getting here for another 2 years.
srr50 said:
February 6th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Rick Barnes doesn’t like this team. Doesn’t like how they practice…doesn’t like how they play…doesn’t like how they put on their game uniforms…doesn’t like how they pull their game warmups off.
He is angry at just about everyone, and their is no governor on his engine. No Royal Ivey, Brandon Mouton, P.J. Tucker, T.J. Ford, or D.J. Augustin — someone who may have spent time in the Barnes doghouse but had enough respect from the coach to be able to tell him to back the fuck off.
I don’t see anyone on his staff with a strong enough personality to do it either.
This is a collection of the most gifted players Barnes has ever coached. Eddie Reese knows all about handling thoroughbreds–and its time for Reese to walk back into Barnes’ office, tell him he is full of shit, and give him some tips on how to handle elite talent through a long intense season.
As things stand right now, this is not going to end. well.
nordberg said:
February 6th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
Damion James is going to do that.
utexex said:
February 6th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
The season is beginning to remind me of Abe’s last year.
Houston Yates High Baby said:
February 6th, 2010 at 11:38 pm
I told yall when yall lost to bayla. my fuckin highschoool team would stomp yall!!!!
kafka said:
February 6th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Balbay doesn’t even need to be an outside shooter as long as he keeps moving around setting picks so that his defender cannot double another horn or clog up the middle with a one man zone.
ipowers said:
February 7th, 2010 at 12:08 am
The next time Trips declares that a kid is one and done or is the best small forward in the country as a freshman, I implore u to do ur own research. Jordan Hamilton is a bust plain and simple. All season Trips and his minions have said that Jordan needs more minutes, Jordan needs more minutes and Barnes needs to give him some leeway. Well he got both tonight and the results were horrible. 25 minutes, 3-15 from the floor, 8 points and another loss. Trips before u put that much hype on a kid do more than read his scouting report on rivals.com or watch his youtube highlights. Hamilton has no clue how to play the game. He thinks that the only way he can contribute is by scoring. He makes absolutely no effort on defense. He is just painful to watch. If he isn’t scoring for u he isn’t helping u because that’s all he is concerned with. Fran Fraschilla said during the game that Hamilton keeps both teams in the game. Doug Gottlieb said the same thing that I said after the OSU game and that was that him having that good of a game was the worst thing that could have happened to Texas. Barnes gave the kid enough rope to hang himself today and he did just that and took the rest of the team with him.
ipowers said:
February 7th, 2010 at 12:11 am
Jordan Hamilton is a bust
Speed Kills said:
February 7th, 2010 at 12:44 am
In general, I think posters here are way overrating these players. No, Barnes has not done a good job. But Balbay couldn’t shoot before he got here. Hamilton played no D and jacked every shot, in the flow or not, before he got here. Dexter was a great disappearing act the minute he got here. Damion never had a handle and was always a marginal FT shooter. Show me one guy who was a great all-around player, besides Bradley, when he got here.
Blake Borron said:
February 7th, 2010 at 1:52 am
No, dick, he does not. He will never play PG when he gets here (which I’d assume is essentially inevitable considering he probably has more ties to the program than any recruit in Barnes history) as long as Doge hangs around and Kabongo keeps his commitment.
Kid is definitely more of a scorer than a true point and not at all a great ball handler. In fact that is the absolute weakest facet of his game. He’s only 6-3 (listed, you know what that means), so look forward to another undersized SG/combo guard type that will somehow end up playing the 3 position. He’s a good shooter though…which only lasts so long under Barnes I guess (J’Covan Brown holla!).
beowulf said:
February 7th, 2010 at 5:05 am
It’s tiring to hear that Barnes “doesn’t like this team or that player” or whatever other permutation of that thought process one can imply. And srr50 is an elite analyst on these matters and one of my 2 0r 3 favorites to read.
Barnes just isn’t a very good coach. Great recruiter. Thank you for bringing Texas basketball to a level of relevance. But to take that next step someone else will need to be at the helm.
We have the cachet and every other imaginable asset to bring in a head guy that can get it done. It no longer makes any sense to fear change after Barnes. We need to embrace the thought.
ransomstoddard said:
February 7th, 2010 at 6:59 am
What is interesting is that there are 50 theories on this blog about what is wrong and how to correct it. I suspect Barnes and the staff have the same thing going on in their meetings.
Texantt said:
February 7th, 2010 at 7:32 am
Didn’t Barnes have this same problem at Clemson? He had a LOADED, returning team and was ranked high early in the season coming off a sweet 16 berth. The team fell apart and got bounced in the first round of the tournament. Clemson was about to fire him and Texas came in. Aren’t we supposed to learn from our mistakes?
maitreyat said:
February 7th, 2010 at 8:02 am
What happened to Texas rotating in players, playing tough defense, staying fresh, and wearing teams down? I’m not an expert, but why did we get away from what won us 17 straight games?
boomer freakinsooner said:
February 7th, 2010 at 8:12 am
The good news forTexas is that SoonerFan’s team beat Texas and SoonerFan doesn’t even give a rat’s ass.
olb123 said:
February 7th, 2010 at 8:20 am
How do you fix a basketball team that can’t shoot the ball? field goal and free throws
The Tortilla Retort — Blog — Two Loops & a Hooey said:
February 7th, 2010 at 9:04 am
[...] ScipioTex stumbled out of a 30-day heroin binge in Chinatown to take a look at the recruiting class. The abridged version is Texas signed a bunch of badass defensive players and wide receivers. I get that part. I’m still not sure how they are confident enough in their evaluations to only take 2 OL signees at a position where a 40% retention rate is considered a screaming success no matter how bullet-proof your class looks on paper. They must be high on the 2011 class, I assume. Trips Right is on the brink of unraveling with his basketball team. [...]
Vasherized said:
February 7th, 2010 at 9:32 am
This team makes ’08 Memphis look downright clutchy from the charity stripe and fundamentally sound in all facets of the game.
Rick has a one arrow quiver: yell at his fucking players at every opportunity. He needs to take a cue from Boeheim, who could be a prickly SOB when he needed to but was great at pulling his team together in a positive way when they needed it. Just look at what he’s done with the Orangemen this year and it’s hard not to be impressed.
It’s beyond frustrating and almost not worth typing about any further but like Saul Bellow said, it’s hard to stop analyzing the phenomena when your soul is being ripped out.
jinx said:
February 7th, 2010 at 9:36 am
What ever we are doing, we need to do a 180 and start doing that instead. Like the scene from Tin Cup. Take all of the change out of one pocket and put it in the other, wear the black uniforms home and away, have Barnes wear a black sweatshirt for games like Bob Knight.
I mean, Fuck! This team sucks!
drborange said:
February 7th, 2010 at 9:38 am
olb123 is right.
With all the other problems, we can’t put the ball in the hole very well at any distance or circumstance.
nordberg said:
February 7th, 2010 at 9:48 am
I kind of thought adding five great shooters to the team would help our shooting problems. Guess not.
ballrific said:
February 7th, 2010 at 10:25 am
they were mentioning that Barnes Providence and Clemson teams shot like shit from the charity stripe as well. Is that just a coincidence? They say they practice all the time. Unless Barnes is too much in their heads, I have no idea but that’s some bad luck at the line that follows him….
SkyMonkeyHorn said:
February 7th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Saul Bellow said, it’s hard to stop analyzing the phenomena when your soul is being ripped out.
So right Vash.
I wonder what the players are thinking the day before KU ??? Positive ?
Barnes wants to win so badly that he fucks with 19-20 yr old kids to prove that his way is the only way.
The players can not play any aspect of the game without confidence.
” we can’t put the ball in the hole very well at any distance or circumstance.”
I hope that I am wrong and the kids come out with piss and fire and rip Ku a new ass but I think that its going to be the other way around.
Barnes needs a couple Patrons and a beer chaser,Old School. Then follow that up with a couple of peyote buttons to complete the fuck up trip we are on.
I also think that we have an imposter posting as ipowers,maybe Trips alter ego is doing it.
BatesHorn said:
February 7th, 2010 at 11:03 am
Eh. It’s a Barnes team. Can’t shoot. Can’t hit free throws. Can’t generate consistent O without a transcendent point guard. Throws lots of big bodies and elbows at you, scores lots of garbage points and grabs rebounds. Has the opposing coach screaming about physical play.
Except unlike previous teams, the D isn’t there and they can’t buy garbage points. And it’s maganified by the fact that he actually has great basketball talent.
TexasFan101 said:
February 7th, 2010 at 11:05 am
With all this doom and gloom, this is when we go out against KU and get a strong game from James, Bradley, and Hamilton in the same game to win by 10+. It’s never as bad as it seems. If we shoot even decent free throws we win two of the games we lost. Here’s to hoping Barnes took the crew to a movie today and then watch the Super Bowl together.
Bob in Houston said:
February 7th, 2010 at 11:09 am
Texantt: Clemson was not about to fire Barnes. What was about to happen was that he was going to lose players. IIRC, at least two returning starters were about to bolt, but then Barnes moved on and they stayed.
This was when Barnes’s method of practice planning was just short of Billy Clyde Gillispie’s — if hard work improved the team, harder work would improve it more. Eddie Reese intervened at the end of RB’s first year in Austin and the rest has been history.
What irritates me is that Barnes has been a head coach for 23 years. He must know that the team is struggling, and he must have dealt with issues like those his team are facing (such as FT shooting) and that the freshmen are facing (fitting in to the team concept and learning big-boy defense). He’s come really close to throwing the players under the bus, when as much as anything it’s his own coaching that has gotten them there.
With Pittman’s disappearance (another problem that likely is within Barnes’ power to alleviate, if not fix), the ground-zero defensive problems of Brown and Hamilton have become magnified. Free-throw shooting has become a plague.
That said, I expect a good effort and a bare-knuckled game tomorrow. If KU blows them out, it could be a free fall from here.
hobzzz said:
February 7th, 2010 at 11:12 am
good grief. all this coach barnes is too mean talk….it makes me giggle like the girls you guys are…..
Aggie Lurking said:
February 7th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
If Billy Clyde Gillispie was your coach you would not be in the situation you are in now…. oh and you’d be short a couple of these prima donnas taking up playing time. They would have quit like those Kentucky kids did.
Hell I think Frank Martin or Turgeon could coach these guys better than Rick has.
hobzzz said:
February 7th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
still say the biggest problem is our best defense player. while doge is a complete defensive player, he can’t shoot outside of a layup…..and lately his forced layups aren’t going in.
Bubble News: There Is No Big 12 Bubble Edition said:
February 8th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
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