College Hoops National Championship Race

You are wise and prescient. May it be as you predict.

jinx?

scag, come play craps with me this month and see for yourself. I’m above the whole jinx deal. Plus, I can’t jinx what Barnesy has going on.

you do NOT wanna throw dice with me, friendo, youll crap out…

Ricky does have his diamonds. may they sparkle in Indy. but im sure as hell not gonna say theyre gonna cut down the nets, man!

and as a dice man, you should know theres serious juju here, broseph.

we’ll get Sailor to pay for it scagzi. No jinx big daddy. We’re winning this motherfucker.

No mention of Tyshawn Taylor, KU’s returning sophomore that lead the US under-19 team in scoring on the way to a gold medal?

Texas is going to be really good. You’re right about Dexter Pittman. As a Kansas transplant in Austin, nothing would be sweeter to me than a UT – KU final. Well, maybe if it was in San Antonio.

Are you required to wear a helmet when leaving the house? Pittman over Aldrich? Kansas lacking playmakers? Do you watch basketball?

And I left out the least-credible part of your diary: you honestly think a Bill Self-coached team can’t guard?

Ok, this is just crazy talk. Cole Aldrich is better than Pitman today, tomorrow, or anytime. He has been and will be. There is a reason one is a lottery pick and the other, well, isn’t.

Not enought playmakers on Kansas? Do you know anything about Kansas?

Starting 5. Sherron (Playmaker), Tyshawn (Playmaker), Xavier (Playmaker), Marcus Morris (Playmaker), Cole Aldrich (Playmaker), yep, you’re right, they don’t have anyone.

Defend as well as Texas? Seriously? Is that a joke? If so, it’s hilarious. When is God’s green earth has Texas been known to defend better than KU. Was UT decent on D last season? Yes, until they played good teams. See Kansas game last season (even with the low amount of playmakers)

Will UT be good? Sure. Will they be Kansas? Not likely. UT can’t win in Lawrence (Yes, the game is in Austin) and UT just can’t help but to lose a few to crappy teams. It’s ok, you still get to kick the crap out of KU in football.

Just think you should do a tiny bit of homework before you spew out ridiculous thoughts.

2 Big 12, 1 SEC, 1 Big 10, 1 Big East. 0 ACC.

OK.

Umm Tim, I think you need to do your homework/read. Last year the reason our defense suffered was due to lineup switches, which we needed because of our offensive struggles.

Sexy Dexy’s per minute production last year was top 10. A lot of the guys who did better than him are gone. Add that to the fact that his conditioning seemed much better at the end of the season and he gets to play on a more spread out core this year, thanks to us getting some guys who can actually shoot, it’s not unreasonable to project him as a top big man. However, Aldrich was one of the few returning bigs who had better per minute numbers and he was able to play 30 minutes a game last year. Also, he was only a sophmore. So I do agree it’s hasty to say Pittman will be better, but it’s not like he’s off his rocker.

As far as playmakers go, Trips statements really seem to indicate that there is a huge step down after Collins among the guys returning, which is true. He is by far their best playmaker. He also said Xavier Henry will be able to make plays for him. However, if you limit those guys Kansas will struggle. Obviously if Collins isn’t on the team at all they’re still good, but we’re talking about the highest levels of college basketball here. In the context of winning it all his comments make a lot of sense.

Lastly, UT basketball has been “good” since Rick Barnes got here. For those who do their homework, this is the BEST team he’s ever had, preseason at least. This is among teams who have regularly made it to the sweet 16 and beyond. So when Trips says they are ballers, you will agree.

We will win it all this year, just you wait.

HOOK ’EM!

Rick Barnes’ best team was in ’06. This team has no proven guard play and an undersized pf.

And defense has never been a Barnes strongpoint that’s why you’ve seen so much zone from him the last couple years.

Texas fan, stick to football.

Rick Barnes also sucks at hiring guys like me.

I will say Pittman is a true badass though.

Anybody know where I could score some pot? Thanks. Hook ’em!

What’s funny is Barnes won’t even agree with you. Expect Kansas to be a unanimous choice to win the league, with Collins and Aldrich on the first team.

Pittman > Aldrich is laughable. So is saying Balbay can contain Collins. So is saying that Texas is deeper than Kansas—let alone the ludicrous talk of UT being the deepest team in league history.

Probably nothing you wrote is further off-base, though, than the notion that Kansas won’t guard under Bill Self.

Look, UT’s gonna be real good, but Kansas is the class of college basketball next year.

Hey Ricky, I love getting high with white girls too, especially in minivans in SA to celebrate the title!

>Rick Barnes’ best team was in ‘06. This team >has no proven guard play and an undersized >pf.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In a way, you’re correct. Last year’s guard play was not inspiring, but what’s waiting on deck for this season is the best group of guards UT has ever had, and by end of season will be regarded as one of the best & deepest groups in the country.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>And defense has never been a Barnes >strongpoint that’s why you’ve seen so much >zone from him the last couple years.

I’ll let some wiser BC posters address this farce of a statement.

By the way, Pittman will be drafted over Aldrich, and he will out-score him and dominate the paint when they play each other.

Texoz, you’ve been getting high with Ricky Williams. There is no doubt that Pittman is a good player, but if you think that he is going to dominate Aldrich, you’re stoned out of your mind.

Uh-oh. Somebody has a problem with black athletes and white girls together. All class here. Yee haw !!!!!

He’s going to dominate because UT’s offensive output will be dramatically different than last year. You’re going to see what an unbridled Pittman can do.

Here are some numbers from last season. Keep in mind that Pittman played a lot less, and when he did come in the other team knew the odds were high that he would be the focal point of the offense, or more specifically, the lack of offense UT had.

Pittman
Min 580
PTS 354
Ave 1.64 pts per minute
SHOOT% 61.6%
RBNDS .33 per minute
BLKS .06 per minute

Aldrich
Min 1037
PTS 520
Ave 1.99 pts per minute
SHOOT% 59.8%
RBNDS .37 per minute
BLKS .09 per minute

The new versatility in offensive scoring from incoming UT players will open the paint, allowing Pittman to get A LOT of easy dunks this season. His points per minute and shooting % of 61.6% will likely go up. With Jordan Hamilton and Damion James stalking the boards, Pittman’s rebounding numbers will likely remain the same. I do expect an increase in blocks though.

I’ve watched Pittman’s development over the last 3 years and you can see great progress from season to season. I expect the same this year. Look for more polished offensive moves, like hook shoots, and better judgement on the defensive end.

Texoz, that is all well and good, but you claim that Pittman will DOMINATE Aldrich. To Dominate Aldrich he will have to overwhelm one of the best big men in the country. He will have to perform far better than he did last year. Do you still wish to stake your reputation on a claim that Pittman will DOMINATE Aldrich?

Texoz, Pittman can’t do a thing when he’s sitting on the bench trying to catch his breath. He’ll be run ragged trying to keep up with the pace KU will be playing.

I’m fine with the homer pick…been known to make a few myself. But until I see it, I won’t believe Pittman can play effectively for 30 minutes a game, especially when the entire rest of Texas’ personnel is suited for an up-tempo game. All of the per-minute stats are well and good, but the don’t mean much unless they can really extrapolate out over the course of 40 games. Guess we’ll see though.

I’d echo the posters above though when discussing defense. Come on now, Trips.

“Rick Barnes’ best team was in ‘06. This team has no proven guard play and an undersized pf.”

Anybody who knows anything about basketball knows this is an idiotic statement.

Texoz, dude, please. If you are going to post something like that, at least think about the stats before you post something so off base. You did minutes per points, not points per minutes. Anybody who averages 2 points per minute is scoring 50+ points a game. Aldrich averaged ~.5 PPG…

“Rick Barnes’ best team was in ‘06. This team has no proven guard play and an undersized pf.”

This is Barnes best PRESEASON team. I agree that we are counting on guys to produce who haven’t yet played for us, but the safe bet is on Bradley, Lucas, and Hamilton stepping up big come the big dance. We return almost all the key pieces from a good, talented, and flawed ‘08 team.We addressed the flaws with amazing incoming talent. Also, James may be short he’s had no problem play PF in college. He has struggled from the wing.

“And defense has never been a Barnes strongpoint that’s why you’ve seen so much zone from him the last couple years.”

Yes we play zone because Rick Barnes can’t coach D, nothing to do with personnel.

Last year we played a lot of man, and if you don’t think Balbay can play great man D, you don’t watch much Texas basketball. Not to mention Bradley was a top recruit primarily for his ability as a defender until this year where his offensive game really came along. Last year we were an awesome defensive team, until we made lineup changes because our offense was so ineffective. Playing team D takes practice, and our defense suffered for it for a while.

Argue all you want, but if you don’t think this is a top 5 team on paper, which is all we have to go on now, you’re not paying enough attention.

Trips, clearly you were texting when you wrote this.

How big was the apartment building you hit?

As far as Barnes and defense goes, I think the most important stat is opp FG%. PPG is very much determined by pace, and though FG% will change slightly depending on pace it is the most telling stat.

Going back through the years here at Texas, I think our worst season the opponent FG% was 43%. Most years it is under 40%. That’s tough defense. That’s also consistency. Anyone can pull up the exact numbers, but I know for sure we hold opponents under 40% for the year more often than when we don’t.

Going beyond stats, the way Barnes doles out minutes to players tends to rely more on defensive consistency than offensive consistency. Anyone who would say any different just has not been paying attention. It is probably fair to say that Barnes puts too high of a premium on defense over offense, but that’s just how he is. Read through last season’s posts on this site and you will see alot of pleading from fans for Barnes to pick up the pace.

Barnes’ best team was in ’03 by the way. Though ’06 was close. Too many cold blooded killers on that ’03 to lose top billing.

Dude picked Kanas 2nd in the nation not 10th. Why all the whining? Jesus.

bduran – Not one dissenting voice here has said that Texas is not a top 5 team.

Shuttlesworth – The issue is not that Kansas is picked second here, the issue is the cavalier way the writer has just written off Kansas as inferior to Texas.

Kansas returns 2 preseason all americans and Wooden award candidates. Kansas is very deep and very talented. Nothing in this says that Texas is not a good team. Believe me when I tell you that Kansas fans recognize Texas as a very good basketball team. We have faced one another in the Big 12 tournament final in 3 of the last 4 years. Texas will contend for the Big 12 title and contend for the NCAA championship, but to dismiss Kansas as a paper tiger is asinine.

Umm, are Kansas fans so arrogant that calling them the #2 team in the country is dismissing them as a paper tiger? I’m sorry Kansas is the best there is, every was, and ever will be. Better?

Honestly, this is the most reason we’ve had to be excited about a Texas basketball team prior to the start of the season, ever. So get over yourselves.

Mark W
“the issue is the cavalier way the writer has just written off Kansas as inferior to Texas.”

Trips
“The one two punch of Aldrich and Collins make the likelihood of an all big 12 National Championship a huge possibility. If I’m betting, it’s the Hawks and the Longhorns for all the marbles in Indy.”

Who’s being asinine?

Jai Lucas won’t be able to play defense well enough to be a main cog, and there will be better options. He’ll play a role, but that’s it.

I think Pittman will get the best of Cole Aldrich head to head.

The idea that Damion James is undersized as a college power forward is absurd. He won’t provide Texas with an imposing frontline in terms of height, but with his athleticism, strength, and knack for rebounding, he’ll take advantage of most matchups in the college game on either end. I’ll definitely take him over anyone Kansas can field at the position, including either of the Morris brothers. I would argue that the Morris’s - especially Marcus - have a higher ceiling, but we’ll see how that pans out.

It’s gospel on Kansas sites that KU is going into the season with the best team in the country. That’s not to be questioned. The only thing up for debate is how good is this Kansas team compared to other great teams of the past.

The national media is doing a good job of reinforcing that.

Frankly, there’s much to like about Kansas. They have Collins and Aldrich returning, which I didn’t expect. Tyshawn Taylor was impressive in the U-19 international play. Xavier Henry is a stud among studs. Elijah Johnson is a top 25 athletic combo guard. Thomas Robinson is a James Thomas type who will add a lot to KU’s post play.

However, I still like Texas better, especially if J’Covan gets in. I think Hamilton is going to be better than Henry, which is blasphemy to a Kansas fan. I think Bradley is going to be better than Taylor or Johnson, and while that’s not blasphemy, it’s certainly a case of Bradley not doing it yet.

I think Pittman is going to get the best of Aldrich in a one on one matchup. I think James has the potential to abuse either the Morris twins or Robinson, depending on who he goes up against. I like UT’s bench better, which again, isn’t something a Kansas fan can even comprehend another person thinking.

The question mark is PG, where I’d take Collins over anyone Texas has, including J’Covan Brown, if he makes it in. But Texas does have a lot of options there. I’ll be interested to see if any of them can stick.

bduran – Maybe you would care to read what was originally written.

“Sorry, their lack of creative playmakers still hurts them. Shut down Collins and you limit what they can do offensively.”

I find it interesting that you can dismiss Collins so easily. He averaged 19 ppg last year and scored 21 against Texas along with 7 assists. It is unreasonable to presume that Texas can shut down Collins when they have clearly failed to do so in the past. That is unless the author is hiding some coherent explanation as to just how Texas plans to do so in the future which he failed to provide. Furthermore, the author is seeing something in Pittman to rank him above both Patrick Patterson and Cole Aldrich that virtually nobody else in the country is seeing. If Texas fans want to claim that Pittman will dominate Aldrich, please give us some rational reasoning as to how he will do this when, again, he has failed to do so in the past.

Pittman and Aldrich have only played each other once.

The author is seeing something in Pittman that virtually nobody else in the country is seeing, because virtually nobody else in the country has watched Texas as closely as Texas fans have.

It’s been a long process, but what Texas fans saw at the end of last season is what Pittman has been building towards his entire time since he left high school. He’s always had the potential, but his struggles with his body mass had to be dealt with, and that’s taken time.

There’s never going to be anything definitive said on a message board to change your mind regarding Pittman, Mark W, simply because you’re basing your opinion on Pittman on a lack of data points, as far as I’m concerned. It doesn’t make you wrong. Maybe Pittman doesn’t pan out the way the many Texas fans who have been following think he will. The only thing that will help this discussion along is for the season to start, and for Pittman to perform the way us Texas fans feel he will against the Pittsburghs, North Carolinas, Michigan States, etc. that Texas will be facing in nonconference.

That will make for an entertaining and productive discussion prior to Kansas coming in to Austin - where I wouldn’t blame you if you continued to insist Aldrich would prove he’s the better player. But at least at that point, if Pittman does what all of us think he’s going to do, you’ll have a better set of data to work with.

I’m reading what you wrote Mark.

“to dismiss Kansas as a paper tiger is asinine.”

I agree with this. Trips clearly didn’t do this.

Maybe we can’t shut Collins down. However, if we do his point stands and we have some excellent on the ball defenders.

As far as Dexter goes, essentially Horns fans are expecting a break out season from him. Trips has explained why he thinks this in the past. Sports writers predict break out seasons all the time, sometimes they get it right. Nothing wrong with this and there are some good reasons to expect this from the big guy this season. Namely, he had great per minute production last year. Towards the end of the season he showed he could do this for 30 minutes a game as well. On top of that, he was playing with guys whose skill set was not helping him out on the floor. So yeah, given that we expect to spread the floor more and we think he’ll maintain/improve upon his end of the season conditioning, it’s not outrageous for us to expect a monster season from him. However, Kansas fans probably just check the box score and think, no way. That’s why I’m not reading your blog.

You are attributing things to me that I have not said. I have not stated my opinion about Pittman. I have quite clearly stated though, that Kansas fans regard Texas as a team with which to contend for the Big 12 title. I have no doubt that Texas will do very well this season and it would not surprise me in the least if Texas were to win the game against Kansas in Austin this year. However, I have taken issue with the way the author dismisses the challenge that Kansas presents to Texas without offering anything tangible to support that opinion. I have also pointed out that it seems silly to say that Pittman will dominate Aldrich. This does not say that Aldrich will dominate Pittman. I doubt that either will dominate the other. Some Texas fans seem to see anything I offer in rebuttal as a slam on Texas when that is clearly not the case.

I have mad skills and unlimited range.

Maybe if your rebuttal hadn’t previously been presented in such strident tones.

In any case, I agree with Trips that Texas will have a better team than Kansas, and therefore, will have the best team in the country, particularly if J’Covan Brown makes it in.

Actually, going back through, you don’t appear to have been strident in anything but taking umbrage at Trips Right’s comments regarding Kansas as #2.

Really, you don’t take much of a position at all. I guess you think this blog should be a kumbaya campfire sing-a-long. Horrors that Trips Right should employ some exaggeration while making Kansas his #2 team in the country.

ipowers knew how to take exception to Trips Right’s posts, even when his responses were in Latin.

This thread needs more Tim, Fish, sensei, super corona, and their ilk.

And more ipowers references. There can never be enough ipowers references as far as I’m concerned.

Thanks for the back handed complement.

Texoz, dude, please. If you are going to post something like that, at least think about the stats before you post something so off base. You did minutes per points, not points per minutes. Anybody who averages 2 points per minute is scoring 50+ points a game. Aldrich averaged ~.5 PPG…
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
That’s what I get for posting while watching SpongeBob Squarepants with the kids.

Here are the corrected numbers, which make Pittman’s production more apparent.

Pittman
Min 580
PTS 354
Avg 0.61 pts per minute
SHOOT% 61.6%
RBNDS .33 per minute
BLKS .06 per minute

Aldrich
Min 1037
PTS 520
Avg 0.50 pts per minute
SHOOT% 59.8%
RBNDS 0.37 per minute
BLKS .09 per minute

Regarding the "dominating" comment I made. It’s pre-season hyperbole intended to razz the Jayhawk faithful. However, I have little doubt that Pittman will win the one-on-one match up with Aldrich. Partly because of his skill and strength and partly because Pittman’s supporting cast will prevent Aldrich from getting much help on defense.

The UT vs KU game will be one of the biggest regular season match ups that the Big 12 has ever seen and I say let’s start the smack now.

“The UT vs KU game will be one of the biggest regular season match ups that the Big 12 has ever seen and I say let’s start the smack now.”

There’s no “one of the biggest” about it.

The TX-OU football game will be the biggest in the history of the series, the Kansas basketball game will be the biggest home game in the history of Texas basketball, and it will be one of the bigger regular season matchups KU has participated in.

I don’t think anyone will be able to elicit a huge amount of smack from the large majority of the KU faithful regarding the specific outcome of the game in Austin, but I haven’t seen many of them able to take seriously the idea Texas might actually have the better team overall.

And given the outcome of all the matchups in the Big 12 tournament thus far, as a Texas fan I wouldn’t put a lot of money on the Longhorns winning that game in Kansas City if the two teams were to meet in the championship game. But I still think Texas is going to have the better team this coming year, at least if J’Covan makes it in and gets in a position to contribute.

To mark w we see pittman of having a breakout year because the way he showed flashes of brilliance last year which is very similar to cole aldrich’s year when ku won the title he would come in and be a force and contribute good minutes and then last year he blew up for you guys. Just by seeing his progress over his time here at UT it is very easy for us to think he is going to blow up with better supporting talent and better conditioning of his own. Now I will say to think he will out play aldrich is a reach but it’s not a reach to say that in spurts he will put all over anybody that gets in his way, if we can get 20 minutes a game of solid play from sexy dexy I would put money on him being an all American. I would put preseason KU 1 mich st 2 UT 3 kentucky 4 only because they have proven players and our guys like Kentucky are all only going on potential but by mid season I would be shocked if Texas isn’t number 1 in the country. Everyone Is a paper tiger right now nobody has done anything it’s all a guess so it’s all going to be opinion based we just happen to feel very strong about our horns this year if that’s to much maybe you can go back to your rock chock jay hawk sites

I think someone just likes hearing themselves talk and are real touchy if you aren’t sucking jayhawk jock.

“The TX-OU football game will be the biggest in the history of the series, the Kansas basketball game will be the biggest home game in the history of Texas basketball, and it will be one of the bigger regular season matchups KU has participated in.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
When you consider how strong the baseball team should be, it will be a great 2009-2010 sports year for UT fans.

I agree with the five teams you selected, but I would rank them a little differently:

1. Kansas
2. Texas
3. Kentucky
4. Michigan State
5. Villanova

Two quibbles not related to UT or KU:

1. I disagree about Delvon Roe being the most talented player in the Big 10. I see him as more like the college parallel for Greg Oden in the NBA. Roe was a superstar prospect at one time, then he had a major knee injury and microfracture surgery as a senior in high school. Coming off the injury he has looked to me like a less athletic, more robotic player who can be a solid big man but not a star. Michigan State should still be fine up front nevertheless.

2. I am less sold on Villanova’s frontcourt than you are. Yarou will not be a great offensive player as a freshman, Cheek is good but he’s a perimeter player, and Armwood is raw and undersized. Yarou and Antonio Pena should be serviceable bangers, but they are missing the Dante Cunningham/Curtis Sumpter type frontcourt player who can score. They do also get Taylor King transferring from Duke, but he is just a pure shooter who won’t add much else.

As for Texas and Kansas, I expect Dex to have a great year, but I disagree about him being better than Aldrich. In fact, your statement, “Kid can score, but can he hold his own [defensively]” describes Pittman a lot more accurately than Aldrich in my mind. I’m not saying Dex will be a glaring defensive liability or anything – although he is horribly foul prone and he likely will still have trouble guarding the pick and roll – I’m just saying he isn’t as good a defender as Aldrich. He is also not as versatile an offensive player even if he can score on the block a little better than Aldrich.

Additionally, Taylor and the Morris twins were only freshmen last year, and I think they are being shortchanged a little here. The Morris twins in particular could reasonably be expected to show a lot of improvement as second year players with a little experience under their belts.

Last thing – I think Avery Bradley is going to be a better scorer for us than even some of our own fans are expecting. His outside shot is much improved over what it was when he was a junior and is now more than adequate for the college game.

Look the Jayhawks are going to be great. I just think Texas is going to be better. Is that a crime against humanity? Maybe?

As for Pittman, I think people are shortchanging him. He dominated on a per minute basis against a man and a half on virtually every possession. Teams didn’t played true helpside defense against Texas. They smothered Abrams and played 3 guys with one foot in the paint to take away Dex. That won’t happen next season. Period. I can’t stress that enough. Texas is going to be playing five on five. Not 4 guys standing and watching Abrams.

As for Pittman defensively, he more than held his own against some pretty good back to the basket players, specifically Griffin and Aldrich.

Aldrich won’t be able to handle Dex on the block with a spread floor. Sorry.

Here’s the truth. Texas is going to destroy Kansas when they come to Austin. Collins and Aldrich may never play again after the humiliation they will receive. Collins will never be able to get the taste of Bablay’s and Avery’s jocks out of his mouth. They Jayhawks aren’t going to win a game after playing us and will be the 65th team in the dance. They won’t even get on the court for the play in game because they’ll be so worried that they will win and have to face Texas once again, because we will be the number one overall seed.

Look…

Pittman is what he is: a specialist. Even assuming he can hold his ground against Aldrich (he can’t, but games are fun), Self will go small and have Marcus Morris at the 4 and Thomas Robinson at the 5. Pittman won’t be able to keep up, and, since Texas has no shooters, Kansas will be able to collapse on Pittman in the post.

Don’t get me wrong…I think UT’s gonna be very, very good. I wanted Jordan Hamilton bad. But I’m just not seeing enough scoring to keep up with a monster like Kansas. Balbay’s out of his league, James has peaked, and Varez Ward was an anomaly.

As for the newcomers…we all know Bradley’s defensive reputation, and I don’t expect anything less than high-level ball from him. Hamilton’s a stud. But they’re freshman. They’re a roll of the dice. They will do things you don’t think they can do, and then they will fail you. As for Lucas, I’m not sold on him as anything but a role player. Sherron Collins would eat him alive…and I mean that literally.

I guess what I’m getting at is: there’s no shame in being the second-best team in the Big XII this season. No need to huff and puff. Kansas is the class of the league (and the country). I hope there are two games between the programs this year, and a third would be nice, too.

KU at Texas
min, fg, ft, blocks, pf, total points

Dexter Pittman 22 5-11 6-6 3 2 16

Cole Aldrich 33 4-9 4-4 3 3 12

Aldrich surrounded by shooters like Collins, Taylor, and Morningstar.

Pittman is playing with Abrams, Balbay, and Mason.

Give me Pittman with last year’s group. Make it a double with this year’s.

Really, this entire article is a joke. But that’s not what I’m focusing on. I’m focusing on the fact that this Texas team is supposedly, ‘the deepest in the history of the Big 12’. I seem to recall a certain team winning the title 2 years ago with a squad that had a 2nd team that could have won the Big 12. Oh that was Kansas? Cool.

It’s ludicrous to think that Texas is as deep as them, or even close. The 2002 teams of Kansas and Oklahoma were incredibly deep, 2003 Kansas was incredibly deep, 2004 Oklahoma State was incredibly deep, the list goes on and on. Texas may be deep, but they aren’t even the deepest in the conference, let alone conference history. Edge: Kansas.

Call me crazy, but I don’t think Kansas’ 2nd team would have won the big 12 two years ago.

Pittman > Aldrich - bigger, quicker feet, stronger
 
James > Marcus Morris - more experienced, a smarter player (lucky the bar isn’t set too high), better handle, better outside stroke, physically stronger, better rebounder

Hamilton > Henry - stronger, taller, better fallaway, better playmaker, better rebounder, hasn’t been posterized by Willie Warren

Bradley > Taylor - Deron Williams says so

Collins = whoever plays PG for Texas - Collins will be neutralized by the phalanx of defenders UT throws at him, undoubtedly fouling out early for trying to do too much. Also, he’ll want to grab some chicken strips.

So clearly, UT’s starting crew is head and shoulders above KU’s.

Bench:
Johnson > Markieff
Hill/Wangmene > Robinson/Little

Mason > Morningstar
Ward > Releford
Balbay > Reed

Lucas > Withey - UT wins the mid transfer category

Williams > Elijah Johnson - UT’s redshirt is better than KU’s redshirt

Smith > Appleton/Thomas - so even UT’s transfers are better.

And for good measure, Wangmene > Chase Buford, so Texas got the better of the players associated with the San Antonio Spurs GM

Texas may be deep, but they aren’t even the deepest in the conference, let alone conference history. Edge: Kansas.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Let’s check back in 3 years and see if that’s accurate. I highly doubt it. Next year’s UT team will have 4 First or Second round NBA draftees STARTING: Pittman, James, Bradley, and Hamilton.

Odds are good that there will be 2 or 3 other players that spend a little time in the NBA as well. In summation, there are at least 6 players on next year’s team that will play in the NBA, might even see as many as 8.

I’d be curious to what Big 12 team had the most future NBA players on it. Also nationally?

I’d be curious to what Big 12 team had the most future NBA players on it. Also nationally?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The 2008 Kansas team had 5 players drafted shortly after the national championship. That team also included Aldrich and Collins who seem certain to be drafted. Russell Robinson may see some NBA time yet too. I think that qualifies as deeper than this Texas team.

HAHA I want everyone who writes about Texas being better on here to come back in 6 months when you lose to KU and then get bounced out of the Tourney like Texas does every year and tell me how great you are then. Texas will be good but will fold under the hapless coaching of Barnes who couldn’t win it all if he had Kobe and Lebron.

Steve I’m certainly curious about how Barnes is going to interact with this team and how the newcomers will respond to his coaching style. He’s still my favorite coach of any sport at any level but he’s not without his shortcomings. Did you just drop by to talk shot or did you want to discuss those as adults?

SL: Pretty cut and dry, eh? Especially considering neither of these teams have stepped on the floor together…

Are we supposed to wait until February to have an opinion? You don’t think that’s excessive?

I’m just looking for some kind of rebuttal.

I just wanted to chime in and say: never, ever, in a million years ever, did I think I’d see the day that an article on a Longhorn blog about Texas basketball at the end of JULY would have 60+ replies, let alone have some legitimate smack between ourselves and Kansas Jayhawk fans.

Thank you Rick Barnes. Talk about a miracle.

Where did all the KU fans come from?

jimmyjazz -
 
Barking Carnival has a large secret KU fan readership. However, attacking them in basketball is the only way to rally them. There is no number of Todd Reesing height jokes that will provoke them as much as pointing out that their PG likes milkshakes more than defense.

The Jayhawks are simply going by the old philosophy that the fatter the person the better the leader, thus Collins effectiveness at PG.

Mark Mangino is the greatest leader who ever lived.

This is like UT football is better than OU last year. HaHaHa!

also, Pittman is a good defender when he has someone in the blocks and can go man to man.

put him in space? (whistle)

Well then, allow me to retort…

Aldrich > Pittman – Competently defends both his man and the lane, runs the floor, has a post move and is capable of rebounding. Oh yeah, can actually stay on the floor for over the half the game.

James > Morris – Marcus can’t stop Damion, but it goes both ways.

Henry > Hamilton – One won’t fall over in a stiff breeze and didn’t have to take a year off.

Bradley > Taylor – On pure talent, no question. But one of them just led his team to a gold medal and the other hasn’t played a college game yet.

Collins >>> Balbay, Lucas & Brown – Sherron isn’t without his flaws, but as arguably the nation’s top point guard, this one isn’t even close. And who doesn’t love them some chicken strips?!

Bench:

Markieff = Johnson – I like Gary’s offensive game better, but all other aspects go to Markieff

Robinson/Little >> Hill/Wangmene – Bill Self calls Robinson the best rebounder he’s ever recruited and while I could get more in depth…there’s really no need wasting time when I’m addressing Alexis Wangmene and Matt Hill.

Morningstar > Mason – Two years ago, I would have had a different answer. But one of them can make an outside shot, handle and distribute the ball and play some D. The other is a good offensive rebounder from the guard spot and can also defend a bit.

Ward = Releford – Both look pretty athletic and tough. Neither has really wowed me to this point.

Reed > Balbay – In basketball, you have to put the ball in the basket. One can do it. The other…

And you’ve been hanging out with ipowers too much if you think Williams is better than Elijah Johnson.

You shortarms are so precious when you talk basketball!

Say, ever heard of Tyshawn Taylor? I hear he had a productive summer.

Dexter Pittman is Robert Traylor/Oliver Miller redux. He’ll be good in a half-court game, but he’ll cramp up trying to run the floor.

I doubt Barnes wants to run a Henry Iba type offense for Dexter’s sake.

Just curious. Will UT be able to fill the arena for every game in the largest city in the B12? My magic eight-ball says “not likely”.

You can almost smell the fear blowing in the from the North!

Kansas fans know this is all they got. We can make wild predictions and say we are better. If we are wrong? Oh well, let’s relish another BCS bowl victory or watch the baseball team in the College World Series. If Texas supplants Kansas as THE basketball program in the Big 12, they have nothing.

For us longtime fans, we are just happy to have a competitive basketball team and we are finally starting to push our expectations. If Barnes wins it all this year, it could signal a real tectonic shift in the Big 12 basketball pecking order.

Kansas really is Big 12 basketball, but Texas under Barnes has shaken things up. We are the only other consistently elite team in the conference and that appears unlikely to change in the near term. Kansas obviously isn’t going anywhere, but its funny to watch some of their fans come here with pants loaded down with fear.

A link to what Jayhawks think of your insipid blog. http://boards.kusports.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=1471313&page=0&vc=1&PHPSESSID=#Post1471313

This might surprise you, but Texas fans don’t typically need to visit Kansas Jayhawk message boards to validate our self-worth.

Now see? That wasn’t so hard.

On Aldrich - I do think Aldrich is a more complete big man. However, when you talk about running the floor, you’re not actually saying that’s something he does well, are you? It is only in the relative sense, right? I will say if the other big man isn’t out there, I’d rather have Aldrich than Pittman, but if both are on the floor together, I’d rather have Pittman.

Damion is a much better defender than Marcus, and it’s not even close at this point. However, as someone else pointed out, both Morris twins were only freshmen - and at times amazingly dumb freshmen at that - so it’s reasonable to expect a great deal of improvement from them going into their sophomore years, especially from Marcus, who is the more accomplished of the two. I’d still take James over him, though.

Hamilton can be knocked over in a breeze? You seen the guy lately? He’s 6’7 and 230. I guess one of your Wizard of Oz level breezes, but anything short of that isn’t going to cut it. You’re going to be surprised at how physical Hamilton is as a freshman.

On Bradley over Taylor - I’ll take the talent, thanks. Nothing against Taylor though, who has been a nice surprise given that Releford was supposed to be the guy. It’s always fun seeing a local kid succeed like that, a la Simien.

Collins - yeah, even when I’m going after hyperbole, I’d take Collins over anyone Texas is going to be fielding any day. There’s a fine line between taking the team on your shoulders, and doing too much. Say “Hi!” to Johnny Flynn for me! He obviously needs to keep his weight under control, but it’s been an issue for him in past offseasons and he’s been okay, so I’ll assume he’ll be fine.

I do like what Texas can bring to this position better this year, but it ain’t been done, yet.

Markieff v Johnson - Markieff plays dumb. He’s more athletic than Johnson - who is no slouch in that regard. Markieff is also taller. He almost certainly has the higher ceiling. I’d rather have Johnson because he can hit the elbow jumper, and I think he’s a better option hedging off the pick and roll - which both teams are going to use a ton. But Markieff is the better rebounder, and probably a better defender in the paint.

Robinson/Little v Hill/Wangmene - It’s summer, therefore glowing news about Matt Hill and the contributions he’s going to be able to make this coming year are flowing out of practice reports like milk and honey out of Canaan. I don’t buy it until I see it for myself at this point - except for the purposes of this retort. Hill is going to dominate, mofo!

We’ll see what kind of progress Wangmene makes coming off his injury. I’m looking forward to watching Robinson and what he brings. I was disappointed Quintrell Thomas ended up being a dud. I don’t expect the same to happen to Robinson. Still, it’s always interesting to watch Self bring his freshmen along.

You didn’t address Little, but you have to be a little disappointed given his accolades coming out of JUCO. He seems to be a man without a position, to me.

Morningstar v. Mason - I’ll be curious to see if this is even an apt comparison. I’ll say this: Morningstar has a better chance of holding off his competition than Mason does. Morningstar is an easy guy to like. You look at him out there with the other players, and it almost feels like he doesn’t belong, but then he’ll make a hustle play, or hit an outside shot. Both guys at their best are the kind of players any fan wants on their team, but Mason’s slump was dreadful, and now he’s going to have to hold off Hamilton, Bradley, Lucas, and an improving Ward and Balbay. He’s started a bunch of games, and as we say when talking about football, Mason has bled a bunch for this program. I have no idea what’s going to happen.

Ward v. Releford - Ward has wowed me more than Releford has. Releford hasn’t had the equivalent of Ward’s Duke game in the NCAA tournament. Releford came in with more hype, but it’s been Taylor that has impressed.

Reed v. Balbay - I understand what you’re saying about having to make shots, but I don’t completely agree that that’s all basketball is about. Balbay was the best perimeter defender on the team last year. He’s a terrific rebounder from the guard position, he’s a jet on the open floor, and he’s a good playmaker. Before Bill Self swallowed his pride and started sagging on Balbay in the 2nd half instead of playing up on him like he wanted to, Balbay was absolutely destroying the KU defense. Of course, it was a huge problem that teams could defend 5 on 4 when he was out there. It was a REALLY big problem when Balbay and Mason were on the floor together.

If you’re needing someone to take a shot, give me Reed. If you’re looking to make your basketball team better, I’ll take Balbay.

Obviously there’s not much to the Elijah Johnson/Shawn Williams comparison. One is an uber athletic combo guard. The other is a skinny 6’7 outside shooter who is a sneaky offensive rebounder. I do think it’s interesting that both players are going to have a heck of a competition earning playing time, when they’d be starting without question entering most programs.

I’ll say it again. There can’t be enough ipowers references. That’s never going to get old for me.

Hey Flint, is that KUsports.com site like the short bus for KU fans? I think it’s so cute the handicapped fans have a place to post, too.

Kansas is a one trick pony. You guys just give them this sport.

Will UT be able to fill the arena for every game in the largest city in the B12?

What?

I got confused for a second, too. He’s saying Austin is bigger than Lawrence, College Station, Lubbock, Waco, Norman, Stillwater, Lincoln, Boulder, Ames, Manhattan, and Columbia. Which it is.

The only fan base in the Big 12 who can talk attendance smack about UT is Kansas, and they go to the attendance smack retort about as quickly as UT fans refer to university rankings - way too often in both cases. I’m not about to brag about attendance at UT, but the fact of the matter is there are a ton of tickets being sold. By that measure, Texas does very well nationally. It’s not something I’m going to point to with pride, because all of us Texas fans know there is all kinds of progress possible on a myriad of fronts, but I find it hilarious how easily KU fans go to the attendance numbers when talking to the fan base of any other school. I’m sure it goes over well to the challenged posters on that KUsports.com site, though.

All of you guys should give it up. No one would be having this conversation if Billy Gillispie was still in College Station.

Soon to be C-USA coach of the year, holla! Some future UH basketball player is going to have his girlfriend stolen from him, is my prediction.

We could go drinking together!

I think UT’s attendance would be better if you couldn’t do anything else outside from Dec-April because the high is 10 degrees. Those cold as shit midwesterners/nor easters love to cram their basketball arena’s come winter time.
Granted, I’m also making excuses, our home fans/seat allotment is fucking retarded and will be the reason Barnes eventually leaves to get back to the ACC.

Barnes isn’t going anywhere at this point. Where in the ACC would he go? UNC and Duke are out. He’s already turned down North Carolina State. Outside of the ACC, he’s turned down basketball powers Indiana and Kentucky. Is he going to take the Virginia job? Wake Forest? Maryland?

He doesn’t have that many years left in his career. 10 maybe? Not more than that. How many programs is he going to be able to build up in that amount of time so that he’s recruiting at the level he’s currently recruiting at UT?

The ship has sailed for Barnes to coach elsewhere.

that makes me feel better then. now if he could coach offense and increase student turnout….

You lost me at Cole Aldrich being the third best big man in the country behind Dexter Pittman. Really? Are you sure THAT is what you really want to go with?

Aside from the fact that Aldrich averaged more points (5), rebounds (6), assists (.6), blocks (2), steals, averaged fewer fouls per game, and had an almost equal assist to turnover ration, the biggest thing for me is that Pittman has yet to prove that he can consistently play a lot of minutes.

Pittman could be the best player in the world, but it doesn’t matter if he can’t ever get into good enough physical shape to play 3/4 of a game. Considering the lack of proven depth in the front court, Pittman has to be able to log serious minutes or Texas is in trouble. He hasn’t been able to do it in three years…what makes Texas fans confident he can do it now?

cwo: What makes Texas fans confident is the way Dex closed last season.

In the last 8 games of last season, Dex averaged 15 pts, 8 boards, 1.25 blocks, on 63% shooting in 25 minutes per game.

If you watched Texas play last year, you realize that Dex never met the player that could stop him one on one.

If you look at the box scores, refs seemed to adjust to Dex’s style of play as the season progressed (along with Dex playing smarter).

And, as Trips has been saying for months, Dex should have MUCH better spacing to work with this year, as we’ll have more than one shooter on the floor.

I don’t see why Kansas fans have so much trouble understanding this.

I very much understand this…and I think Dex is very tough to guard in the half court. What worries me about him is that every other player on the roster is suited to play an up-tempo game. That, and despite being (by far) the biggest player on the floor, he’s only exceeded 11 rebounds once in his career.

Also, take out the outlier (Kansas State) of those games and the numbers shrink to: 12.9 points, 6 boards. 0.7 blocks, & 21 minutes.

ctex – There is nothing wrong with having higher expectations for Pittman, but the claims that we KU fans are seeing here state that Pittman is superior to Aldrich. The Texas game against Kansas last year was one of the last 8 games and Pittman was not superior to Aldrich. In fact, he only managed to stay on the floor for 22 minutes. He outscored Aldrich by 4, but Aldrich had 10 rebounds to Pittman’s 3. Aldrich went on to record the first triple-double in the NCAA tournament in 7 years or so. Pittman may have improved some since last year, but I promise you that Aldrich is not sitting still.

cwobrien,

I can’t speak for Trips Right, but I can speak for me. While I don’t know that I’d say Pittman is the best big man in the country, I will say that I think he could be the best big man against other big men.

To be at his most effective on defense, he really needs to be going against a post scorer. Pull him away from the basket at all and he looks completely lost. He ends up giving up more baskets than he makes. Maybe that changes this year, I don’t know.

I’ve seen him acquit himself quite well against Hasheem Thabeet, Kevin Love, Robin Lopez, Blake Griffin, and KU’s own Cole Aldrich. College centers aren’t used to going against someone who is as tall as they are, and yet quicker with more size.

Also, officials don’t seem to call fouls quite so quick when he’s defending someone closer to his own size.

What Texas fans saw at the end of last year was a paradigm shift on Pittman’s part. We saw him dominate opponents in the Big 12 tournament, and again versus Minnesota in the NCAA tournament. That doesn’t mean he’s ready to do it night in and night out, but as Texas fans we feel like maybe he’s ready to put it all together for his senior year - and like Trips Right says, opponents aren’t going to be able to pack it in this year with scorers all over the floor.

I saw Kansas fans do the same thing with Cole Aldrich last season mostly based on his performance against Tyler Hansbrough. That wasn’t the only flash of brilliance Aldrich showed as a freshman, but that was the biggest, on the biggest stage. I see nothing wrong with Texas fans doing much the same thing with Pittman, especially when we’ve been watching him develop for 3 years, making steady progress each season.

He’s also reportedly in great shape.

BTW, there’s plenty of depth in the front court. Damion James and Gary Johnson have proven themselves quite adequately, so it’s only going to take one of Wangmene/Hill/Chapman for Texas to be just fine behind Pittman, especially when Hamilton can play some 4 when Texas wants to go with a smaller, quicker lineup.

Holy crap, look at all these UT fans talking basketball in August, that’s why I love this site. I disagree with your rankings, but if everything falls into place like you have been saying it will for the last half year then your scenario is totally plausible. You will hav the talent to be the best in the nation as will KU.

I do disagree on the whole Pittman over Aldrich argument. I think you are giving too much creedence to the strides Pittman made and not recognizing that Cole will be better too. Other than that, great off-season banter.

GingerBalls –
 
Holy crap, look at all these UT fans talking basketball in August, that’s why I love this site.
 
Seriously. That’s the real takeaway here.

The upside for Pittman is higher than the upside for Aldrich (another way of saying that Aldrich realized more of his potential last season than did Dex).

The big unknown is how well conditioned big Dex will be next season. If Dex can get close to his optimal conditioning, he will be a terror. If Dex is not in superb shape, it will be easy to attack him when Dex is playing D as part of a horn man to man D scheme.

Barnes will not be happy to play zone to protect Dex on D and has already challenged Dex to get in good enough shape next season to participate in an up tempo offense and pressuring man to man D.

Next season will be a huge coaching challenge for Barnes. My guess is that Barnes will do a great job of coaching D next season but melding all these talents into an efficient offense is going to be challenging and will take a while. Coaching offense is not Barnes’ strong suit but he will have a fully stocked offensive toolbox next season to play with.

It would be awesome if Barnes can get the offense working efficiently by the Big 12 tournament.

Aldrich is a great player. No one is saying that he is not. What some of us see is what Dex was flashing at the end of last year in a less than ideal situation for him.

In his last 7 games he averaged 15.6 points and 9.0 rebounds a game in around 25 min. of playing time. This while facing constant double and triple teams off of Balbay, Mason and Johnson’s guys.

With no threat of a shooter on the floor other than AJ teams could double and triple from anywhere. That will not happen this year. If you do then we finally have scorers that will make you pay.

Nobody can handle Dex on the block without help. If the help doesn’t come, that 16 and 9 could turn into 20 and 10 with relative ease. It is a logical progression, not some blind homerism. The kid is a beast down low. Foul trouble and conditioning are the only two things that could hold him back.

Aldrich is great. Pittman is going to be better.

MarkW,

The fact that Dex scored 16 against KU in only 22 minutes should tell you something.

hiphopapotamus, I can’t really figure out your numbers… I suppose you’re throwing the Tech game in there and taking the average of those nine games, excluding the KU game? If tha’ts what you’re doing it’s pretty much the definition of cherry picking.

Throw out the Baylor game and go with the middle 6 of his last 8 games and the numbers are pretty darned good.

15.8 pts, 7.3 rebs, .8 blks, 63% shooting.

ctex,

It tells me that he can’t stay on the court long enough to make the difference. Maybe you should look at the differential in rebounds and see how far he lags behind Aldrich in that area.

Pancho: I’m not sure how much simpler it could be.

CTex cited his averages over the last 8 games. There was an outlier (KSU) within those eight, so I eliminated it and cited the resulting averages from the remaining 7. Let me know if you need anything else cleared up.

Pittman last season: 580 minutes, 191 rebounds.
Aldrich last season: 1037 minutes, 387 rebounds.

Pittman averaged .329 rebounds per minute. Aldrich averaged .373 rebounds per minute. So Pittman lags behind Aldrich by .044 rebounds per minute.

Now let’s do points, Marky!

Pittman last season: 580 minutes, 354 points.
Aldrich last season: 1037 minutes, 520 points.

Pittman averaged .610 points per minute. Aldrich averaged .501 points per minute.

Now let’s project them both to play 30 minutes per game and we get:

Pittman: 18.3 points, 9.87 rebounds
Aldrich: 15.03 points, 11.1 rebounds

What was I supposed to learn from that again, Mark?

Pittman logged just 22 minutes in the game against Kansas last year. He finished with only 2 fouls. He was unable to run the court as needed last year and if Texas is going to play a faster pace this year, then he will be playing even fewer minutes unless he has drastically improved his conditioning. There is no question that he has potential, but he has to be on the court to prove it. Furthermore, rebounds per minute and points per minute are well and good, but you have to accumulate significant minutes to accumulate significant rebounds and points.

I like this Aldrich/Pittman discussion, I think both sides have some really good points and I can see a scenario where Pittman ends up being better than Aldrich. I don’t believe it will happen, but the off-season was made for this kind of dialog.

Just want to throw out this idea of peaking as well:
Aldrich in the NCAA tournament
17.6 ppg, 15.6 rpg, 5.3 bpg, 73% ft, 56% fg
Pittman
12.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 0 bpg, 55% ft, 58% fg

Small sample size, fewer minutes for Pittman and all that but the thing that really stands out to me is how much Cole changes the complexion of the other teams inside game. Blocks aren’t everything, but there is no doubt that his mere presence is enough to change the opposing team’s offensive gameplan in a much more dramatic way than Pittman.

I know we are splitting hairs here, because both will be great assets to their respective teams, but I still think that Aldrich brings a more complete package overall. I might also mention, that even though Dex has been better at the charity strip recently, another coup in favor of Aldrich is his 80% clip from the line and ability to stay out of foul trouble(for the most part.) Like I said earlier, many of you predict that will be less of an issue for Pittman this year, if that does happen it will be bad news for the rest of the Big 12.

I meant charity stripe above. Charity strip is a much different concept entirely, not that I am opposed to the idea though.

I think both teams will be badass and it would be nice for both to be playing in Indy much like the last time the Horns made it to the Final Four in 03 and both ran into Melo. KU fans have to understand our excitement a little here as this could be the best hoops team to ever suit up at Texas. I did say could.

I’m with Ginger Balls kinda. Aldrich is defnitely more consistent. He is probably a better rebounder and definitely a better team defender.

But, head to head, I would take Pittman everytime.

hiphopapotamus

Yes, I can do math. Maybe you got your box scores wrong but your numbers don’t match mine.

Also, you can’t drop positive “outliers” without dropping negative ones – so see my stats when you drop Baylor.

By the way, the KSU game is not really an outlier. It’s well within 4 SDs for most of his stats (save blocks, perhaps) for the other 7 games. So dropping it is, im my view not justifiable. It’s not like he was averaging 2 points a game and then all of a sudden put up 30. He was averaging 15 and put up 26. He was averaging 8 boards and put up 20. But he was in that range before. Just because he had a great game doesn’t meet the definition of an outlier.

I don’t really have a horse in the Pittman v. Aldrich argument. I can see both sides. But let’s not pretend that Big Dex wasn’t playing as well as anyone in the country during the last third of the season. If he can put up those kinds of numbers and not wear down during Big 12 play (I would use him sparingly in tune-up games and play him a lot in the big non-conference games) then I would say he’s one of the top 2 or 3 big men around. Maybe Barnes was saving him for a strecth run. It would not be unheard of… Abrams sure looked tired through the middle of the season.

“since Texas has no shooters”

KU fans have made a bunch of good arguments on this page, and a lot of them I agree with. This is pure ignorance though, or perhaps utter stupidity. Hamilton and Lucas will be two of the better shooters in the country, and Bradley is a very solid shooter as well. Damion is streaky but can stretch the D with ease as everybody in the country knows. UT probably has the deepest shooting starting lineup of any upper tier team in the country.

I also agree with your top 5, but in a different order.

1) KU
2) UT
3) Nova
4) UK
5) MSU

After the top 5, it doesn’t really matter. UNC will get their typical preseason hype, but they aren’t on the same level as the other teams. Personally I’m not sure MSU is either. The top 4 is absolutely loaded with talent. Would have loved to see what happens with UK if Meeks came back like he should have, probably would have had to put them number 1…

What the f*** is going on, Patron said I should post something? OK then WTF is 105 post ,basketball post less then 8 weeks before football starts. Have you Ladies lost your minds let alone your virginity?

I for one have arrange my schedule to be in Indy in March 09 to see the big dozen play for a NC in the final 4 games. I will be disappointed if UT and ku do not play for it. Mich.State may have something to say about it and let not forget UNC, and the Dukies if they get hot and Williams plays well.

 105 BB post I tip my Patron cap to all you MF that finally saw the light of BB in your
 Mai Tais and other girlie men drinks….

Dex and Cole will do battle 2-3 times this BB year but I would take Dex as better at 3-1 odds if I was a betting man.
This will be Texas’ best team since the bus driver came to town.

Duke will be mediocre at best. Williams transferred…UNC has no backcourt.

Pancho: Yep, my bad…somehow I wasn’t including the Ok St numbers…I’ll stick to my day job. And actually, I’m kind of with you on the throwing out Byalor argument as well (except that those types of numbers weren’t all that rare last year

/Consider my hat officially in hand

p.s Thanks Ginger.

Say Go-Go, sounds like hot pants and high boots.

That was Mr.Patron speaking his mind, I know that Eric W. transfered but I meant was “if Dawkins plays well”. does that take care of your emotions ?? Mr. Dawkins, who is very good on offense and just as good on defense.

If you look at UNC , Marcus Ginyard, SG redshirt year is back and health,saw him in an open gym last month and he appeared to be back from his injury, Then you have Larry Drew II who will be better then he was last year.
But for UNC to be good the forwards is where you butter your bread.
Ed Davis, Dion Thompson is excellent, Zeller incoming bigs, a name you may know, Henson will start and be outstanding and then the Wear twins will provide some rebounding and scoring from one or the other.
Take a look their coach who is pretty good also.
Could be a dark horse with talent.

I think you are still on it smh, Elliott Williams…

Ginyard is back, big whoop he was never good before—except as a shut down man off the bench. Drew’s being better than last year is like Doge’s shot improving—it really can’t be any worse so you aren’t going to be let down. A name I of course know, Henson, will not start over Thompson or Davis…but yes he’ll be good if he ever gets over 100 pounds. Coach is obviously great. Backcourts win ’Ships, UNC has none.

“…I’m kind of with you on the throwing out Byalor argument as well (except that those types of numbers weren’t all that rare last year).”

One, the Baylor game was the third game in three days. Whatever progress Pittman has made regarding his weight and conditioning - and he’s made a substantial amount - it wasn’t up to that kind of demand.

Two, the reason why Texas fans are excited about Pittman isn’t based on his season long numbers. I don’t even understand why some people are going through the gyrations to employ them, but that’s their business.

We’ve been waiting three years to see the Pittman that started emerging at the end of the season. We feel like it possibly augers what we’ll see from him next year on a consistent basis - similar to what Kansas fans thought they might see from Aldrich after witnessing his performance against Hansbrough among others.

Does it mean it will occur? Of course not.

If the point were that Pittman has had a more impressive career than Aldrich so far, that would be a stupid point. That’s not what anyone is saying. What we’re saying is that finally, at the end of last year, we saw Pittman consistently perform at a level we all felt like he had within him, but a variety of factors were holding him back.

With another offseason for further conditioning work - and he’s made huge strides, down below the 290 mark, and he’s carrying it great - plus with the influx of new talent, we feel like it’s going to help spread the floor even more, which will lead to even more success for Pittman.

It’s a message board, not an oracle for Jesus. There’s no telling if any of this comes to pass. But as fans, we hope it will, and as hardcore observers of our team - more so than fans of other schools, or the national media - we feel like Pittman’s performance for the upcoming year is being underrated. That’s pretty normal for players who haven’t done it yet.

That doesn’t mean it will come to pass. Merely that we think it will.

SLX owning another bball thread. Basketball talk in August, I love it!

I remember arguing on a KU board that Chris Mihm was going to be better his junior year than Eric Chenowith. KU fans took the opposite position in stone, much like today.

On that one, I was right.

It’s not like Aldrich tore up Pittman head to head. If they both play to their potential, I like Pittman’s chances.

Wow. Mihm v. Chenowith. At the time, it was a legitimate discussion topic. In hindsight, it feels like drinking tepid water when you’re not that thirsty in the first place.

I don’t know that Pittman will have as lengthy of an NBA career as Mihm, but surely it will be more productive.