Texas vs Iowa open thread

Good to see Bradley being aggressive offensively.

We’re going to win this game by a very large margin. Texas -14.5 was easy money.

I’d like to see Balbay at running back.

I don’t think it’s a good idea for Iowa to have five white guys on the court at the same time.

Jordon Hamilton likes playing on the road.

I don’t like seeing Magic and Larry as old men. It’s too bad they have to get older while I stay the same age.

Haha, cheeseburgers. That was oddly disrespectful.

Three pointer by Leinenkugel.

1. for Iowa is wearing manpris.

Uh oh, Shawn Williams is in. Hamilton better step up his game.

Take those easy ones Hamilton.

Paging Jai Lucas>>>>>>>>

Tied it up.

Ward and Brown need to fucking take better care of the ball.

Now that was just ridiculous.

Acie Earl is killing us.

We need to go Death Blossom on these guys in the second.

Brad Lohaus is killer as the tip of the spear on a full court press.

Kudos to Ward for shutting down BJ Armstrong.

I don’t care how sweet Hamilton’s jump shot is, the man has got to stop calling for the ball everytime down the court.

Go inside early in the 2nd half, and then turn up the pressure — very nice.

As far as Hamilton is concerned remember it is his third competitive game in the last year. You can practice all you want hard to simulate game pressure. He and Brown will make silly plays on and off all year. The sky’s the potential for both guys. Free throws may end up being our biggest downfall. Ward is great driving but if he cannot connect at the free throw line his drives end up just like a turnover. Freshman seem to be getting in a better groove.

This is uncharted territory for Longhorn basketball. They have yet to really have any prolonged offensive flow yet this season, but when the final horn sounds they’re up by 25.

Face a team like Iowa which is exceling with a small lineup, and Texas can dominate the post. Sag the post and they’ll knock down 3’s. Try to run and they’ll wear you out with sheer numbers. Slow the game down and the Horns smother you with ball pressure.

I’ve ended up giddy by the end of each game this season. No doubt there will be hiccups, but this is fun to watch.

This. Team. Is. Fucking. Really. Really. Good.

I am struggling to avoid period-style headlines … and failing. So here goes:

“Horn Cagers Best Milan!”

Granted, Iowa’s best player is a doughy, whitish guy named homonymically for a doughy, whitish German food. Noodle Cougill & Co. did what they could with some nifty 3-point shooting — including a 3-quarter court job at the half that had me muttering “It’s good” as soon as it left his hand — and the aggressive first-half channeling of Pete Carril, but they had neither the depth nor the melanin to hang with the Horns … especially after they started switching their screens more decisively (resulting in fewer open 3s for Iowa) and going to Dexter in the post to open the 2nd half.

I expect the lads were a bit freaked out to trail in the 2nd half for the first time this year, but a ball-control, 3-point-oriented offense can hang with you if you start to hurry your own offense in a mistaken attempt to increase the pace. You don’t need to play the same tempo, but you can’t turn every possession into a fast-break attempt just because the Ghost of Dean Smith Past is running the closest thing to a 4-corner offense that’s still available in the shot-clock era. Patience is a virtue, grasshoppers … and fortunately, Rick Barnes is just the sensai to instill it in them.

J’Covan Brown reminds me of Sam Cassell, watch and you might agree. Same kind of I got game attitude. Sweet handle and nice set shot. Not super quick, but next thing you know he is by his man for a dime or a bucket. He has a nice feel for the game. Going to enjoy watching JB play. Keep that head on straight JB!

Cassell used to kill his defenders in the post. Not sure I see that in J’Covan. Also not sure I ever saw Cassell make quite as sweet a wraparound dime as JB did in the first half (resulting in an easy dunk).

Speaking of which, does anyone else remember when we used to forlornly wonder why our players never dunked, just as we used to forlornly wonder why we could never return a KO for a touchdown? Ah, the mediocre old days …

Cassell’s greatest attribute were his cantelope sized balls. J’Covan and Varez both have big cojones. You can’t teach that.

“Cassell’s greatest attribute were his cantelope sized balls. J’Covan and Varez both have big cojones. You can’t teach that.”

Somebody sure does know a lot about basketball players’ testicles…