Freshman on the road

Hank needs to write more.

Frustrating season like I’ve never seen.

Nebraska needs to get lots better on O.

It’s clear the freshmen were way overhyped and overrated. But the regression of Dex, the failure of the offense and the laughable free throw shooting are all on Barnes. He may actually be a better coach when he has less talent

With the possible exception of Kansas, has any team the Horns have played this year had more starting talent or a better bench than Texas?

Barnes has been horrific this year. His mannerisms and decision making during games are as confusing as the looks on the faces of his confused players are during games. Damion James is getting screwed by Barnes’ ineptitude in managing the young talent around him.

There may have been 4 players in the past that have been better players than Texas has this year, and there is certainly no Vince Young talent type on the team, but the same can be said for every team that has pantsed Texas this year, only in spades.

Mack Brown didn’t have VY this year and it can be arguably stated that there have been a dozen or so players in the last decade at Texas that are move talented than any player on the 2009 team. But Texas was a freak injury to Colt’s right shoulder from winning another national championship.

Barnes will get into the Tournament again this year, but with a seeding far lower than the talent on this team deserves, and that doesn’t translate well into March Madness success. Good luck with all that.

Great write up, Nickel. I have written here numerous times regarding the experience factor. Name one team in the last 25 years where a team has won the NC with a freshman point guard outside of Gerry McNamara with Syracuse who had the pleasure of playing with Melo. Guard play is everything in college hoops and these guys need time to grow. This team is a year away.

I don’t have anything to add – just wanted to say that I enjoy these pieces. Keep it up.

Barnes will get into the Tournament again this year, but with a seeding far lower than the talent on this team deserves, and that doesn’t translate well into March Madness success. Good luck with all that.

At this point I would just as soon see a 6 or 7 seed — it would be a better draw than 4 or 5.

Definitely agree with Trips on that 8-4 statement. Made a very similiar comment on IT. What evidence do we have that it will get any better? It’s not like our talent base can get much better. At some point the program is going to have to go in another direction.

NR,

Good write up. The stats don’t lie.

I have a new system for watching this team this year — go to the gym, workout while keeping an eye on the game with the sound down. Much less stressful.

This team is easy to dislike — from every angle — coaching, effort (i.e. rebounding) and dumb play. They are tentative, scared and just like their fans, seem to be waiting for it to all mercifully end.

Lots of blame to go around, starting with Barnes. And yes it seems like he hasn’t adjusted his style of coaching to an uber-talented team.

But I find the “throw the bum out” crowd just as ludicrous as the “but we have never had it this good crowd.”

I happen to believe that his past record does at least afford him the opportunity to prove that this season is not part of a pattern.

Because just as this is the most talented team Texas has ever put on the court, it is also the most talented team Barnes has tried to coach.

He’s tried it his way, and it sucks. Can he adapt? Is he willing to get some coaching help on the offensive side? I want to see what the off-season is like. Let’s see if there are mass defections among the younger players, or how it effects recruiting. I wouild also like to think that his former players who are now in the NBA might also have valuable input that Barnes would be willing to listen to after this train wreck.

If we see Hamilton or Bradley cut out to go somewhere else, and if we see some of the same on-the-court issues next season, then it’s time for the pitchforks and torches.

I just find the talk of giving Barnes his walking papers a tad premature.

Thanks for the compliments,

Beowulf: I’m not trying to argue that Barnes has done a great job this season or that the ‘horns struggles haven’t been alarming and frustrating. But to compare this team to the 2005 team is just ridiculous. It’s not even close.
If Barnes were doing a great job maybe he would have had some of these freshman ready to go sooner and the offense in better rythmn. I do think he should reconsider his practice strategy where he holds off on extra practices to give the team fresher legs. There is enough youth, depth and conditioning here to take a few extra practices.

All of Trips talk about how dominant this team was in offseason drills is all fine and well but offseason scrimmages and practices aren’t held in front of thousands of people screaming at you.

Is Mike krzyzewski a good coach? He has adopted a policy of only taking 4 year program talent so that he doesn’t have to deal with the kind of team Barnes is currently working with.
Clearly Barnes is a limited coach. So is Mack Brown, so is Will Muschamp, God knows Greg Davis is.
DKR had some 4 loss seasons. I’m not trying to say Barnes is as good as these guys (except Greg Davis, at least) I’m just suggesting that the this team’s troubles are not so baffling as to warrant the pitchfork or hyperbole.

Srr50: agreed.

yeah, looking at that box score will make you sick. just make some fucking free throws and we probably have 2-3 less losses, even as shitty as we’ve played.

I don’t think Mike Anderson was going crazy over the calls, he was angry at his players playing like dickholes the last two minutes. As I said at the time, Anderson is creating a teaching moment. He was looking for a reason to keep their heads from swelling. I thought the officiating was way too tight, and the intentional foul was totally ludicrous.

Of course, I also thought that UT was about the 10th best basketball team we’ve played this year. As I said on another thread, 2010 UT reminds me a lot of Quin Snyder’s last couple Mizzou teams. Some great individual athletes, but no clue what they are doing together.

On ESPN classic they showed one of those teams choke away a game at home against the freshman TJ Ford Longhorns. Rick Barnes and Ford were really in sync together.

Missouri had Arthur Johnson, Gilbert, Kareem Rush, Stokes and couldn’t manage anything. If I remember right they hit a record number of 3s and still lost up against the Drew Gooden, Nick Collison, Jeff Boschee, Kirk Hinrich Jayhawks. That was a really loaded Kansas team.

I’m not sure they don’t get the 8/9 game. The committee says, “okay, you’re in, now let’s be done with you.”