Texas Hoops vs. Baylor:  Post-Mortem

I put my thoughts on the open thread, but I will add this: My wife no longer can stand Scott Drew. She thought he should have been tagged at least once for being out of the box. Even though I explained that he coaches that way all the time, I can’t say I blame her.

Drew has a good team, and no longer relies on thin reeds at center who can’t play, or big guys who can’t move (Lomers). I thought the Longhorn fan sitting behind knew a lot about the game, but I couldn’t figure out why he thought Lomers accumulating fouls and technically becoming a defensive target was a good thing. If he’d fouled out, they would have put in someone better.

I’m still not convinced that Drew is a good coach, because I’ve seen him make what I thought were simple mistakes that cost his team. But his team usually plays smart… that’s what having good, experienced guards will get you.

Well done, Trips. And thanks for watching this ongoing horror show down to the last minute so the rest of us don’t have to, Yesterday’s showing was enough to make the Honda Classic (and risk of turning into a golf prick) compelling viewing for me.

Agree that we are a decent point guard away from being a lot better offensively. What are your thoughts on next season, specifically J’Covan’s chances of becoming the play-maiking point guard Barnes’ teams seem to need?

Why is Drew hated so much? more off court or on-court?

cuz he’s a cocksucker in recruiting? allegedly..

This second half collapse reminds me of watching Texas football in 1997. Acceptance has taken the place of outrage and watching Baylor pistol whip you draws no emotional response whatsoever.

Of course then I felt comfortable knowing our coach would be fired……

Am I the only one who week in and week out sees Texas lose to teams that look to be bigger and better? I know we aren’t getting the most out of our talent, but I’ll be damned if this team is as good as advertised. We aren’t very athletic and lack size in the front court. Obviously James is an exception to the athletic criticism, and Pittman to the size, but the latter cannot move and spends most of the game on the bench.

We have way too many misses on this team. Look no further than the Hill, Chapman, Wangemene triumvirate. We have one good all around player (James), and a bunch of other guys who are either works in progress, or have serious holes in their games, or both. And, as we all know too well, we have no point guard. I think the problem runs a lot deeper than confidence or coaching. This team just isn’t that good.

This second half collapse reminds me of watching Texas football in 1997. Acceptance has taken the place of outrage and watching Baylor pistol whip you draws no emotional response whatsoever.

The difference is that Baylor football team won only two games. This is a pretty good Baylor basketball team that deserves to be ranked. When they’re better than you, for the first time in a long time, you should tip your hat.

The problems are with Barnes and the recruiting, and the players, who clearly have not played to their talent. I’d take “played consistently” though, and we haven’t gotten that, either.

Awesome writeup! Rather than dwell on the negative, you spent some time describing how Baylor was playing such excellent b ball. Baylor looked great and passed the ball superbly, they did it the right way.

I thought it was interesting that J’Covan said this:
“Baylor’s good. They are well coached. They did their game plan.”

Maybe I’m reading too much into it.

Another fine post-mortem. Thanks for all the work, Trips.

We knew we were going to give up some defense for offense with JCB and JH playing a lot of minutes. With Dexter in constant foul trouble and no one out of Lexi, Chap, or Hill stepping up, we’ve gone with a very small lineup for much of the 2nd half of conference play. Scipio’s lineup has 1 good on the ball defender (AB). DJ and GJ are good rebounders and decent defenders but even they get beat a lot going to the hole. As much as it’s funny to admit, this team misses Atchley’s length guarding the basket a much more than Abrams shooting. Without Dex, we have no one that can erase a mistake when a penetrator goes to the rim and even with Dex, he fouls half the time. Even if DJ tries to come over and contest, our offside rebounding is weak because our guards are such weak rebounders.

The maddening part is that Barnes hasn’t adjusted in any way, shape or form. We continue to overplay on defense like we’re Duke circa 1993 with inadequate defenders. It’s the equivalent of playing man2man in the secondary with 3 toed sloths at CB and safety and no pass rush. It’s so dumb. I’d rather Barnes had scrapped his m2m and we had taken our lumps learning to play a ton of zone or 1-3-1 half court trap in conference play. It couldn’t have gotten any worse? But he was lulled, like we all were, in believing that the 17-0 was vs. a big time schedule. It wasn’t. We played 15 OOC games and we were 14-1. Only 2 teams will make the tourney and Pitt was young and missing two of it’s guys. MSU is really the only good win (maybe Aggy at home) of the season. We were over rated, but we’re not this bad and that’s the burn of it…..Good job, Trips and BiH……

Barnes should focus more on athleticism and size and less on skill when recruiting centers and power forwards. Those guys defend the goal and get the rebounds so they need to be able to run and jump. None of the UT 5’s are athletic.

To compensate for the skill deficiencies of big men who are more athletic but less skilled, Barnes should run a more structured, motion oriented O.

On D, more zone works well with a tall, fast front line.

Barnes should also focus more on recruiting guys that have the intelligence and attitude to master what Barnes is teaching.

These changes may result in Barnes recruiting fewer one and done guys but that is OK.

I don’t know how anyone can say we played well on offense. Turnovers are part of offense. Removing them is like saying you’re a really good golfer when you hit it on the fairways and greens. Barnes’ struggles against the zone have been a constant from Temple to Syracuse to now. Barnes’ coaches like it’s the mid-90s NBA, and zone is an illegal defense. In the past, I could excuse it to a certain extent because we could always count on 2nd chance points and our own defense.

anonymous nailed it.

Patrick,

Are you starting to change your tune on Barnes? I haven’t totally given up on him, but it isn’t going to take much to get me there.

Art,

I don’t think I’ve changed my tune on him. Ironically, I’m writing something on that currently. It’s a work in progress. I’ve always been of the mindset that Barnes has coached a very poor season. That said, I don’t want to fire him or want him gone either. I don’t see anything wrong in talking or evaluating what he’s done wrong, strategically.

I also don’t see anything wrong with evaluating the accountability of the players themselves. Example, Mason can’t shoot. He hasn’t been a good shooter, for the most part, his entire Texas career. Shooting is part confidence, but mostly hard, repetitive work. A player can become a good shooter all by themselves. Does the fact that Mason hasn’t become a good or competent shooter strictly fall on Rick? I don’t think so, but I’m sure some would disagree.

Ultimately, I think it’s fair to wonder aloud whether Barnes can breakthrough to the next level. I also think it’s fair to criticize some of his coaching decisions, specifically his struggles offensively. I still think what he’s done here at Texas and the depths from which he brought the program deserves some leeway and patience…..I do understand that I may be in the minority on that subject on this board….

First off I am a players fan and I do thank Barnes to pushing us to the edge of being elite but I also think that the methods Barnes uses are not useful to achieve the highest level.
 
Psychology has always been part of coaching, many people call it communication, a players coach, etc.. The finding of the key to motivate people and young adults is not to treat them like children. Respect for your players is important when forming a relationship especially when their background is not like yours.

The picture of a huddle on one of the articles that has Barnes yelling at Dog (we can not see his face) then to Dogs left we have Brown, who looks like he took a step back and is ready to jack up Barnes, Hamilton is next and he has a blank stare like what the fuck is this shit, then Damo who is leaning in trying to listen but also with a hostile look on his face, then we have Gary looking over at Dog and looks like he has a question he wants to ask Dog. Looks like say something back Motha. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Yelling can be effective but not always players turn it off and do what they please especially if you are trying to tell them something in what they consider a disrespectful manner.

Shooting is part confidence, but mostly hard, repetitive work. The same thing can be said for everything one does on the court, such as passing, screens, rebounding ,defense , FT.
The part of confidence and self worth comes from yourself but a large part comes from your coach and also your peers. The other part of the game is fun and if you are not having fun the game gets harder to play with enthusiasm and skills.
Eddie Reese where are you, need an intervention.

“I still think what he’s done here at Texas and the depths from which he brought the program deserves some leeway and patience”

Agreed, but that is getting tougher with the overall improvement of the Big 12.

I wouldn’t ever exactly overthink something J’Covan says.

And Drew remains a doucher who wears supremely ill-fitting shirts and enjoys occasional bouts of spazmatic jumping jacks on the sideline, but his team is playing really hard this year, and decently smart – some would say that has more to do with a really good senior PG than anything else, but credit has to be given to the job he’s done developing the guys on campus.

Baylor has to have the largest beta of any team in the tourney by a pretty large margin. Absolutly nothing would surprise me with that team.

Post-mortem is no longer even an appropriate term for these recaps. We’re now off the autopsy table six feet under with maggots crawling out of our eyesockets.

How about With Regrets from the Afterlife?

This is strange. I wasn’t really all that pissed Saturday when we lost, but the more I think about it the madder I get. It must have something to do with the effort, or lack there of, on defense, and getting teabagged a dozen times by fucking Baylor.

I’m ready for the season to end now. One and done in each tourney and let’s call it quits. More time for Barnes to do his soul searching.

Nordberg, having been there, I don’t think they ever quit. If they somehow prevent Acy from dunking in his sleep, they have a chance to beat Baylor on Thursday. But that’s going to leave others open.

They don’t play good team defense because this rotation is not really a team. This is the problem they’ve had ever since Balbay was hurt.

I have been wondering if they quit for several games.
After 3-4 dunks you would wonder about putting a body on Acy or a clean hard foul to get his attention. 10 fucking times that is embarrassing for the team and Barnes, it sure was to me.

Vasherized, How about " Notes from over the edge"
or " cliff notes by Kevy"

Horns Exhumed?

I hope Iowa State wins today. I don’t like our chances of beating Texas three times in one season. Horns can snap out of this funk at any time.

Ha. It seems like a deep funk to me.