A Wake Before The Funeral

Smoke ‘em if you got ’em. I’d like us to get the win. I think.

I think we have a 60% shot at winning this one, and about .0000000001% chance of beating Kentucky.

I must have missed the Travelocity joke.

We did get lucky on our 9 seed draw, could have been much worse.

I still won’t be expecting a Texas win. McFarland is a lot like Brian Davis, ugly and unathletic but will outplay Dexter and foul him out.

Rick Barnes.

Is Dexter fouling out still considered a bad thing? Or is it more of a “at least he isn’t struggling as much as…” sort of thing.

damn Newy, your quick on the trigger lately.

FRB

I love Newy and Jinx racing to every basketball article.

That youtube highlight reminded me of my favorite fundamentalist dunker.

If, IF, we can stop Randloph Childress, we have a chance.

Wow – way to go Damion:

http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/03/texas-longhorns-forward-no-team-in-the-c.html

“I don’t think there’s a team in the country that will want to play Texas,” senior forward Damion James told ESPN’s Andy Katz before Selection Sunday. "We’re so talented. At one point, we were the best team in the country. We lost our focus and enthusiasm and passion, and we have to get that back.

Hey Damion, you also lost the Turkish Prison. No smack down defense for you now.

FWIW, on ESPN’s “The Experts” last night, where has-beens and never-wases talked basketball for three hours — it actually was pretty good talk — the eight-member panel went 7-1 for Texas, with Len Elmore holding out for Wake. I admit to having been surprised.

At least it’s the late game.

so basically it’s scrappy versus crappy?

If there’s one team playing crappier than us, this is it. Good post and rundown, Scip.

If Dex can win the inside battle with McFarland then we should win. If not, then we’ll need AB or JH to be insanely hot.

Would you prefer a quiet wake or the lead story in every Sunday sports page in America praising Kentucky for destroying our overrated bunch? Personally, I’ve had enough national notoriety for this season.

If given the choice, I’d rather lose to Wake by somewhere around 10 points in a game that no one cares about instead of getting run out of the gym by Kentucky.

As crazy as it sounds, I think we’re sitting as pretty as we could be given how things played out this season. I mean, if we had to play a #1 in the second round which would you pick. I’d either pick Kentucky or Duke. I think we’d stand a better chance against Kentucky. Dukes disciplined style would absolutely fillet us – Duke has definitely gotten better since they beat us in last year’s tourney. I’d don’t think I’d say the same for us.

Look, there’s no Kansas in our bracket (State, or otherwise), there’s no Baylor in our bracket (THANK GOD! I couldn’t handle a 4th this season), there’s no Syracuse (we’d probably have more turnovers than points against them), and no Duke (please not another Duke game!!!). Things could be a lot worse.

The case can be made that this is the best region for us. I think it’s the region of misfit and mostly untested teams. Kentucky good, but how good. West Virginia some seriously lucky shots got you a #2, New Mexico (come on, man!), a few others, and us. There must be a longhorn with powerful influence over the committee. Pictures or something…

We should beat Wake. They suck. Shouldn’t even be in the tourney. That said, they’ll probably house us and end up in the Elite 8 somehow. We are, in fact, the cure for what ails ya.

Funny thing, though…If we beat wake, clearly we’ll get Kentucky. Kentucky, they’ve got a couple of freshman, too, don’t they? How are they doing this year??? Motivation is a powerful force this time of year. If, IF, we could somehow manage to beat Kentucky, who else in this region makes you shutter? I don’t think anybody. WVU can’t score. good d, but they can’t score. I’d take my chances against them. I saw them use us several of their ‘lives’ over the weekend in the Big East tourney. ‘Sconson doesn’t scare me. Missouri does, but they’d have to get by that WVU squad to get to us.

I’m just saying that ONE good game could make a world of difference now. Just one. Boy would I like to see us play one good game, again, this season. For all the pieces to come together, just like they were earlier in the season. Oh, and while I’m living in La-La Land, I’ll take that good game against Kentucky, please.

Hope springs eternal in College Athletics.

“I mean, if we had to play a #1 in the second round which would you pick.”

Syracuse. Or Duke. And we can’t play Kansas in the second round.

TEXAS COASTS TO WIN
Our coach is 0-4 in the postseason, having lost all of them by 10+ points despite the Deacs being the higher seed in each game. Yes, it’s incredible and it’s true.

OR

MATCHUP WITH FELLOW HEAD CASE AND SAINTS’ GOLD & BLACK MAGIC COUNTERACTS GAUDIO EFFECT
But even then we’d need the aforementioned frosh A. Stewart to hit at least 4 treys and Ish Smith, Aminu and LD Williams to not shoot from outside at all to move on to the second round.

Aminu’s a soph and likely lottery pick. Way better than Quincy “90% shooting on 10 dunks a game” Acy.

One fear is if we actually beat Wake, I can only imagine Hamilton thinking, "if I can have an explosive game against Kentucky, I just might be able to get out of this jail and go to the NBA"….J’Covan might join him (if given playing time) generating a new low in the J’ chucking, motionless, street-ball offensive scheme we run.

No time to improve our help (which is nonexistent) on defense.

You people realize that Rick Barnes is Texas coach right?They have absolutely no chance of winning. He plays man to man when he needs to play zone ; plays street ball on offense; the players just stand in one spot for 30 seconds and watch ppl dribble with no ball movement. They have no chance of winning. Like Blake said Aminu is a lottery pick he’s twice the player Acy is and they made him look like an first team all conference player.

Texas has been the most consistent team in the Big 12. Outside of a terrible game against Oklahoma and a great game against Nebraska, we’ve played about the same, game in and game out. We’re consistently bad away from home, and mediocre against tournament-quality teams (KU, KSU, Baylor). Guess what? There are no home games in the NCAA and all of our opponents are tournament quality.

We’re fortunate to have gotten this matchup against Wake, even though a win is anything but guaranteed. But a win against Kentucky? What team have some of you guys been watching for the past 3 months? No way.

Why are ppl so high on J’covan Brown?? I can understand the fasination with Hamilton; he is 6’7" can handling the ball, nice range and can rebound but; Brown is a turnover machine and if I said he was an liability on defense that would be an understatement Brown is a 26 percent 3 point shooter he only shooting 35 percent,overall for the season those are horrible numbers he should be on the bench he needs to tighten up his jump shot its awful. He’s basically Justin Mason with confidence without the defense the only difference is he’s willing to shot but the results are still the same he’s gonna miss the majority of his shots.

I have to agree with 3_from_the_corner.

I’ve absolutely hated the way we’ve looked against zone defenses. We don’t have anyone that can just kill it from the outside (Hamilton maybe, but he’s on the bench more often than not). Kentucky’s offensive efficiency is about on par with ours, so it could turn into a defensive struggle. Which is good because we’ve completely forgotten why we started 17-0.

Remember back when we would come at teams in waves and we’d push the ball up the court? Yeah, that up-tempo high scoring basketball team died as soon as we started conference play. I guess it was the level of competition? Our best wins of the season are against 3-seeded Pitt, 5-seeded MSU, and 5-seeded A&M… All at home.

2 months later, we’re letting opponents dictate the tempo (EVERY GAME), we’re not making anybody looked tired late in the game and even our defense is struggling because we’ve got no confidence anymore.

If I were Rick, I would tell them to go have fun and quit thinking so much. What does he have to lose? Everyone is expecting a quick exit anyway.

Chas MacFarland is the Rick Lambier of the ACC. He’s dirtier than a Slavic water polo player (check his fingers after the game), and a shot talker extraordinaire. Luckily, he sucks out loud as well.

I think he’s more of a Bill Mahorn.

When your stick is bigger then the carrot.

Now that was a title to draw your attention for you prevs that troll this site.
   
 In all sports its a bragging point to have a bigger stick then your rival, or at least think its bigger then most.
That is one motivation tool of many players use to participate and improve their skill in sports
(lets say Basketball).
Most Basketball players have many motives rather then one single reason.

Maybe he wanted to play like and with the big kids when he was little, maybe to make the Varsity and be around the cheerleaders in High School and get laid.
That may have been a personal issue. Being motivated to earn the big bucks in the NBA. To make their parents proud.
Sometimes the motives reinforce each other, but at other times they can cause internal conflicts. These are just a few of many examples that motivate D1 players.
You can add what motivates you here if you wish.

Coaches working with groups of athletes with diverse cultures, motives and goals must create a motivational climate.
A motivational climate that reinforces all the reasons or at least as many as possible. This is not easy to do.
As well as being flexible, you will need to grasp some of the fundamental principles of motivation and knowledge and how to apply them.

Many here at BC believe that motivation is a fixed personality trait, that some of our players are lazy,have no basketball IQ or aren’t a motivated athlete. In fact, though, motivation Is impacted by the motivational climate created by the coach and staff. This climate impacts the athletes on the team.
That climate get the crazies in the cheap seats to roar in anger and frustration. People drink scotch for breakfast or Patron for brunch. We react badly to UFO quotes by our beleaguered coach and the effort guy Damo. This season will be long remembered and people
will cry in their beer and on the breast of any stripper they can afford. This may be the season we remember that caused a very good coach to reevaluate his staff and take a look in the mirror. We will remember also that Trips changed his name to Kevy without a fight. Ipowers will also be remembered as long as Williams comes out next season on fire and if IPEE is released to fight some more. I am being sentimental and misty. Of course I kid. Not to much.

A coach that is continually shouting instructions and berating players for mistakes is creating a motivational climate of fear and intimidation, in which players became afraid to make mistakes. Feedback will usually focus on what has gone wrong and praise is rarely offered. Here is a coach determined to remain in control and achieving his aims by intimidation.
The “Texas” way to play fearfully and hesitant unable to shoot free throws or to make
layups. The players learn and try to avoid punishment and/or humiliation by trying to play exactly as the coach requires.This can often lead to performance decrements as athletes focus on the consequences of losing or making mistakes rather than on what needs to be done to be successful. This is a counterproductive tactic which has been linked to poorer performances. It can lead to discouragement, resulting in loss of motivation.

When recruiting playes you really need to know how that player reacts to negative coaching. Some players will react well and their skills sets develope and impact their play, see Coach Knight, others will regress and and not acheive see this team. We have players that have reacted well to Coach Barnes negative approach to mistakes, see Ivy,Klozts,ect..

There are lots of coaches, Basketball,Football,Soccer, Life, Management,Fathers and Mothers and the positives ones usually are flexable, have a clear expectation of what you are trying to achieve and have knowledge about people, siblings, players, workers etc. but coaching always involve criticism or punishment as well as praise.They usually lean heavy on a positive approach in order to motivate players to perform at their best.

As they are calling my flight again I hope that we make a run to the FF but no matter how much Patron I partake of, Patron is whispering in my ear, like a lustful El Paso women biting my ear and saying :
“Dont be afraid move a little bit closer as Jose dives accross the table with the lights flashing along the blade” .
We are heading into a knife fight with only our Johnson in our hand.

what will be the kentucky line? Ive been making a fortune taking our opponents in a cold blooded attempt to assuage my sadness over the season results.

Anything less than 9 an I’m on UK