Texas vs. Baylor Preview

77-65? Buy.

I like the writeup. And, I’ll definitely take a 12 point win. As a subplot, I’m also very interested in watching how Tristan matches up with Perry Jones. Jones is probably the only guy Tristan is likely to face that can match him in athleticism and length. Jones is actually bigger/longer and possibly more athletic. Regarding Jones’s untapped potential, I think the problem starts with spotty guard play from Walton (unable to get him consistent looks) and Dunn (unable to pass up a shot regardless of range, defense, or difficulty).

Can’t wait to watch another beat-down. I’m expecting closer to a 20 point game and Baylor won’t score 65 on us.

Daddy demands another double digit conference win.

I have not been impressed with Perry Jones at all. Yes he’s long and all that crap. But he plays scared. Thompson is the better Freshman, and the better player, period. The NBA is littered with high draft picks who are 7 feet and average 2.7 pts and 3.2 rebs per game. Give me a guy who can play.

Good to great review. I’ve got it a little closer at 71-62. We miss a few free throws at the end but J’Covan gets to dribble out the clock before throwing the ball at that back of Drew’s head (ok, that last part is a fantasy).

I am suspect of the Bear$ basketball program, so I’d enjoy seeing a Longhorn victory over them even more than some others.

Great writeup as always.

Good point on the virtues of a Brown/Joseph backcourt against the Zone. I’d love thoughts on Balbay’s role in this game – would his best defensive usage be to limit Dunn or to absolutely ruin Walton? And what would be your method of attacking Baylor’s zone when Dogus is in?

Did the team have trouble getting back from OK? If Barnes missed a speaking engagement I assume they did, so when did they actually get back? That would be the only part of this game that worries me.

Hey Trips, I may have to spend more time over here.
“the Chuck Taylor is on the other foot” Very good! May catch on.

I do think that you are the best in breaking down a team strengths and weakness, but where is your edge?
Dog, Corey and J’B will continue to play in your jock defense. Will disrupt any “O” that Baylor has. We need to push and have an uptempo game.
 If we are hitting our 3’s ,Ham, J’B, Joseph, the gnome and we rebound a little better the game is not even close. 86-64 the good guys.

One of my keys to winning Saturday, and all the way to a NC – Balbay driving to the basket off a clearing screen by Tristan, Hamilton, Johnson, Hill or Wangmene.

Lately, he’s been doing it more often, and scoring?? Getting 12 points from him vs OU on that kind of play makes our offense 10x better than it already is. Since Balbay has been on campus, other teams wouldn’t have Dogus in the equation for defense. Now they should.

yessem, mpayne…

The Thompson/Jones matchup is where its at, just like a Rick Jackson/TT matchup if the Cuse ever come to town.

im a little weary about everyone’s confidence, because BU hasnt gotten up for a game all season. Think they wont this time around?

And J’Lovin’s patience is not what I would say could be tolerably prone to a heat check: he digs that shit, and will go after Dunn and try and blow by Walton. JCB with more turnovers than assists tomorrow night…

BUT…

I dont think that still prevents us from a win. CJ will be heady enough and I see some minutes with Hill/Wangmene, TT, CJ, JH and Doge at a 3/4 press to look for break points. And CJ should be able to find Jordan and TT and Gary as their frontcourt sinks back.

I have us by 7 due to late foul shooting where we go 50% or else we DO win by double figures.

The most likely problem that I see is Perry Jones getting Tristan in foul trouble, particularly in the first half when it only takes 2 fouls to send the fouler to the bench. Jones may be too quick for Hill so Wangmene will probably play more than usual in an effort to keep Tristan out of foul trouble. The Baylor zone will protect Jones from getting in foul trouble. If Hill or Wangmene play a lot (to protect Tristan from foul problems), it will make it tough for the horns to attack the Baylor zone.

It will be interesting to see how many minutes Brown and Balbay play. Balbay provides the intense defense that can generate turnovers/easy buckets but is very poorly suited for the half court offensive game. OTOH, Brown is well suited to attack the Baylor zone. Balbay may not play that many minutes vs Baylor, which would hurt the horns depth.

The horns have looked good attacking man to man defenses but may have a more difficult time attacking a zone defense. Zone is good at stopping Tristan because his offensive game is all about blowing by a slower defender. Since Tristan doesn’t have a solid jump shot yet, he may have trouble scoring against a zone. Hill and Wangmene are best used as screeners on offense but there is not much use for screening vs a zone. Lucas is only hitting 21% (!) of his 3 point attempts so he is not a zone buster. Balbay is very poorly suited for attacking a zone defense because he has no jump shot.

It seems like facing a zone defense will shorten the horns bench and decrease their options on offense.

Thanks for the comments guys. On my way out the door to take my kid to a second grade Valentine’s Day dance. WTF!?

Quick answer on Balbay is that you play him from short corner to foul line area as a screener and a cutter. Only problem is that Texas won’t have the floor balance they need with the PG playing close to the bucket so we may be vulnerable to transition. We can’t play Balbay beyond on the arc against the zone or we’ll get nothing on the perimeter as there will always be an extra defender to rotate with.

Using Balbay as a screener sounds good but probably is not enough work to keep him busy (i.e. being a screener against a zone offense is not a full time job). Playing him on the baseline does not sound so great, because of the vulnerability to the fast break that you point out. You have to be a clever offensive coach to figure out how to use Balbay against a zone.

The Baylor game might be a good game to play Jordan at shooting guard some and play Gary at small forward some. That will make room for Wangmene/Hill to defend Jones while still keeping Gary and his super reliable 12-15 foot jumper in the game. It also gives some minutes of rest for Brown and Cory (in case Balbay is sitting on the bench because he isn’t sufficiently useful vs the zone defense).

The horns could play more zone defense than usual. This would protect Tristan from getting in foul trouble (so there would be less need to play Wangmene/Hill to guard Jones). It would also make it possible to shorten the bench because playing zone defense is much less strenuous than playing man defense. This would permit Cory, Brown, Jordan, Gary, and Tristan to play more miinutes than usual. If Jordan did play some minutes at shooting guard, it would ease his defensive burden because he would not have to cover a shooting guard man to man on defense. The same would be true for Gary for his minutes at small forward (i.e. he would not have to cover a small forward man to man on defense).

How many freshmen score 27 (including 9-9 from the FT line) on the road against a rival in a sold out arena? But the lights not on? Or the fact that he averages over 18 points per game in conference…? But the lights not on? Or…the fact that he’s playing center when he’s going to be a small forward in the NBA?

And Dunn wasn’t a McD’s All-American. Other than that it’s a fairly accurate writeup. UT should win pretty easily, unless Perry’s “light” comes on. REALLY?

Not sure this is the way J’Covan planned to get into the New York Times. Who is this unnamed cousin?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/sports/ncaabasketball/12sportsbriefs-tweet.html

Umm, I thought I sufficiently fellated a player that took 6 shots against Nebraska and 5 shots in a loss to KSU. If you think he’s playing to the potential of a top 2 or 3 pick in the draft I can’t help you. If saying he’s one of the most talented players in the country isn’t enough for you, then fuck off.

Here is a really interesting evaluation of Perry Jones as an NBA prospect:
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Perry-Jones-5713/

The whole article is long and well worth reading. Perry is already an awesome scorer and athlete and will be drafted very high in the NBA draft. It also says that Perry’s teammates are not passing the ball to Perry enough.

What was surprising was that Perry also had a lot of negatives. Here are some quotes:

“The weakest part of Jones’ game clearly lies on the defensive end. He’s shockingly unproductive from a statistical standpoint, averaging an alarmingly low number of blocks and steals every game, and very few rebounds.

Of the 90 NCAA prospects currently classified as power forwards in our database, Jones ranks 78th in defensive rebounding on a per-minute basis, which is extremely disappointing considering his physical tools and the fact that none of his teammates are particularly prolific in this category. He shows fairly poor awareness here, often failing to box out opponents and doesn’t look very instinctive or energetic in the way he pursues loose balls.

These attributes definitely translate to the rest of his defensive game, where Jones clearly lacks toughness and activity. He regularly gets lost off the ball, being a step slow to react to things happening on the floor and not putting enough work in early in possessions to stop opponents from getting the ball in a favorable position. Physical players move him around the paint fairly easily and Jones doesn’t always respond the way you’d hope. He often allows himself to get outhustled and outworked.

Beyond his poor fundamentals, Jones doesn’t seem to be the most contact-loving player in the world. He tends to shy away from putting a body on opponents and isn’t one to dive on the floor for loose balls. With his size, length, quickness and ability to get in a low stance, Jones has all the tools to be an excellent defender and rebounder down the road.

We must remember that he’s still in a very early stage of his development, being somewhat of a late bloomer who didn’t really emerge as a top-shelf prospect until the summer prior to his senior year of high school. It’s possible that with increased strength, good coaching and added experience, he could get there in time.

It’s not easy to teach toughness and hustle, though, and these are things that are sorely lacking in Jones’ game at the moment.

Seeing the lackluster manner in which he sets screens and shies away from contact around the basket offensively, it’s not difficult to tell why Jones often struggled to crack double digit scoring figures at the high school level. The people who saw him play the most back then—recruiting analysts—were very skeptical about his prospects, as evidenced by their rankings."

Trips’ comments were much kinder than the NBA evaluation quoted above.

Thompson is the better Freshman, and the better player, period.

Offensive stats are remarkably similar.

Trips. I’m just saying that it’s bullshit to call out a freshman who avg’s 18 fucking points in the Big 12. Particularly when he’s having to play the 5 (because he’s a far better option than our other shitty center) when he’s a natural 3, maybe even a 2. And the reason he took 5 shots against NU is because they doubled him on every possession. Don’t expect him to be Durant. Perry doesn’t have DJ Augustin at point. He also doesn’t have the luxury of a Pittman at center.

What’s the source of all the perceived animosity between Barnes and Drew? Also, I’ve heard a lot of comments suggesting that Baylor’s program is pretty dirty. Can someone elaborate, please? Street agents? What’s up? Thanks for any insight.

ESPN is reporting that our Whiny Bitch has a whiny bitch cousin that is every bit as whiny as the Whiny Bitch. I sure hope this immature hothead doesn’t ruin what is shaping up to be a great season. Barnes may get sick of all this coddling at some point

We owe Scott “I love me some street agents” Drew serious payback

Kudos for not bringing up Dunn’s crossover against his girlfriend’s face last summer…you are a bigger man than me.

I can haz open thread?