T.J. Ford: "The Straw That Stirs The Drink"

Great story, srr. TJ Ford: class act, and one of my favorite players.

Not to go all new-school, but he appears to be leading the charge for a UT following on the Twitter. Check him out: @tj_ford

Great story. I always appreciate the great players through the years, but have more of an affinity to the role players who come through time and again. Boddicker was probably my favorite player on that team, which was the team that sparked my interest in UT basketball. Others in the list of favorites UT players are the Quan, David Thomas, and Nate Jones. Matt Hill is quickly climbing the charts this year.

Ricky, TJ, Vince. My big three.

That was my favorite Texas basketball game ever, still more so than the Kansas win earlier this season. Going to OU’s place, high-ranked, close teams ,wrecking their senior day, the comeback — Bellissimo! /kisses fingertips

Nice writeup, ssr.

It’s sad to see how awful he is in Indiana. I was watching a game where he dribbled the ball off his feet multiple times and blew open layups. My guess is he’s out of the NBA after his contract ends this season.

Earl, Vince, TJ.

Great story from Barnes.

Does anybody have the pic of Sampson, Price and the rest of the OU seniors after the game with gloomy looks on their faces and a grinning TJ photshopped in behind Sampson? Classic!

Ace, where art Thou??

steve ross, ftw.

Ernie, Ted, Robert, imo.

I was just talking about TJ last night at the bah while watching some hoops. One of the quickest guys to ever dribble a basketball.

And reputedly a really good guy.

Thanks, srr.

I agree Woody. When people talked about the KU game being the biggest win ever, I immediately thought of that OU game and important it was. Huge road win and locked up a #1 seed for us.

I’m curious if anyone knows of any rumors about the Horns playing in a new building at some point in the near future? Texas is more than on it’s way to being an elite basketball program, but I can’t shake the thought that the truly elite program have an intimidating/intimate home court and I’m guessing that players would want to come here even more so if that were the case. Time to shift from basketball being our redheaded stepchild.

Thoughts?

And you’re one helluva scribe. Well done.

I would love to get a new gym but don’t see it happening with the money generated from the FEC. With the large capacity, (relatively) new suites, and other renovations, do you really see DeLoss moving just to create a “better basketball atmosphere”. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see it, I just don’t expect it.

I’ve always thought they should play 1-2 of the crappy non-conference games at Gregory just to pack the place and have some fun.

Fun read . . . thanks for that !

Frank:

I used to have the original of the photo that you are talking about, but can’t find it. Never saw the photo shopped one, but the original told the whole story.

TJ Ford defines Texas basketball to me. I remember walking from the Engineering school to the FEC for what I was thought might be his last game against KSU. It was about 20 degrees outside and I should have been studying.

Sad thing was that there was only about 9000 people in the stands for that last game. The nice part was my buddy and I were about 10 rows up in the student section to take in the game.

Thanks srr. I had heard that story before but forgot it. I hate that TJ had that bad spill that forced him into the league. I really think he would have come back (and maybe benefitted himself) had that not happened.

Hook ’em TJ!!

I’ve always thought they should play 1-2 of the crappy non-conference games at Gregory just to pack the place and have some fun.
A lot of people have suggested that and it is a great idea. However, he’s my guess as to why it won’t happen. It will be a blast for fans and players, and it will further illustrate how poor a venue the FEC is for basketball.

A more reasonable request would be to spend some money on a sound engineer and redesign the FEC ceiling (at least for basketball games) so that the audience noise doesn’t disappear into the rafters. There’s a definitely feedback effect with the crowd when the sound reaches a certain level. People get off their buts and do some yelling as a group. The sound baffle of FEC creates fewer “crowd” moments. In other words, IMO there’s a feedback effect of crowd noise. If you could somehow reverse the sound baffle effect that happens the FEC might actually become a better experience for basketball.

Regarding srr50’s original post about TJ. Great job. I love me some TJ, and who doesn’t? He was such a likable personality, and a great player. His place and contribution to UT basketball should never be forgotten or understated. Thanks for reminding everyone.

Excellent work! Pied Piper is an apt description. It was fascinating to watch a man of his physical stature inject such fear in opponents and control the game with his skill and athleticism.

TJ Ford was like nothing we had seen in Texas basketball. Still is, I suppose.

Damn, that’s a great story. Talk about leadership, It’s not easy for a sophomore to tell the coach he’s wrong. I don’t think of Barnes as a warm fuzzy personality either. Credit to both TJ and Barnes for recognizing the situation for what it was.

I grew up a hardcore Duke basketball fan, which I am now ashamed to admit. TJ changed all that for me the day I watched him almost pull off a quadruple double when Willowridge played Judson in the state semis at the Drum. He had something like 12 points, 11 assists, 9 steals, and 8 rebounds (he averaged over 9 assists and 8 STEALS that year). He was the most athletic and most energetic high school player I’ve ever seen. The guy was EVERYWHERE.

Side note: despite Willowridge’s insane talent (perhaps the best Texas high school backcourt of all time with Ford, Ewing, and Taylor), Judson blew a 4-point lead with a minute to go in regulation, and Willowridge eventually won in double overtime. It would have been one of the biggest upsets in state history, but TJ made some ridiculous plays down the stretch to help Willowridge survive.

That was TJ, the consummate leader. Whatever we needed, he provided it. If nobody was making shots, TJ found ways to get to the rim. If teams denied him the lane, he’d drop 12 dimes on them. He simply took over games one way or another, and he smiled while he did it.

One of my greatest sports experiences was watching Texas live in the San Antonio regional in 2003. I went to an open practice that week and the team cooked up a dunk contest for the crowd. At 6’0", TJ could almost reach the top of the square. I had no idea he had those kind of hops. It was incredible. Two nights later, he and Mouton willed us to victory over UConn. TJ couldn’t buy a bucket for most of the game and got into foul trouble in the second half. While he was on the bench, UConn made a late charge. TJ reentered the game late and dictated the tempo from that point forward, icing the game with the last 2 FTs. It was more of the same against Michigan St. TJ was struggling from the field, so he forced Mich St to foul him time after time (making 11-13 FTs) and dished out 10 assists. Mich St didn’t have an answer for him, and they were visibly frustrated. The Alamodome was painted with burnt orange and everyone was going absolutely batshit. I was a HS senior at the time and had just accepted admission to UT. I knew then it was the best decision I had ever made.

As for TJ, few UT athletes will ever be adored like he. As you said srr, everything that’s happening with UT basketball now is built upon the foundation that he established. He’ll always have a place on UT’s Mount Rushmore.

Check out the first and last highlights of this video. Unreal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y8XRG4SmpQ

There haven’t been many “holy fucking shit!” moments in UT basketball like T.J.’s put-back dunk against Baylor in Waco.

Great comment, Dr.

I watched one of the tournament games with Ronnie Courtney, T.J.‘s high school coach. Might have been the Sweet 16 game, I’m not sure. Anyway, Courtney was coaching at TSU at the time and I told him if he ever needed a spokesman, or somebody to be the face of TSU basketball I would gladly help him. He never called.

I think he’s coaching more studs at Fort Bend Bush now.

T.J. was one of the twitchyest athletes I’ve ever seen. Hops, quickness, dude would have been an elite CB had he chose to be.

magnus — No way TJ survives a football season considering how fragile his spinal cord ended up being.

a rich man’s deon beasley, imo

Wasn’t TJ’s junior year team better than the senior year one? I believe he won back to back state titles and one of the teams had the Ewing, Ford, Taylor, Ivan McFarland foursome and one year there was one of those missing. I mainly remember the year he beat Klotz’s team in the finals. I think Klotz beat Boddicker in the semis.

Since Rick Barnes has built a “program” at Texas, do you folks think he would consider leaving? If so, what would it take? NC State will be looking after this year, and we all know about the run they took at Barnes before they hired Sidney Lowe. The NCSU blogosphere seems to think that Barnes will still be in the running, or at least on the short list, once Lowe is canned after this season.

My inclination is that Barnes would consider it a step down from where he is. He’s already got Kansas to go toe-to-toe with every year. Would he need/want the challenge of 2 games each against Duke and UNC alongside what could be unrealistic fan expectations?

We’ll be discussing that over at The Ratt soon…

Vash, thanks for posting the video. I’ve watched that last highlight about 20 times and it still amazes me. It’s hard to tell where TJ stops and the basketball begins.

Magnus, thanks. I’m happy to finally share that story here. I would kill to have a basketball chat with Courtney. That guy has coached some serious talent. I get the sense that he knows the underworld of high school basketball very well, too. It was rumored that he did some shady things to put that Willowridge team together.

Dick, I see TJ as a Nathan Vasher type. Anyhow, you’re right about TJ’s junior team. McFarland was a star senior. I’m not sure I’d agree they were a better overall team that year, but we’d be comparing apples to apples.

There are very few – if any – jobs that Barnes would leave Texas for, certainly not N.C. State.

I did some hunting around and found this:

I used to worry about Barnes leaving Texas for a close to home ACC basketball school. Not any more. As much as I’d hate for him to leave, Texas would simply find a suitable replacement … just like football and baseball. Texas has a basketball program, you see?

BTW, that picture of J.T. holding T.J. in the air still scares me. What if JT had dropped him?

Heard Barnes speak to the Houston Longhorn club the fall before the Final Four season and all Barnes could talk about was Ford. Barnes is a terrific speaker anyway and TJ gave him some great material.

He is right there with VY in terms of recent influence on UT athletics.

Danny W — I can’t see Rick Barnes ever leaving Texas. Guys like him, Billy Donovan at Florida and Thad Matta at Ohio State have the best of both worlds — all the resources to make the Final Four, none of the pressure.

There’s a reason Donovan turned down Kentucky (!!) when that job opened up. You think the Wildcat faithful would have been as forgiving as Florida for Donovan not winning an NCAA Tourney game since Noah and Horford left?

http://getbuckets.fantake.com/2011/02/12/floridas-prospects-the-rise-of-the-two-sport-school/

Nice find srr. That picture is awesome.

I hated Hollis Price almost as much as Quentin Griffin.

Hahaha

That picture was my only decent photoshop ever but I had lost the source file to a computer change. Best moment was when a poster on Soonerfans said something about what an asshole Ford was after seeing it. This despite the fact that Soonerfans is a great site for farks.

Hollis Price was a good shit. In 2003 when OU came to Austin we gave him an earful during warmups. At one point the whole south ozone was chanting “Gary Coleman”. He was cracking up.

Srr50 — Great trip down memory lane with that pic.

Did a little Googling:

Hollis Price has managed to carve out a career for himself overseas — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollis_Price

Kevin Bookout is trying to make the 2012 Olympic team as a shot-put thrower — http://ouhoops.com/?p=1278

Quannas White was in the D-League for awhile — http://www.basketball-reference.com/nbdl/players/w/whitequ01d.html

Taj Gray was drafted in the second round, but never played in the NBA. He’s been bouncing around Europe since — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Gray

Taylor Griffin had a cup of coffee in the NBA, but is playing in Belgium now — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Griffin

Longar Longar was waived by the Thunder (along with Baylor’s Tweety Carter) in training camp and is now in the NBDL — http://www.ridiculousupside.com/2010/10/15/1753254/oklahoma-city-thunder-waive-tweety-carter-longar-longar-to-reduce

As for the refugees from last year’s debacle — Willie Warren is on the Clippers roster, TMG (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20110104_92_0_Former734352&allcom=1l) was just cut the Sioux Valley Sky Force after putting up 3 points and an assist a game while Tiny Gallon (http://www.celticsblog.com/2010/10/19/1761959/report-celtics-sign-tiny-gallon) is playing in Maine for Boston’s D-League affiliate.

Got to love Friday’s at the office lol.

Wow, I found the original file thanks to a dead link on HornFans giving me the real file name.

Same thing, of course, just a little bigger.

Huck, keep killin’ them on Jeopardy!, bro.

That’s the pic I was talking about! Thanks to you, srr, for both the story and the pic and Huck for the pic again and the story about the indignant Sooner fan. I laughed just as hard this time as I did the first time I saw it. We absolutely ripped out their heart and pissed on it.

Also, srr, it’s a widely circulated story that TJ wanted to come back for one more year. Barnes told him no—-that because of his injury he shouldn’t risk never getting a chance to play in the NBA and a tearful TJ relented. Do you have any insight on whether that’s truth or fiction?

FTP:

Barnes essentially told T.J. that if he were his son he would urge him to go. Barnes pretty much had the same conversation with Kevin Durant, who momentarily thought about coming back. For Kevin it was simply a matter of saying, “what, are you nuts?”

Great story. I’ve often wondered which kid taught his head coach more about winning, T.J. Ford or Vince Young.

Imagine how much different the respective career tracks of Rick Barnes and Mack Brown would have been had T.J. and Vince gone to college somewhere else. I suspect that both of them would be coaching at a much less prestigious school today and several million dollars lighter.

I loved the original photo just because it looks like all their dogs just died, together.

great stuff.

Great, Great piece Steve thanks. Goosebump moments are always appreciated. God I hated Quannas White. Probably because he looked like the slowest dude out there but no one could ever guard him.

As for Vasher’s video, I had forgotten how shitty Cedric Bozeman was. Not Joey Beard shitty, but he was supposed to the next big thing out of Cali. And I had forgotten about the And-1 mixtape dribble move TJ pulled off in that game wow.

Barnes essentially told T.J. that if he were his son he would urge him to go. Barnes pretty much had the same conversation with Kevin Durant, who momentarily thought about coming back. For Kevin it was simply a matter of saying, "what, are you nuts?"
Someone needs to tell Barnes to stop being so gallant and honorable. UT needs a NC. just kidding, sort of.

Barnes could have a similar situation with Tristan. TT is going to have a strong desire to stay one more year to play with Myck and Corey, but his NBA stock may be too high.

Trips – Holy Sh!t, I haven’t heard the name Joey Beard in a long time. I played pick-up basketball with him growing up. He went to our rival HS, South Lakes. Kind of douchey in HS but he owned us hard.

I hope T.J. finishes or has finished his degree so he can come home and help coach the Horns when his NBA career is over. My all-time favorite Horn. Next would probably be Travis Mays.

A couple of thoughts worth sharing. TJ had no fear on the court, and he found a coach with whom he developed a relationship of mutual trust. TJ didn’t take advantage, and Barnes could therefore give him a great deal of latitude. Remember the ‘dreads’ comment from Barnes.

I don’t think Tristan would benefit from jumping to the NBA this year – remember the developmental league. IMO, the D league is a deal killer for a young player, particularly when you have to man-up on some of the leagues most physical players. Thristan has so many positives, but he needs to stay in college, develop his skill set and finish growing.

IMO, the D league is a greater risk than the injury factor, when considering the options of a otherwise healthy player. I haven’t seen Tristan listed as a lottery pick, and JH is only listed as 8.

Bradley is a shining example of the effects of jumping too early, though I wonder if he didn’t contribute to our problems last year.

Whatever happens, Hook ’em, guys.

What a great team this year, and thank you TJ for all that you have done for our program.

oops, ‘an otherwise’ healthy player…….

I remember playing ball with TJ in Gregory Gym all the time. For his status and starpower, he really was an approachable guy, who lit the room up with his skill and his charisma.

I don’t know if anyone knows why TJ didn’t stay another year. But i do. I don’t want to go into all the specifics, but the short of it is that the risk of a major injury after one year of college ball was just too much for him to handle. He had to get that big money contract before he was labeled as an injury prone player. If not for that, I think TJ would have stayed at least one more year. Something about this team we have right now, everyone just seems really awkward. I don’t know how else to describe it, but watching TJ was like watching ballet. Watching corey joseph is like watching krump dancing.

TJ Ford went from “dribble” to “pass” as smoothly as anyone I’ve ever see play the game, excluding maybe Pete Maravich and John Stockton.

Been a season ticket holder forever and TJ was something never seen on the 40 before. His freshman year, I can’t tell you how many teammates he hit in the face with a pass. No one had ever played with such a great disher the rock. And no one knew where the ball was going next, except, of course, TJ.

OTD,

That Arizona game was especially painful. He must have hit JT in the chest about 4 times. By the end of the season everyone was ready for those passes.

People point to the Rose Bowl / national championship as being the defining moment for (recent) Texas sports fans.

But for me, it will always be that brisk March day in San Antonio in 2003. Seeing Ford dribble out the final seconds against Michigan State, and with the unthinkable happening: Texas going to a Final Four.

damn….this whole topic put a tear in my eye. i love me some TJ. great times and great memories. he really was a key to building the program. Here’s to you TJ11.

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