'That's what you're going with?'

by BobInHouston on Mar 22, 2011 3:26 PM CDT in Texas Longhorns and Other Basketball

Disturbing. Appalling. Unsettling.

That pretty much sums up my decision to re-watch Sunday's game.

Trips put a nice bow on it, except for the part about making me look at how open Gary Johnson would have been, had J'Covan Brown actually had on his point guard hat at the time. My only consolation there is that I don't think Johnson had made a dunk since February, and I'm pretty sure he would have thought that if ever there was a hammer time, this would have been it. Well, that, and the things I threw are replaceable, and I did not hit the screen of the new TV.

Some things surprised me. For example, if you'd told me when Tristan Thompson dunked the first basket of the game that he wouldn't make another field goal, I would have figured that watching the rest would have been a waste of time. And, while the officiating wasn't as horrid as I thought, there is no doubt that Derrick Williams received star treatment. Williams drew at least four fouls in the second half that were questionable, in comparison with some of the pressure that Hamilton and Thompson were under.

I thought that many (but not all) of the hedges on the Texas guards were blocking fouls, and there were a countable number of moving screens. If Texas had employed similar strategy, perhaps the game would have been called differently, but the Longhorns were content to go over screens and trail cutters away from the basket, and by and large were not hurt by that. In that regard, Arizona lummox Kyryl Natyazhko was notable for his clumsy, yet effective efforts, given that he was not called for a hedge foul in the first half, and also not whistled for a bump on Thompson that caused Tristan to fall out of bounds. He probably would have fouled out otherwise.

On the other hand, Arizona's Solomon Hill should have been thrown out of the game for the elbow he delivered across the face of Dogus Balbay with about 15 minutes to go. Trips, to his credit, suggested this right away. But even he did so without having seen what happened on the previous Texas possession. Balbay was on his way through the lane, without the ball, when Hill delivered a shot from a pass-block stance that sent Balbay flying back about six feet, and he tumbled into the key. Hill was on Hamilton at the time, and Jordan was about to get the ball for a shot at a three at the top of the key. As Hill attempted to recover, Balbay, looking a bit disoriented, nonetheless lifted his legs and tripped Hill. Considering how Balbay got there, that seemed fair, and nothing was called. But the next time down, Hill made it personal. He should have been tossed. I'm also not sure they would have given the flagrant foul, had Rick Barnes not yelled at Jim Burr to check the monitor.

Also, just for grins, check out the four-minute mark of the first half, when Johnson, not exactly under control while attempting to get a fast-break bucket, puts up a wild shot that bounces off the backboard. He's taken down below the knees on a trip by Momo Jones that is eerily similar to the bail-out attempt to draw the charge by Hamilton that gave Williams the winning free throw. Burr said, play on. Johnson missed three shots, and could have drawn fouls on two of them, as well as one that he made.

Complaining about whistles is not my style. Neither has been picking apart late-game coaching strategy. But I feel compelled to do it, because the strategy was so unusual and so ineffective.

I'm talking, of course, about the ill-fated inbounds play with 14.5 seconds left that gave Arizona the ball and caused Texas to have to put the game solely in the hands of J'Covan Brown. I'd also rip on Brown for lazily wasting time with the dribble at the end of both halves, but the game-ending situation wasn't his fault. It was his coach's. In trying to come up with a play that would confuse Arizona, Barnes inadvertently set up an alignment that would take so long to run that Joseph was almost certain to have to call time.

Trips pointed out what appears to be a general failure to think about the opponent's strategy. Here, there was a failure to realize that the opponent would not only key on J'Covan Brown, but would try to deny the ball in any situation. Barnes designed a play that would bring Alexis Wangmene across to screen for Brown. That worked fine until Williams, hardly unexpectedly, switched the screen. That made things worse, because a bigger, more athletic player now was trailing Brown and made the inbound pass harder. Williams also jostled Brown – some might call that a foul – as he looked to get the ball, but the bottom line was that the main option was taken away. Brown, the intended target, was all the way across the court when the ball was handed to Joseph. Brown had to wait for the screen to be set and Joseph had to wait for Brown to move toward him. All of this took about three seconds, and by the time Brown arrived, he was stumbling. No go.

What were the other options? One was Wangmene, who after setting his screen took off for the Texas basket. He was open for the long pass. But Joseph probably didn't see him because of Jamelle Horne trying to distract the passer or deflect the pass. Another was Johnson, who stood at the free-throw line and eventually cut toward Joseph and under the basket. He too was open, but didn't move until it was too late, about the time Joseph was turning to ask for time.

That left Hamilton, who took the long route to get from the opposite side of the court from Brown at nearly midcourt, to the opposite corner, again as a relief option. But at no time did he appear to move as fast he could, and by the time he got to the spot, not only would it have been a difficult pass, but his man had made up ground and was in position to knock away or steal the ball.

None of this was Joseph's fault. He, in fact, did was he should have done, and he should have gotten the time out. He didn't. Now, there's been controversy over whether the five seconds had elapsed, and it's pretty clear that the official, Dick Cartmell, did not give the full five. He operated basically on the old interpretation that permitted the official not to award the time out in the fifth second. (Under this, he could give the timeout, but he didn't have to, and Cartmell clearly did not intend to, as he stopped his signal count after four seconds.) He screwed up.

But the reason that interpretation was eliminated was because of the rule change that allowed coaches to call time from the sideline. The official doing the counting out of bounds could not know if a coach was calling for time before the official reached his four count. So the last option was for Barnes himself to call the timeout when he knew that the time had not elapsed. The problem was that the play was so complicated, and began so far from Joseph, that Barnes could not be sure that the play was messed up until the time had almost elapsed.

As I reviewed the game, I saw the State Farm commercial in which agents appear like genies and wishes are granted. (Amazing how none of the wishers ask for lower premiums, but I digress.) In the spot featuring former game-show host Bob Barker, one of the individuals requests and receives a giant, stuffed panda bear. The woman who summoned the agent turns to him, and mockingly asks, “That's what your going with?”

That's exactly the question to ask here, with the exact same attitude. This was a game situation in which the coach put players in positions that were going to make it difficult to succeed, if not impossible. Meanwhile, it turned out that he wasted a time out when Hamilton rebounded the Williams miss, but obviously Barnes had made it clear that he wanted time. Not only did both Hamilton and Johnson attempt to call time, but Hamilton clenched his fist, thinking that victory was at hand. It probably should have been, but when all you hear from commentators all weekend in close games is that coaches work on these situations every day in practice, I have to ask, what have they been working on? Barnes, for example, never wasted time this year pulling Brown from the game when he made fancy passes that went awry instead of easy ones that would have led to baskets. Here, Barnes designed a play that needed only a slight misstep to go wrong, and it did. There had to have been an easier option that could have been short-circuited sooner, if necessary.

And now the season is over. It was a really good season. This team won four or five games more than anyone had a right to expect. Barnes reshaped the attitude, made it into a defensive force, and redid the entire offense, although it's hard to explain why the offense disappeared in the last month. (As I watched Brown work dribble handoffs for the entire second half, I wondered how they'd regressed to the same strategy that Varez Ward worked against Duke two years ago. They lost that game, too.)

Now, there is very little a Texas fan can say when, say, a Kansas fan or a Bill Simmons fan suggests that Barnes is a bonehead when it comes to strategy. Until at least the next tournament (because the regular season will be prologue), in every close game, everyone connected with the team, and every team they play, will remember how this game got away. Those of us who are long-time fans will remember it at least until there is another chance at national championship. And frankly, with mistakes like this, I'm finding it harder to argue that there will be another chance with Rick Barnes in charge.

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Can haz my old coaching job back, now?

by Abe Lemons on Mar 22, 2011 3:39 PM CDT reply actions

Great post, Bob. The one thing we’re going to hang our hat on is that much like Mack and an improvising QB, Rick NEEDS a top-flight PG playmaking his offense. Oh hai, Myck Kabongo!

by jc25 on Mar 22, 2011 3:55 PM CDT reply actions

Great read; however, i was surprised there hasn’t been any commentary on Barnes’ substitution patterns in this game. Why do you not have TT on the court during the possession that Williams got the and one? He HAS to be a better option at defending the pick and roll over Wang, no? Wang is brutal

by jdub on Mar 22, 2011 4:13 PM CDT reply actions

As painful as it was, losses like Sunday’s are the nature of the NCAA tournament. Kansas under Self and RW has several excrutiatingly painful exits given the dominance of those teams. Barnes is a great recruiter and gets his guys to hustle and play defense, but past that he’s the anti-Wooden. Fine.

Since I half expected Sunday’s outcome(or similar outcome in the 1st/3rd rounds), it hurts me the most that we didn’t at least get a Big 12 title or co-tilte. We had it in our sights. It’s like it’s not a priority within the Ath. Dept. in football or basketball. No sense of urgency. It is now the hallmark of the Big 12 Dodds era that we are second-best in the two biggest sports.

Virtually all those early-exit Kansas teams can at least hang their hats on adding another year on the championship banners hanging in the arena. Just like OU in football despite the bowl losses.

When is this going to change, because it fucking sucks.

by trkhorn on Mar 22, 2011 4:18 PM CDT reply actions

I suggest (demand) Barnes steal a page from New Mack: get a damn assistant coach or two to help manage the in- /end-games. He’s gotta know what his difficiencies are. Minimize them by hiring someone(s) who can minimize them.

by AKHorn on Mar 22, 2011 4:57 PM CDT reply actions

Thanks for the post. I appreciate hearing it said, rather than pretending it didn’t happen and hoping that incoming players will somehow make Barnes a better coach.

by utexex on Mar 22, 2011 5:11 PM CDT reply actions

Moving screens is basketball’s version of offensive holding. They call it so sparingly that you might as well employ it as a matter of course.

by Mad Clapper on Mar 22, 2011 5:12 PM CDT reply actions

Mad, I agree. Like I said, I don’t like to get on the officials. I just thought that Arizona got a lot of benefit of the doubt on things that really kept Texas from playing as well as it could play.

But with all that, they still had the lead and the ball with 15 seconds left. They should have won, but contributed significantly to their own defeat.

It’s probably as close to bitter as I’ve ever been about a Texas sporting event.

by Bob in Houston on Mar 22, 2011 5:22 PM CDT reply actions

It’s hard to play half a game and expect to win.

by thirtyand0 on Mar 22, 2011 6:10 PM CDT reply actions

Thanks for this write-up, Bob. It was more enjoyable than the game.

by parlin on Mar 22, 2011 6:57 PM CDT reply actions

Great writeup Bob. Great analysis from someone who both knows the game and loves our Horns passionately.

The pain of losses like this is the risk we run by caring so much.

by GigoloJoe on Mar 22, 2011 9:29 PM CDT reply actions

This kind of stuff is why I’ve never been able to care much about basketball and never will. The refs control who wins virtually every game. Who gets the calls and who doesn’t. That happens some in every sport, but in basketball probably 25-30% of the points scored in a game are a direct result of refs judgement (or lack thereof) on free throws. A 10 point victory margin is a small percentage of the points from free throws giving the refs complete sway over who wins most games.

Every time I hear someone saying “you can’t expect to get that call” or “the refs should swallow their whistles” or “you won’t get that call on the road” and many others I can only think “why”? The job of the refs is specifically to make sure EVERYONE plays by the same rules and that the rules are enforced. That means calling a game the same way for both teams and for every player. No star treatment. No home cooking. The fact that these things are so common and accepted only proves that refs decide the winner of the majority of basketball games. I have no interest in watching refs, I want to watch players.

by Nunna Yo Bizness on Mar 22, 2011 9:32 PM CDT reply actions

Doc Sadler beat us twic e this year. The TT double was straight from the NU tape. Sad that we didn’t game plan for it.

by Roostrman on Mar 22, 2011 9:35 PM CDT reply actions

seriously though, props to Barnes for all the purported self scouting after last season, which appeared to pay some dividends. i just hope he seeks more counsel this offseason because without that, i fear we will waste a final four worthy squad next year (assuming the return of TT).

by t1climb1 on Mar 22, 2011 9:37 PM CDT reply actions

Nunna: That’s the case in all sports, not just basketball.

by Bob in Houston on Mar 22, 2011 9:38 PM CDT reply actions

I, someone who knows very little about basketball, also thought Arizona got away with a lot of moving screens in the first half, as well as a lot of ticky-tack fouls that were not called that lead to at least a few of our first half turnovers.

by uthookem on Mar 22, 2011 10:12 PM CDT reply actions

Refs drive me crazy. I watched the same thing at my daughter’s tourney this weekend. We teach our girls to maintain proper position and the other team bodies us all over the floor. The refs, trying to keep the tournament on schedule, swallow their whistles. The other team gets a huge advantage because the refs refused the opportunity to teach,

We don’t practice enought to teach both a proper style and one which is tolerated by the refs. It is frustrating.

by BornaHorn on Mar 22, 2011 11:07 PM CDT reply actions

AZ got about 5 straight +1’s in the last 5 to 7 minutes of the game, and 3 of them were at the expense of TT. A player playing with 4 fouls is more tentative. At least 2 fouls were bogus.

Why is a PAC 10 official calling a game in which a PAC 10 team is participating? That is so wrong. Is it standard procedure, or, was it another screw-up on the part of an incompetent committee?

Hook ’em!

by java on Mar 23, 2011 12:35 AM CDT reply actions

I want Barnes spending this offseason figuring out how to get his team to peak on March 15th of every year. Or at least get them to a point where they’re not collapsing every January-February.

by nordberg on Mar 23, 2011 8:20 AM CDT reply actions

Great write-up, Bob. I regret that my post ultimately just said “Rick Barnes won’t get it done,” because that’s hardly what I intended to write. But funny thing is, after reading it again and reading what you’ve written here, that’s my big takeaway. And I do commend him for studying and implementing a new offense… but when push came to shove, he reverted to his comfort zone, and if it’s that in-grown, that’s going to take a while to get past.

by Hiphopopotamus on Mar 23, 2011 9:25 AM CDT reply actions

Barnes is no longer in the mix for the NC State job, according to a report from David Glenn, a respected ACC pundit.

http://www.accsports.com/blogs/david-glenn/2011032310140/wolfpack-coaching-search-taking-shape.php

So it looks like he’s ours until he retires. Which is not a bad thing. He’s a good man and a good coach. But he needs to tweak things or we’ll keep having these March heartbreaks, as Hiphop says.

Barnes needs to hire his Bryan Harsin.

by GigoloJoe on Mar 23, 2011 10:34 AM CDT reply actions

From the Billy Gillispie press conference (on coaching at A&M):

“When the fans rushed the court I got run over by two sheep..”

by dedfischer on Mar 23, 2011 11:33 AM CDT reply actions

Wow. Go Billy Clyde.

by Vasherized on Mar 23, 2011 12:05 PM CDT reply actions

Comparing Rick to GDGD is not entirely apt. When GDGD had his superstars, he at least got to the National Championship game a couple of times – although, granted, he did have them there for more than just a year, but that’s to do with the college limits established by the respective pro sports. On the other hand one superstar on a ten-man team is a lot more dominant than one or two on a 44-man team.

by Tex Long on Mar 23, 2011 12:10 PM CDT reply actions

i noticed that we don’t play the pick and roll very well, it seems like several times every game gary johnson would set a screen and have a wide open look at the basket and the pg never passed

by wisconsinhornybadger on Mar 23, 2011 12:36 PM CDT reply actions

Amen, Brother Bob. Good write-up.

Barnes is not a good X’s and O’s coach; He’s an effort coach, but I’ll get to that in a sec. Just think of our record against ‘system’ teams during his tenure. We’ve been better than Duke, talent wise, at least twice and haven’t won a single game (including two complete drubbings). You’re not gonna wake up in the morning and go ’I’m going to out-coach coach K today’. That just doesn’t happen. Same thing goes for Kansas. It’s hard to out-coach Bill Self. But we’re really putting out kids at a disadvantage when they step on the court with our game planning and scheme. We have trouble winning those kinds of games when we’re clearly more talented, let alone when talent is equal or close to it. The fundamental of sport is talent with execution. If talent is equal, it takes better strategy (read: understanding the game, what the other team is going to do, and putting in a game plan to maximize our ability and minimize theirs. With us it seems to come down to having the right game plan in the first place! When the announcers are saying ’Texas should attach down low, and we shoot 5 jumpers in a row, you have to wonder if someone walking the streets could do a better job.

Back to Barnes being an effort coach. This is why he’s talked about as a ‘defensive’ coach. Defense in basketball is based on effort. If you don’t have effort, you can’t defend. Period. I’m all for that. I play b-ball all the time, so I live it to a certain degree. But on offense, you need a strategy to negate the other teams ‘effort’. We almost never have that. I only use ‘almost’ here because I saw little glimpses of it earlier this year. The types of things that got me almost giddy with excitement. If I had written this at the end of last season, the statement would have been “We NEVER have that”.

Barnes is a good person. Easy to talk with and engaging. I’ve met him on a few occasions. But he isn’t going to change enough to overcome that level of in-ability. This isn’t a personal attach, it’s just a statement on human nature. He is who he is. For the program’s sake, he either needs to hire ‘his’ Harsin(s), as has been stated, or he needs to move on. I’m pretty sure he’s not going to do the latter, so here’s praying that he does the former.

On a side note…He seems to like to hire former players. Maybe he’ll hire TJ someone that would stand up to him when he’s doing something ridiculous. Like diagramming a 5-second inbound play when you’ve got a 2-point lead and 12 seconds left in a must win game. Just sayin’.

by 3_from_the_Corner on Mar 23, 2011 2:47 PM CDT reply actions

WiscyBadger: you noticed that too? I would be willing to bet we missed at least 4 easy layups because our pg has his head down on the pick and roll. J’Whiny you can understand because he is mostly a black hole with the ball but Joseph seems as if he has never been taught the play.

by ransomstoddard on Mar 23, 2011 8:16 PM CDT reply actions

Watching the implementation of a Barnes offensive strategy tends to be painful. For some reason he does not get realtime stuff like momentum, hot hand, matchups, defensive alignment. He is context insensitive.

It is fun to watch a team like Wisconsin that consists of well coached non elite athletes playing offensive basketball the right way and (over) achieving their way to some success. It is not fun watching poorly coached elite athletes who don’t play offensive basketball the right way.

Barnes’ goals seemed to be mainly focused on getting elite athletes into the NBA. He seems much less oriented by team goals. Seems weird for a team sport.

Barnes is an excellent recruiter, defensive coach, demands academic and behavioral excellence, and has excellent character. He has hired a great trainer. He’s here for the long haul.

Going deep into March Madness is not just the key measure of success but permits watching the team a bit longer during the most exciting part of the season. When the horns exit prematurely, it sucks that there are no more games for the horns. That is one bummer about March Madness, all teams but one end the season with a loss.

Rather than have 68 teams, why not have 32 teams but make the tournament double elimination?

Both teams shot 22 foul shots. The only way Texas came back was by Brown repeatedly leaning into defenders and almost always getting the call. Smart plays by Brown but hardly evidence of referee bias vs UT.

Anybody who has played basketball with decent coaching is required by the coach to call the timeout before 4 seconds elapse. There is no clock, the referee is counting in his head so the accuracy of the timing is suspect so everybody gives themselves some margin for error. If the inbounds play was to get the ball to Brown or call timeout, it should have only taken a second or two.

Without doubt the defense was going to switch all screens and try to deny Brown the ball (I’m surprised they did not double him). Knowing that, why not have Brown set the screen and then roll for the inbound pass? BTW, we’ve had lots of times where it was difficult to get an inbound pass into Brown. He is not fast, tall, or a leaper and is constitutionally unable to move explosively (his style is more languid), so it is a challenge to inbound the ball to him. Knowing that there is a significant chance that there may be trouble getting the ball into Brown, you have to tell Cory to be prepared to call timeout smartly.

I counted up 8 mental errors the horns made in the last 12 seconds.

I say we hire Bobby Knight as the basketball OC and encourage him to drink before and during games. It will be both educational and entertaining.

This year’s horns were a great collection of guys. We’re going to miss Doğuş, Matt, and Gary.

by Kafka on Mar 23, 2011 9:12 PM CDT reply actions

When I saw ’that’s what you are going with?‘, I immediately thought of our apparent offensive (and I do mean offensive) strategy for the last 10 minutes of the game. As best, I could tell we just gave the ball to J’Covan and told him to drive and hope he gets fouled. It actually almost worked, but still left me wanting.

What happened to the Barnes’ soul-searching that led him to study the Phoenix Suns? Am I mis-remembering or didn’t we have a dynamic, motion offense that seemed create all sorts of open looks? I just don’t understand ….

by The Horn Identity on Mar 23, 2011 10:05 PM CDT reply actions

Now that Az has destroyed Duke, I am really depressed over what was obviously a missed opportunity. Although the transitive property does not always work in sports, I cannot help but think that the result with UT playing would have been the same. Duke got an easy ride last year. If they had played a physical, quick team like this years’ Az or UT there is no way they would have won the NC. If Az wins it all, just kill me.

assuming everyone returns, Barnes better run up-tempo next year.

by TypeO on Mar 25, 2011 8:26 AM CDT reply actions

TypeO, Texas probably would have won that game 74-65, or closer. Maybe much closer.

I wouldn’t have liked their chances against UConn anymore than I liked them the first time. But I suppose it would have taken a little heat off the coach.

by Bob in Houston on Mar 25, 2011 11:36 AM CDT reply actions

Kafka sez:
I say we hire Bobby Knight as the basketball OC and encourage him to drink before and during games.

Excellent suggestion.

Now that we have our own network, we could almost certainly pay Knight’s salary (and bar tab) by mic’ing him during the games and selling pay-per-“view” access to that audio…

by Tex Long on Mar 25, 2011 1:06 PM CDT reply actions

TypeO said:

March 25th, 2011 at 6:26 am

What’s Barnes record at UT against Coach K? Except for last year’s respectable showing, haven’t our teams been destroyed by Duke under Barnes (the black unis game comes to mind)?

by Joetx on Mar 25, 2011 3:36 PM CDT reply actions

nothing says we would have beaten Duke. We lost to NU and CO. Granted Colorado just won the NIT which I guess makes it a better loss, but NU still stinks. This team didn’t just lose, it lost stupidly. And since this team barely scraped by Oakland in the first game, I can’t really say they beat anybody handily. This team has flopped the past several years and now, we have higher expectations based on teams we lost too? VCU had a beautiful inbound BOUNCE pass for a layup to beat FSU.

by kemit on Mar 27, 2011 1:08 AM CDT reply actions

Duke only destroyed UT 1x, the Dec 2005 game. Sure Duke could have beaten us, but I would have liked our chances if TT, JH and GJ played well.

Barnes took a well-deserved beating over end of game management, but notice that other supposedly elite coaches are not immune. Florida’s game management and shot-selection at the end of regulation and OT were atrocious on Saturday. With the game tied in regulation it was dribble until the clock almost runs out and then chuck a bad 3. In OT down 2 it was the same thing. And Donovan by virtue of his two NC’s gets lumped in with “the best”. Az was slightly better in that they at least got a good look, but why DW doesn’t get the ball down low I will never know. It looked like it was there if they wanted it. Just saying. We were not the only elite team to f-up with the game on the line.

by TypeO on Mar 28, 2011 11:14 AM CDT reply actions

TypeO:

I heard Sean Miller say that DW set a screen and then popped out. He said he was OK with it. Whether what was unsaid was that he would have preferred DW in the post, I don’t know, but both of UConn big guys are bigger than him. The shot would not have been easy.

It would be kinda like sending J’Covan Brown to the basket with the intent to shoot, you know?

by Bob in Houston on Mar 28, 2011 1:41 PM CDT reply actions