Texas Basketball: Texas - 100, Rhode Island - 90

We’ll lose to some mediocre teams but surprise some good teams. Should be a fun ride. Seeing Tristan sitting on the sideline made me laugh. What a waste of year for him.

while Longhorn basketball royalty (KD) looked on approvingly and offered a Come-To-UT infomercial interview.

That interview was awesome. I wasn’t interested in any of the NBA talk, but Durant made it abundantly clear how much he loves Texas.

“J’Covan is a triumph of calculated boredom.”

j’poetry, IMO.

“The smart take from the strong.”

any videos of the KD interview anywhere?

It was nice to see LaSalle Thompson, who was honored at half time. The Todd Wright effect was certainly evident in the first two games. Texas’ legs seemed fresher in the last 10 minutes in both games.

Quick

If you were playing Basketball Password and said “Texas” that would be my answer.

As I mentioned on another thread after being thrilled by the efficient speed of building a 17-point lead, only to see it dwindle down to nothing, I couldn’t help but think this young team was breaking the John Wooden commandment of “Be Quick, But Don’t Be In A Hurry.”

As you say Scipio, Rhode Island is an athletic team that was filled with shooters who had absolutely no conscience about firing it up. I actually think Rick threw in the zone for a few moments just to slow the pace down — for both sides.

I am really excited over J’Covan’s apparent acceptence of the role as primary scorer, and over the fact that he realizes he can create without being crazy about it. I believe he already trusts Myck enough to let him distribute the ball, trusting him to find the right man.

I really enjoy watching Chapman’s growth. He had another spectacular dunk off a wrap around pass from JCB that in past years would have clanged off his hands like any of our receivers not name Shipley.

Despite what the game numbers say today, this team will be beaten like a rented mule by several teams who have a legitimate inside game. But they will irritate the hell out of a lot of teams by always buzzing around the passing lanes and generally making a pest of themselves defensively.

I know its way too early to read into any bench body language but I get the impression from the first two games that Barnes actually likes this team, and maybe – with the help of Rob Lanier – he won’t go Captain Queeg on them during the second half of the season.

The first two games were a perfect model for post-season play. Take on a team with a standard setup, not all that athletic, but pesky. Then have to turn around after a day off and face the opposite template, an athletic team that is more than happy to run at whatever pace you want.

This is a great learning experience as will be the quick trip up to the Meadowlands.

I still believe that when you take into account the youth of this team along with the strength of the Big 12, that making the NCAA would make for a whrthwhile season. It promises to be a bumpy ride, but what the hell, we can enjoy some of the scenery along the way.

How many FTs did RI shoot?

Looks as if Texas got 32+ points at the stripe and managed to win by 10 at home – albeit in front of nobody, if this writeup is accurate – which isn’t all that great.

OTOH, if RI shot 40 or so FTs of their own, maybe this means something.

Meh, it’s early in the season anyway.

Rhode Island was 19-32 in free throws (missing a couple of front ends of 1 and 1) while Texas was 35-44.

The NCAA has told basketball coaches that they are instructing the refs to come down hard on hand checking, and to protect players who have broken free from the top of the key and are coming down the lane.

Apparently Rhode Island didn’t get the memo about hand-checking.

As srr50 stated, fouls were coming in quickly and often in this game.

Both teams reached the double bonus in both halves and it sure seems like URI hit the bonus in the 2nd half less than 5 minutes into it.

Sensible Fiber fucked up Da Hot Slippity and Binky Thug Stunna.

I don’t know why, but I can’t stop laughing every time I read that.

Scipio changes gears faster than our guards do, both to great effect.

Great write-up. Thanks to Scipio and srr.

Hookem!

Why is this thread in the “football” forum?

Just when I thought Brown couldn’t act any more bored than he does when actually on the court, I watched the post-game interview. He looked like he was going to nod off during the questioning. Hilarious.

Is it wrong that the first thought that popped in my brain when I read the score was “Uh-oh!”

Barnes typically hates this kind of performance. For reasons I don’t understand, he seems to think that a 60-50 win is ten times better than a 100-90 win. All I can think is that it won’t be long until he crushes this teams mentality of scoring by trying to turn them all into Royal Ivey and Justin Mason.

It seems that the posters that know much more about it than me don’t seem to think that will be the case. Please explain your optimism.

Of course I’ll watch any team that wears Burnt Orange, but the Rick Barnes seasons of late are bad for my blood pressure.

That zone is going to be needed. They can’t play 40 every night going up and down.

Jinx, Barnes may be dogmatic, but he’s not stupid. He knows what he has. He’s lived this with the Durant team (although, unfortunately, nobody like Durant is on the roster).

He may crush the team, but not because they give up 80 a night and score 85. They have to play as fast as they can manage and keep shooting. He can’t really use the bench as a teaching tool this year. He needs five effective players as frequently as he can find them.

It seems that the posters that know much more about it than me don’t seem to think that will be the case. Please explain your optimism.

You need to take Scipios advice and watch the Rick Barnes Wired video on the texassports website.

Rick Barnes Wired.

Barnes understands what kind of team he has, and that it will succeed by using its overall quickness and athleticism to push the ball up the court and create mismatches.

Barnes didn’t hate yesterdays performance — he wasn’t tearing his hair out or calling time outs to chew people out for shooting too much. He wants the shots to be solid choices, but if that comes in the first 5 seconds of the possession he is okay with that.

I was going to post that Barnes hasn’t let a team score first, but then I thought about the Durant team too.

I think we can be good with a J’Covan led team. Much like the Reggie Freeman years, and those teams were a ton of fun to watch.

Seems like Brown is growing up from some of the comments I read from him the other day. I think it is guard dominant teams that excel in the tourney, so we have that going for us….which is nice.

JCB is a leader. Props to Barnes and his staff, and props to Brown for sticking with the Texas basketball program. Based on anecdotes and rumors about his tantrums, I believed he was destined for a transfer. I guess that’s just something that doesn’t happen all that often in the basketball program. Instead of transferring, promising players get stronger, faster, and gain a better understanding of the game, and then they become leaders. I like the way this has played out the last couple years.

I can’t get enough of the JCB as old school baller depictions. It’s awesome to watch and entertaining to read about the next day at this page.

I am reminded of the scene in Above the Rim, when Shep puts Kyle in his place. The wise old man shows the young pup how much he has yet to learn.

Fun game to read about – wish I’d gotten to see it. Great to see J’Fiber looking like a full grown man in more ways than one. Hopefully with Kabongo, we’ll be one of the teams most well-positioned to benefit from an increased emphasis on hand-check calls in the same way that the NBA’s crackdown a few years back led to Steve Nash’s second renaissance.

Really wish John Holmes was 6’11" – if there was ever a player whose length I’d love to hear Jay Bilas talk about…

Could be worse, too. Could be UCLA, unable to defend the arc and getting drilled by double digits by two nobodies at home (Kermit Davis — holla!!). And don’t forget the suspension of last year’s leading scorer and rebounder.

I just hope Barnes doesn’t burn this team out with too many minutes in the early season. By seasons end we are dog tired with no emotion an dead legs. This has happened the past two years.

JCB should absolutely be in the running for the Naismith this year, no question.

Obviously, J’Covan is our best scorer this year. What surprised me is the extent to which this is J’Covan’s team. He’s running the show, even when the ball is in someone else’s hands. I envision him building a real chemistry with Kabongo. The fast-break pass that he boinked off the defender’s leg then instantly converted into alley-oop #3 reminded me of Colt’s fumble-then-pass-for-thirty-yards against Mizzou in 2008. Sometimes everything just works.

So fun to watch him develop — I remember some of his passes when he was a freshman were just jaw-dropping displays of court vision. Too good, actually — the bigs were seldom ready and even when they were they appeared to be wearing bulky oven mitts. This team will be ready for those passes.

Are we as dependent on J’Covan as we were on Durant in 2007? Less? More, maybe?
He is the difference between 20+ wins and a losing record.

Mysterious -
 
We only have 9 players. And 6 are freshmen. Barnes can try to spare their legs in-season, but if we gas, we gas. There’s not much to be done.
 
nordberg –
 
The answer is probably yes. There are ways we can win when J’Covan only scores 14, but I can’t see many ways to win without him on the court at all.

nordberg said: November 16th, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Are we as dependent on J’Covan as we were on Durant in 2007? Less? More, maybe?
He is the difference between 20+ wins and a losing record.
Currently, I think we’re very dependent on Dr. J’ Covan. However, I suspect that as each week passes that dependency drops because of Kabongo’s growth curve. It’s early, but this team feels like it’s got a lot of thoroughbreds.

“So fun to watch a below-the-rim fundamental baller embarrass the And 1 generation. Sensible Fiber fucked up Da Hot Slippity and Binky Thug Stunna.”

That is some funny shit.

I humbly suggest Binky Thug Stunna as a moniker for Ioannis Papapetrou.