Barking Carnival

A little context for the first half, Barnes not too happy with Atchley, James, and Abrams. They rode pine for most of the first half. The trio combined for 9 points and six fouls. Good news is that Gary Johnson hasn’t missed a beat with 5 blocks and points. Pittman is […]

Now that Jai is officially a Horn, I made a phone call and talked to my friend to get a scouting report on Jai. Here are his thoughts:
Jai’s a tough, tenacious player that won’t back down from anybody big or small.
Better on ball defender than his brother. Better on ball defender than AJ […]

The 6-0 transfer from Florida will announce his next destination some time this evening. I posted over a week ago that there was a strong probability that school would be Texas. (See comments section.) And that’s definitely still the case. If I hear anything definitive sooner, I’ll let you know.
As for the […]

On the first day of Christmas
John Wooden gave to me:
A past first distributing lead guard.
On the second day of Christmas
John Wooden gave to me:
Just Two Abrams heat checks and
A past first distributing lead guard.
On the third day of Christmas
John Wooden gave to me:
Three freshman phenoms
Two Abrams heat checks and
A past first distributing lead […]

#8 TEXAS LONGHORNS (10-2) 74, WISCONSIN BADGERS (9-3) 69
No grades today. You know me, they’d all get A’s. What a big win in a hostile environment. Bo Ryan is a hell of a basketball coach and he’s like 135-7 at home in the Kohl Center. And […]

With the exception of personnel, I could probably cut and paste the Michigan State Preview and not be a whole hell of a lot off in terms of what to expect from Wisconsin. We’re playing the Badgers. They’re coached by Bo Ryan. They’re going to guard the hell out of you, try […]

Look, I don’t want to lawyer the guy to death after a disappointing loss, but there were a some Barnes’ post game comments that stood out to me, considering our monumental collapse on offense down the stretch in the ballgame Saturday.
I apologize for doing “conceptual” X’s and O’s instead of animated dots. […]

You hear coaches and pundits talk about it all the time. Finish. Play all 60 minutes, all 9 innings, and all 40 minutes. Finish the game. You probably heard about “finish’s” kissing cousins clutch time and winning time. All cliche phrases, I know, but the reason they’re cliche is because […]

It’s time to welcome that old friend back to the Longhorn basketball team. You know him as adrenaline. He’ll be bringing his crew energy, hustle, and urgency to the party Saturday in a 1 o’clock tip time at Houston’s Reliant Stadium a gym in Houston. It’ll be a party that features the 5th […]

Look, I’m probably going to get hammered for this, but I was encouraged by the win. Should we have run this team out of the gym by 20 at the half? Sure. Am I concerned that Texas has allowed back to back undermanned opponents to make it a 40 minute contest? […]

This could have been us Horn fans. In the context of 2008, would it have shocked you? I’m glad God hates Derrick Coleman more than Chris Mihm.

God likes Mouse McFadden more than Jeff Foster.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this game because I don’t think it’s a real indication of Texas’ ability. The bottom line is this team went to Hawaii and should have beaten an explosive Notre Dame team. They came home and knocked of a good UCLA squad, only to […]

Last night’s Texas’ 67-58 win in front of partisan Villanova crowd at the Mecca of Basketball played out as most folks expected. It was an intense, physical, defensive struggle between two teams with contrasting styles and strengths. Texas was able to take control and hold on to win the basketball for one main […]

Texas travels to MSG to take on the number 12 ranked Villanova Wildcats in a game that should be a mirror image matchup wise to that of Texas’ tilt against UCLA. The game, that tips at 8 central time, will once again be a battle of contrasting personnel strengths in that Texas employs a […]

Why not, I’m drunk and pissed. Plus college basketball is the only true sport left.
Four minutes into the game and you can already tell Duke is horrible matchup for Purdue. Duke is Purdue’s better looking older sister. A bunch of wings with some guards sprinkled in. But Duke can […]

The first word that comes to mind is frustrating. Texas did some solid things on the defensive end the entire night. Offensively, the Horns flashed some things that could have led to a comfortable win had they been more consistent. The end of the game was solid evidence that Texas could be […]

Gonna watch this two o’clock tip with great interest. This will be the first true test of Texas’ guard play because St. Joe’s is a guard oriented squad that has the ability to give Texas fits on the perimeter. The problem for the Hawks is they struggle on the glass, yet aren’t deep […]

In the Five Things to Watch For piece we discussed some aspects of the game that ended up having a huge impact on last night’s contest. Some good, some concerning.
In the pleasantly surprising column, we’ll start with AJ Abrams and his attempt to add a little playmaking lead guard to his game. Keep […]

A few quick off the cuff observations from the game tonight.
* Eleven players suited up, and all eleven saw action  with only Harrison Smith not getting in until garbage time. This is a deep, athletic bunch.
* Typical first-game offensive display — especially in the first half. Ten turnovers, and once again Texas looked like the […]

The AP and the ESPN Poll start out like so.
For our purposes I’m not going to split hairs with respect to the two polls disagreeing on slot number 10. Gonzaga, Purdue. Purdue, Gonzaga. Meh. In fact, in King Solomon fashion, let’s split the baby or in this case the Gene Keady […]