Texas Basketball Whips AM In Final Erwin Center Showdown

I actually think this team is better equipped to hang with Missouri than K-State. KSU is bigger inside and much more likely to control the boards and limit points in the paint — this, of course, is why Baylor should destroy Texas twice.

They have a chance to hang with Missouri and KU as opposed to Baylor and K-State. KU has a monster in Thomas Robinson. But Tyshawn Taylor has been a turnover machine, and the rest of KU’s squad is at least no better than what Barnes will run out there. Missouri is guard oriented and plays outside in.

J’Covan Brown must be ambulatory, however. If they were to announce that Brown had cough aggravated "cough* his ankle injury and wouldn’t play in the next two games, it wouldn’t break my heart. They need him healthy to avoid the NIT or worse.

Scipio: Totally agree on the short term prognosis - it doesn’t look good - but the freshmen are.

As awful as the offense was — it wasn’t the “stand around and wait for the clock to run down” offense that drives us nut about Barnes in the past. They were actually running plays and there was a method to the madness, they just couldn’t throw it in from the ocean.

Barnes is doing this year what he did at Clemson and Providence — take teams that are not as talented as the better teams in the league and playing like junk yard dogs defensively. The three freshmen guards Julien Lewis, Sheldon McCellan and Sterling Gibbs are the kind of players we want to build around — they aren’t going anywhere they will be here full term. I now believe that Myck Kabango will be here at least through next year as well. McCellan and Lewis are both 6-3 and they do have offensive skills. After a year of learning defense, they can be real quality players.

Jonathan Holmes and Jaylen Bond are 6-7 forwards who will also be here for a while and they are showing signs of toughness and ability that is promising. IFCameron Ridley does show up with the rest of the 2012 recruiting class next fall, Barnes will be a lot closer to having the mix of players that produces his best results — a couple of NBA prospects surruounded by quality college players.

I doubt they get to the NCAA’s this year, but (and this is a big one) if Barnes doesn’t go “Medieval on Their Ass” they will get better and better.

“Nice to see a banged up, depthless Longhorn team scrap together a 10 point win, even if it’s over a struggling A&M squad that had preseason delusions of Big 12 Title contention. "

reads almost as nice as

“Nice to see a banged up, depthless Longhorn team scrap together a 2 point win, even if it’s over a struggling A&M squad that had preseason delusions of Big 12 Title contention. "

Seriously, can there be a better scenario for Longhorn fans for watching A&M going out the door?

BiH -
 
I hear you, but I don’t think JCB will be 100% and we’re poor on the road. Missouri pressure + hostile environment isn’t a good mix for us. It’s not guard vs guard negation so much as grown men Missouri seniors vs our freshmen.
 
I like our chances better going against teams with shoddy execution for long stretches and similar youth profiles. Missouri isn’t big but they will capitalize on our mistakes in ways that other teams may not.
 
Maybe I’m just being too much of a contrarian and I’m looking past the obvious point that our ability to put multiple high level ball handlers on the court is a problem for Missouri’s pressure.
 
srr50 -
 
Agreed.

Did Doug Gottleib write this post?

Quoth Rick Barnes:

" Myck [Kabongo] got in some foul trouble. But what he was doing early - pushing the ball - wears on people."

Kabongo sat on the bench because of foul trouble.

“srr50 said: January 12th, 2012 at 1:28 pm

Seriously, can there be a better scenario for Longhorn fans for watching A&M going out the door?"

Nope, and to add insult to injury, Lady Horns beat Non-Male Aggy by 10 at Collie in front of 7,500 people with absolutely nothing else to do. Spin that, Bill Byrne!

Thanks for the write-up Scip! That first half was ugly enough to gap lightning. Watching Kabongo at times is downright painful and last night was one of those times. The look on Barnes’ face is almost indescribable and suggests that Myck is a shoulder harness away from being strangled, and it’s hard to blame Rick. Second to JCB getting back to health, Myck is the key to us being a threat to even sniff the Big Dance. I think we’re NIT bound, primarily because Myck, although I think he’ll be markedly improved next year, is no where near getting it this year and the part of the season where he could get OJT is over.

On the other hand, we’ll be getting what so many have wanted since TJ left, and that’s a team whose only player losses will be through expired eligibility, so there’s that.

dood -
 
Kabongo finished the game with 3 fouls in 18 minutes. If you’re playing well, you’re on the court to collect fouls #4 and #5 and not having JCB run point down the stretch.
 
Foul trouble with 3 fouls? No.
 
Jake -
 
Myck came up as a classic point guard dominating the ball and making plays off of penetration. We’re asking him to exercise some different half court muscles coordinating spacing and reading screens as an offense enabler instead of a pure creator. It’s a tough transition and one that he’ll eventually make. Until then, he’ll have some rocky moments deciding when to take guys to the hoop and when to set up offense.

I posted my stream of consciousness thoughts on the Twitters but I’ll reiterate some here.

Brown was absolutely aided by Kabongo getting into foul trouble. JCB was having a heckuva time at the beginning of the game trying to create his own shot—he was rejected twice early. Once Kabongo went out, he got to settle down on the top of the perimeter directing the offense rather than trying to run through random screens and big men. That was a big plus for the ankle. Typical “juevos grandes” for Brown—this was a game he probably shouldn’t have played, and he gutted through it. We lose without him.

Yeah, Kabongo sat with 2 fouls and a 3rd one early in the 2nd half, but he had a terrible game. He was respectable when he came back in the last 10 or so. Anyone who thinks Kabongo is a first round pick at this point is basing it purely on potential. While that may fly with Avery Bradley and Cory Joseph, who as non athletic 2’s pretty much maxed out as “end of first round” material, Kabongo can absolutely be a Ford/Augustin lotto pick if he returns for year 2. If Barnes doesn’t get him back on the 40 Acres, we can rightfully excoriate him. He absolutely has to learn to (1) take care of the ball, and (2) hit his FTs. We’re not devoid of offensive talent nor actual sets, but we need a PG to lead it. If Kabongo isn’t up to the challenge, I’m fine seeing Brown at the helm.

McClellan and Lewis were huge. Texas, aside from a hot hand stretch mid-2nd half, did a really good job containing Middleton on D. They ran Brown, McCllelan and Lewis against him and didn’t let him get free off ball screens. Both Lewis and McClellan really seemed to respond to a calming Brown at the helm. McClellan had an absolutely beautiful pump fake and dribble stop jumper that looked exactly like Jordan Hamilton.

Can’t say enough about Clint Chapman in this game. We were apathetic on the defensive boards early—missed blockouts, running into each other, not squeezing the orange—but Chappy and then Wangmene really brought it in the 2nd going above the rim. Really good to see both of them—hard workers and bleed for the program type guys—getting some positive run their senior years. Then mid-2nd half run had both Wang and Chap on the floor at the same time, as Rick countered Aggie experience with Horn experience. I imagine we see that against the taller frontlines of K-St, KU, Baylor.

Jonathan Holmes looked nothing like the Holmes that played against UNC and I’ll chalk that one up to injury—what happened to him? But there’s simply no excuse for Jaylen Bond starting, playing 14 minutes, and grabbing 0 boards.

Following up on the Middleton comment, we played typical smothering on-ball defense and chased/denied screeners open looks. In contrast, A&M looked bored on the offensive end and a step slow. Can’t believe they were preseason B12 contenders.

The upcoming 6 game stretch is brutal. Baylor has the horses to destroy us, and they don’t I know it’s because Scott Drew is more Viserys than Daenerys. I actually like our chances with Mizzou. They’re small, like to run, and can be checked on D. KU is awesomely coached but their roster sucks. Thomas Robinson is all-world but I can think of 3-4 players on Baylor & Mizzou that I’d rather have over KU’s second best…which is who? Tyshawn Taylor? Dude loves to go HAM but has the emotional maturity of a toddler and likes to donate the ball to the other team’s cause.

3-3 with wins over KU, ISU, and Mizzou at home is my target.

By the way, props to the Lady Horns and Coach G for knocking off the Ags in College Station as well. First win after 11 straight losses.

Thanks for the response. It answers a lot of questions about what the heck he’s been doing/not. In fact, it’s in the half court where he often just doesn’t seem to know what is going on, much less what to do about it. Let’s hope he figures it out this year. Otherwise Barnes may kill him or have a coronary.

Scip, Part of the reason Kabongo sat also was he missed 4 straight free throws down the stretch.

Other than JCB when he’s not injured, the amount of production from each individual player has, and is going to, swing wildly for every player from game to game. I don’t doubt that we’ll see a game this year where everyone’s biorhythms are aligned (hasn’t happened yet) and we take down a KU or Baylor by double digits, but we’ll see the reverse of that at some point as well. Probably in Lubbock, Norman, Stillwater, or Colleyville.

If Temple can build off of their Duke win and clean up in the A-10, I think 10-8 and a conference tourney win gets this team in. That will be very difficult, but I can also see the Big 12 getting 6 teams in the tourney this year (KU, KSU, Mizzou, Baylor, ISU, TX). Other than the Big Ten, every other conference is down. The ACC is historically bad, the SEC and PAC 10 are pretty much par for the course the last few years, and the Big East is not nearly as strong once you get past the top 3 (although some former basement dwellers like Seton Hall are doing well).

Scipio: Pretty sure we agree on more than we disagree. I’m not sure anyone beats Missouri at home this year. Like I said, I’d sacrifice this game and the next one if I thought it would get J’Covan to full strength faster.

jc: Great stuff. Agree particularly on the contributions of Lewis and McClellan on Middleton. It was remarkable that they were able to pull a five-second call because of Middleton’s brain lock.

I would say that 3-3 is a worthy goal, but two wins would be OK. They have to defend home court as best they can, and Iowa State at home is now looking like a must win if they’re going to the NCAAs (not only because it would break a losing streak, but also because they need the split).

A-Tex: Agree that Temple continuing to win is big for Texas.

I forget how it came up, but during last year on this board, people were talking about this year’s team assuming Joseph came back and possibly Hamilton and/or TT. I think it was Scipio that responded to my question about losing TT along the lines of “Myck would be the best player on the floor even if TT and the other 2 stay.”

Do you still feel that way? Is it just a matter of him needing to get used to our style of play?

ut-06 -
 
Wasn’t me. Tristan Thompson would be a 1st team All-American and Jordan Hamilton is a gifted complete package scorer.
 
But Kabongo has a big upside.

So what is Myck’s potential? Who are NBA scouts going to compare him to?

Scip, what we lack in length and athleticism we more than make up with sloth and ennui. Turgeon couldn’t recruit but could coach, I think Kennedy can recruit but not coach. To be fair he’s missed a lot of time since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s but he’s always been a low energy type of guy. I think I have a better shot than Dash and I don’t play basketball anymore.

What I noticed is the A&M’s defensive intensity decreased as the game went on. I think part of that is Texas runs a real offense now where defenders have to run around screens and watch for back cuts.

Texas seemed to get better as the game went on too. The defense and rebounding was just sloppy. They gave away offensive boards and easy looks early on. They got that worked out after half time.

Once they got the defense and rebounding more stable, you could tell they felt more confident and that led to made baskets. Of course JBrown running the offense down the stretch helped too. There was more confidence on the spot ups and finishes though.

McClellan was down. Now Lewis is up. If we can get 3 or more of the 5 freshmen playing well at the same time along with a healthy Brown and good ChapMene; this team can overachieve a little.

Regarding Myck, it’s a double-edge sword for me regarding his play.

He’s a Horn and I want my team and its players to play well. However, I might be willing to suffer through an up/down season with the team and a key future piece of the national championship puzzle.

Some think Myck’s a 1st rounder, but I’m not seeing it now. I’ve seen a lot of mistakes, and missing those 4 FTs near the end of A&M game was painful. If A&M had some decent shooters that game could have gone the other way because of missed FTs.

As a sophomore, Myck might be something really special, and propel UT to it’s 1st NC. Also saw some promising flashes from Gibbs last night.

J’Covan, Myck & Sterling as our PGs in 2012-13 have a nice ring to it.

Agree with the folks saying we match up better with Mizzou than Baylor and Kansas. Scip had it pretty much right with his “Phi Slamma Jamma” line about the Baylor game; I just hope it isn’t on national TV. Nothing we’re going to be able to do about Thomas Robinson in a man defense, and if we sit in a zone, he is going to tear us to pieces on the offensive glass.

Kabongo’s got the length, athleticism and floor game to be a front-line NBA PG down the road. He’s been real erratic but that’s to be expected with a freshman PG. It’s probably too early to give him accurate NBA comps, but I can see some Rondo in his game.

There’s really no way to say where he’ll be in March but he could get a late first-round promise from a team trying to stash a long-term prospect right now. Also, very thin class of PG’s in this year’s draft; I’d take him over Marquis Teague or Kendall Marshall. How he plays against Phil Pressey will say a lot about his game.

Kabongo is a first round pick if he wants to go. He’s ranked 27th by Draft Express and 28th by Chad Ford. As tjarks points out, it’s a weak PG class and the NBA looooves its point guards right now.

BUT…another year of seasoning would be not only beneficial for his game, but also potentially elevating to his draft stock to lottery status. See: DJ Augustin, TJ Ford.

The 2012 HS class is pretty dismal in the PG crop as well. I don’t even see a Kabongo/Teague type talent, let alone a John Wall/Derrick Rose type. UNC’s Marcus Paige is probably the best, and he may not even start next year if Marshall returns.

Speak of the devil. Chad Ford chimes in:

Brace yourself for a point guard famine this year. With a little more than half the season under our belt, we currently don’t have a point guard ranked as a lottery prospect. The only point guard on our board that even remotely looks like a sure thing for the first round is Washington’s Tony Wroten. And he’s not a lock.

[…]

Two blue-chip recruits, Kentucky’s Marquis Teague and Texas’ Myck Kabongo, were supposed to be potential lottery picks, but both players have struggled to run their teams as freshmen. Teague, especially, has scared off some scouts who are now openly questioning whether he really has a good feel for the game.

[…]

The other top point guards on our Top 100 board include Texas’ J’Covan Brown (who barely classifies as a point guard with the way he plays)…

If JCB has any NBA future at all, it’s as a point guard.

I’m a little surprised that some of you come across as rather dismissive about Kansas. I suspect that KU will be a much tougher opponent than some of you are anticipating.

Raise your game, Mark. Normal message board crap doesn’t register.

Sorry Bob. I had a much longer response typed out and it was lost. However, it wasn’t a post attempting to denigrate UT so much as to ask why some seem willing to brush off the KU game as a good bet for a win. A couple of facts.

Missouri is ranked #9 and Kansas #10 in the AP poll. Missouri has played one of the weakest non-conference schedules in all of college basketball. Kansas has played one of the strongest non-conference schedules in all of college basketball. Kansas manhandled KSU whereas Missouri was manhandled by KSU. I will grant you that KU played that game at home and MU played the game on the road, but you would think that the #9 team in the nation would do better at the #23 team’s venue than what Missouri actually did.

Now, clearly UT will be playing Missouri in Columbia during that stretch whereas your game against Kansas is in Austin, but it surprises me that SOME seem wary of MU but dismissive of KU. This is part of why I say that I believe KU will be a tougher opponent than SOME of you anticipate.