Texas Basketball: 3 Down (and Out), 3 To Go

I think you’ll have a much better shot at Missouri this time around. Missouri plays worse on the road than they do at home (see last year.) They may have won at Baylor, but if the Bears were in the hands of a competent game coach, they would have won. Missouri relies heavily on their shooting and that is prone to failure in a hostile environment. The better the attendance at the Erwin center for this game, the better your chances of taking them down. As a lifelong Jayhawks fan, I’ll be pulling hard for UT. Just remember that you owe Missouri a farewell ass-kicking just the same as you owe one to A&M.

Terrific roundup, jc.

Part of the background on Chris Allen is that he, um, violated team rules frequently at MSU. It is interesting that his fellow ex-Spartan, Korie Lucious, also landed at Iowa State. He’ll be eligible next year. Not sure how many of the other transfers were similarly misfit. But they can play ball.

Not sure if I’m going to review the Missouri-Baylor DVR I grabbed, but I was told by a reliable source that blocking out was optional for Baylor on Saturday. If Texas gets after it on the boards, they have a shot against the Bears, even though like you, I fear the match-up in general.

I was hopeful but not optimistic that Texas could take down KU. They actually did quite well considering how poorly they shot. I am more hopeful and somewhat optimistic regarding their chances against Missouri next week.

Great stuff, JC.

Missouri plays worse on the road than they do at home (see last year.)

Mark, I think you can “see every team in the world” for that statement. I’m also not sure what “relies on its shooting” means when the team currently has the most efficient offense in the country. I mean, in order to score one must shoot. So, to that extent, I agree entirely.

Great write up, JC. Re Mizzou, the most surprising thing about this team to me is how well it rebounds and how it wins the “points in the paint” battle so often. Small, sure, but good at crashing the boards and good at creating easy shots and open looks. While not deep at all (7 scholarship players - the 8th guy just finished being Mizzou’s third string TE), it’s got all kinds of experience.

Winning at Texas will be difficult. I’m glad that game is soon as it seems UT is improving as the years progresses (regardless of the Ls).

Ph. Smith - You are correct that “relies on shooting” is a truism insofar as nobody wins without shooting baskets. However, what I was implying was that Missouri relies on outside shooting. I’ve never looked up the numbers, but I am fairly certain that you would find a Chi-squared distribution on shooting percentages based on distance from the basket. In other words, the closer you are to the basket, the better your chances of making it. I would think that this goes without saying, but I thought it went without saying that “relies on shooting” implied outside shooting.

You are also correct that virtually everyone plays worse on the road than they play at home. However, Missouri played MUCH worse on the road than they did at home last year. This is, of course, speaking solely in terms of winning percentage. Last year they were 7-1 at home in conference play while they were 1-7 on the road in conference play. That qualifies as “much worse” on the road. Until such time as Missouri shows that they have truly conquered their inability to win on the road in conference play, I think it bodes well for UT’s chances against Missouri.

Great write-up. Looking forward to the game. Thanks!

And thanks for the heads up TexasWright!

Much appreciated, TexasWright.

alumnus

Texas leads 46-31 with 11 min to play in second half. And that’s on 0-9 first half FG shooting by JCB. Luckily the Sigh-clones are shooting 28% from the field with multiple air balls. Without Royce White they’d still be in single digits.

Steady play all around by Lewis, Kabongo, and Chapman.

TexasWright just won a tote bag signed by Rick Barnes.

Has anyone seen Dave’s stapler?

Four straight turnovers in a row by Texas. 46-35. Ejim just got rejected by the rim on a breakaway dunk. Huckleberry feels his pain.

my starting 5 bongo,brown,mclellan,bond,chapp

final: Texas wins 62-55. We still got a shot.

Tried our best to give this one away. 16 point lead evaporated to 3 with 30 seconds left.

Kabongo with the steal and layup to seal it.

On to Waco. Verne and Clark with the call on CBS again.

i hate scott drew

Texas basketball fans are a disgrace.
6000 fans at a home game is embarrassing and most of them sitting on their hands.

6,000 fans. But, but, Wulaw Horn- Rick Barnes has all the advantages in the World. We’re Texas damnit- being one of the top 10 programs over the past decade isn’t good enough- we demand better- we are entitled…

Kill the buzz with the Blackout Network, the system itself taking three sophomores off our team, and the historic nature of UT fans = 6,000 in attandance. just the way it is…

I just don’t see how the LHN killed the buzz when most of the games that have been shown were the in-state fodder that were inconsequential to their development outside of scrimmage time.

Bob- I’m a nut and watch every last bit of Longhorn hoops I can. I used to sleep at DKR every sunday night so I could pull courside seats on Monday back when that was how it was set up…

I can tell you that the LHN has made me less of a fan. Maybe it’s having a 1 year old daughter, but I watched all the games on TV last year with her when she was an infant. Maybe it’s the nature of being so many new faces, and not getting to see them but 2 times in non-conference schedule.

I haven’t missed a tv game yet this year, but I feel way less connected to this team then I have since I started school in 1996. I can’t think I’m the only one who feels this way.

And BTW- I’m super excited about the LHN. I Think its going to be tremendous after the growing pains are done. I will immediately switch providers the second someone in my geographic area carries it (I’m in Victoria Texas).

Let’s not forget there was also some severe weather conditions to contend with (No, not the Cyclones). It was also a late game against a team that does not really register anywhere on the basketball scale of importance since Marcus Fizer. However, after doing some research (read: google search) I discovered a shocking fact.

Average home attendance of a Division 1 basketball program was 5,237 fans in 2011. That means that on our “pathetic, disgraceful, etc” fans show up more on our worst attendance day than your average NCAA team has show up EVERY day. Before you attack the fans look at the circumstances. BTW I think it’s about time for the Frank Erwin Center to be either severely remodeled or demolished. That building can suck the life out of even the rowdiest rock concert crowd, let alone a basketball crowd.

Average NCAA Div I attendance = 5,237
Pathetic UT crowd = 6,000

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/pdfs/2011/2011+ncaa+mens+basketball+attendance+full+report

Facts yo, get into ’em.

Wulaw, not denying that failing to launch the LHN in a meaningful way has kept people from watching games they might have watched. I just think that it is an excuse for people who want to complain about the LHN. In your case, having a toddler is a big reason for not spending as much time on hoops as you may have previously.

I look at it like the baseball team. People always say, oh, they like the baseball model in terms of signing rules. There’s still a ton of turnover because of the draft. There is constant retooling, if not rebuilding. JC guys fill slots just about every year. Doesn’t keep the baseball fans from following the team, or me from picking it up late in the season, even though there have not been a lot of games available for free.

The other thing I would say about a lack of connection this year, is that outside of Brown, fans had a hard time perceiving what the team was going to be like. The freshmen, outside of Kabongo, were virtually unseen, and even with MK there was no way to get a handle on how he would do. We’re two-thirds through the regular season, and the unpredictability is still off the scale.

As to the attendance, it’s been a long time since a conference game drew so few. Rather than argue it, I’d just restate that the major reason for attendance problems is the ability for large LHF donors to lock up lower-level basketball tickets that they really don’t care about using. After that comes the disinterest in sitting in the mezz, as compared to the view on TV. And there is just a lack of interest in the game among the people in this state. So, you have to put a winner on the floor, a big one, to have hope of selling out a 16,000-seat arena.

Barnes used to complain about attendance fairly often early on, but he and Dodds must have come to an understanding, because he just doesn’t go there anymore.

You all are much more tolerant of J’Covan than I would be.

Hip: He’s the only guy they have who can get a defense to move. He’s averaging 4 assists per game with a 1.75/1 A/TO ratio. And, FWIW, I didn’t see anybody else lining up threes in crunch time on Saturday.

I can’t recall that Barnes has said a critical word this season about how JCB has played.

jc25 -
 
Awesome piece.
 
Mizzou is our best shot for a win. Baylor is just too goddamn big. If we can go off from the 3 point line, we may have a shot, but I’m not sure how we get a rebound.

Hip — that’s an interesting take coming from someone who’s had to tolerate Sherron Collins and Tyshawn Taylor. J’Covan’s O-Rtg this season to date is higher than anything Collins or Taylor has ever put up. Due to his supporting case, Brown has to take on an inordinate amount of usage responsibility. It’s shown over the past few games and if you just saw him forcing shots against a stout KU D, I can see why you’re down on Brown. But he’s got a ridiculously high basketball IQ, can hit from anywhere on the floor, and brings a “World’s Greatest” mentality that pushes him to thrive. He’s my favorite Horn to watch since KD/Augustin and it’s really not even close. It’s a shame that he’s relegated to playing for this team and perhaps a Kabongo/Ridley-less team next year. Add a two-man game with Tristan Thompson and we’d be talking about them like Robinson/Taylor.

You guys remember Darren Kelly when he was here? He had similar relative burden to JCB and if you only saw his shooting stats, you must have thought he was selfish SOB. Then you’d watch the games and realize he’s the only option at the end of a possession.
 
JCB needs to get back to distributing the ball, but his teammates need to present themselves. It’s chicken-egg right now and I’m not sure how that cycle is broken short of Sheldon McCllelan and Kabongo growing up.

Scipio:

With any luck, hopefully J’Covan’s teammates will end up having the careers of Kelly’s teammates during his senior season. (I assume that is the team you are referring to. Kelly’s junior year he played with Mihm and Gabe.) That team in Kelly’s senior season was loaded with freshman who ended up forming the base of the Final Four and Sweet 16 teams. We didn’t appreciate at the time just how important those guys would become.

Also, I would love to have a player like Chris Owens on this team. Or maybe just more playing time for Jaylen Bond, who has a lot of similar attributes.

Fair enough, you all certainly see him more than I do. And my criticism of Brown by no means should absolve Collins or Taylor of their carelessness.

But while Brown is having to carry them some this year, he didn’t have that burden the past two years, and his numbers were considerably worse then, I believe. I’m all for the confident mentality, but you all say he isn’t distributing because others aren’t presenting themself… I’d argue it’s the job of the team leader to get them to. But I tend to think he likes things the way they are.

Hip: Brown was not any better than average (if that) his first two years, but started this year as other-worldly and has settled into excellent. His career trajectory reminds me of Jacob Pullen and it wouldn’t shock me at all if Brown was the Big 12 POY next year.

Hip: Next time you watch Texas, take a few seconds to watch Lewis, McClellan, Bond and Holmes. They just don’t have the confidence to do things that they are capable of doing (which of course is typical of freshmen). Next year, they’re gonna be a lot better, but that doesn’t help right now.

I would have liked to see Brown dish for someone with a more-open three on the last shot Saturday, but I looked at the tape — nobody was open to get a better shot than he had.

You’re probably right. I especially like McClellan and will be disappointed if he isn’t a household name (within Big 12 circles) by next season.